But are the VPSs also similarly much better performing than AWS?
I don't know the answer to that, I believe they are a good bit cheaper (it's been a while since I compared apples-to-apples). My understanding is that they are a good deal but I can't say that with 100% certainty.
latitude.sh do bare metal in the US well
Yes, but they are vastly more expensive than Hetzner (looks like pricing stats at just under $200/m for 6 cores).