Should I Host a Production Mobile Backend in Germany or Turkey?
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MellowPine47
I'm building a mobile application mainly for users in Turkey and am planning its production infrastructure. The stack is NestJS, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, and Coolify. The backend is a standard REST API handling authentication, CRUD operations, QR-code lookups, notifications, and media metadata—there's no gaming, voice, or video traffic. I'm deciding between Hetzner Cloud in Germany and a VPS or dedicated server located in Turkey. Latency from Turkey to Germany appears to be roughly 25–40 ms. Would the stronger hardware, reliability, and infrastructure of Hetzner matter more than the lower latency of a Turkish provider? I'd also appreciate real-world experience running applications for Turkish users from Germany.
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A Turkish VPS can work, and some providers offer reliable service, but the latency difference alone does not justify giving up better infrastructure. Unless you have a regulatory, data-residency, or unusually latency-sensitive requirement, begin with the simpler and more dependable option. Reassess after measuring actual response times from your users.
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Hetzner is a solid starting point. It is stable, reasonably priced, and provides enough capability for a small production deployment. Start with a modest VM and scale vertically or move to a dedicated setup only when the application actually needs it.
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I'd prioritize the better hardware and more reliable infrastructure. For ordinary CRUD and authentication requests, an extra 20–40 ms is usually negligible. You can revisit the hosting location later once you have real traffic and performance data.
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A practical approach is to keep the main application and database in Germany, then use an edge or CDN provider for static files and larger media. That can improve delivery speed for Turkish users without moving the stateful backend prematurely. Make sure you use a domain and DNS setup that will let you relocate the service easily later.
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MellowPine47: That makes sense. My current setup is still small, so starting with a modest German VM and moving to a larger instance or another location only when the data supports it seems like the safest plan.