Siteground vs Contabo: guide for 2024

Siteground vs Contabo: Final verdict

Looking over SiteGround vs. Contabo, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

• 
  Contabo (Overall grade: 7.6)
  
  
  offers several impressive features, but also has some limitations, such as bandwidth restrictions and lack of
  free domain names. Additionally, there is a substantial price increase from one service level to the next, with
  the highest plan costing $400 per month. Despite these drawbacks, the platform’s excellent performance and
  reliability make it a suitable option for users seeking high performance and scalability.
  
• 
  SiteGround (Overall grade: 8.8)
  
  
  offers many of the same features that Contabo does, plus many more. If you’re looking for a web host that
  will help you build a WordPress website with an easy-to-use website builder, features robust security features,
  and offers a 24/7 support team, SiteGround is the host you’ve been looking for.
  

Final verdict

Comparing SiteGround and Contabo highlights the strengths and weaknesses of both, summarizing their unique offerings and customer appeal.

SiteGround (Overall grade: 8.8) stands out due to its balanced performance and customer-friendly features. It excels in uptime reliability and fast server response times, enhanced by Google Cloud infrastructure and advanced security measures like a custom web application firewall and daily backups. SiteGround’s hosting plans are versatile, covering shared, WordPress, cloud, and ecommerce needs, making it an excellent choice for small businesses and individuals looking for managed solutions. Its extensive support options, including 24/7 live chat, phone, and AI assistance, ensure that users receive timely and effective help. While its renewal pricing can be high, the provider’s comprehensive features and user-friendly approaches, such as custom admin panels and free site migration tools, offer considerable value. However, users might find occasional issues navigating the support section or with specific features like the webmail interface.

Contabo (Overall grade: 7.6) offers substantial value, particularly for users requiring high performance and customization options. It specializes in VPS and dedicated hosting, equipped with powerful AMD EPYC processors and extensive storage configurations. Contabo’s competitive pricing stands out, making it attractive for technically inclined users needing scalable VPS solutions. Its security measures, including always-on DDoS protection and advanced monitoring tools, add a layer of reliability. However, the lack of managed WordPress services and limited support options like no live chat can be a drawback. Contabo’s customer support is robust but not available 24/7, and users have reported issues with frequent downtime and slow response times. Still, for those seeking high customization and cost-effective server solutions, Contabo’s offerings remain compelling, particularly for high-load applications and users adept at managing technical environments.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: SiteGround offers a solid balance between uptime, performance, and customer support.

SiteGround ensures an uptime guarantee of 99.9%, which translates to minimal monthly downtime. If they fail to meet this guarantee, generous compensation is provided. Testing confirms SiteGround’s exceptional stability, evidenced by only 7 minutes of downtime over nearly two months. Their servers respond swiftly, clocking an average response time of 0.207 seconds.

Contabo boasts a 99.996% uptime guarantee, minimal downtime, and uses advanced hardware like AMD EPYC processors. Their data centers are globally distributed and secured with best-in-class protection measures. Performance tests conducted on Contabo’s main website resulted in high-speed ratings with no downtime, highlighting their reliability and responsiveness.

🏆 Winner: SiteGround provides exceptional hosting performance with premium Google Cloud infrastructure and advanced optimization technologies.

When comparing general performance, SiteGround leverages the premium Google Cloud infrastructure, which enhances reliability and speed through persistent SSD storage. It features ultrafast server setups with custom PHP and MySQL implementations that reduce TTFB and improve load times by 30%. SiteGround supports both static and dynamic caching, and offers a free CDN service with over 170 edge locations globally. They have data centers worldwide, providing quick content delivery. On the other hand, Contabo utilizes AMD EPYC processors and offers SSD or NVMe storage options. It provides 32TB outbound traffic and high connection speeds up to 10Gbit/s. Contabo also boasts multiple global data centers and free DDoS protection.

Website Speed

When it comes to website speed, SiteGround excels with its custom server setup and extensive caching methods, achieving 30% faster load times. The integration of the latest tech stack like PHP versions, Brotli compression, and HTTP/2 optimizes performance further. Contabo offers rapid response times with AMD EPYC processors and faster NVMe SSDs but lacks the same level of in-house optimizations and caching techniques as SiteGround.

