Hetzner cuts traffic on US VPSs, raises prices

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Hetzner is sharply cutting included bandwidth on its US cloud VPS plans (from 20TB to as little as 1TB) while also raising monthly prices, prompting accusations of a bait‑and‑switch from users who had built systems around the old limits. The company frames the move as making pricing “fairer” and better aligned with local costs, but many find that justification unconvincing, especially given the very short notice and the fact that low‑traffic customers also pay more. Others note that bandwidth in the US is genuinely more expensive and that Hetzner’s $1 per TB overage remains far cheaper than major cloud providers, making the change more of a painful reset than an outlier.

Scope of the change

  • US cloud VPS bandwidth included drops from 20TB to 1–8TB (often 1TB), while base prices also rise.
  • Overage in US remains very cheap (~$1/TB), and changes hit new instances immediately; existing ones switch in Feb 2025.
  • Applies only to US cloud regions; EU and (currently) dedicated servers keep old traffic terms.

Reactions to pricing and “fairness” rationale

  • Many see it as a bait‑and‑switch: 90–95% less included traffic plus price hikes, framed as helping low‑usage customers.
  • Several point out the stated logic (“low-usage users subsidize high-usage users”) would imply lowering prices for low‑usage customers, which did not happen.
  • Others argue the old offer was clearly unsustainable and attracted bandwidth-heavy abusers; this is a correction, not malice.
  • Some say the absolute increases (e.g., +€1–2/mo, +$12–19 for 20TB users) are manageable; others emphasize the % jump (400–500%) and short notice as unacceptable.

Regional bandwidth and infrastructure economics

  • Multiple comments note bandwidth and peering are cheaper and more competitive in Europe; US IXPs are often for‑profit and pricier.
  • Hetzner owns much of its EU network but colo’s/rents capacity in the US, making US traffic more transit-heavy and costly.
  • Some speculate US launch pricing was a “honeymoon” market‑share play that backfired once heavy users piled in.

Impact on use cases

  • High‑bandwidth workloads cited: DIY CDNs, VPNs, seedboxes/private torrenting, video/PeerTube, container registries, blockchain nodes, file APIs, backups.
  • Low‑traffic users mostly unaffected in practice but feel anxious about future flexibility, leading some to evaluate alternatives anyway.
  • A few consider shifting bandwidth-heavy workloads back to EU regions and accepting latency.

Comparisons to competitors

  • Even after the change, Hetzner’s $1/TB overage is described as 10–100× cheaper than major clouds’ egress.
  • Competitors named as alternatives or benchmarks: OVH (unmetered with caveats), DigitalOcean and Linode (pooled transfer but higher per‑TB), Hivelocity, others.

Communication, PR, and trust

  • Many criticize the very short notice (days for new instances), email‑only communication, and “fairness” framing as insulting or gaslighting.
  • Some argue this is the predictable downside of relying on unusually cheap, non‑contracted pricing; others say abrupt changes still erode trust.

Terminology: “Tariff”

  • Significant confusion in US readers who interpreted “tariff” as trade/import tax, not pricing plan.
  • Others note “tariff” meaning “price list/plan” is standard in German, UK, and Indian usage, so likely a translation/variety issue rather than political tariffs.