Prices checked
Neither plan can reliably be ordered right now (Hetzner Cloud CX23: not orderable; Oracle Cloud Always Free Ampere A1: often out of capacity), so we don't call either one cheaper. Compare the rows below and check availability on the vendor pages.
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| Hetzner Cloud CX23 | Oracle Cloud Always Free Ampere A1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Specs | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB | 2 OCPU / 12 GB (Arm, flexible) |
| Managed for you? | No – you run Docker, updates, backups | No – you run Docker, updates, backups |
| Intro price /mo | €5.99 | $0.00 |
| Renewal /mo | €5.99 | $0.00 |
| Year 1 ≈ USD | $85 | $0 |
| Year 2 ≈ USD | $85 | $0 |
| Billing | monthly, hourly billing | free |
| Notes | EUR 5.99/mo (USD 7.09) incl. primary IPv4, from Hetzner's own website price API (website-price-api.hetzner.com, product CLOUD_132+CLOUD_21) that the pricing page loads. Plan-to-ID mapping inferred from page order (CAX11 = EUR 6.49 matches). The page shows CX23 as 'not available' to order in NBG1/HEL1. | Oracle docs (checked 2026-10-16): Always Free resources are free of charge for the life of the account; Ampere A1 (VM.Standard.A1.Flex) = 1,500 OCPU hours + 9,000 GB hours/month, equivalent to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB memory; 200 GB block volume. Docs also warn of 'out of host capacity' errors (temporary lack of Always Free shapes); users report this often, so it is kept orderable:false and not badge-eligible. Idle instances may be reclaimed. Re-checked 2026-10-16: docs say 'Processor: 2 OCPUs total' and 'Memory: 12 GB total' (the older 4 OCPU / 24 GB limit no longer applies). |
| Visit | Visit Hetzner Cloud | Visit Oracle Cloud Always Free |
| Data | verified official 2026-10-16 source | verified official 2026-10-16 source |
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