The efficiency of European ARM64 compute in 2026

ARM performance and compute density

AWS Graviton4 delivers 40% performance improvement over Graviton3. This processor uses Neoverse V2 architecture and DDR5-5600 memory. AWS Graviton4-based m8g instances achieved 41% higher throughput compared to Graviton2 and 23% compared to Graviton3 when running PostgreSQL workloads in the specific benchmark tests conducted in the us-east-1 AWS Region.

Hetzner provides the best price-performance for raw compute.

Hetzner provides the CAX-series ARM64 instances using Ampere Altra hardware. These instances reside in Falkenstein, Helsinki, and Nuremberg. The CAX-series targets containerized applications. Hetzner also provides the CCX-series dedicated vCPU instances. AWS Graviton4 provides 29% better price-performance than Graviton3. For PostgreSQL workloads, Graviton4 delivered a 23% increase in queries per second compared to Graviton3. Latency also decreased by 19% when comparing m8g to m7g.

AWS leads on scale.

Budget hosting and managed services

Hetzner leads on price.

The Hetzner CX22 costs €4.15 per month and provides 2 vCPU, 4 GB of RAM, and 20 TB of traffic. In April 2026, the CPX22 price in Germany and Finland rose from €5.99 to €7.99. OVHcloud offers a VPS Starter plan for €3.50, but it only provides 1 vCPU and low traffic. You know the trade-off between raw price and managed reliability.

Hetzner lacks managed databases. Users must install and configure PostgreSQL or MySQL on a VPS themselves. DanubeData fills this gap by running on Hetzner dedicated bare-metal servers. They use AMD EPYC Zen 4 CPUs and DDR5 ECC memory. The plan includes 20 TB of traffic at a cost of €4.49 per month. DanubeData provides the software layer for teams that want Hetzner hardware without the operational burden. They offer managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, Valkey, and Dragonfly. Their pricing for managed databases is roughly half the price of OVHcloud’s managed Public Cloud databases.

Hetzner’s network peers directly at DE-CIX in Frankfurt and AMS-IX in Amsterdam. This infrastructure provides exceptional throughput for European users. For example, Hetzner’s Helsinki instance achieved 8.08 Gbits/sec send to Amsterdam. OVHcloud also provides high-bandwidth infrastructure. Their VAC anti-DDoS system provides multi-terabit mitigation capacity at no additional cost.

Infrastructure and sovereignty

OVHcloud maintains 44 datacenters across four continents. Their proprietary 32 Tbps fiber backbone connects these facilities. This certification is mandatory for French government agencies.

AWS operates 39 regions and 123 availability zones. AWS customers face high egress fees, with typical costs reaching $90 per TB. Hetzner and DanubeData include 20 TB of traffic in many plans.

Hetzner concentrates its infrastructure in Germany and Finland. This concentration allows Hetzner to offer compute resources at price points that other providers cannot match. OVHcloud uses a vertical integration model. They design their own servers and develop proprietary water-cooling systems.

Hetzner’s ARM64 types, the CAX-series, are only available in Falkenstein, Helsinki, and Nuremberg. The x86 types are the only option in the other three locations. Ashburn, Virginia, has the widest choice with 100% availability for all 11 supported types. In contrast, Nuremberg has 48% availability.

Hetzner remains a top choice for European developers using ARM64.

Will Hetzner launch managed databases to compete with OVHcloud?