Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Compute Engine VS Hetzner

Compare Google Compute Engine VS Hetzner and see what are their differences

Google Compute Engine logo Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine is not just fast. It’s Google fast.

Hetzner logo Hetzner

Server hosting provider.
  • Google Compute Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22
  • Hetzner Homepage
    Homepage //
    2024-02-06

Google Compute Engine features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Compute Engine offers robust scalability, allowing users to easily increase or decrease resources to match the workload demands. This ensures that businesses can handle growing traffic and data without unnecessary delays.
  • Performance
    GCE provides high-performance virtual machines with the ability to customize CPU, memory, and persistent disk configurations. The underlying infrastructure is optimized for high-speed operations.
  • Global Reach
    With data centers located around the world, GCE provides global reach and redundancy. This ensures low-latency access and high availability for applications and services.
  • Integration
    GCE integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services, such as Google Kubernetes Engine, BigQuery, and Cloud Storage. This ecosystem facilitates streamlined workflows and enhanced functionality.
  • Security
    GCE features multiple layers of security including encryption, identity management, and regular compliance audits. These measures ensure that data and applications are well-protected.
  • Cost-Effective
    With per-second billing and various pricing plans, GCE offers cost-effective solutions. Users only pay for what they use, which can lead to significant savings.

Possible disadvantages of Google Compute Engine

  • Complexity
    For new users, the wide range of services and options within GCE can be overwhelming. It may require a steep learning curve to fully understand and leverage all available features.
  • Support Costs
    While GCE offers various support plans, premium support options can be expensive. Smaller businesses might find the cost prohibitive compared to their budget.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Once services are deeply integrated with GCE, it may be difficult to migrate to another cloud provider. This could result in vendor lock-in and reduced flexibility for organizations.
  • Regional Availability
    Even though GCE has a broad global presence, not all services are available in every region. This can be a limitation for businesses that require specific features in certain geographic locations.
  • Network Egress Charges
    GCE charges for outbound data transfer, which can add up for applications serving large amounts of data across regions or the internet. Users need to monitor and manage egress costs carefully.

Hetzner features and specs

  • Cost-Effective
    Hetzner offers competitive pricing, making it a cost-effective option for businesses of all sizes.
  • High Performance
    Hetzner provides high-performance servers and network infrastructure, ensuring reliable and fast service.
  • Scalability
    Hetzner's cloud platform allows for easy scaling of resources to match changing demand and workloads.
  • Data Center Locations
    Hetzner has multiple data center locations in Europe, which is beneficial for users needing geographical redundancy and low latency.
  • Security
    Hetzner offers strong security features, including DDoS protection and secure data centers, to protect user data.
  • Customizability
    Users can customize their server configurations to meet specific needs, providing flexibility in resource allocation.

Possible disadvantages of Hetzner

  • Limited Global Reach
    Hetzner's data centers are primarily located in Europe, which may not be ideal for businesses with a global audience.
  • Support Options
    While Hetzner offers support, some users may find the level of customer support and response times to be lacking compared to other providers.
  • Complex Interface
    The Hetzner Cloud interface might be complex for some users, especially those who are less experienced with cloud services.
  • No Managed Services
    Hetzner primarily offers unmanaged servers, which means users need to handle server management and maintenance themselves.
  • Additional Costs for Features
    Some advanced features and services may incur additional costs, potentially making it less affordable depending on the required features.
  • No Free Tier
    Hetzner does not offer a free tier for its services, so users cannot test their platform without incurring costs.

Analysis of Google Compute Engine

Overall verdict

  • Google Compute Engine is a strong choice for cloud computing needs, particularly if you're already using other Google Cloud services or require a scalable and reliable infrastructure.

Why this product is good

  • Google Compute Engine (GCE) is known for its robust infrastructure, scalability, and strong support for a variety of workloads. It offers customizable virtual machines with reliable security features and seamless integration with other Google Cloud services. Additionally, GCE benefits from Google's global network, providing high-performance and low-latency connectivity for users worldwide. Advanced features like Preemptible VMs and various machine types allow for cost-effective and flexible computing solutions.

Recommended for

  • Businesses looking for scalable and cost-effective cloud solutions.
  • Organizations utilizing other Google Cloud Platform services.
  • Developers who need a variety of machine types and advanced configuration options.
  • Enterprises requiring global reach and low-latency network performance.
  • Teams focusing on data-intensive applications or machine learning tasks.

Analysis of Hetzner

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Hetzner is considered a good choice for those looking for scalable and affordable cloud solutions. Despite its lack of data centers outside of Europe, it offers a compelling combination of reliability, performance, and price.

Why this product is good

  • Hetzner is widely regarded as a reliable and cost-effective provider of cloud and dedicated server services. It's known for its affordable pricing, high-performance infrastructure, and robust security features. The services are well-suited for businesses and developers seeking scalable solutions. Furthermore, Hetzner's customer support is often praised for its responsiveness and technical expertise.

