Hetzner vs Hivelocity: European Value or US Bare Metal?
Hetzner and Hivelocity both sell bare-metal servers and virtual machines to developers and businesses, but from opposite sides of the Atlantic. Hetzner, founded in Germany in 1997, is known for low monthly prices on dedicated servers and an inexpensive hourly cloud. Hivelocity, a Tampa, Florida company founded in 2002, focuses on instant-deploy bare metal across a large, US-heavy network of data centers, with human support by phone and chat around the clock. Prices below are live from our tracker.
At a glance
| Hetzner | Hivelocity | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1997, Gunzenhausen, Germany | 2002, Tampa, Florida |
| Dedicated servers | AX41: $64.98/mo (6 Cores · 64 GB RAM · 1024 GB NVME · Unlimited traffic · 1 Gbps) | From $97.00/mo (6 Cores · 16 GB RAM · 480 GB SSD · 20 TB traffic · 1 Gbps) |
| Cheapest virtual server | CX23: $6.23/mo (2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVME · 20 TB traffic · 10 Gbps) | $10.00/mo (2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVME SSD · 10 TB traffic · 1 Gbps) |
| Billing | Cloud hourly; dedicated monthly | Hourly or monthly on instant-deploy servers |
| Setup fees | On some larger dedicated models | None on instant-deploy servers |
| Locations | 6: Germany, Finland, the US, Singapore | More than 40, by Hivelocity's count, mostly in the US |
| Support | Tickets; phone on weekdays, 8am–6pm CET | 24/7 phone, live chat and tickets |
| Payment | Card, PayPal, SEPA | Card, PayPal, crypto |
Dedicated servers
Hetzner's AX41 costs $64.98 a month for 6 Cores · 64 GB RAM · 1024 GB NVME · Unlimited traffic · 1 Gbps, with unlimited traffic on a 1 Gbps port. Hivelocity's cheapest dedicated server costs $97.00 a month for 6 Cores · 16 GB RAM · 480 GB SSD · 20 TB traffic · 1 Gbps on a current promotion, with a regular rate of $129.00. Hivelocity deploys its catalog servers in minutes and bills them by the hour or month, and it builds custom machines with up to four CPUs, a hundred drives and 1 TB of RAM. Hetzner bills dedicated servers monthly and also sells older hardware through its server auction.
Virtual servers
Hetzner's cloud starts with CX23 at $6.23 for 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVME · 20 TB traffic · 10 Gbps, billed hourly, with 20 TB of traffic on EU plans. Hivelocity's cheapest VPS costs $10.00 for 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVME SSD · 10 TB traffic · 1 Gbps, with Linux and Windows images and a line of VDS plans with dedicated vCPU.
Network, compliance and support
Hivelocity lists more than 40 data centers, with its core in Tampa, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Ashburn, Denver and Chicago, and sites in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Singapore and São Paulo; it cites SOC 2 and PCI DSS for its facilities and offers colocation on quote. Hetzner runs its own data centers in Germany and Finland plus cloud locations in Ashburn, Hillsboro and Singapore. Hivelocity answers by phone, live chat and tickets around the clock; Hetzner works through tickets and a phone line open on weekdays from 8am to 6pm CET, with 24/7 data-center lines for dedicated servers. Our monitor checks each company's own website every few minutes; over the last 30 days it measured 99.78% for Hetzner and 99.81% for Hivelocity.
Which one should you pick?
- Choose Hetzner for low monthly prices on dedicated servers in Europe, an inexpensive hourly cloud and storage products in the same account.
- Choose Hivelocity for bare metal in US cities, servers billed by the hour, colocation, or 24/7 phone and chat support.
About HetznerHetzner is a German cloud and dedicated-server provider famous for the best price-to-performance in Europe. Where Contabo competes on raw resources, Hetzner competes on network quality, low latency and a polished API — ideal for developers running latency-sensitive workloads.
About HivelocityHivelocity is a Tampa, Florida-based infrastructure provider (est. 2002) running 40+ data centers across 6 continents on a 2+ Tbps multi-carrier network. Instant-deploy bare metal, VPS/VDS, GPU servers, colocation and managed services — with 24/7/365 human support (NPS 79), a 99.99% uptime SLA and SOC 2 / PCI DSS certifications.
Comparison Table
| Feature | Hetzner | Hivelocity |
|---|---|---|
| Price / mo | $1.81 win | $10.00 |
| Renewal price | Same as initial | Promo pricing (up to 50% off) |
| Datacenters | 6 | 42 win |
| NVMe storage | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Free domain | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Backups | Paid | — |
| CDN | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Support | Tickets, weekday phone | — |
| Uptime · 30d | 99.78% | 99.81% win |
Price History
Hetzner · Webhosting SCollecting price history — the trend fills in as we track this plan.
Hivelocity · pro.sm.amd (Virtual Shared)Collecting price history — the trend fills in as we track this plan.
Uptime & Performance
Hetzner 99.78% Hivelocity 99.81%Pros & Cons
Hetzner- Low monthly prices on dedicated servers, such as the AX41 at $64.98/mo
- Hourly cloud from $6.23/mo with 20 TB of EU traffic
- Storage boxes and object storage in the same account
- Unlimited traffic on dedicated servers
- Six locations
- No live chat, and the general phone line is open on weekdays only
- Dedicated servers bill monthly, with setup fees on some models
Hivelocity- More than 40 locations, by its own count, including many US cities
- Hourly or monthly billing and no setup fee on instant-deploy servers
- 24/7 phone, live chat and ticket support
- Colocation and custom builds up to four CPUs
- Its cheapest dedicated price is a promotion; the regular rate is $129.00/mo
- Traffic allowances rather than unlimited traffic
- Backups and managed services are paid add-ons
- No shared web hosting or domains
The Verdict
Hetzner is the value pick: its dedicated servers and cloud cost less for comparable hardware, with generous traffic, but its locations are mostly European and support is ticket-first. Hivelocity is the reach-and-service pick: instant-deploy bare metal in many US cities, hourly billing on catalog servers, no setup fees on those machines and people on the phone around the clock. European workloads on a budget point to Hetzner; latency-sensitive services for US users point to Hivelocity.
Hetzner & Hivelocity alternatives
FAQ
For dedicated servers, usually yes. Hetzner's AX41 costs $64.98 a month for 6 Cores · 64 GB RAM · 1024 GB NVME · Unlimited traffic · 1 Gbps; Hivelocity's cheapest server costs $97.00 for 6 Cores · 16 GB RAM · 480 GB SSD · 20 TB traffic · 1 Gbps on a promotion and $129.00 at its regular rate.
At Hivelocity, yes, on its instant-deploy servers. Hetzner bills dedicated servers monthly and its cloud servers hourly.
Hivelocity, which lists data centers in many US cities, including Tampa, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Ashburn, Denver and Chicago. Hetzner's US presence is its cloud sites in Ashburn and Hillsboro.
Both do. Hivelocity answers by phone 24/7, along with live chat and tickets. Hetzner's phone line is open on weekdays from 8am to 6pm CET, with 24/7 data-center lines for dedicated servers.
Hivelocity charges no setup fee on instant-deploy servers. Hetzner charges setup fees on some larger dedicated models.