Cherry Servers vs Hetzner (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hetzner grades higher than Cherry Servers: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Hetzner grades higher on value for money, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cherry Servers
Bare-metal and virtual servers billed hourly or on fixed terms
Hetzner
German hosting: web hosting, cloud servers and dedicated servers
Which one is for you
Pick Cherry Servers if
- Fits if you want hourly bare metal or a small VPS
- Works for developers who automate servers by API
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a managed server, as self-service plans are unmanaged
- Watch out: prices exclude VAT, and the hourly dedicated start differs between pages
- Tight if you need storage, extra IPs or load balancers, all priced separately
- Skip it if you want a trial, as nothing is free
Pick Hetzner if
- Fits if you're in Europe and want euro billing and German data centres
- Works for small PHP sites on cheap shared hosting
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a free plan or trial
- Watch out: prices are in euros excl. VAT and were read from a non-US page, so confirm a dollar figure
- Watch out: a one-time setup fee applies, such as €4.12 on Webhosting M
- Skip it if you want managed cloud servers, as they're unmanaged unless you add Managed Server
- Watch out: no domain is included
How we grade them
| 1.8GPACherry ServersWeak | 2.4GPAHetznerFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BA 1 vCore Cloud VPS is $3.50 a month ex. VAT, inside the cheaper quarter. | AWebhosting S is €1.60 a month excl. VAT, under the cheaper quarter's $5.28 and under 60% of it. Cloud servers start at €5.49. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free and no trial on the pages read, so you pay from day one. | FNo free plan and no trial on record; every plan is paid from the first day. |
| Features | CBare-metal and virtual servers, hourly billing, add-ons and an API. Monthly dedicated prices were not readable. | BWeb hosting, cloud, dedicated and auction servers, object storage, DNS and SSL, a REST API and Terraform. No gap in the core job is named, though domains are sold separately. |
| Ease of use | DUnmanaged servers that you set up and secure yourself. | CNo store rating on record. Web hosting uses a panel, but cloud and dedicated servers are unmanaged. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb portal with an API and automation, but no phone or desktop app. | BWeb only, with Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker and an API and CLI. |
| Best for | bare-metal and virtual servers billed hourly | low-priced German hosting and servers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cherry Servers and Hetzner. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cherry Servers starts at $3.50 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Hetzner starts at about $1.79 a month and scores 2.7.
Hetzner scores higher and starts $1.71 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 10 score higher than Cherry Servers for less, and none scores higher than Hetzner for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cherry Servers also covers workflow automation.
- Hetzner also covers file sharing.
At a glance
| Cherry Servers | Hetzner | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $3.5 per month for a 1 vCore Cloud VPS, or $0.018 per hour | €1.60 per month excl. VAT (Webhosting S) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cherry Servers | Hetzner Online GmbH |
| Price read from | cherryservers.com | hetzner.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cherry Servers
- Prices are quoted in US dollars excluding VAT, and the dedicated server hourly start differs slightly between pages ($0.091 in an FAQ, $0.098 on the overview).
- The self-service plans are unmanaged infrastructure; the site points to sales engineers for custom setups.
- Backup Storage is free for dedicated servers; other storage, IPs and load balancers are priced separately.
- Monthly dedicated-server prices were not readable on the pages we checked.
Hetzner
- Prices are in euros and exclude VAT, read from a page that was served for a non-US visitor, so a US buyer should confirm the dollar figures.
- Web hosting packages do not include a domain; one must be ordered separately.
- A one-time setup fee is listed on the Webhosting page, for example €4.12 on Webhosting M.
- Cloud and dedicated servers are unmanaged unless you add the separate Managed Server product.
Key features
Cherry Servers
- Bare-metal servers
- Dedicated, instant, custom and GPU servers are offered, with an average deployment time of 12 minutes listed.
- Virtual servers
- Cloud VPS, storage VPS, Cloud VDS, ARM VDS and Premium and Performance VDS plans deploy in about 3 minutes.
- Flexible billing
- Hourly, fixed-term and spot billing are listed, with 20+ payment methods including cryptocurrency.
- Storage and network add-ons
- Elastic block storage from $0.077 per GB a month, backup storage, floating IPs, public subnets and load balancers are sold separately.
- API and automation
- Servers can be managed through a UI or API, and a developer automation section is listed.
- Locations
- Servers can be deployed in Lithuania, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Chicago and Singapore for virtual servers.
Hetzner
- Shared web hosting
- Four Webhosting packages with mailboxes, databases, cronjobs and PHP processes, and no minimum contract period.
- Cloud servers
- Shared-resource and dedicated-vCPU cloud servers, with stateful firewalls included at no extra cost and one-click apps such as Docker, GitLab CE and Nextcloud.
- Dedicated servers
- AX, EX, GPU, SX and DX lines, plus a Server Auction of refurbished machines starting at €78.70 a month.
- REST API and CLI
- Cloud resources can be managed through a REST API and a command-line tool, with integrations for Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes.
- Storage products
- S3-compatible Object Storage, Storage Box backup servers and Storage Share, which Hetzner describes as GDPR-compliant storage.
- Domains, DNS and SSL
- Domain registration from €4.90 a year, DNS management and SSL certificates are sold separately.
Plans
Cherry Servers
Virtual servers$3.5
per month and up, for 1 vCore Cloud VPS, excluding VAT
VPS and VDS plans billed hourly (from $0.018 an hour) or on monthly to annual terms. Dedicated-core VDS plans reach 16 vCores and 72 GB RAM; 1 to 35 TB of free traffic.
Dedicated servers$0.098
per hour and up, billed hourly, excluding VAT
Bare-metal servers from $0.098 an hour on the pricing overview, managed by UI or API. A 15-day money-back guarantee applies to dedicated server plans.
Hetzner
Webhosting S€1.60
per month, excl. VAT
10GB storage, unlimited mailboxes, 1 database, 1 cronjob, 2 PHP processes and a 192MB memory limit. No contract minimum.
Webhosting M€4.12
per month, excl. VAT
50GB storage, unlimited mailboxes, 5 databases, 5 cronjobs, 5 PHP processes and a 256MB memory limit.
Webhosting L€8.32
per month, excl. VAT
100GB storage, 20 databases, 10 cronjobs, 10 PHP processes, a 384MB memory limit, and Redis, SSH and Node.js.
Webhosting XL€16.72
per month, excl. VAT
300GB storage, unlimited mailboxes, 50 databases, 20 cronjobs, 20 PHP processes and a 512MB memory limit.
Cloud servers€5.49
per month and up, excl. VAT
Regular Performance shared-resource cloud servers from €5.49; Cost-Optimized from €5.99; General Purpose with dedicated vCPUs from €36.99.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cherry Servers or Hetzner?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hetzner is cheaper to start with: about $1.79 a month, against $3.50 a month for Cherry Servers. Cherry Servers starts at $3.5 per month for a 1 vCore Cloud VPS, or $0.018 per hour, and Hetzner starts at €1.60 per month excl. VAT (Webhosting S).
Which has a free plan, Cherry Servers or Hetzner?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Cherry Servers nor Hetzner has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.