--- title: "Hetzner vs. GCP" description: "Google Cloud vs. Hetzner: cost, sovereignty, and services compared for DACH companies." lastUpdated: "2026-06-23" canonical: "https://anvilstack.eu/en/compare/hetzner-vs-gcp" --- > Sitemap for agents: https://anvilstack.eu/llms.txt # Hetzner vs. GCP Google Cloud Platform is one of the three large US hyperscalers, alongside [AWS](https://anvilstack.eu/en/compare/hetzner-vs-aws.md) and [Azure](https://anvilstack.eu/en/compare/hetzner-vs-azure.md). The infrastructure is technically excellent, and the service portfolio – BigQuery, Vertex AI, GKE – is industry-leading in many areas. But for DACH companies handling personal data, the fundamental problem remains: Google LLC is a US company, subject to the CLOUD Act, and processes data under US jurisdiction – including in its Frankfurt data center. Hetzner is a German GmbH, entirely under EU law. This comparison breaks down cost, performance, services, and compliance in detail. > **Info:** All prices as of June 2026, excluding VAT. GCP prices for europe-west3 (Frankfurt), On-Demand without Sustained Use Discounts. Hetzner prices for German data centers (following the price adjustment of 15 June 2026). Exchange rate: 1 USD = 0.88 EUR. ## Cost comparison: Hetzner vs. Google Cloud GCP is cheaper than AWS, but considerably more expensive than Hetzner. The E2 series (Google's cost-optimized instances) offers GCP's best price/performance ratio – yet it still costs a multiple of Hetzner. ### Compute (compared by RAM tier) Hetzner shared-vCPU instances (CX series) share physical CPUs. GCP's E2 series likewise uses shared resources (e2-medium), while e2-standard and n2-standard offer dedicated cores. The comparison shows both vCPU counts transparently: ([Hetzner Cloud: current price list](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/)) ([GCP Compute Engine: current price list](https://cloud.google.com/compute/all-pricing)) | RAM tier | Hetzner (shared vCPU) | GCP E2 (On-Demand) | Factor | | -------- | -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------ | | 4 GB | CX23: 2 vCPU – **€5.49**/month | e2-medium: 2 vCPU – **\~€28**/month | 5.1x | | 8 GB | CX33: 4 vCPU – **€8.49**/month | e2-standard-2: 2 vCPU – **\~€55**/month | 6.5x | | 16 GB | CX43: 8 vCPU – **€15.99**/month | e2-standard-4: 4 vCPU – **\~€111**/month | 6.9x | | 32 GB | CX53: 16 vCPU – **€29.49**/month | e2-standard-8: 8 vCPU – **\~€222**/month | 7.5x | [GCP europe-west3 Frankfurt: instance pricing](https://gcloud-compute.com/europe-west3.html) If you need higher CPU consistency on GCP (N2 series), you pay even more: | RAM tier | Hetzner (dedicated) | GCP N2 (On-Demand) | Factor | | -------- | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------ | | 16 GB | CCX23: 4 vCPU – **€85.99**/month | n2-standard-4: 4 vCPU – **\~€161**/month | 1.9x | | 32 GB | CCX33: 8 vCPU – **€138.49**/month | n2-standard-8: 8 vCPU – **\~€322**/month | 2.3x | ### Storage and traffic | Resource | Hetzner | GCP | | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | Block storage (SSD) | €0.057/GB/month | pd-ssd: \~€0.180/GB/month | | Block storage (balanced SSD) | – | pd-balanced: \~€0.106/GB/month | | Included traffic | **20 TB/month** (EU locations) | **200 GB/month** (Standard Tier, free) | | Egress 0–1 TB | €1/TB (beyond the included volume) | \~€106/TB | | Egress 1–10 TB | €1/TB | \~€97/TB | [GCP: Network Egress Pricing](https://cloud.google.com/vpc/network-pricing) [Hetzner: included traffic volume](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/billing/faq/) [Hetzner: Block Storage / Cloud Volumes](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/block-storage/) - **2.3x** – Cost factor: Hetzner dedicated (CCX33) vs. GCP N2 for the same configuration (8 vCPU / 32 GB) - **20 TB** – Traffic included with Hetzner – GCP offers only 200 GB free - **\~106x** – GCP egress costs \~€106/TB vs. Hetzner €1/TB (first TB tier) ### Worked example: a typical SaaS workload A mid-sized SaaS product with 2 app servers, 1 database server, 500 GB of storage, and 5 TB of monthly egress traffic: | Line item | Hetzner | GCP | | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | 2x app servers (16 GB RAM) | 2× CX43: €31.98 | 2× e2-standard-4: €222.00 | | 1x database server (16 GB RAM) | 1× CCX23 (self-hosted PostgreSQL): €85.99 | Cloud SQL (4 vCPU / 16 GB): \~€254.00 | | 500 GB block storage | €28.60 | pd-balanced: €53.00 | | 5 TB egress traffic | €0.00 (within the included volume) | \~€493.00 | | **Monthly total** | **\~€147** | **\~€1,022** | | **Annual cost** | **\~€1,759** | **\~€12,264** | That works out to a factor of **\~7x** – driven mainly by GCP egress costs and pricier managed services. ([GCP: Cloud SQL Pricing](https://cloud.google.com/sql/pricing)) > **Info:** **Important:** Hetzner does not offer a managed database. The Hetzner line item uses a dedicated CCX23 server running self-hosted PostgreSQL. GCP Cloud SQL is a managed service with automatic backups, failover, and patching – with Hetzner, this is either your own responsibility or handled via third-party tools. > **Tip:** **GCP Sustained Use Discounts** automatically