Contabo

A Cloud VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtual server hosted on cloud infrastructure that provides dedicated resources (vCPU, RAM, storage) in an isolated environment. Contabo offers KVM-based virtualization ensuring guaranteed resource allocation with full root access.

Cloud VPS uses shared vCPU cores (virtualized), while Cloud VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) provides dedicated physical CPU cores exclusively allocated to your server. VDS is ideal for CPU-intensive workloads requiring guaranteed consistent performance.

Contabo servers are unmanaged by default — you get full root access and are responsible for server administration. However, you can add cPanel or Plesk as paid add-ons for a control panel experience. Managed support is not included.

All Contabo servers include unlimited traffic under a Fair Usage Policy. This means there are no hard data transfer limits, but excessive bandwidth usage that impacts other users may be throttled. Standard usage patterns are not affected.

Contabo offers 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month billing periods. Longer terms provide discounts: typically 10% off for 6 months and 20% off for 12 months. A small one-time setup fee applies to Cloud VPS 10 and Storage VPS 10 on 1-month and 6-month plans. All other plans and longer-term commitments have no setup fees.

Contabo operates 11 data center locations across 4 continents: Germany (Munich, Nuremberg), USA (Central, East, West), United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and India. You can choose your preferred location during server setup.

Yes, all Contabo servers include DDoS protection at no additional cost. The protection is always-on and helps mitigate volumetric attacks to keep your server accessible during attack attempts.

Yes, Windows Server is available as an add-on. Windows Server 2022 and 2025 Datacenter editions are offered starting at approximately EUR 7.50/month additional. Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, etc.) are included free.

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) storage offers significantly faster read/write speeds compared to traditional SSD via the PCIe interface. Cloud VPS plans include NVMe as the primary option, while Storage VPS plans use larger SSD drives optimized for capacity.

Contabo offers Auto Backup as a paid add-on starting at EUR 0.75/month. This provides daily automated backups with instant 1-click recovery, retaining the last 10 backup versions. Manual snapshots are also included on all VPS plans.

Port speeds vary by plan: 200 Mbit/s for entry-level VPS, scaling up to 1 Gbit/s for higher-tier VPS, VDS, and all dedicated servers. 10 Gbit/s ports are available as an option on Turin dedicated servers.

Yes, you can upgrade to a higher-tier plan at any time. Contabo allows vertical scaling by moving to a plan with more resources. Additional storage can also be added as add-ons to existing servers.

Yes, Contabo provides a REST API for managing your servers programmatically. The API supports operations like creating, starting, stopping, and deleting servers, managing snapshots, and configuring networking.

Contabo supports Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, 24.04), Debian, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux, and FreeBSD. Custom ISO images can also be mounted. Windows Server is available as a paid add-on.

Contabo does not offer a traditional money-back guarantee. However, the minimum contract is just 1 month, so you can try the service with minimal commitment. Note that a small setup fee applies to VPS 10 entry plans on short-term billing. Pre-paid accounts require no cancellation notice period.