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The prices seem cheaper than Digital Ocean and AWS Lightsail. What's the catch ?

konha 4y ago
Their cloud offering isn’t as polished yet. No managed databases for example. Other than that they’ve got a long track record and a good reputation for providing competitively priced servers.
jebronie 4y ago
No catch, which is why Hetzner is so popular.
princevegeta89 4y ago
Less greed. This is the catch
ducktective 4y ago
You can't easily increase the balance of your account! I kid you not, the advocated method of paying is clearing the invoice at the end of the month.
- Hetzner_OL 4y ago
  We are, indeed, very careful about new customers and limits, but we do this not to be mean, but to prevent abuse. Preventing abuse also means improving the overall performance for all of our customers. So by being careful about limits, we are also trying to make your experience -- in the end -- a much more positive one. --Katie, Hetzner
  - ducktective 4y ago
    I mean, is there a feature in the UI to charge the account by like 20$ for old customers? Last time I checked the FAQ, you can only do so by direct wire transfer of your bank not Hetzner UI.
    - kuschku 4y ago
      Well, why not? With SEPA ICT wire transfers are instant and cheap, why build a custom web UI with fraud handling and all that if you can just use SEPA transfers?
  - dhdgrygev 4y ago
    I've seen a lot of customers frustrated with the limits and how reluctant you are to raise them, I assume because people weren't paying their invoices. Perhaps it could be an option to let people back up their words with money up front? I.e. put $10k in the account, proves you can probably afford more than 10 servers.
    - cmeacham98 4y ago
      Given that they mention abuse elsewhere in this thread, I assume the problem is related to stolen cards and thus can't really be fixed by accepting money upfront.
i_am_proteus 4y ago
It's slightly more work, in my experience, to set up and administrate a Hetzner VPS, than to do the same with DO or AWS. Slightly. Trivially slightly. I use Hetzner and I have been nothing but happy with their product and service.
- christophilus 4y ago
  Yeah. For me, the only thing I miss when using Hetzner is the lack of a good startup script. Hetzner has something like an Ansible YML file you can use, but then if you want to reimage your machine, it doesn't give you any choice (that I've found) except to reuse the original script. What I'd like to have is something like Linode's start scripts feature which I've always found to be very nicely implemented.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    Why have startup scripts when you can run your very own images? `Installimage` (https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-systems/installimage https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-sy...) allows you to install and run your own custom images, so run any bootstrapping once, create image from the results and then install that on the machines. If you really really need startup scripts, it'll be trivial to add it to your own image. Packer (and similar tooling) makes it trivial to create your own images as well.
    - christophilus 4y ago
      It's just a minor gripe, but... a simple bash script (like Linode's start scripts) is a lot easier than what Hetzner offers-- a custom ISO? Nah. I'll just scp my script when the server is ready and run it myself.
    - Hetzner_OL 4y ago
      Hetzner Cloud also has an extensive ISO library, and if there is something that is missing from that library that you would like to have -- including a specific custom image -- customers can write a support ticket on Cloud Console and our team can upload it for you. --Katie
berkes 4y ago
In my experience there's no real "catch". Just trade-offs. Hetzner offers "managed bare metal", for extremely competitive prices. But, in my experience, exactly what I'd expects: "pay peanuts, get peanuts". I love, and chose them for some proof of concepts, early phase and hobby projects. But would not choose them for anything that requires serious stability and availability. Not because they have flakey or even unpredictable service, but because the trade-off is that "bare metal" requires more work done by me, more responsibility for me, less options for quick failover and so on. Just like for some situations, a server in your attic is the perfect fit, yet for others a managed cloud infra is the perfect fit, hetzner has some sweet spots.
habibur 4y ago
Hetzner was launched [or may be got popular] after DigitalOcean took off. Since then they priced their boxes competitively relative to DO. A little bit less. That's still holding. Also note that at that time hosting in Europe wasn't a popular option, unlike what we see now.
- senko 4y ago
  You may be talking about their VPS offering. Dedicated servers there were an option way before DigitalOcean, if I remember correctly (I recall at one point having some Linode and some Hetzner servers, DigitalOcean was not in the picture).
- christophilus 4y ago
  Hetzner has been around for 20 years, IIRC. Their cloud offering is newer, though.
usrusr 4y ago
Nobody is getting "trickle down"-level rich from it. It's an organically grown company that bootstrapped without any big high risk/high reward investment that expects massive returns in absence of failure. Basically a mom&pop from what in the US would be considered flyover that just happens to have found its way to large scale competetiveness. Through a unique combination of frugality and decisive spending I think. Early example: a weirdly memorable ad captaign around 2000 that for many years occupied the single most expensive computer related print ad slot in Germany (decisive spending) with a series of ads that seemed not quite "high production values", but also not deliberately grungy, a weird "definitely trying to be high gloss perfection, but somehow not quite there" (like in-house best effort or some local design house, certainly not the big-name agency you'd expect for ads on that slot). More recent example: their hardware seems to be a continuation from early-Google style "desktops on shelves" that's now a custom rack design (still noticeably lower density than typical 16") that's all about finding good price/reliability spots in cheap CotS parts, e.g. according to certain "begins the scene" blogger visits they sort for publicity, price-optimized custom versions of desktop mainboards (same PCB but not placing any parts they don't need). Chances are company with big investor backing would either go all standard rack parts (from a supplier like Dell or something like that) or go all in designing their own.

