DO Spaces vs Hetzner
Cloud object storage pricing comparison. For a mid-size SaaS workload, Hetzner is cheaper.
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Personal site, small app, or hobby project: 10GB storage, 50GB egress, 10,000 writes, 100,000 reads per month.
| Cost Component | DO Spaces | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.20 | $0.05 |
| Egress | $0.50 | $0.50 |
| API Requests | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Monthly Total | $0.70 | $0.55 |
| Annual Total | $8 | $7 |
Hetzner is 21% cheaper for this scenario, saving $0.15/mo ($2/year).
Feature Comparison
| Feature | DO Spaces | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Compatible | Yes | Yes |
| Zero Egress Cost | No | No |
| Free Tier | No | No |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | No | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | No |
| Encryption at Rest | Yes | Yes |
| Customer-Managed Keys | No | No |
| Sensitive Data | limited | limited |
| Data Residency | US, EU, AP | EU |
| CDN Integration | built-in, cloudflare | cloudflare |
Strengths & Weaknesses
DO Spaces
Pros
- +Built-in CDN included
- +Simple $5/mo base (250GB storage + 1TB egress)
- +S3-compatible API
- +Developer-friendly dashboard
Cons
- −No free tier
- −No HIPAA
- −No customer-managed encryption keys
- −Fewer regions than hyperscalers
Hetzner
Pros
- +Very cheap storage ($0.0052/GB)
- +EU data residency (Germany)
- +No API request fees
- +S3-compatible API
Cons
- −EU-only regions
- −No SOC 2 or HIPAA
- −No free tier
- −Minimal feature set
When to Choose Which
Choose DO Spaces if you need:
- Small to mid-size projects needing built-in CDN
- DigitalOcean Droplet users
- Simple static asset hosting
Choose Hetzner if you need:
- European projects needing cheap storage
- German data residency
- Hetzner server users