cut costs by up to 20% at full utilization. Committed Use Discounts (1 year: \~37%, 3 years: \~55%) lower the bill further – though with a minimum-term commitment. Even with a 55% discount, GCP remains considerably more expensive than Hetzner. ## Performance benchmarks GCP delivers excellent network performance thanks to Google's own fiber backbone. For pure compute workloads within the EU, Hetzner delivers comparable performance at a fraction of the cost. | Metric | Hetzner | GCP | | -------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | Network latency (intra-DC) | Very good (\~0.3 ms) | Very good (\~0.2 ms) | | Disk I/O (SSD) | Good (Hetzner local NVMe) | Variable (pd-ssd, network-attached) | | CPU consistency | High (dedicated CCX series) | High (N2 series) | | Network throughput | Up to 10 Gbit/s | Up to 32 Gbit/s (expensive instances) | | Global backbone | Public internet | Own fiber network (Premium Tier) | ## Sovereignty and compliance The structural difference is the same as with AWS – GCP is a US company. The legal details on the [CLOUD Act and the risk to EU data](https://anvilstack.eu/en/compliance/cloud-act-data-risk.md) apply here just as much: | Criterion | Hetzner | GCP | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Owner | Hetzner Online GmbH, Gunzenhausen (DE) | Google LLC, Mountain View (US) | | CLOUD Act exposure | None – not under US jurisdiction | Full – US parent company | | GDPR compliance | Native – EU law only | Legal conflicts with US law | | BSI C5 attestation | Yes – Type 2 (since March 2026) | Yes (C5:2020) | | ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes (+ ISO 27017, 27018, 27701) | | EU data centers | Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki | Frankfurt, Berlin, Zurich, and more (11+ EU regions) | | Data centers worldwide | 6 locations, 3 continents | 40+ regions, global | | Sovereign cloud option | Native – German GmbH | Google Distributed Cloud with T-Systems (surcharge) | | Data processing | EU law applies exclusively | US law can override GDPR | [Hetzner: data privacy FAQ](https://docs.hetzner.com/general/general-terms-and-conditions/data-privacy-faq/) [GCP: BSI C5 Compliance](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/bsi-c5) [Hetzner: BSI C5 attestation Type 2 (March 2026)](https://www.hetzner.com/de/news/hetzner-receives-bsi-c5-certification/) ### Google's sovereign-cloud answer: the T-Systems partnership With **Google Distributed Cloud Hosted** (operated by T-Systems), Google offers a sovereign cloud option: T-Systems acts as the data trustee, and Google has no access to customer data or encryption keys. ([Google Distributed Cloud](https://cloud.google.com/distributed-cloud)) It sounds good – but it comes with caveats: - **Significantly more expensive** than standard GCP (a surcharge for T-Systems operation) - **Limited service portfolio** – not all GCP services are available - **Added complexity** – another contractual party in the stack - **Limited availability** – primarily for the public sector and regulated industries For most DACH SMEs, Hetzner is the simpler and cheaper route to EU data sovereignty – without third-party constructs. ## Where GCP is the better choice A fair comparison has to acknowledge where GCP holds genuine advantages: - **BigQuery:** A serverless, petabyte-scale data warehouse. For data-intensive companies, this is often the main reason to choose GCP. Hetzner offers nothing comparable – you would have to run ClickHouse or Apache Spark yourself. - **Vertex AI and Gemini:** Google's ML platform with access to Gemini models, AutoML, and TPU accelerators. For AI/ML workloads, GCP has one of the strongest offerings on the market. - **GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine):** Widely regarded as the best managed Kubernetes service. Autopilot mode, built-in service mesh, Binary Authorization. Hetzner offers basic managed K8s, but without that depth. - **Cloud Run:** Serverless container execution with scale-to-zero. Ideal for microservices and APIs. No Hetzner equivalent. - **Global network:** Google operates one of the largest private fiber networks in the world. Premium Tier networking routes traffic over Google's backbone – lower latency worldwide than public internet peering. - **Cloud CDN:** Caches at more than 100 locations worldwide, integrated with load balancing. Hetzner has no CDN. - **Data analytics stack:** Pub/Sub, Dataflow, Looker – an end-to-end analytics stack that you would have to build entirely yourself on Hetzner. ([GCP: full overview of products and services](https://cloud.google.com/products)) > **Tip:** **If you actively use BigQuery, Vertex AI, or GKE Autopilot**, a migration to Hetzner is not a lift-and-shift. These services have no direct open-source equivalent. An architecture review is needed to assess the real degree of vendor lock-in. ## Where Hetzner is the better choice - **Price/performance:** Roughly 2–8x cheaper depending on configuration – even with GCP's Sustained Use Discounts. - **Predictable costs:** No egress-pricing shock. 