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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Hetzner Cloud

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Hetzner Cloud logo

Hetzner Cloud

Cloud

Affordable cloud servers in Europe

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Hetzner Cloud cost-Optimized plans are shown as currently unavailable
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Hetzner Cloud covers Cloud servers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Hetzner Cloud actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Hetzner Cloud differ
AttributeEarthlyHetzner Cloud
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteusage-based
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb, Api, Cli
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
Founded20201997

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

Only in Hetzner Cloud

  • Cloud servers
  • Block storage
  • Object storage
  • Load balancers
  • Networks
  • Firewalls
  • Floating IPs
  • Backups

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot Hetzner Cloud
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Hetzner Cloud
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Hetzner Cloud
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Hetzner Cloud

Hetzner Cloud

  • Low-cost virtual servers for development and testingnot Earthly
  • European hosting with data held in Germany or Finlandnot Earthly
  • Workloads with heavy egress, where included traffic mattersnot Earthly
  • Self-hosting applications away from the hyperscalersnot Earthly

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Hetzner Cloud

  • Cost-Optimized plans are shown as currently unavailable
  • The shared-resource tiers are positioned for variable usage and development rather than sustained production workloads
  • Regions are limited to Germany, Finland, the United States and Singapore, so latency to other markets is a real constraint
  • The uptime guarantee is 99.9 percent, below what the large hyperscalers offer on comparable services
  • Support is 24/7 by email, without a phone channel

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Hetzner Cloud

Free
  • CX11$3.29/month
    • 1 vCPU
    • 1GB RAM
    • 25GB SSD
  • CX21$6.59/month
    • 2 vCPU
    • 4GB RAM
    • 40GB SSD

Which should you pick?

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Choose Hetzner Cloud if

  • You need cloud servers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api, Cli.
  • You also want block storage.
Hetzner Cloud review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Hetzner Cloud better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Hetzner Cloud at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Hetzner Cloud?
Earthly starts at Free and Hetzner Cloud at Free.
Does Earthly or Hetzner Cloud run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Hetzner Cloud runs on Web, Api, Cli.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Earthly best used for?
Earthly is most often used for enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers, automating incident response procedures across all repositories, embedding compliance requirements into development workflows, standardizing build processes with earthfiles. Of those, enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers and automating incident response procedures across all repositories are not what Hetzner Cloud is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Hetzner Cloud cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Hetzner Cloud covers Cloud servers, Block storage, Object storage, Load balancers.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
Hetzner Cloud: What types of cloud plans does Hetzner Cloud offer?

Hetzner Cloud offers Shared Resource plans (Cost-Optimized and Regular Performance) for development and testing, and Dedicated Resource plans (General Purpose) for business applications. Plans are available with a price calculator on their website.

Source
Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
Hetzner Cloud: What is included with Hetzner Cloud servers?

Every cloud server comes with free one-click apps like Docker, WordPress, Nextcloud, and GitLab. All servers include stateful firewalls at no additional cost, networking capabilities, APIs, and CLI tools.

Source
Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
Hetzner Cloud: Where are Hetzner Cloud servers located?

Hetzner Cloud servers are available in Germany, Finland, Singapore, and the USA, with data centers in Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki, Hillsboro (Oregon), Ashburn (Virginia), and Singapore.

Source
Hetzner Cloud: What uptime guarantee does Hetzner Cloud provide?

Hetzner Cloud provides an SLA with 99.9% guaranteed uptime and clearly defined credits in case of malfunction. They also offer 24/7 support by email for business-critical workloads.

Source
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