Company snapshot
| Category | Hetzner | PageCDN |
|---|---|---|
| Status | active | active |
| 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.
PageCDN, rebranded as SimpleCDN in 2025, is a content delivery network that combines public and private content delivery to optimize web performance. It serves developers and businesses seeking to accelerate website loading times, particularly for open-source JavaScript, CSS, and font libraries. The service emphasizes easy integration and affordability, targeting small to medium-sized businesses and individual developers. Its network supports global content delivery with a focus on performance enhancements like image optimization and HTTP/3 support.
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.
PageCDN operates a global network with an expanded set of edge locations, though specific POP counts are not publicly detailed. The service leverages a hybrid approach, combining public and private CDN capabilities to reduce latency and improve performance. It has a strong presence in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with less emphasis on regions like Africa or Latin America. Routing and peering details are not extensively documented, but the service prioritizes developer-centric use cases with straightforward integration.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Hetzner | PageCDN |
|---|---|---|
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.
PageCDN, under SimpleCDN, uses a pay-as-you-go model with plans starting at $5/month. A free tier is not explicitly advertised, but affordable pricing targets SMBs and developers. Specific per-GB pricing is not publicly listed, but the model emphasizes flexibility without long-term commitments. See details at https://www.simplecdn.com/pricing.
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.
PageCDN supports API-first integration, enabling developers to automate content delivery tasks. Real-time logs are available for monitoring performance. It lacks support for Terraform, SDKs, or advanced CI/CD integrations, focusing instead on simple, developer-friendly APIs. Documentation is accessible and covers common use cases for JavaScript, CSS, and font delivery.
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.
- Small to medium-sized businesses or developers needing a cost-effective CDN for static assets.
- Projects requiring fast integration with open-source libraries like JavaScript and CSS.
- Use cases prioritizing image optimization and HTTP/3 for modern web performance.
When it doesn’t
- Enterprises needing advanced security features like WAF, DDoS protection, or bot mitigation.
- Applications requiring robust video streaming (VoD or live) or DRM support.
- Organizations targeting regions with limited POP coverage, such as Africa or Latin America.
History & Notes
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