Comparison
Hetzner vs Oracle Always Free
Excellent value, but still a recurring bill and still self-managed.
What Hetzner gives you today
No free tier; the cheapest cloud instance is a few euros a month.
Typical spend: €4-€15/month per server
Side by side
| Feature | Hetzner | Oracle Always Free + Cheaploy |
|---|---|---|
| Compute | 2 vCPU / 4 GB on entry plans | Up to 4 ARM OCPUs and 24 GB RAM (Oracle Always Free), yours alone |
| Sleeping / cold starts | None (it is a VM) | None — a long-running VM you own |
| Bandwidth | 20 TB traffic included | 10 TB/month outbound included by Oracle |
| Database | Self-hosted, same as Oracle | Self-hosted Postgres, MySQL or Oracle Autonomous Database at $0 |
| Background jobs & cron | Usually a paid add-on | Just another container on the same VM |
| Who owns the infrastructure | The provider | Your own Oracle Cloud tenancy |
| What you pay | Per plan, per seat, per bandwidth overage | $0 infrastructure + a flat Cheaploy platform fee |
Stay on Hetzner if
- You need European datacentres with Hetzner's price-performance for larger servers
- Your workload exceeds Oracle's Always Free allowance anyway
Switch if
- Your app fits inside 4 ARM OCPUs and 24 GB — that is free on Oracle
- You want a managed deploy pipeline instead of hand-rolled scripts and systemd units
Related
Frequently asked
Is Oracle's free tier as reliable as Hetzner?+
It is standard Oracle Cloud infrastructure. The realistic risk is ARM capacity at signup, which our capacity guide covers.
Can Cheaploy manage a Hetzner box?+
Cheaploy targets Oracle Cloud tenancies today.
What about IPv4?+
Oracle's Always Free includes public IPv4 addresses for your instances.
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