Hetzner vs. Cloudways (2025): The Raw Power KING vs. The Managed SPEED DEMON... Who Wins?
One is the undisputed king of performance-per-dollar for developers who can manage their own servers. The other is a premium managed platform that makes high-speed cloud hosting accessible to everyone. This is the ultimate battle between DIY power and managed convenience.
At a Glance: The Final Verdict
| Feature | Hetzner | Cloudways | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price & Value | ★★★★★ Excellent | ★★★★☆ Very Good | Hetzner |
| Performance (Raw Hardware) | ★★★★★ Excellent | ★★★★★ Excellent | Tie |
| Interface & Ease of Use | ★★★★☆ Good (For Experts) | ★★★★★ Excellent | Cloudways |
| Support & Management | ★★★☆☆ Good (Unmanaged) | ★★★★★ Excellent (Managed) | Cloudways |
| Overall | 4.7 / 5.0 | 4.9 / 5.0 | Cloudways |
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Hetzner | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Management Level | Unmanaged | Managed Platform |
| Control Panel | Custom Cloud Console | Custom Application Platform |
| Optimized Stack (Pre-configured) | No (DIY) | Yes (Nginx, Varnish, Redis) |
| Backups | Paid Add-on | Paid Add-on (Easy) |
| Billing Model | Hourly/Monthly | Pay-As-You-Go |
Performance & Benchmarks
A raw power champion vs. a finely-tuned speed machine. Both deliver elite performance.
Hetzner
Hetzner's AMD EPYC CPUs are legendary for a reason. They deliver some of the best raw compute performance on the market, with a Geekbench score of over 1500. It's an unmanaged beast waiting to be tamed.
Unbeatable Raw Power
Cloudways
Cloudways takes powerful hardware (like Vultr HF) and adds its optimized "ThunderStack". This delivers incredible application speed out of the box, with a Geekbench score of ~1400 and a faster TTFB for WordPress.
Optimized Application Speed
Pricing & Value Comparison
| Plan (Closest Match) | Provider | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Price/Month (Approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPX21 | Hetzner | 4 GB | 80 GB NVMe | 20 TB | €8.32 |
| Vultr HF 2GB | Cloudways | 2 GB | 64 GB NVMe | 2 TB | $26.00 |
Who Should You Choose?
Choose Hetzner if...
You are an experienced developer or sysadmin who wants the absolute best performance-per-dollar and are comfortable managing every aspect of your server. If you live in the command line, Hetzner's value is simply unbeatable.
Visit HetznerChoose Cloudways if...
You are an agency, business owner, or developer who values time, convenience, and optimized performance. If you want the power of a top-tier cloud server without the headaches of managing it, the Cloudways platform is worth every penny.
Visit CloudwaysExpert's Advice
This is a clear choice between raw materials and a finished product. Hetzner gives you the best raw materials (CPU, RAM, traffic) for an incredibly low price. Cloudways gives you a finely-tuned, high-performance final product with expert support. For hobbyists and hardcore sysadmins, Hetzner is the undisputed value king. But for any business, agency, or user whose time is more valuable than a few extra dollars a month, Cloudways is the definitive winner and the smarter, more efficient choice.
