Contabo Review: Is This the Perfect Hosting Partner for You? (July 2025)
Contabo is a German company, formerly known as Giga-International. It focuses primarily on advanced Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Virtual Dedicated Servers (VDS), and dedicated server hosting. In this Contabo review, I focus on their VPS services, looking at pricing, performance, security, and more.
If you’re looking for advanced storage or web application hosting, Contabo is among the best. At the same time, if you are price-conscious but quality is something very important to you, Hostinger VPS should be something you consider as well.
Both providers are experts at what they do. And today, Contabo is only growing. In 2014 it only had 2 data centers in Germany and now operates in 8 locations worldwide. So if you’d like to catch Contabo while it’s not a mainstream provider, now is the opportunity.
But this is just background information. I actually bought Contabo’s VPS plan to see if a low price can offer a good service. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Table of Contents
Contabo Review: Is This the Perfect Hosting Partner for You?
| ⭐Rating: | 4.2★★★★☆ |
| 💵Price: | From $6.99/month |
| ▶️ Uptime: | 100% |
| 🏘️ Hosting types: | Shared, VPS, VDS, dedicated |
| 🌎 Server locations: | The US (New York City, Seattle, St. Louis), Germany, and Singapore |
| 👨💻 Support: | Phone and email support (8 a.m. to 11 p.m. CEST) |
Pros & Cons of Contabo
Pros
Cons
Contabo Pricing
Contabo focuses primarily on VPS hosting services, with prices ranging from $6.99/month to $34.99/month. Other options include shared hosting, VDS and dedicated servers. While shared, VDS and dedicated plans are nothing exceptional with their prices, VPS is definitely affordable.
| Hosting type | Best for |
| VPS hosting | Quick and powerful server hosting solution. |
| VDS hosting | More flexibility for those who need dedicated-level power. |
| Dedicated hosting | Enterprise hosting needs. |
| Shared hosting | Small to medium-sized website hosting. |
My main focus when talking about Contabo is the VPS. So let’s take a closer look at what these plans can offer.
Contabo has 4 VPS hosting plans. All of them are equipped with DDoS protection and snapshot technology. You can also choose which operating system should be pre-installed on the server and choose a control panel. While cPanel and Plesk are paid, you can get Lamp, Lamp + Webmin or Webmin for free.
But here’s how some plans differ from others:
| Plan | Features | Price |
| VPS S | 4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 50GB NVMe or 200GB SSD, 1 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth. | $8.49/mo |
| VPS M | 6 CPU cores, 16GB RAM, 100GB NVMe or 400GB SSD, 2 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth. | $13.99/mo |
| VPS L | 8 CPU cores, 30GB RAM, 200GB NVMe or 800GB SSD, 3 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth. | $22.99/mo |
| VPS XL | 10 CPU cores, 60GB RAM, 400GB NVMe or1.6TB SSD, 4 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth. | $40.49/mo |
For the resources included, the prices are very low. Just keep in mind that you will have to purchase a domain name separately.
However, since Contabo has upgraded its VPSs with faster NVMe storage, you have two options:
At the same time, note that the service is unmanaged. You’ll have to primarily use SSH to manage your server unless you install some sort of graphical interface to work with. It’s not for beginners at all, but that’s not where Contabo is aiming, to be honest.
Pricing is quite complex, but does not affect the total cost in a major way. Whether it’s high fees or slight price increases, Contabo remains affordable. In addition, the renewal prices remain the same, making it a good long-term solution.
By the way, as for the refund policy, there is a 14-day money back guarantee. You have to notify the supplier within this period after the purchase is made. At the same time, additional charges associated with the account will not be refunded.
All in all, Contabo has options of all shapes and sizes, although VPS remains one of the most popular, affordable, and very powerful hosting solutions. The provider includes more for less when it comes to server resources.
Contabo Ease of Use
Contabo is an unmanaged service that is not at all user-friendly for beginners. For this reason, it is a service that is highly appreciated by developers and server administrators. Its affordable prices and lack of complications make it the ideal choice for advanced server solutions. At the same time, you can choose to install a Webmin control panel at no additional cost.
