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Netcup vs Hetzner in 2026: which one should you pick?

Updated 3 October 2026Prices copied from each provider's own page

Short answer: Netcup if the server runs all year, Hetzner if you're testing for a few weeks. After Hetzner's June 2026 price increase, its 16 GB cloud server costs €69.99/month, about 3.1x Netcup's €22.62.

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The verdict

1
Best for always-on serversNetcup VPS 2000 G12.58 vCPU · 16 GB · 12-month term
€22.62/mo
See plan
2
Best for short testsHetzner CPX428 vCPU · 16 GB · billed hourly
€69.99/mo
See plan

Price by RAM size

RAM	Netcup VPS	Hetzner CPX	Hetzner CX (cost-optimized)	Hetzner vs Netcup
8 GB	€12.18 VPS 1000 G12.5	€35.99 CPX32	€8.49 CX33	3.0x
16 GB	€22.62 VPS 2000 G12.5	€69.99 CPX42	€15.99 CX43, sold out when checked	3.1x
32 GB	€38.12 VPS 4000 G12.5	€130.49 CPX62	€29.49 CX53	3.4x

Netcup prices need a 12-month term. Hetzner bills by the hour. CX prices are from Hetzner's price adjustment page (new prices from 15 June 2026); CX stock varies by location.Monthly prices excluding VAT, as shown to a visitor from Turkey (0% VAT). EU buyers pay local VAT on top.

The differences that matter

Billing. Netcup: monthly price, 12-month term for the promo price. Hetzner: hourly, delete any time. A week on Hetzner's 16 GB server costs about €19.
Price changes in 2026. Hetzner raised cloud prices on 15 June 2026. CPX42 (16 GB) went from €25.49 to €69.49. Full Hetzner price list, old vs new.
Locations. Netcup: Nuremberg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Manassas, Singapore. Hetzner cloud: Nuremberg, Helsinki, Singapore. Netcup charges €3.90 to pick a specific city.
Storage. At 16 GB, Netcup gives 256 GB and Hetzner CPX42 gives 320 GB.
Signup. Both run account checks. Netcup's are manual and can be slow for international customers; Hetzner reviewers report strict checks and sudden account shutdowns.
Spare hardware. Hetzner has a server auction with old dedicated machines, 64 GB from €65.70/month. Netcup has nothing like it.

What customers say

Netcup

3.82,978 reviews · invites reviews

People like

Strong performance and reliability for the price
Best price-to-performance ratio, per many reviewers

People complain about

Manual signup and fraud checks, with little info for international customers
Support is hard to reach when something urgent breaks
Separate portals for billing and server management
Some disputes over cancellations and refunds

Hetzner

3.02,986 reviews

People like

Fast, powerful hardware
Clean control panel and quick server delivery

People complain about

Strict account checks and sudden account or server shutdowns
Slow support on network problems
Billing and payment disputes, plus 2026 price increases

Trustpilot does not fact-check reviews. Providers on a paid Trustpilot plan can invite customers to review, which usually lifts the score. Compare scores with that in mind.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Netcup for anything that runs 24/7: AI agents, bots, websites, self-hosted apps. Same RAM for about a third of the price.
Pick Hetzner to test a setup for days or weeks, if you need hourly scaling, or if you prefer its control panel.
Neither fits? See the VPS finder for Contabo, Hostinger, DigitalOcean and Vultr at the same sizes.

Questions people ask

Is Netcup cheaper than Hetzner?

For plans you can order today, yes. On 3 October 2026 Netcup's VPS 2000 (16 GB) cost €22.62/month on a 12-month term, and Hetzner's CPX42 (16 GB) cost €69.99/month, about 3.1x more. Hetzner's cost-optimized CX43 lists at €15.99, but it was sold out when we checked.

Why did Hetzner get so expensive?

Hetzner raised cloud prices on 15 June 2026, blaming higher RAM and SSD costs. The CPX42 went from €25.49 to €69.49/month. Plans you already rent kept their old price; new orders and rescales pay the new one.

What's the catch with Netcup?

The low prices need a 12-month term, choosing a specific city costs €3.90 extra, and signup involves manual checks. Reviewers praise price-to-performance but say support is hard to reach in an emergency.

When is Hetzner the better choice?

When you want to test something for days or weeks. Hetzner bills by the hour and you can delete the server any time, so a week on a 16 GB server costs about €19. Reviewers also like its clean control panel.

Which is better for running AI agents like Claude Code?

For an always-on agent box, Netcup: you pay a third of the price for the same RAM, and agents run 24/7 anyway. We run our own agent server on a Netcup VPS. Use Hetzner to try a setup first if you don't want a 12-month commitment.