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Contabo

The most RAM and storage per euro in budget VPS hosting. But the numbers on paper don't tell the full story.

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Key Facts

Pricing: From €4.50/mo (Cloud VPS S)
Locations: Germany, UK, USA (3), Singapore
Control Panel: Contabo Customer Panel
OS Support: Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky, AlmaLinux, Fedora
FOSS Policy: No software restrictions

Fit Check

Good For

Massive RAM and storage per euro
6+ global locations
Dedicated CPU cores available
No software restrictions
Good for RAM-heavy workloads

Watch

Notoriously oversold CPU
Slow support (24-48h typical)
Setup fees on monthly plans
IPv4 costs extra on older plans
Poor I/O performance under load

Policies & Governance

Privacy: GDPR-compliant, German data protection
Jurisdiction: Germany
Payment: Credit card, PayPal, SEPA, bank transfer
Cancellation: 30-day notice on annual plans, flexible monthly

FOSS Scorecard

Uses FOSS in stack Linux-focused but proprietary panel

Sponsors open source No significant FOSS sponsorship

Open infrastructure KVM, root access, custom ISOs

Privacy-friendly GDPR but no special focus

Value for money Best RAM/storage per euro, CPU caveat

What Makes It FOSS-Friendly

Contabo doesn't actively market themselves as FOSS-friendly, but their service model is FOSS-compatible by nature: full root access, KVM virtualization on most plans, and no Terms of Service clauses restricting what software you run.

Their German headquarters means GDPR compliance and European data protection standards apply to your data. For FOSS projects serving European users, this is a meaningful legal advantage.

The real draw is simple: Contabo offers more RAM and storage per euro than any other established provider. If your FOSS stack is memory-hungry (databases, Elasticsearch, large Docker deployments), Contabo's specs are hard to ignore.

Caveats & Gotchas

CPU oversubscription is real and significant. Benchmark your Contabo VPS alongside a similarly-priced Hetzner or Netcup plan and the difference is stark. Contabo gives you more RAM and storage on paper, but significantly less actual compute performance.

Support is slow — response times of 24-48 hours for non-critical issues are common. Monthly plans have setup fees (€5-10 one-time). Annual commitments waive setup fees but lock you in.

The Performance Reality

Contabo heavily oversubscribes CPU resources. Your "4 vCPU" VPS will deliver performance closer to a dedicated 1-2 vCPU from providers like Hetzner. The RAM and storage are real; the CPU is the bottleneck.

Pricing Tiers

Cloud VPS S

€4.50/mo

4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe

Best for: Dev servers, Docker, RAM-heavy apps

Cloud VPS M

€8.49/mo

6 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe

Best for: Databases, Elasticsearch, medium workloads

Cloud VPS L

€12.49/mo

8 vCPU, 24 GB RAM, 200 GB NVMe

Best for: Heavy Docker, production databases

Cloud VPS XL

€16.49/mo

10 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 400 GB NVMe

Best for: Large deployments, multiple services

Verdict

✗

Avoid if…

You need consistent, predictable CPU performance, fast support response times, or run latency-sensitive production workloads.