20 TB of traffic included, then €1/TB instead of \~€106/TB. - **EU data sovereignty:** No CLOUD Act, no FISA 702, no US parent company. Structurally GDPR-compliant – without costly sovereign-cloud constructs. - **Simplicity:** Fewer services, but the essential ones (compute, storage, load balancer, DNS, firewall) work reliably and are configured in minutes. - **Transparent billing:** Fixed monthly prices instead of usage-based billing with SUDs, CUDs, and dozens of cost dimensions. - **SSD storage costs:** Hetzner Block Storage costs €0.057/GB – GCP pd-ssd costs €0.180/GB (3.2x more). ([Hetzner Cloud: pricing and features](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/)) ## When to choose which provider **Choose Hetzner if:** - GDPR compliance and data sovereignty are business-critical - the budget is limited and predictable costs matter more than a broad managed-service catalog - the tech stack is built on proven open-source tools (PostgreSQL, Redis, Node.js, Go) - the target audience is primarily in the DACH region / EU - no data-warehouse or ML-platform services are required **Choose GCP if:** - BigQuery, Vertex AI, or other GCP-native data services are core components of the architecture - global scaling on Google's premium network is required - GKE Autopilot is indispensable for complex Kubernetes workloads - managed databases (Cloud SQL, Spanner, Firestore) with automatic failover are required - US law poses no compliance problem (e.g. US customers, no EU personal data) **The reality for most DACH SMEs:** You need compute, a database, storage, and good support – not a petabyte data warehouse or an ML platform. For 95% of mid-market SaaS workloads, Hetzner is the better choice both economically and from a regulatory standpoint. In a free initial consultation, we clarify your starting point and goal; the Analysis then evaluates your GCP infrastructure and calculates the savings potential. We deliver the full [migration and hardening](https://anvilstack.eu/en/services/platform-development.md) to EU-sovereign Hetzner infrastructure at €6,000 per month over 6 months (€36,000 total) – with a working application as the result, not just a migration plan. [Book a no-obligation initial consultation](https://anvilstack.eu/en/contact) ## Frequently asked questions ### How much cheaper is Hetzner than Google Cloud? For an identical configuration (8 vCPU / 32 GB dedicated), Hetzner is roughly 2.3x cheaper. For a typical SaaS workload the factor climbs to around 7x – driven mainly by GCP egress costs. ### Is Google Cloud Frankfurt subject to the CLOUD Act? Yes. Google Cloud is owned by Google LLC (US). The CLOUD Act applies regardless of where the servers sit. ### What is Google Distributed Cloud with T-Systems? A sovereign cloud offering in which T-Systems acts as a data trustee. It is significantly more expensive than standard GCP, has a limited service portfolio, and is aimed primarily at the public sector. ### When is GCP still the better choice? When BigQuery, Vertex AI, or GKE Autopilot are core components of your architecture. These services have no direct open-source equivalent. ### How high are GCP egress costs by comparison? GCP charges around €106/TB for egress traffic (first TB tier). Hetzner includes 20 TB/month free, then €1/TB after that. The difference is a factor of about 106x. ### Can AnvilStack help with a GCP migration? Yes. Migrating and hardening from GCP to Hetzner – security fixes, CI/CD setup, monitoring – are part of our engagement (€6,000/month over 6 months, €36,000 total); the initial consultation is free. A typical migration takes 2 to 6 weeks. ## Sources - [Hetzner Cloud: current price list (following the price adjustment of 15 June 2026)](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/) - [GCP Compute Engine: price list (2026)](https://cloud.google.com/compute/all-pricing) - [GCP europe-west3 Frankfurt: instance pricing and availability](https://gcloud-compute.com/europe-west3.html) - [GCP: Network Egress Pricing](https://cloud.google.com/vpc/network-pricing) - [GCP: Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL Pricing](https://cloud.google.com/sql/pricing) - [Hetzner: included traffic volume and overage costs](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/billing/faq/) - [Hetzner: Block Storage / Cloud Volumes](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/block-storage/) - [Hetzner: data privacy FAQ – GDPR and data processing](https://docs.hetzner.com/general/general-terms-and-conditions/data-privacy-faq/) - [Hetzner: BSI C5 attestation Type 2 (March 2026)](https://www.hetzner.com/de/news/hetzner-receives-bsi-c5-certification/) - [GCP: BSI C5 Attestation](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/bsi-c5) - [Google Distributed Cloud (Sovereign Cloud with T-Systems)](https://cloud.google.com/distributed-cloud) - [GCP: full overview of all products and services](https://cloud.google.com/products) - [BSI C5: Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue](https://www.bsi.bund.de/EN/Themen/Unternehmen-und-Organisationen/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Empfehlungen-nach-Angriffszielen/Cloud-Computing/Kriterienkatalog-C5/kriterienkatalog-c5_node.html)