You launch a European application — API, B2B SaaS, headless shop. Natural short list: Hetzner Cloud and OVHcloud VPS. Two continental giants, two philosophies: German self-service price and performance versus complete French ecosystem with local support.
Bad comparison: a price line alone on a tariff page. Good comparison: the same scenario (traffic, support, backups, compliance) projected over 12 months, with a real team behind the machine.
Profiles in brief
Hetzner — Directory score 8.5, performance 9.1, price 9.4, support 6.8. Datacenters in Germany and Finland, ecology A+, ISO 27001. From ~€3.79. Ideal for autonomous technical profiles comfortable in English or German.
OVHcloud — Score 8.7, sovereignty 9, 24/7 French support, shared-to-cloud range, partial HDS on some offers. From ~€3.49 with variable promo. Ideal for French SMEs and mixed stacks that want to upgrade without changing host.
These figures guide the short list; they do not replace testing on your own application.
Scenario comparison — equivalent entry VPS
| Criterion | Hetzner Cloud (CX22) | OVHcloud VPS |
|---|---|---|
| Catalogue price | ~€4/month stable | ~€4-6 promo then renewal |
| Disk performance | Excellent NVMe | Correct NVMe by range |
| EU regions | DE, FI | FR, DE, PL, UK… |
| Support | EN/DE | FR 24/7 |
| Anti-DDoS | Network included | Included, strong history |
| Snapshots | Paid, clear API | Options by product |
| Learning curve | Medium | Familiar FR panel |
The table does not say who answers at 2 a.m. in French — often the decisive criterion for an SME.
Scenario A — Autonomous tech startup
DevOps team, English or German comfortable, tight budget, CI/CD with Terraform or Ansible. Hetzner wins: clear API, stable price, excellent disk performance. Budget external support if a major incident hits on a weekend.
Scenario B — French SME e-commerce
French agency, possible night tickets, simple EU billing, possible HDS upgrade later. OVHcloud wins: support in your language, commercial proximity, upgrade path without forced migration.
Scenario C — GDPR-sensitive workload
DPA requirement, locked France region, possible future HDS. OVHcloud with Roubaix or Gravelines region plus reading available certifications. Hetzner in Germany remains GDPR-valid but French support is limited — trade-off between audit requirements and daily operational comfort.
Total cost: beyond catalogue price
Compare billed outbound traffic, backup snapshots, extra IP addresses and time spent opening tickets. A €4 VPS consuming €50 outbound traffic is not the same choice as a €6 all-in VPS.
The climax: comparison is who answers at 2 a.m.
Decide and move forward without blind spots
Deploy an identical staging environment on both hosts: application deploy, snapshot, restore, test support ticket. Calculate 12-month total cost including outbound traffic, snapshots and time spent on support. Read profiles Hetzner and OVHcloud, the compare tool and directory on your exact scenario.
Frequently asked questions
Hetzner or OVHcloud for Node/Python API?
Hetzner suits if your team is autonomous in English or German and seeks the best NVMe price/performance. OVHcloud takes the lead if 24/7 French support, French billing and a wider ecosystem (load balancer, managed database) are priorities for your organisation.
Which is cheaper at equivalent scope?
Hetzner Cloud CX22 (~€4/month) usually undercuts OVHcloud entry VPS — but compare outbound traffic, backup snapshots and included support. A low catalogue price can hide recurring costs on traffic or backups.
GDPR: OVHcloud or Hetzner?
Both operate in the European Union with standard DPA. OVHcloud France also offers HDS and SecNumCloud on certain dedicated ranges; Hetzner Germany/Finland is ISO 27001 certified. Choose region and product by your audit, not the homepage logo alone.
Can you combine both?
Yes — Hetzner production for performance plus OVH backup or monitoring, or Hetzner staging plus OVH production for French support. This avoids vendor lock-in and enables continuous benchmarking between both environments.
Two credible European VPS — choose the one that speaks your language when production fails, not only when it runs.