Editor's opinion
Sean Thompson
I am a full-time web developer & IT professional with more than 18 years experience. I have been working with numerous hosting companies over the years.
First impression
Hetzner Online GmbH, named after its founder Martin Hetzner, is a German-based web hosting services provider that began operations in 1997 in Gunzenhausen, Germany. This leading hosting provider, known for its innovative technology, attractive prices, and expert support, owns and operates its own high-tech data centers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein (both in Germany), one in Helsinki, Finland, and two in the USA in Ashburn, Virginia and Hillsboro, Oregon. They provide Shared Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, VPS Hosting, Domain Registrations, and SSL certificates to clients across the globe.
Trial Period
They don't provide a free trial period for testing their services, and as their plans are on a monthly basis there's also no money-back guarantee in place.
Billing Cycle
Hetzner hosting plans run on a month-to-month basis and one should note that if you want to cancel your services you should provide 30 days' notice.
They accept Bank transfers, all major Credit Cards, PayPal, and SEPA direct debit for accounts from SEPA countries, as valid payment methods.
Control Panel
They include their own custom-developed control panel, the konsoleH, in all their hosting plans. This graphic client interface provides users with convenient administration features. It allows one to define and generate accounts simply and effortlessly, order domains, manage DNS, create MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, view account statistics, and more. Having used this control panel extensively over the years, I can attest to its excellence.
Limits
Hetzner’s Shared Hosting plans are available in 4 options, namely Level 1, Level 4, Level 9, and Level 19. The entry-level plan comes with a generous 10GB NVMe SSD disc space, 50 subdomains, 100x POP/IMAP email accounts, and 1x MySQL/PostgreSQL database – perfect for beginners!
Their Level 4 plan features 50GB NVMe SSD space, 400 subdomains, 200x POP/IMAP email accounts, and 10x MySQL/PostgreSQL databases, whilst the Level 9 plans have 100GB NVMe SSD disc space, 800 subdomains (not sure who will need that many), 300x POP/IMAP email accounts, and 20x MySQL/PostgreSQL databases.
Lastly, they have the Level 19 plan, which boasts 300GB of super-fast NVMe disc space with unlimited subdomains, POP/IMAP email accounts, and MySQL/PostgreSQL databases included.
All Shared Hosting plans come standard with a free SSL certificate, unlimited traffic, and 14-day rolling backups.
Their VPS plans offer users 5 scalable and performance optimized plans to choose from, ranging from 200GB NVMe SSD space, 4x vCores CPU, and 16GB RAM on their entry-level plan, the VSERVER MC30, up to 2 x 1,92 TB NVMe SSD space, 1x AMD EPYC™7502P 32-Core "Rome" (Zen2) CPU, and 256 GB DDR4 ECC RAM on their top tier plan, the MA200.
One should note though that full root access isn’t provided on their VPS plans.
Website Builder
Regrettably, Hetzner doesn't offer a website builder in their plans. However, they do provide a WordPress Installer within the KonsoleH control panel. This content management system (CMS) can then be installed with just a few clicks and it equips users with all the necessary tools to swiftly and effortlessly create a professional-looking website.
Security
Hetzner's data centers hold ISO/IEC 27001 certification, the globally recognized standard for information security management systems (ISMS), and they undergo continuous 24/7 monitoring. Their servers and hosting plans benefit from robust protection measures, including a Network Application Firewall (WAF) for safeguarding web applications, websites, servers, and IT infrastructure against DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks. Additionally, they employ automated security tools such as Anti-Spam filtering with customizable settings, which encompass adjustable spam filter levels, configurable blacklist and whitelist, dynamic grey-listing, and dynamic blacklisting (RBL). Moreover, they ensure Anti-Virus protection with ClamAV integration.
Furthermore, all plans include the choice between a free Symantec Basic SSL or Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.
OS
Their Shared and VPS plans operate on the Linux operating system, renowned for its open-source nature and community-driven development. They also utilize the LAMP stack, an acronym representing a prevalent software stack comprising Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. This configuration is extensively adopted by hosting providers due to its versatility and reliability.
Support
They offer support 24/7 through phone (only available Monday to Friday 8 AM - 6PM) and email, but despite Hetzner's strong points, support appears to be lacking. My initial emails took up to 2 days for a response, so I ended up reaching out to them through their Facebook page. Given their reputation and tenure in the industry, I anticipated a higher level of support, to be frank.
Conclusion
Pros |
Cons |
- Super fast NVMe SSD Drives;
- Performance Optimized;
- Good Security.
|
- Support Below Average;
- No Live Chat;
- No Money Back Guarantee.
|
Hetzner has well-structured plans with excellent uptime and security and they use premium hardware, but they lack support, which is a major red flag for me. If you are based outside of Germany and looking for a new provider there's probably better options.