Hetzner Server Auction
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 3 dedicated server hosts by recommenders
Cheap dedicated servers, often with ECC and SSD+HDD combinations, that people use for cost-efficient hosting at scale. Hardware is often old and availability can be unreliable.
Cheap dedicated servers, often with ECC and SSD+HDD combinations, that people use for cost-efficient hosting at scale. Hardware is often old and availability can be unreliable.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Cost-efficient compared with VMs and colocation
“It's just way more cost efficient at any sort of scale (number of projects) when compared to regular VMs”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack” “considering RAM shortages gonna be much cheaper than colocation”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x” “For what I get, those prices are more than reasonable.”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Hetzner Prices increase 30-40%” Good value if latest hardware isn't needed
“that's exactly what you're asking for. Used servers, some of them with Skylake (2015) processors”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x” “if you don't need the latest hardware, Hetzner is still and outstanding deal”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x” Works for many use cases
“entirely on Hetzner auction servers with Firecracker microVMs”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native” “Hetzner server auction is great for many use-cases”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “Carolina Cloud pays SOFR on unused prepaid credits” “basically anything on Server Auction is good”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Immich v3.0.0 Released” ECC and SSD+HDD configurations available
“auction servers which are great if you are looking for combinations of SSD + HDD servers”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Hetzner Prices increase 30-40%” “Server auction still features cheap servers with ECC”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Auction prices going up
“Server auctions are more expensive than last month, I feel like 50% more at a minimum.”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x” “We agreed a price by auction, and they are putting it up..”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Hetzner (European hosting provider) to increase prices by up to 38%”
Other dedicated server hosts people recommend
The two most recommended other dedicated server hosts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner dedicated server | 41 | 28 | 59% | 10 | 2 yrs4 owners | — |
| OVH dedicated server | 17 | 2 | 89% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Hetzner Server AuctionThis page | 15 | 4 | 79% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
20 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Hetzner server auction is great for many use-cases”
“my server auction machine I just got from Hetzner”
“That's just a lot of old hardware”
“basically anything on Server Auction is good”
“Hetzner community provides official full-disk encryption documentation”
“they are under valued for sure”
“Server auctions are more expensive than last month, I feel like 50% more at a minimum.”
“that's exactly what you're asking for. Used servers, some of them with Skylake (2015) processors”
“Not reliable, from a buying/availability perspective.”
“Server auction still features cheap servers with ECC”
“if you don't need the latest hardware, Hetzner is still and outstanding deal”
“considering RAM shortages gonna be much cheaper than colocation”
“It's just way more cost efficient at any sort of scale (number of projects) when compared to regular VMs”
“We agreed a price by auction, and they are putting it up..”
“auction servers which are great if you are looking for combinations of SSD + HDD servers”
“For what I get, those prices are more than reasonable.”
“Thankfully price increase for these is limited to 3%.”
“entirely on Hetzner auction servers with Firecracker microVMs”
“If you need a bit more, hetzner server auctions should suffice.”
“a full CI run in 4 minutes, always passing”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.