Hetzner Introduces ARM64 Cloud Servers

I implemented a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) on AWS with Elastic Container Service (ECS) using Terraform so that I could run Docker, and it ended up being about 2 orders of magnitude more expensive than Hetzner after all of the services were configured. For example, something as simple as AWS NAT Gateway costs $30 per month, and it can be challenging to get everything right if you don't use one. I haven't tried Heroku, but expect similar prices and nearly as high of a configuration burden.

So what's the point of all that? Seriously, one server with 16 cores and the memory bandwidth and storage speed of SSD drives should be able to serve many thousands of simultaneous requests and millions of users per month. I can't help but feel that the cloud infrastructure and microservice movement of the 2010s was.. a scam.

I just need a place to run Docker, similar to what we had with Linode for running a shell 20 years ago. And don't tell me how to set it all up. Just give me a turnkey Terraform (or Ansible-inspired declarative configuration management tool) setup that has stuff like load balancing and some degree of more advanced features like denial of service protection out of the box. What we used to think of as managed hosting, but open source, and with sane defaults for running standard suites like Laravel, Rails, etc.

I have to assume that I'm just terribly out of it and something like this already exists. Otherwise I can't understand why someone doesn't just offer this and provide a way for us to pay them the millions of dollars we lose to spinning our wheels on cloud infrastructure with 1% utilization.

Never figured out how to use Hertzner. Wanted to try since they get such a good reputation on here, but they banned my account when their system presented no way for me to verify my identity.

The required either PayPal or passport. I have no PayPal account, and their 3rd party verification system only allows passport from your country of residence (signup requires providing a contact address and they pre fill using this address; you can’t change the passport country). I am a British citizen living in Japan, and therefore hold a British passport; there was no way for me to provide a Japanese passport. I asked what I should do to comply, and they banned my account 6 hours later.

I can’t be the only one to experience this, can I?

The new server plans start at the unbeatable prices of just € 3.79 a month, which includes an IPv4 address, and there is no setup fee or minimum contract period. If users’ servers only exist for part of the month, they will only pay for the hours when the servers existed. This hourly billing option gives customers even more flexibility and will help keep costs low

Unless I'm blind, the price clearly says 4.52 EUR/mo with IPv4 at https://www.hetzner.com/cloud ↗ for a CAX11 instance, the smallest listed there.

Edit: nevermind, I didn't deselect Germany's 19% VAT. It is indeed 3.79 euros before sales tax.

Geekbench 5 results for rough comparison, best of 3+ runs:

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Intel 1-core VPS single: 719

(2 GB RAM)

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Intel 2-core VPS single: 729

Intel 2-core VPS multi: 1402

(4 GB RAM)

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AMD 2-core VPS single: 1141

AMD 2-core VPS multi: 2214

(2 GB RAM)

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Ampere 2-core VPS single: 872

Ampere 2-core VPS multi: 1716

(4 GB RAM)

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Ampere 16-core VPS single: 880

Ampere 16-core VPS multi: 12143

(32 GB RAM)

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And for some fun, my iPad Pro from 2018, single: 1135

If Android CPUs are 4 years behind Apple, then Arm on servers is maybe 8 years.