Exoscale vs Hetzner

Compare Exoscale y Hetzner en capacidades, jurisdicción, garantías y encaje para compradores europeos.

Ambos figuran como alternativas a: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure

Logo: Hetzner

Hetzner

Germany· Cloud Computing

Needs review

Shortlist for German-owned IaaS/bare metal in DE/FI parks, API cloud VMs, inclusive-traffic EU economics, ISO 27001 + BSI C5 Type 2. Skip for hyperscaler PaaS depth, SOC 2-first audits, or zero US-group footprint (optional US Ashburn/Hillsboro + Singapore via subsidiaries/colocation). Prefer OVHcloud/Scaleway for broader EU portfolios; STACKIT for DE public-sector framing.

EU-operated (DE HQ)Owned DE/FI parksISO 27001:2022BSI C5 Type 2Bare metal + auctionOptional US/SG cloud
Exoscale vs Hetzner: Resumen
CaracterísticaLogo: ExoscaleExoscaleLogo: HetznerHetzner
País de origenSwitzerlandGermany
CategoríaCloud ComputingCloud Computing
Código abiertoNoNo
AutoalojadoNoNo
SedeNo indicadoGermany
Entidad legalNo indicadoHetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen (HRB 6089 Ansbach)
Matriz / control EE.UU.No indicadoSin matriz estadounidense conocida
Exposición CLOUD Act (indicativa)No indicadoMedio
Alojamiento / residenciaNo indicadoOwned parks: Nuremberg, Falkenstein (DE), Helsinki (FI). Non-cloud EU-only. Cloud optional US (Ashburn, Hillsboro) and Singapore on 3rd-party colocation. AV subprocessors: Hetzner Finland Oy; US: Hetzner US LLC, NTT Americas, QTS Hillsboro; SG: Hetzner Singapore, NTT SG1. Master data stays EU.
Resumen

European public cloud (IaaS) from Swiss operator Akenes SA (A1 Digital): multi-zone compute, managed Kubernetes (SKS), DBaaS, object and block storage, and GPUs across CH, DE, AT, BG, and HR.

German data center operator (Gunzenhausen): dedicated servers, Hetzner Cloud VPS, storage, and owned parks in Germany and Finland, with optional US and Singapore cloud locations.

Etiquetas
De un vistazo: Exoscale vs Hetzner
De un vistazoLogo: ExoscaleExoscaleLogo: HetznerHetzner
HQNo indicadoGunzenhausen, Germany
Legal entityNo indicadoHetzner Online GmbH (HRB 6089 Ansbach)
EU parksNo indicadoNuremberg, Falkenstein (DE); Helsinki (FI)
Optional cloud regionsNo indicadoAshburn and Hillsboro (US); Singapore
ModelNo indicadoIaaS / dedicated / hosting (unmanaged cloud and root)
Open sourceNo indicadoNo (commercial infrastructure)
Key capabilities: Exoscale vs Hetzner
Key capabilitiesLogo: ExoscaleExoscaleLogo: HetznerHetzner
EU-operated (DE HQ)No indicado
Owned DE/FI parksNo indicado
ISO 27001:2022No indicado
BSI C5 Type 2No indicado
Bare metal + auctionNo indicado
Optional US/SG cloudNo indicado

Exoscale

  • Instancias de compute de alto rendimiento

    Las instancias de compute de Exoscale usan almacenamiento local SSD con opciones estándar, optimizadas para CPU, memoria o almacenamiento. Los tamaños van de Micro (512 MB RAM, 1 núcleo) a Jumbo (225 GB RAM, 24 núcleos). Las instancias GPU con tarjetas NVIDIA (A30, V100, A40, A5000, RTX 6000 Pro) encajan para tareas de IA. La anti-afinidad garantiza que las instancias se distribuyan entre hosts para resiliencia. Snapshots y plantillas personalizadas ayudan en copias de seguridad y despliegues. La facturación prorratea al segundo, con instancias apagadas cobradas solo por almacenamiento.

  • Servicio Kubernetes escalable (SKS)

    Kubernetes gestionado despliega clústeres en 120 segundos. Los clústeres Starter son gratuitos (sin SLA), Pro ofrece 99,95 % de disponibilidad. Los usuarios escalan nodos worker, gestionan planos de control vía portal, CLI, API o Terraform. Se integra con balanceadores de carga de red. Soporta apps cloud-native en todas las zonas.

  • DBaaS y almacenamiento gestionados

    DBaaS cubre PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, OpenSearch, Valkey y Grafana, con planes desde Hobbyist (2 GB RAM) hasta Premium (225 GB RAM, múltiples réplicas). Object Storage es compatible con S3 con multi-redundancia y replicación. NVMe Block Storage adjunta múltiples volúmenes por instancia para necesidades de baja latencia. Tráfico: entrada gratuita, intra-zona gratuita, 1 TB saliente gratuito por instancia mensual.

Hetzner

  • Dedicated root servers and Server Auction

    Bare-metal root servers with full hardware isolation for predictable I/O and custom OS installs. The Server Auction lists surplus or end-of-primary-use machines at declining prices for labs, secondary environments, and cost-sensitive dedicated capacity.

  • Hetzner Cloud with API, networks, and apps

    VMs with shared or dedicated vCPU classes, managed via Console, REST API, and CLI. Private networks, stateful firewalls, load balancers, Linux images, Terraform/Ansible/Kubernetes integrations, and one-click apps (Docker, Nextcloud, GitLab CE, WireGuard, and more) for self-hosted stacks.

