focusnet K8s vs. Hetzner Cloud
Managed Kubernetes with SUSE Rancher Prime vs. low-cost cloud VMs for DIY clusters. Hetzner Cloud does not offer managed Kubernetes — if you want K8s, you build and operate the cluster yourself.
Two Very Different Models
Hetzner Cloud sells VMs — not a cluster service. focusnet sells a ready-to-run Kubernetes cluster, operations included.
focusnet K8s Business
vCluster Virtual with its own public IP, Gateway API, Harbor registry, Rancher UI. RKE2 distribution, KubeOVN CNI, updates, patches, and 24/7 support included. Cluster live in minutes.
from €169/month
Hetzner Cloud DIY
Pure VM infrastructure (CCX series, Falkenstein/Nuremberg). No managed K8s — the customer installs and operates RKE2/k0s/k3s/kubeadm themselves, including CNI, storage CSI, registry, monitoring, updates, and cluster lifecycle.
from ~€70/month (infra) + DevOps effort
Comparison at a Glance
| Criterion | focusnet K8s Business | Hetzner Cloud (DIY K8s) |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes | fully managed | not offered — customer builds + operates it themselves |
| Kubernetes distribution | RKE2 (SUSE Rancher Prime) | customer's choice (kubeadm / k0s / k3s / RKE2) |
| Management UI | SUSE Rancher Prime included | Hetzner Cloud Console (VMs only); Rancher must be self-hosted |
| CNI / networking | KubeOVN preconfigured (OVN/OVS) | customer installs + configures (Cilium / Calico / Flannel) |
| Gateway API | included starting with the Business tier | customer installs (nginx Gateway Fabric, Istio, …) |
| PVC storage | included per tier | Hetzner Volumes (block, €0.04/GB/mo) — CSI set up manually |
| Container registry | Harbor included (up to 200 GB) | not offered — self-host Harbor or use an external registry (Docker Hub, etc.) |
| Load balancer | included | Hetzner LB11 €5.83/mo (extra) |
| Monitoring | basic monitoring included | customer installs (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki) |
| Updates & patches | managed by focusnet | customer's responsibility (etcd, kubelet, CNI, …) |
| 24/7 support for K8s | included | VM hardware support only — no K8s assistance |
| Setup time | cluster production-ready in minutes | 40–80h of initial DIY effort until production-ready |
| Data location | Germany only (Berlin / Hannover) | Falkenstein/Nuremberg (DE) or Helsinki (FI) selectable |
| GDPR | fully compliant (always DE) | compliant only when selecting the DE region (fsn1/nbg1) |
What Does a Production-Ready K8s Cluster Really Cost?
Scenario: 8 vCPU / 16 GB RAM / 250 GB storage / 1 TB egress — HA cluster (3× CP nodes + 2× worker nodes). For Hetzner, including your own work for cluster setup and ongoing operations.
focusnet Business M
Managed K8s — all-in
€259
cancel monthly — 12-mo: €220 (−15%) / 24-mo: €194 (−25%) / 36-mo: €168 (−35%)
- Managed K8s incl. SUSE Rancher Prime UI
- Harbor registry incl. (vulnerability scanning)
- PVC storage 250 GB incl.
- 1 TB egress fair use incl.
- Updates, patches, 24/7 support incl.
Hetzner Cloud DIY
Pure infrastructure + your own work
~€114
Plus DevOps operations: ~12 h/mo × €100/h = ~€1,200 → real TCO ~€1,314/mo
- 3× CCX13 CP nodes (HA): €41.97
- 2× CCX23 worker nodes: €55.98
- LB11 load balancer: €5.83
- Volumes 250 GB SSD: €10
- Cluster setup (~60 h one-time) + operations (~12 h/mo)
Managed K8s = Productive Right Away
A cluster in minutes, not weeks. SUSE Rancher Prime UI, RKE2 distribution, KubeOVN CNI, Harbor registry, and Gateway API come preconfigured and are operated by focusnet — updates, patches, and backup strategy included.
TCO Instead of Just the Infra Price
Hetzner Cloud is inexpensive if you are going to run K8s yourself anyway. If you don't want to tie up 1–2 DevOps positions for Kubernetes operations, you save with focusnet — even against Hetzner's significantly lower infrastructure price.
Data Location + Compliance
focusnet operates exclusively in German data center locations (Berlin, Hannover). Hetzner Cloud also offers Finnish locations — GDPR compliance only with a deliberate region choice (fsn1 Falkenstein / nbg1 Nuremberg).
„We had spent three months setting up K8s on Hetzner ourselves. With focusnet, the cluster was live after two hours — and our DevOps team could finally get back to working on our product instead of cluster operations."
Done With DIY Kubernetes — Productive Right Away With focusnet
Try it free for 14 days. Migration from an existing Hetzner cluster is possible at any time — manifests and container images are portable.