Cube vs a Hetzner VPS

The short version

A Hetzner Cloud server gives you root on a Linux VM in Europe or the US for a few euros a month. It’s raw compute: everything that makes it a good home for coding agents is yours to set up and keep running.

Cube is a Linux computer in the cloud that’s ready for agents in about two minutes: Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode installed, your GitHub repos on it, SSH configured, and an app for your Mac, the browser and your phone to drive it. You pay a little more per CPU and skip the setup and the upkeep.

Side by side

	Hetzner Cloud VPS	Cube
Price	From €5.49/month for 2 vCPU, 4 GB (CX23, EU), plus €0.50 for IPv4; cheap plans often unavailable to new orders	About $20.50/month for 2 CPUs, 8 GB, 50 GB running 24/7; $25 of free credit to start
Billing	Hourly, up to a monthly cap; billed while powered off	By the minute while running; only storage while paused
Setup	An evening: SSH, firewall, users, agents, GitHub	About two minutes
Agents	Install and log in to each yourself	Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode installed; 18 more in one click
Keeping sessions alive	tmux or systemd, set up by you	Terminals live on the machine; quit the app and they keep running
Updates and security	Yours: patches, reboots, fail2ban	Cube maintains the image; you update with one click
Backups	+20% of the server price, or paid snapshots	Download a backup from the Machine app
Dev servers	SSH tunnels or a reverse proxy	Show up at localhost on your Mac
Access	SSH	Mac app, any browser, phone, and SSH

What running agents on a VPS takes

This is the usual list, whichever provider you pick:

1. Add your SSH key, create a non-root user, and turn off password and root logins.
2. Set up a firewall (Hetzner’s Cloud Firewall or ufw) and something like fail2ban.
3. Install Node and the agent CLIs, then log each one in, without a browser on the server.
4. Run agents inside tmux or screen, and add systemd units for anything that must restart.
5. Set up GitHub access and your git identity, clone each repository and manage worktrees.
6. Keep the system patched, reboot now and then, and keep the agent CLIs up to date.
7. Turn on backups or take snapshots.
8. Reach dev servers through SSH port forwarding or a reverse proxy with TLS.
9. Watch disk, memory and swap: 4 GB fills up quickly with several agents running.

None of it is hard, and if you enjoy running servers, a VPS is great value. It’s also time you’d otherwise spend on the work your agents are doing.

When to choose a Hetzner VPS

• You want the lowest price per CPU and don’t mind running the server yourself.
• You need a specific OS image, a European data center, or full control of the stack.
• You already manage servers and have your setup scripted.

When to choose Cube

• You want agents running today, not after an evening of setup.
• You’d rather not maintain a server: the image, backups, sessions and SSH come handled.
• You want an app that shows every repo, worktree and terminal, on your Mac, in the browser and on your phone.
• You want to pause the machine and only pay for its storage while you’re away.