  • Owned EU data center parks plus optional US/Singapore cloud

    Company-operated parks in Nuremberg, Falkenstein (Germany), and Helsinki (Finland). Cloud also in Ashburn, Hillsboro (USA), and Singapore on third-party colocation. Non-cloud products and EU-selected cloud locations keep server data in the EU per Hetzner docs; master data stays in the EU.

  • ISO 27001, BSI C5 Type 2, and console DPA

    Public ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate for DE/FI park scope; BSI C5 Type 2 for cloud; Art. 28 DPA accept-in-console with published TOMs and annual external TOM review available to DPA customers. Not a SOC 2-first vendor.

  • Inclusive traffic-oriented European cloud pricing model

    Pay-as-you-go cloud (hourly or monthly) and list-based dedicated servers, with marketing emphasis on high inclusive traffic on European plans versus hyperscaler egress bills. Confirm current allowances and rates only on the official calculator—figures change by region and over time.

Assurance & compliance: Exoscale vs Hetzner
Assurance & complianceLogo: ExoscaleExoscaleLogo: HetznerHetzner
Independent security / no-logs auditNo indicado
Not applicable

Hosting/IaaS, not a no-logs VPN. Public ISO 27001, BSI C5 Type 2, and annual TOM review (TUV Rheinland) instead.

ISO 27001No indicado
Verified

ISO/IEC 27001:2022; public SOCOTEC certificate. Scope: infrastructure, operation, support of Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki parks.

SOC 2 / SOC 3No indicado
Not found

Hetzner states focus on ISO 27001 rather than SOC 2 for international market.

GDPR / EU data protectionNo indicado
Vendor claimed

German entity; public privacy policy, Art. 28 DPA, TOMs, subprocessor list. Customer remains controller for data on rented systems.

US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)No indicado
Partial

EU entity / no known US parent, but optional US cloud uses Hetzner US LLC and US colocation (NTT, QTS); Singapore similarly. EU placements keep server data in EU per docs. Not legal advice.

Data processing agreement (B2B)No indicado
Vendor claimed

Standard DPA accept-in-console; sample PDF published; no custom wet-ink DPAs per vendor docs.

EU AI ActNo indicado
Not applicable

Infrastructure hosting, not an AI system product.

BSI C5 (cloud)No indicado
Verified

Vendor publishes BSI C5 Type 2 attestation PDF for cloud services (German BSI catalogue).

KRITIS / section 8a BSIGNo indicado
Vendor claimed

Hetzner states BSI classification as operator of critical services and certification under section 8a BSIG.

Considerations & known limitations: Exoscale vs Hetzner
Considerations & known limitationsLogo: ExoscaleExoscaleLogo: HetznerHetzner
Optional US and Singapore cloud regionsNo indicado
Medium

Ashburn, Hillsboro, and Singapore use third-party colocation and local subsidiaries; server content placed there leaves the EU. Zero-US-footprint policies may still reject the vendor even for EU-only workloads.

Unmanaged cloud and dedicated serversNo indicado
Medium

You own OS patching, app security, and backups. Platform firewalls help but do not replace customer ops. Poor fit if you need managed DBaaS and full-stack ops.

Narrower managed-service catalog vs hyperscalersNo indicado
Low

Strong IaaS and bare metal; weak match if procurement assumes AWS-parity managed services. Plan hybrid architecture early.

ISO scope is DE/FI parksNo indicado
Low

Published ISO 27001 scope centers on German and Finnish parks. Do not assume identical coverage for every US/Singapore deployment without reading current certificates.

Encaje

Exoscale

Best fit when

No indicado

Poor fit when

No indicado

Hetzner

Best fit when

  • Teams that want German-jurisdiction hosting with owned parks in Germany and Finland
  • Workloads that need bare-metal root servers or cost-effective dedicated via Server Auction
  • Ops-heavy orgs comfortable with unmanaged IaaS (Console/API/CLI, Terraform, apps)
  • Buyers optimizing for EU residency plus inclusive traffic economics versus hyperscaler egress
  • German/EU checklists asking for ISO 27001, BSI C5, and an Art. 28 DPA in-console

Poor fit when

  • Orgs that need a full AWS/Azure-style managed services catalog (PaaS, serverless, AI)
  • Policies that forbid any US subsidiary, US colocation, or optional US region at group level
  • Buyers requiring SOC 2 as the primary assurance artifact (Hetzner focuses on ISO/C5)
  • Teams expecting fully managed OS patching, databases, and DR without operating the stack

Consider instead when

  • When: You need a broader European cloud portfolio or more managed service surface

    Consider: OVHcloud or Scaleway

    Still European operators; compare regions, bare-metal depth, and support models.

  • When: German public-sector sovereign cloud framing is the primary procurement driver

    Consider: STACKIT

    Different product and governance story; verify current certifications and residency.

  • When: You need hyperscaler managed depth more than EU-owned IaaS

    Consider: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud (accept US-group CLOUD Act posture)

    Trade EU operator control for catalog breadth.

  • When: You want a smaller EU regional cloud with a different feature/region mix

    Consider: Exoscale or UpCloud

    Compare locations, SLAs, and managed options against Hetzner's park scale.

Open questions for due diligence

Exoscale

No indicado

Hetzner

  • Does your policy allow a German provider that also offers US/Singapore regions if you only deploy in DE/FI?
  • Is BSI C5 Type 2 + ISO 27001 sufficient, or is SOC 2 mandatory for your auditors?
  • Which SKUs (cloud vs dedicated vs managed web hosting) match your backup and support needs?
  • Will you need regions or managed services Hetzner does not offer natively (CDN, managed DB, AI APIs)?