Contabo
German VPS, dedicated and GPU servers rented by the month, with unlimited traffic and three US regions.
Founded 2003
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Contabo is a German hosting company founded in Munich in 2003, then called Giga-International. It rents virtual private servers, servers with dedicated cores, storage servers, bare-metal and GPU servers, and runs 11 locations in 9 regions, three of them in the US: US East in Carlstadt, New Jersey, US Central in St. Louis and US West in Seattle.
Core VPS starts at $6.60 a month for Cloud VPS 4, with 4 vCPUs, 8 GB of memory and a 100 GB SSD, or $5.28 a month for the first 24 months on a 24-month term. That is the EU price; US and other regions add a monthly fee. Servers are rented by the month or longer, not by the hour. Every server includes unlimited traffic under a fair-use policy and free DDoS protection. Daily Auto Backup is a paid add-on, and there are no managed databases or Kubernetes.
Best for
Developers and small teams who want low monthly prices for CPU, memory and storage on self-managed Linux or Windows servers, can commit to monthly or longer terms and do not need managed databases or Kubernetes.
Pros
- Cloud VPS 4 has 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM and a 100 GB SSD for $6.60 a month, or $5.28 a month for the first 24 months on a 24-month term
- Unlimited inbound and outbound traffic on every server under a fair-use policy, with ports from 200 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s on the listed plans
- Free, automatic DDoS protection for all servers, and a free firewall on VPS plans
- GPU VPS with a whole NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 (96 GB) for $1,199 a month, in Europe or US Central
- S3-compatible Object Storage from $2.99 a month per 250 GB, with data transfer included, in the EU, US Central and Singapore
Cons
- Listed prices are for the EU region: US servers add a monthly location fee, $1.30 to $1.90 on Cloud VPS 4 and $14 to $20.70 on Cloud VDS S
- No managed databases and no managed Kubernetes: you install and run them yourself on a server
- Rented by term (1 to 24 months), not by the hour, and contracts renew automatically until cancelled
- The terms promise 99.9% physical connectivity as an annual average and state no service credits
- Auto Backup costs extra ($2 a month on Cloud VPS 4) and is not offered for Storage VPS, Max Performance VPS, GPU VPS or dedicated servers
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly (12-month total) |
|---|---|---|
| Core VPSCloud VPS 4: 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD, 200 Mbit/s, 1 snapshot; 12-month term $67.32, 24-month $5.28/mo, both for the first term; US regions add $1.30-$1.90/mo | $6.60/mo | $67.32/yr ($5.61/mo) |
| Performance VPSCloud VPS Plus 4: 4 AMD EPYC vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 150 GB NVMe, 500 Mbit/s, 5 snapshots; 12-month term $165.75, 24-month $13/mo, first term; US regions add $3.85-$5.70/mo | $16.25/mo | $165.75/yr ($13.81/mo) |
| Max Performance VPSCloud VDS S: 6 dedicated vCores (AMD EPYC 7282), 24 GB RAM, 180 GB NVMe, 250 Mbit/s; 12-month term $601.80, 24-month $47.20/mo, first term; US regions add $14-$20.70/mo | $59/mo | $601.80/yr ($50.15/mo) |
| Storage VPSStorage VPS 10: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 300 GB SSD or 150 GB NVMe, 200 Mbit/s; no snapshots or Auto Backup; 12-month term $67.32, 24-month $5.28/mo, first term; US regions add $1.35-$2/mo | $6.60/mo | $67.32/yr ($5.61/mo) |
| Dedicated ServersAMD Ryzen 12 Cores (Ryzen 9 7900), 64 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe, 1 Gbit/s; limited special offer, previously $179; 12-month term $1,581 (no 24-month term); US regions add $10.35-$14.55/mo | $155/mo | $1,581/yr ($131.75/mo) |
| GPU VPS1 NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 (96 GB), 18 vCPU, 96 GB RAM, 900 GB NVMe; EU or US Central (+$28.35/mo); 12-month term $12,229.80, 24-month $959.20/mo, first term | $1,199/mo | $12,229.80/yr ($1,019.15/mo) |
Prices checked on .
Features
In Cloud hosting
| Feature | Contabo |
|---|---|
| Free trial | No · No free trial or signup credit on the VPS, pricing or help pages; private (not business) accounts may revoke a contract within 14 days for a refund |
| Managed databases | No · Contabo says it offers self-managed database hosting, not managed databases or DBaaS: a VPS, VDS or dedicated server on which you install MariaDB, PostgreSQL and others |
| Managed Kubernetes | No · No managed Kubernetes in the product list; Contabo recommends Performance VPS for running your own Kubernetes clusters |
| Object storage | Yes · S3-compatible, from $2.99/month per 250 GB, transfer included (10 MB/s default bandwidth); EU, US Central and Singapore; existing customers only, via the Control Panel |
| GPU instances | Yes · GPU VPS: one NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 (96 GB), 18 vCPU, 96 GB RAM; $1,199/month on monthly or longer terms, no hourly billing; EU or US Central (+$28.35/month) |
| Automatic backups | Add-on · Auto Backup: daily, off-server, last 10 kept up to 10 days; $2/month on Cloud VPS 4, $3 on Plus 4; not for Storage VPS, VDS, GPU VPS or dedicated servers |
| DDoS protection | Yes · In-house protection, free and automatic for all servers; Contabo says it filters 99% of attack patterns but cannot guarantee protection from every attack |
| Uptime SLA | Partial · Terms promise 99.9% physical connectivity as an annual average, excluding announced maintenance and causes outside Contabo's control; no service credits are stated |
| Data center regions | Yes · 11 locations in 9 regions, 3 in the US: US East (Carlstadt, NJ), US Central (St. Louis), US West (Seattle); EU included, other regions add a monthly fee |
| Included bandwidth | Yes · Unlimited inbound and outbound traffic on every server under a fair-use policy; ports 200 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s on the listed plans; Contabo may throttle exceptionally high use |