Recommended for

  • Small to medium-sized businesses that need affordable cloud hosting solutions.
  • Developers and startups looking for scalable and flexible server infrastructure.
  • Tech-savvy users who can navigate configuration and deployment without extensive hand-holding.

Google Compute Engine videos

Getting Started with Google Compute Engine

Hetzner videos

Quick wordpress deployment to Hetzner Cloud

More videos:

  • Review - Hetzner Review after 1 Day with FOI Auto Tuner
  • Tutorial - Hetzner Server Review How to Pick the Best Dedicated VPS for FOI Auto Tuner SIM and LIVE Bots
  • Review - Why you NEED to use Hetzner Cloud in 2023! (Best and Cheapest Development/Production Cloud)
  • Review - Make $800/mo With Managed Hetzner Hosting. Here's how
  • Review - Over 200,000 Servers in One Place! Visiting Hetzner in Falkenstein (Germany)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Compute Engine and Hetzner)
Cloud Computing
47 47%
53% 53
Cloud Infrastructure
100 100%
0% 0
VPS
39 39%
61% 61
Cloud Hosting
24 24%
76% 76

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Compute Engine and Hetzner

Google Compute Engine Reviews

Alternatives to Amazon's Cloud Services (AWS)
Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Compute are the two biggest competitors to AWS attempting to offer a growing stack of service offerings.

Hetzner Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    Cheap and good quality VPS servers with some questionable and bad support.
    Competitors: Linode, DigitalOcean
    Pros:    Cheap|High quality
    Cons:    Bad support

Best Vultr Alternatives and Competitor Cloud Services of 2022
Hetzner’s dashboard and interface are speedy and user-friendly, which makes them a perfect fit for professionals. They let you deploy servers in 3 different server locations including the US, Germany, and Finland. Hetzner claims to run its data centers according to strict European data protection regulations. But at the same time, the data center locations can be highly...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hetzner should be more popular than Google Compute Engine. It has been mentiond 37 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google Compute Engine mentions (17)

  • Decoding high-bandwidth memory: A practical guide to GPU memory for fine-tuning AI models
    For maximum control: Spin up a Compute Engine instance with the latest NVIDIA H100 or A100 Tensor Core GPUs and take full control of your environment. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • AWS Free Tier Changes on July 15, 2025
    Https://cloud.google.com/products/compute ? You get one e2-micro VM instance free per month. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Please bring neon db to GCP
    Surely you can run your own instances on some sort of "Compute" in GCP? https://cloud.google.com/products/compute. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Pickems website for MSI 2023
    The backend is written in node.js and is deployed using Google Compute Engine. I wanted to learn Kubernetes but it seemed more complicated and also more expensive than GCE. We also use mongodb. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Is it possible to host a Golang Application Free Indefinitely?
    Google seems to have a free tiny VM offering. AWS and Azure have one for a year. Of course, whether Google's will still be free in a year is whoknows. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Hetzner mentions (37)

  • Three GPU affiliate programs I wired into an AI tool directory
    // packages/shared/src/monetization/index.ts Export function runpodReferralUrl(ref: string | null): string | null { if (!ref) return null; return `https://www.runpod.io/?ref=${encodeURIComponent(ref)}`; } Export function vastReferralUrl(ref: string | null): string | null { if (!ref) return null; return `https://cloud.vast.ai/?ref_id=${encodeURIComponent(ref)}`; } Export function hetznerReferralUrl(ref:... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Storing Kamal secrets in AWS Secrets Manager and deploying to a cheap Hetzner VPS
    Big thanks to the AWS docs team, the Kamal maintainers, and Hetzner for keeping hosting affordable. Hope this saves you the same headaches I ran into. Now back to building. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Replacing Kubernetes with Systemd
    Sure, if you still want it: https://hetzner.cloud/?ref=WwByfoEfJJdv I guess it gives you 20 euros in credit, too. That's nice. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Free version control for game development handling large projects??
    Self hosted Gitlab instance is an option. The only cost is hosting (personally I am using hetzner.com CPX31 instance, 16€ for 160GB a month but you can add 1TB volume for 45€ a month if you need more space). Just keep in mind that Gitlab needs about 8GB RAM to work correctly (it crashes on 2 and is only kinda stable on 4). You can also use an older computer or a NAS if you prefer to go that route. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • What Absolute control?
    Personally, I use hetzner.com's dedicated line, so I rent a full piece of physical server hardware. AmazonAWS is gross. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Compute Engine and Hetzner, you can also consider the following products

Amazon EC2 - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Vultr - Global, automated cloud infrastructure from the broadest array of AMD and NVIDIA GPUs to virtual CPUs, bare metal, Kubernetes, storage, and networking solutions.

A2Hosting - Need Fast, Reliable Web Hosting? A2 Hosting Is The Leader In Optimized Hosting For Any Need! Try Our Hosting Service Today!

Microsoft Azure - Windows Azure and SQL Azure enable you to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters.

GoDaddy - GoDaddy makes registering Domain Names fast, simple, and affordable. Find out why so many business owners chose GoDaddy to be their Domain Name Registrar.