At a glance

Cloudflare Pages Hetzner
Best for Developers who want free, fast, globally distributed hosting European developers wanting affordable, powerful servers
Starting price Free €3.29/mo
Free tier
Open source
Free tier available
Open source
Block Storage
Cloud VMs
Dedicated Servers
Edge Network
Git Deploy
Load Balancers
Unlimited Bandwidth
Web Analytics
Workers

Cloudflare Pages

Strengths

  • Generous free tier — unlimited sites, bandwidth, and requests
  • Blazingly fast global CDN
  • Full-stack capable with Workers integration
  • No surprise bills

Weaknesses

  • Build system less flexible than Netlify/Vercel
  • Smaller ecosystem of plugins and integrations
  • Workers runtime differs from Node.js
  • Documentation could be better

Hetzner

Strengths

  • Includes Dedicated Servers as a core feature, purpose-built for cloud hosting workflows
  • Includes Cloud VMs as a core feature, purpose-built for cloud hosting workflows
  • Affordable at €3.29/mo — one of the lower-priced options in the cloud hosting category
  • Established product with 29+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem

Weaknesses

  • No free plan — you need to pay €3.29/mo from day one to use it
  • Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
  • Costs can spike unexpectedly during traffic surges if limits aren't configured
  • Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish

The bottom line

Pricing: Cloudflare Pages is completely free, which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Hetzner starts at €3.29/mo. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.

Feature gaps: Cloudflare Pages offers Edge Network, Git Deploy and Unlimited Bandwidth that Hetzner lacks. Hetzner brings Block Storage, Cloud VMs and Dedicated Servers that Cloudflare Pages does not have.

Team fit: Both tools target any size teams, so the decision hinges on features and workflow fit rather than scale.

Where each tool shines: Cloudflare Pages's biggest strengths are: generous free tier — unlimited sites, bandwidth, and requests. blazingly fast global cdn. Hetzner's biggest strengths are: includes dedicated servers as a core feature, purpose-built for cloud hosting workflows. includes cloud vms as a core feature, purpose-built for cloud hosting workflows.

Watch out for: With Cloudflare Pages, users commonly note that build system less flexible than netlify/vercel. With Hetzner, the main complaint is that no free plan — you need to pay €3.29/mo from day one to use it.

Choose Cloudflare Pages if...

  • Your profile matches its sweet spot: developers who want free, fast, globally distributed hosting
  • Budget is a hard constraint — Cloudflare Pages is free, Hetzner is not
  • You specifically need Edge Network and Git Deploy
  • You care about blazingly fast global cdn

Choose Hetzner if...

  • You need a tool built for european developers wanting affordable, powerful servers
  • You specifically need Block Storage and Cloud VMs
  • You care about includes cloud vms as a core feature, purpose-built for cloud hosting workflows

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