Compare / Azure App Service vs Hetzner Cloud
Azure App Service vs Hetzner Cloud
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Azure App Service checked 2026-08-06, Hetzner Cloud checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Azure App Service wins more of our comparison points, but Hetzner Cloud still fits if european projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic describes you.
Price Hetzner Cloud
Hetzner Cloud is cheaper at every stage we model — about €43.49/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Azure App Service
Azure App Service is easier to get running: connect GitHub Actions from the portal, push to a local git remote, or run `az webapp up` — runtime stacks for Node, Python, .NET, PHP, and Java are built in.
Control Hetzner Cloud
Hetzner Cloud gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Free tier Azure App Service
Azure App Service has a free tier; Hetzner Cloud doesn't.
Features Azure App Service
Azure App Service comes out ahead on 7 of the 15 features we track, versus 1.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Azure App Service | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams in the Microsoft ecosystem — .NET shops, enterprise-adjacent projects, or anyone whose employer already pays for Azure. | European projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic. |
| How deploys work | Connect GitHub Actions from the portal, push to a local git remote, or run `az webapp up` — runtime stacks for Node, Python, .NET, PHP, and Java are built in. | You get root on a bare server: bring your own setup, or use one-click apps like Docker and WordPress. |
| The tradeoff | Capable and git-friendly, but you pay PaaS prices per plan and navigate the most complicated tier system here. | Self-managed like any VPS, and the bandwidth advantage mostly applies to EU locations. |
| Free tier | F1 Free tier: 1 GB RAM, 60 CPU-minutes/day, no custom domain or SLA. Plus a $200/30-day new-account credit. | None |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Azure App Service | Hetzner Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$13.14/mo B1 Basic (Linux) — 1 core, 1.75 GB RAM, 10 GB storage, custom domains and SSL, 99.95% SLA. West Europe pricing. | ≈€5.99/mo CX23 (EU) — €5.49 + €0.50 IPv4. 2 shared vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic. Germany and Finland only. | Hetzner Cloud |
| Steady traffic | ≈$32/mo B1 + managed PostgreSQL — ~$13 B1 Linux plus ~$19 for the cheapest PostgreSQL Flexible Server (B1ms + 32 GiB storage). | ≈€8.99/mo CX33 (EU) — €8.49 + €0.50 IPv4. 4 shared vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic. | Hetzner Cloud |
| Growing | ≈$84/mo P0v3 + managed PostgreSQL — ~$65 Premium P0v3 (1 vCPU, 4 GB, autoscale and slots) plus ~$19 for managed PostgreSQL. | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) — €42.99 + €0.50 IPv4. 2 dedicated vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe — move to dedicated CPUs when shared bursting stops being enough. | Hetzner Cloud |
Azure App Service pricing notes
- Prices are West Europe, per App Service Plan (~730 h/month); they vary by region.
- Windows plans cost roughly 4× Linux at the Basic tier because the license is baked in.
- Bandwidth: first 100 GB/month free, then about $0.087/GB.
- Savings plans and reservations cut Premium prices by up to ~55%.
Hetzner Cloud pricing notes
- Traffic overage costs €1/TB in the EU — most providers charge 10–100x that per GB.
- Billed hourly up to a monthly cap.
- The Arm-based CAX plans match CX specs at similar prices if the Intel CX line is out of stock.
Our ratings
Ease of use Azure App Service
Pricing clarity Hetzner Cloud
Free tier Azure App Service
Scaling Azure App Service
Control Hetzner Cloud
Feature by feature
Azure App Service wins 7, Hetzner Cloud wins 1, with 7 even.
Deploy workflow
| Azure App Service | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes GitHub Actions wired from the portal, local git push, or ZIP deploy. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | Partial Deployment slots (Standard tier and up) give staging environments, but no automatic PR previews. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes `az webapp up` deploys an app in one command. | Yes hcloud CLI manages servers, networks, and snapshots. |
| Instant rollbacks | Partial Slot swaps revert instantly on Standard+; Basic and Free redeploy the old build instead. | Partial Snapshots and paid backups restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Azure App Service | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with managed certificates from the B1 tier up. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Partial Azure Front Door / CDN integrate but are separate billed services. | No No CDN product — put Cloudflare in front if needed. |
| Serverless functions | Partial Azure Functions is a sibling product and can even run on the same plan, but it is not part of App Service itself. | No Not a VPS feature. |
| Docker containers | Yes Custom containers are first-class on Linux plans. | Yes Docker CE one-click app or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | Partial Browser and CLI SSH into the app container — not a VM you own. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Yes West Europe, North Europe, Germany, France, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Spain, and more. | Yes Germany and Finland are the home turf — this is where the value is. |
Runtime & operations
| Azure App Service | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Partial Rule-based autoscale from the Standard tier; smarter automatic scaling needs Premium. | No Manual resizing or manual fleet management. |
| Scale to zero | No Paid plans bill continuously; only the free F1 tier unloads idle apps (with cold starts). | No Servers bill until deleted, even powered off. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes WebJobs run scheduled and background tasks inside the plan. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Yes Azure Database for PostgreSQL/MySQL from ~$19/month, plus SQL Database and Cosmos DB. | No No managed database product — self-host or go external. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Yes Application Insights is deeply integrated — but ingestion bills per GB. | Partial Basic server graphs in the console; app-level monitoring is yours. |
Watch out for
Azure App Service
- A Windows B1 plan costs ~$55/month versus ~$13 for the same tier on Linux — and default tooling sometimes nudges you toward Windows.
- You pay per App Service Plan, not per app: a second plan doubles the bill even if both are nearly idle.
- The free F1 tier has a hard 60 CPU-minutes/day quota that silently stops your app when exhausted.
- Ride-along services (Application Insights ingestion, Defender for Cloud) show up as surprise line items.
- The spending cap only exists on credit subscriptions (free trial, MSDN) — pay-as-you-go has alerts only.
Hetzner Cloud
- Hetzner raised prices on 15 June 2026: dedicated CCX and shared CPX plans roughly tripled, while the budget CX line rose about 35%.
- The cheap CX plans are sold in Germany and Finland only, in limited capacity — Hetzner sometimes pauses sales when stock runs out.
- US locations include only 1–2 TB of traffic versus 20 TB in the EU — the famous value is a European value.
- A public IPv4 address costs €0.50/month extra; only IPv6 is free.
- Servers bill until deleted, even while powered off.
Read the full reviews: Azure App Service and Hetzner Cloud. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.