With this service, all the responsibilities (and advantages) fall on you. You get the hardware and the connection to it to freely configure and customize it as you see fit.
Contabo, on the other hand, hosts everything you need to manage the above. Since many of these tasks require advanced features and tools, there’s no way the platform is really beginner-friendly.
However, if beginner-friendliness is not a concern and you know you’re buying an unmanaged server solution, as well as all that comes with it, we’re golden. So, managing Contabo hosting is relatively straightforward.
When you log in, this is what you will see in the main account panel:
As you probably already know, most people would not describe the Contabo dashboard as sleek or modern. At least, not in this decade. That said, it does its job perfectly.
For starters, you can find the vital functions neatly grouped on the left side of the screen. Meanwhile, you can find a list of your VPS, as well as some quick access buttons – such as start, restart, stop and manage – in the center.
Ultimately, the dashboard isn’t going to win any awards for cutting-edge designs. But, for those of you familiar with the tools and features of an unmanaged server, it should be easy enough to navigate.
Another advantage of Contabo is that the Webmin control panel is also available for free installation. However, you have to sign up during the purchase process.
It is intuitive and convenient. More importantly, it has all the features and tools you need to install, configure, maintain and upgrade your server. Some useful ones include user configuration, application modification and control, DNS configuration, and more.
Overall, I would consider the Contabo control panel and the included Webmin control panel as one for the winning column. With a combination of ease of use and control, you should be able to easily manage all aspects of your server.
Contabo Performance
Performance is, of course, vital in this Contabo review to decide whether the provider does its part in terms of reliability and speed. Well, it’s fair to say that Contabo VPS performed very well considering its cheap price. Of course, its performance is not industry changing but overall, it is still excellent.
Let’s take a look at the results of the tests I performed.
Uptime Result
I have monitored Contabo for 50 days, and the results I got from the SSH command showed that it has been running for exactly that long. That’s a great sign of the provider’s reliability.
But, of course, I will continue to keep a close eye on Contabo’s reliability as we go along and will keep you posted if the results change.
Response Time
As for speed, Contabo’s response times are really good. I ran tests for 5 different locations around the world, and the results range from only 36ms to 384ms – both incredibly fast.
Below are the results for Dallas, Seattle, London, Tel-Aviv and Hong Kong:
The fastest response time was Dallas, with 36ms. Hong Kong, meanwhile, came in last, but with a speed of 384ms. To tell the truth, I expected the discrepancy in speed to be due to location.
My server is in the United States, which explains the excellent results for Dallas and Seattle. After all, the shorter physical distance helps minimize latency. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is on the other side of the world from my server location. Therefore, the slower response times reflect the greater physical distance.
It is worth noting here that Contabo has servers in 5 regions – New York, Seattle, St. Louis, Germany and Singapore. New York and Seattle are the latest additions to the provider’s growing list of data centers.
Geekbench Scores
Finally, I also tested Contabo to find out its Geekbench score. Here’s what the tests yielded: 616 on a single core and 1942 on multiple cores. While the results are not overwhelmingly impressive, they are solid considering I ran the tests on the cheapest server.
In case you’re not familiar with it, Geekbench is a test suite that measures processor and memory performance. It runs a series of tests that mimic real-world tasks and applications to time how long it takes the processor to complete tasks. Higher scores are better, as they mean the CPU completes the tests faster.
Ideally, I would like to see higher scores on both single-core and multi-core processors. However, I’m much more forgiving when I consider Contabo’s very affordable pricing. Given that its basic plan costs only $6.99 per month, these scores are acceptable as far as I’m concerned.
Overall, it’s a plus for Contabo’s performance. Reliable and fast, it sets the bar high for other cheap hosting providers.
Contabo Security
As Contabo offers unmanaged servers, it does not offer the full stack of security solutions. But the measures it does offer are very practical. In addition, the security of the provider’s data center is also excellent.
Let’s take a closer look at Contabo’s range of security features:
In this case, you have to use your email and phone number to identify yourself. In addition, you have to authorize anyone contacting the provider from a new email if it is your customer account.
