Introduction: Why Cloud Choice Is a Strategic Decision
Cloud infrastructure is the foundation of modern IT business. But between AWS, Google Cloud, and Hetzner there is a significant gap: in functionality, price, and convenience for Ukrainian companies. We compared all three platforms on real workloads so you can make the right choice.
Platform Overview
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
The world's largest cloud provider with ~33% market share. Over 200 services, data centers on every continent. The de facto standard for enterprise solutions.
Regional data centers: eu-central-1 (Frankfurt), eu-west-1 (Ireland), eu-west-3 (Paris)
Latency to Ukraine: ~30–50 ms (Frankfurt)
Payment: Visa/Mastercard (Ukrainian cards work fine), USD billing
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Second place in AI/ML functionality. Known for network infrastructure and BigQuery for analytics.
Regional data centers: europe-west3 (Frankfurt), europe-west4 (Netherlands), europe-west6 (Zurich)
Latency to Ukraine: ~28–45 ms (Frankfurt)
Payment: Visa/Mastercard, available through resellers
Hetzner Cloud
German provider that has become a favorite of startups and tech companies in recent years. Incredible price-to-performance ratio.
Data centers: Nuremberg, Falkenstein (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Hillsboro (USA)
Latency to Ukraine: ~25–35 ms (Falkenstein — closest)
Payment: Visa/Mastercard, SEPA, PayPal — Ukrainian cards work without restrictions
Price Comparison: Typical Workloads
Scenario 1: Small Business (1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD)
| Provider | Price/month | Traffic |
|---|---|---|
| AWS (t3.small) | ~$17 | 100 GB included |
| Google Cloud (e2-small) | ~$13 | billed separately |
| Hetzner (CX22) | ~€3.79 (~$4) | 20 TB included |
Winner: Hetzner — 4–5x cheaper with better traffic terms.
Scenario 2: Medium Project (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD)
| Provider | Price/month | Traffic |
|---|---|---|
| AWS (t3.large) | ~$67 | $0.09/GB |
| Google Cloud (e2-standard-4) | ~$97 | $0.08/GB |
| Hetzner (CCX23) | ~€23 (~$25) | 20 TB included |
Winner: Hetzner is 2.7–4x cheaper. AWS only wins if you need specific managed services.
Free Tiers
AWS Free Tier
12 months: 750 hrs/month EC2 t2.micro, 5 GB S3, 750 hrs RDS
Always free: Lambda 1M requests/month, DynamoDB 25 GB
Warning: exceeding limits can lead to shocking bills
Google Cloud Free Tier
$300 credits for 90 days (new accounts)
Always free: 1 f1-micro VM (us-central1), 5 GB Cloud Storage, 10 GB BigQuery
Good option for testing GCP-specific services
Hetzner
No free tier, but prices are so low that €5 test budget = a full month of CX22
Convenience for Ukrainian Business
Payment Methods
All three providers accept Ukrainian Visa/Mastercard cards. Hetzner also supports SEPA transfers and PayPal — convenient for sole proprietors and legal entities. AWS and GCP offer more detailed cost control through billing dashboards and budget alerts.
Support
AWS: 24/7 on Basic (free — documentation only), Developer ($29/month), Business ($100+/month)
Google Cloud: similar model — Basic free, Enhanced $150/month
Hetzner: forum + ticket system, response within 24 hours. No phone support, but the community is very active
When to Choose What
Hetzner — optimal for:
Startups and small businesses with limited budgets
Laravel/WordPress/Node.js projects without specific cloud services
Dev/staging environments
VPN, proxy servers, personal projects
When you need large traffic without extra charges
AWS — right choice when:
You need specific managed services: SQS, SNS, Lambda, Cognito, EKS
Clients or partners require AWS compatibility
Planning large-scale Kubernetes (EKS)
Need a wide range of regions globally
Enterprise compliance and audit matter more than price
Google Cloud — makes sense if:
Actively using AI/ML: Vertex AI, Gemini API
Big data analytics: BigQuery
Already in the Google Workspace ecosystem
Kubernetes expertise (Google created K8s)
Our Recommendations by Business Size
| Business Size | Recommendation | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancer / MVP | Hetzner | €4/month instead of $17, 20 TB traffic |
| Startup (seed) | Hetzner + GCP credits | $300 GCP credits for AI testing |
| Small business | Hetzner | 70–80% savings with same specs |
| Medium business | Hetzner + AWS for specific services | Compute on Hetzner, managed services on AWS |
| Enterprise | AWS or GCP | SLA, compliance, global infrastructure |
Conclusion
For 80% of Ukrainian IT projects — Hetzner Cloud is the optimal choice. Prices 3–5x lower, European data centers, excellent network, transparent pricing without bill surprises.
AWS and Google Cloud are worth considering only when your project genuinely needs their specific managed services — not because it "sounds more reliable" or "looks more professional".
If you don't know where to start — contact us. We'll help you choose infrastructure for your budget and tasks.