Contabo has been offering hosting services from Munich, Germany since 2003, and has earned a reputation as one of the most resource-generous hosting providers in the industry. Their pricing model is simple: pack as many resources as possible into each plan at the lowest possible price. A $4.50/mo VPS from Contabo includes 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM — specs that would cost 3-4x more from DigitalOcean or Vultr. With data centers in Germany, the UK, the US (St. Louis and Seattle), Singapore, Japan, and Australia, Contabo serves a global customer base. They specialize in unmanaged VPS and dedicated servers, catering to developers, system administrators, and businesses that need raw computing power at scale. Contabo uses KVM virtualization with full root access, allowing complete control over the server environment. Their VPS plans include generous bandwidth (32 TB/mo), DDoS protection, and snapshot capabilities. While Contabo excels on price-to-performance ratio, they trade off on support response times and managed features. There is no live chat, and ticket responses can take 24-48 hours. This makes Contabo best suited for technically proficient users who can self-manage their servers and prioritize resources over hand-holding.
Add a benchmark URL in admin and run the provider benchmark cron to display measured speed, security, and availability signals here.
Get 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM for $4.50/mo — 3-4x more resources than similarly priced competitors like DigitalOcean or Vultr.
32 TB monthly bandwidth on VPS plans is far more than most competitors offer, even on their premium tiers.
Seven data center locations across Europe, US, Asia, and Australia provide flexibility for global deployments.
KVM virtualization with full root access, custom ISO support, and no restrictions on how you use your server.
Standard Linux VPS with no proprietary control panels — easy to migrate to or from any other provider.
No live chat support. Ticket responses often take 24-48 hours, which is problematic during server emergencies.
No managed hosting options — you must handle all server configuration, security updates, and troubleshooting yourself.
SSL certificates must be set up manually via Let's Encrypt or purchased separately — no auto-provisioning.
While resources are generous, network speeds and I/O performance can be inconsistent during peak hours compared to premium cloud providers.