Question 1

What is the actual cost savings when switching from AWS to Hetzner?

Accepted Answer

Our customers typically achieve savings between 50% and 80%. The main reason: With Hetzner you pay for dedicated bare-metal performance at a fixed price, while AWS charges massive markups for vCPUs and especially traffic. For compute-intensive workloads, ROI is often reached after just 3-4 months.

Question 2

Do I have to pay for traffic (egress) at Hetzner?

Accepted Answer

Unlike AWS, where egress fees can quickly cost thousands of dollars, Hetzner includes a massive traffic quota (often 20TB+ per server) in the monthly price. This makes costs extremely predictable.

Question 3

Are there hidden costs with a migration to Hetzner?

Accepted Answer

No. The pricing model is extremely transparent (monthly flat rate for servers). You know exactly what will be on the bill at the end of the month. Variable costs only arise with massive traffic overruns or additional IPs.

Question 4

How do we replace AWS RDS (Managed Databases)?

Accepted Answer

We build powerful database instances directly on the Proxmox host. With NVMe datacenter SSDs, I/O performance is often significantly higher than standard RDS. We configure backups and monitoring so you keep the convenience of a managed DB.

Question 5

What happens to my data on AWS S3?

Accepted Answer

You have two options: Hybrid approach (compute at Hetzner, storage remains at AWS S3) or complete migration to Hetzner Object Storage. The hybrid approach is often the easiest first step for compute-intensive workloads.

Question 6

What is the equivalent to AWS EC2 Auto-Scaling Groups?

Accepted Answer

On bare-metal, we mostly scale vertically rather than horizontally. Since hardware at Hetzner is cost-efficient, we provision enough headroom from the start. Complex auto-scaling is not necessary for 95% of B2B workloads.

Question 7

Will my Docker/Kubernetes containers continue to work?

Accepted Answer

Yes, often even better. We deploy Kubernetes or Docker directly on Proxmox VMs. Since you have direct hardware access (no AWS Nitro hypervisor overhead), container performance is excellent.

Question 8

How do we replace AWS ELB/ALB (Load Balancer)?

Accepted Answer

We use dedicated load balancer instances (HAProxy, Nginx, or Traefik) or Hetzner Cloud Load Balancer. Full flexibility with SSL termination and routing, without per-gigabyte charges.

Question 9

Is Hetzner really enterprise-ready compared to AWS?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. Hetzner operates ISO 27001 certified data centers in Germany and Finland. The enterprise factor comes from OutaCloud: We build the software stack (Proxmox, backups, monitoring) that ensures professionalism.

Question 10

How secure is my data at Hetzner (GDPR/US Cloud Act)?

Accepted Answer

Hetzner is a German company. Your data is subject exclusively to GDPR and not the US Cloud Act. There is no access by US authorities, which is a decisive advantage for sensitive industries.

Question 11

How do we replicate AWS VPCs (Virtual Private Clouds)?

Accepted Answer

We use Hetzner vSwitch combined with firewalls (e.g., OPNsense) on Proxmox. This allows us to build private, isolated networks (VLANs) that work exactly like a VPC. Databases are not publicly accessible.

Question 12

Does Hetzner offer DDoS protection?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Hetzner has automated DDoS mitigation included in the price that filters network-level attacks. For application-layer attacks, we configure appropriate firewall rules.

Question 13

What happens if a physical server fails?

Accepted Answer

That depends on your setup: With single-node there is brief downtime, we restore from backups. With a Proxmox HA cluster (at least 3 nodes), VMs automatically restart on remaining nodes.

Question 14

Is my setup automatically High Availability (HA)?

Accepted Answer

No, just like with AWS (a single EC2 is not HA), standard hosting is single-node. This is sufficient for many workloads and most cost-efficient. True HA requires a cluster setup, which we are happy to implement.

Question 15

How does the backup concept work?

Accepted Answer

We use Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) with incremental, deduplicated backups. Following the 3-2-1 rule: data on the server, local backups, and an offsite copy at a geographically separated location.

Question 16

Can I reverse the migration (rollback)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Until the final DNS cutover, your AWS resources remain fully functional. We synchronize data in the background. If a critical error appears during testing, we simply do not switch over.

Question 17

Who owns the infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

You do. The servers are rented in your own Hetzner account. You have no vendor lock-in through OutaCloud. If you no longer want to engage us, you keep the servers and Proxmox access.

Question 18

How long does a typical migration take?

Accepted Answer

Small setups we often migrate within 1-2 weeks. Larger infrastructures usually need 4-6 weeks for audit, setup, data sync, and testing. The actual cutover usually takes only a few hours.

AWS to Hetzner Migration

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