A DDoS attack occurs when a large number of requests from compromised systems overload a server with the intention of disrupting its services.
Contabo’s DDoS protection is included in all Contabo packages and is already automatically activated.
Contabo seems to take data center security seriously. It offers constant CCTV monitoring with more than 50 observation and video recording cameras, swipe card access, alarm system, multiple live webcams and on-call security service 365 days a year.
In addition, the provider also protects against the elements with smoke detectors and fire alarms, water detectors and heat extraction systems, among other things.
Apart from those mentioned, Contabo also takes other precautions. However, the supplier made it clear that he “can’t talk about the details,” but suffice it to say that he is “obsessed with safety.”
It’s a shame that we don’t know for sure what those precautions entail. But, judging by the lack of negative reviews of Contabo about its security, whatever those precautions are, they seem to work.
I am pleased with Contabo’s commitment to security in general. However, the vendor could be even more transparent with its security solutions.
Customer Support
Contabo support is only available by phone and email between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. CEST. Fortunately, Contabo also has a well-stocked knowledge base that is full of articles covering a wide range of topics.
If you have any problems, you can contact Contabo customer service by phone or email. You will find that the team uses a 3-tier system in which its members work as first, second or third level agents. Or, as the vendor calls them: followers.
From what I could glimpse, the 3-level agents are well trained and effective. But the 2nd and 3rd level ones are experienced system administrators who know the technical side of things well.
However, I think Contabo’s lack of live chat is a bit disappointing, as it is most people’s preferred support channel.
Sure, you can call in. However, if you don’t live in Germany, you will have to pay for an international call, which can be expensive.
As for email, it’s great that there is a free option to contact Contabo. However, you may have to wait a bit, as their support team only handles emails during business hours, which isn’t ideal if you have an urgent problem.
Luckily, Contabo has a knowledge base in case you prefer to handle any issues independently. The knowledge base may not be the most extensive in the industry, but it includes very useful tutorials and guides.
The articles are readable and go in depth on the topics. In addition, there are detailed step-by-step guides when needed.
In addition, I also find Contabo’s comprehensive FAQ page very helpful. It covers a lot of areas, including billing, domain, software, security, and others specific to the service.
Overall, Contabo’s support is mixed. Their support agents are knowledgeable and helpful, but the provider lacks live chat, and their availability is limited to office hours only.
Conclusion
In conclusion, after conducting a thorough Contabo review, it is clear that this hosting provider offers an attractive package for many users. With its affordable prices, reliable performance and wide range of hosting options, Contabo can be an excellent choice for both individuals and businesses.
However, as with any decision, it ultimately depends on your specific needs and requirements. If affordability and reliability are high on your list, Contabo could be the perfect hosting partner for you.
Be sure to consider your website needs, scalability and support expectations before making your final decision. Remember to always prioritize what best fits your goals to ensure a satisfactory hosting experience.
FAQ’s
Is Contabo hosting legit?
Yes, Contabo hosting is reliable. It is a German hosting provider with about 20 years of experience. For the most part, it focuses on offering VPS, VDS and dedicated server hosting at affordable prices.
Why is Contabo so cheap?
Contabo is so cheap because, according to the company, it has a fully unified hardware platform in all its data centers. This allows it to negotiate better discounts and save money and time on maintenance. In addition, the company also invests in durable, inexpensive hardware to get the most bang for its buck.
What CPUs does Contabo use?
Contabo utiliza CPU Dell, AMD e Intel, dependiendo de su solución de alojamiento.
Is Windows hosting available with Contabo?
Yes, Windows hosting is available with Contabo. However, you have to pay an additional $7.99/month for Windows.
Henry Sprung is an e-commerce tech blogger with several years of experience in online retail. Alex’s blog focuses on topics such as online marketplaces, payment processing, and digital marketing for e-commerce businesses. Henry’s expertise in e-commerce provides valuable insights into the latest trends in online retail and how businesses can use these platforms to grow their sales. He is a valuable resource for online retailers and entrepreneurs looking to start their own e-commerce businesses.
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