Introduction
Raff and Hetzner are two cloud infrastructure providers commonly compared by developers searching for affordable virtual private servers. Both platforms offer virtual machines with NVMe storage, networking features, and automation APIs that support modern infrastructure workflows.
However, the two providers take slightly different approaches. Hetzner focuses heavily on low-cost European hosting infrastructure, while Raff positions its infrastructure around modern cloud performance with NVMe storage and predictable compute resources.
This comparison analyzes Raff and Hetzner across pricing, performance benchmarks, networking behavior, and platform features to help developers choose the best infrastructure provider for their workloads.
Raff Overview
Raff Technologies is a cloud infrastructure provider focused on high-performance virtual machines, modern NVMe storage, and developer-friendly automation tools.
Raff VMs include NVMe SSD storage, AMD EPYC processors, private networking, automated backups, snapshots, and hourly billing. The platform supports both General Purpose shared CPU servers and CPU-Optimized dedicated CPU servers depending on workload requirements.
Raff is designed for modern application stacks such as Docker containers, CI/CD pipelines, and distributed backend services where concurrent I/O and predictable infrastructure performance are critical.
Hetzner Overview
Hetzner is a long-established German hosting provider offering dedicated servers and cloud VPS infrastructure.
The Hetzner Cloud platform provides NVMe storage, snapshots, private networking, and automation APIs. Hetzner is widely known for competitive pricing and strong adoption among developers in Europe.
Many developers use Hetzner for personal projects, startup infrastructure, and production applications that prioritize cost efficiency.
Pricing Comparison
Pricing differences between Raff and Hetzner become clear when comparing similar shared-CPU configurations.
| Configuration | Raff | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM | $4.99 | $11.01 |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM | $9.99 | $19.13 |
| 8 vCPU / 16 GB RAM | $23.99 | $35.37 |
| 12 vCPU / 32 GB RAM | $43.99 | $70.17 |
Across these tiers, Raff servers are consistently lower priced while offering equivalent RAM and NVMe storage configurations.
Storage Performance
The most notable differences between Raff and Hetzner appear in storage performance under concurrent workloads.
Independent benchmark testing showed:
- Raff delivered 58% higher random read IOPS under deep queue workloads.
- Raff achieved 48% lower read latency when multiple jobs accessed storage simultaneously.
- Raff storage scaled significantly better with parallel workloads typical of containerized environments.
These results suggest Raff’s NVMe storage architecture is optimized for workloads involving many simultaneous disk operations.
Networking Performance
Networking benchmarks revealed a different pattern.
Hetzner performed better in single-stream download throughput, meaning a single connection transferring a large file may complete faster.
However, in multi-stream network tests, Raff achieved approximately 32% higher throughput, which more closely reflects how real web applications handle traffic through multiple connections.
For most web applications behind a CDN or load balancer, multi-stream performance is the more representative metric.
Platform Features
Both providers support modern infrastructure features including:
- API-driven infrastructure provisioning
- Private networking
- Snapshots and backups
- NVMe storage
- Automation via infrastructure-as-code tools
Raff additionally offers built-in unmetered bandwidth and integrated cloud platform services including managed databases and upcoming Kubernetes support.
Support & Reliability
Benchmark tests showed both platforms maintaining stable performance during sustained testing periods.
No significant throttling or noisy-neighbor behavior was detected during the evaluation, suggesting both providers maintain strong infrastructure stability.
Who Should Choose Raff?
Raff is a strong choice if your workloads involve:
- Container platforms such as Docker
- Microservices architectures
- Database-heavy applications
- CI/CD pipelines
- Parallel processing workloads
These workloads benefit most from Raff’s strong performance in concurrent disk access and multi-stream networking.
Who Should Choose Hetzner?
Hetzner may be the better choice if:
- Your infrastructure relies heavily on large file transfers
- Sequential disk performance is the main requirement
- You require European data center locations
- Single-stream bandwidth performance is critical
Conclusion
Both Raff and Hetzner provide capable VPS infrastructure platforms with modern cloud features.
Hetzner remains a strong choice for developers seeking low-cost infrastructure and strong single-stream network throughput.
Raff stands out in workloads involving high concurrency, containerized services, and storage-intensive applications. Benchmark testing shows Raff delivering higher IOPS and lower latency under realistic multi-service conditions, making it particularly well suited for modern cloud-native workloads.