Company snapshot
| Category | Hetzner | Level3 |
|---|---|---|
| Status | active | defunct |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
| Website | — | — |
| Docs | — | — |
Overview
Hetzner, founded in 1997, is a German hosting provider offering cloud servers, dedicated servers, and storage solutions. It operates data centers in Germany, Finland, the United States, and Singapore, serving developers, SMBs, and enterprises. Known for cost-effective pricing, Hetzner provides scalable infrastructure for web hosting, applications, and storage-heavy workloads. While it does not market a traditional CDN, its cloud and object storage services support content delivery use cases, particularly for European customers. Hetzner’s customer base includes startups, developers, and businesses prioritizing affordability and performance.
Level3, originally Level 3 Communications, was a multinational telecommunications and internet service provider that operated a global Tier-1 network and content delivery network (CDN) until its CDN services were discontinued in 2023. Acquired by CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies) in 2017, it provided core transport, IP, voice, video, and content delivery for medium-to-large internet carriers. The CDN focused on video delivery, large object caching, and edge computing, serving clients across North America, Latin America, Europe, and parts of Asia. Level3’s CDN is no longer active, and its network assets are now managed under Lumen Technologies.
Network & Architecture
Hetzner operates data centers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Ashburn (Virginia, USA), Hillsboro (Oregon, USA), and Singapore. Specific POP counts are not publicly detailed, but its infrastructure leverages high-speed connectivity within Europe, with extensions to North America and Asia-Pacific. The network is optimized for low-latency delivery in EMEA, with growing presence in APAC and NA. Limitations include less coverage in LATAM, Africa, and the Middle East compared to global CDNs like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront. Object Storage supports S3-compatible APIs, enabling content delivery for static assets.
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Feature comparison
| Feature | Hetzner | Level3 |
|---|---|---|
waf | ✗ | ✗ |
bot_mitigation | ✗ | ✗ |
ddos | ✓ | ✓ |
rate_limit | ✗ | ✗ |
http3_quic | ✗ | ✗ |
tls13 | ✓ | ✗ |
tiered_cache | ✗ | ✗ |
origin_shield | ✗ | ✓ |
instant_purge | ✗ | ✓ |
stale_while_revalidate | ✗ | ✗ |
stale_if_error | ✗ | ✗ |
image_optimization | ✗ | ✓ |
video_vod | ✗ | ✓ |
video_live | ✗ | ✓ |
drm | ✗ | ✗ |
hls_dash_packaging | ✗ | ✗ |
websockets | ✗ | ✗ |
signed_urls | ✗ | ✗ |
edge_compute | ✗ | ✓ |
functions | ✗ | ✗ |
kv_storage | ✗ | ✗ |
api_first | ✓ | ✓ |
realtime_logs | ✗ | ✓ |
log_push | ✗ | ✗ |
terraform | ✓ | ✗ |
Legend: ✓ = Supported, ✗ = Not supported, — = Not listed
Pricing
Hetzner uses a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model with no long-term commitments, appealing to SMBs and developers. Cloud server pricing starts at €3.79/month for shared vCPU plans, and Object Storage begins at €4.29/month. No free tier is available, but pricing is transparent with per-GB rates for storage and traffic. For example, Object Storage costs €0.00429/GB/month. Full details at https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/pricing.
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Integrations & DevEx
Hetzner supports Terraform for infrastructure provisioning and offers a RESTful API for managing servers, storage, and DNS. SDKs are available for languages like Python and Go, facilitating automation. CI/CD integration is possible via APIs, though no specific plugins for tools like GitHub Actions are documented. The Hetzner Console provides a user-friendly interface for managing resources, with detailed documentation at https://docs.hetzner.com.
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When it fits
- Developers and SMBs need cost-effective cloud hosting or storage in EMEA with S3-compatible APIs.
- Projects require flexible, API-driven infrastructure with Terraform support.
- Workloads prioritize affordability and performance over extensive global CDN coverage.
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When it doesn’t
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History & Notes
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Level3 was a major player in the CDN market, leveraging its Tier-1 network to deliver high-performance content delivery, particularly for video and large files. Its acquisition of companies like Genuity, WilTel, and TW Telecom expanded its footprint, but the 2017 merger with CenturyLink shifted focus to broader network services. The CDN’s shutdown in 2023 was part of Lumen’s strategic pivot, though specific reasons for discontinuation were not publicly detailed. Some network assets may still support Lumen’s non-CDN services.