Their cloud offering isn’t as polished yet. No managed databases for example. Other than that they’ve got a long track record and a good reputation for providing competitively priced servers.

jebronie 4y ago

No catch, which is why Hetzner is so popular.

princevegeta89 4y ago

Less greed. This is the catch

ducktective 4y ago

You can't easily increase the balance of your account! I kid you not, the advocated method of paying is clearing the invoice at the end of the month.

Hetzner_OL 4y ago
We are, indeed, very careful about new customers and limits, but we do this not to be mean, but to prevent abuse. Preventing abuse also means improving the overall performance for all of our customers. So by being careful about limits, we are also trying to make your experience -- in the end -- a much more positive one. --Katie, Hetzner
- ducktective 4y ago
  I mean, is there a feature in the UI to charge the account by like 20$ for old customers? Last time I checked the FAQ, you can only do so by direct wire transfer of your bank not Hetzner UI.
  - kuschku 4y ago
    Well, why not? With SEPA ICT wire transfers are instant and cheap, why build a custom web UI with fraud handling and all that if you can just use SEPA transfers?
- dhdgrygev 4y ago
  I've seen a lot of customers frustrated with the limits and how reluctant you are to raise them, I assume because people weren't paying their invoices. Perhaps it could be an option to let people back up their words with money up front? I.e. put $10k in the account, proves you can probably afford more than 10 servers.
  - cmeacham98 4y ago
    Given that they mention abuse elsewhere in this thread, I assume the problem is related to stolen cards and thus can't really be fixed by accepting money upfront.

i_am_proteus 4y ago

It's slightly more work, in my experience, to set up and administrate a Hetzner VPS, than to do the same with DO or AWS. Slightly. Trivially slightly. I use Hetzner and I have been nothing but happy with their product and service.

christophilus 4y ago
Yeah. For me, the only thing I miss when using Hetzner is the lack of a good startup script. Hetzner has something like an Ansible YML file you can use, but then if you want to reimage your machine, it doesn't give you any choice (that I've found) except to reuse the original script. What I'd like to have is something like Linode's start scripts feature which I've always found to be very nicely implemented.
- capableweb 4y ago
  Why have startup scripts when you can run your very own images? `Installimage` (https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-systems/installimage https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-sy...) allows you to install and run your own custom images, so run any bootstrapping once, create image from the results and then install that on the machines. If you really really need startup scripts, it'll be trivial to add it to your own image. Packer (and similar tooling) makes it trivial to create your own images as well.
  - christophilus 4y ago
    It's just a minor gripe, but... a simple bash script (like Linode's start scripts) is a lot easier than what Hetzner offers-- a custom ISO? Nah. I'll just scp my script when the server is ready and run it myself.
  - Hetzner_OL 4y ago
    Hetzner Cloud also has an extensive ISO library, and if there is something that is missing from that library that you would like to have -- including a specific custom image -- customers can write a support ticket on Cloud Console and our team can upload it for you. --Katie

berkes 4y ago

In my experience there's no real "catch". Just trade-offs. Hetzner offers "managed bare metal", for extremely competitive prices. But, in my experience, exactly what I'd expects: "pay peanuts, get peanuts". I love, and chose them for some proof of concepts, early phase and hobby projects. But would not choose them for anything that requires serious stability and availability. Not because they have flakey or even unpredictable service, but because the trade-off is that "bare metal" requires more work done by me, more responsibility for me, less options for quick failover and so on. Just like for some situations, a server in your attic is the perfect fit, yet for others a managed cloud infra is the perfect fit, hetzner has some sweet spots.

habibur 4y ago

Hetzner was launched [or may be got popular] after DigitalOcean took off. Since then they priced their boxes competitively relative to DO. A little bit less. That's still holding. Also note that at that time hosting in Europe wasn't a popular option, unlike what we see now.

senko 4y ago
You may be talking about their VPS offering. Dedicated servers there were an option way before DigitalOcean, if I remember correctly (I recall at one point having some Linode and some Hetzner servers, DigitalOcean was not in the picture).
christophilus 4y ago
Hetzner has been around for 20 years, IIRC. Their cloud offering is newer, though.

usrusr 4y ago

Nobody is getting "trickle down"-level rich from it. It's an organically grown company that bootstrapped without any big high risk/high reward investment that expects massive returns in absence of failure. Basically a mom&pop from what in the US would be considered flyover that just happens to have found its way to large scale competetiveness. Through a unique combination of frugality and decisive spending I think. Early example: a weirdly memorable ad captaign around 2000 that for many years occupied the single most expensive computer related print ad slot in Germany (decisive spending) with a series of ads that seemed not quite "high production values", but also not deliberately grungy, a weird "definitely trying to be high gloss perfection, but somehow not quite there" (like in-house best effort or some local design house, certainly not the big-name agency you'd expect for ads on that slot). More recent example: their hardware seems to be a continuation from early-Google style "desktops on shelves" that's now a custom rack design (still noticeably lower density than typical 16") that's all about finding good price/reliability spots in cheap CotS parts, e.g. according to certain "begins the scene" blogger visits they sort for publicity, price-optimized custom versions of desktop mainboards (same PCB but not placing any parts they don't need). Chances are company with big investor backing would either go all standard rack parts (from a supplier like Dell or something like that) or go all in designing their own.