Scalability

SiteGround offers scalable plans, ranging from $3.99/month for StartUp to $100/month for Cloud solutions. Users must upgrade plans for more resources. Contabo provides affordable scaling options with easy VPS package upgrades. While it doesn’t specify dedicated server options, they offer significant performance boosts without affecting availability. Detailed cost information for scaling with Contabo isn’t mentioned.

🏆 Winner Contabo: Contabo is selected as the top choice due to its fine blend of advanced security measures and operational features.

Both SiteGround and Contabo, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

SiteGround provides robust security features such as a custom Smart Web Application Firewall (WAF), an AI Anti-Bot system blocking security threats, and daily backups. It also offers automatic updates for WordPress and WooCommerce, enhancing the overall technical security. Contabo, meanwhile, offers always-on DDoS protection with a 99% recognition rate for attack patterns, Imunify AV for malware scanning, and advanced monitoring tools for resource tracking. While both offer SSL certificates, SiteGround includes free SSLs through Let’s Encrypt, and Contabo has scalable SSL options integrated with cPanel and Plesk servers.

Operational security measures:

In terms of operational security, SiteGround employs a 24/7 system administration and multi-layered security managed by Google Cloud, which provides a high level of data center security. It also features distributed backups and easy backup restoration options. Contabo has 24/7 surveillance in its data centers, magnetic card access, role-based access controls, and two-factor authentication for user accounts. Both hosting providers emphasize operational security, but Contabo adds a layer of flexibility with backup options such as FTP and Object Storage.

Compliance and certifications:

SiteGround’s infrastructure is managed by Google Cloud, which ensures multi-layered security but does not specify adherence to HIPAA standards and is not PCI compliant. Contabo excels with full GDPR compliance, frequent physical security reviews, and tools for monitoring compliance. While specific PCI compliance details are not listed explicitly, their infrastructure supports high redundancy and reliability, aligning with various industry standards.

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: SiteGround offers a plethora of advanced features tailored to WordPress users, making it an exceptional choice for managed hosting and beyond.

SiteGround and Contabo both present a variety of compelling features designed to cater to different user needs. SiteGround provides an easy-to-use website builder and offers free email hosting, SSL certificates, and daily backups, which can be beneficial for users wanting to create simple sites with secure and reliable support. Its WordPress-optimized hosting solutions come with managed services, enhancing the ease of use for bloggers and business owners. SiteGround also features automatic updates, a robust caching system, and enhanced security measures. On the financial side, their 30-day money-back guarantee adds a level of reassurance for trial and error.

Contabo, on the other hand, provides robust performance with AMD EPYC processors and extensive control panel features suited for more technical users who need higher customization and flexibility. It offers free DDoS protection and powerful hardware options, catering specifically to those who require high performance and uptime guarantees. While Contabo does not emphasize managed WordPress services like SiteGround, it allows deep customization through multiple OS options, API access, and custom image deployments. The flexible storage solutions and high traffic allowances make it ideal for high-load applications.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both SiteGround and Contabo offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Email services at SiteGround include free email hosting, allowing users to create and manage their own email accounts directly through the hosting service. It is a comprehensive offering suitable for businesses looking to integrate their email campaigns without additional costs. Contabo, while focusing on more self-managed server environments, provides basic email hosting services but lacks the detailed integration and management features found in SiteGround. Users interested in more complex transactional email features may need to look elsewhere, as these options are not prominently highlighted by Contabo.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: Comprehensive feature set with excellent pricing options.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

SiteGround offers diverse hosting plans for different needs, including shared web hosting and WordPress hosting starting at $3.99/month, and advanced cloud hosting at $100.00/month. Contabo provides competitive pricing, especially for VPS plans starting at $3.99/month and dedicated servers at €99.98/month. Both providers include unique features such as unlimited bandwidth from SiteGround and high-performance NVMe storage from Contabo. SiteGround’s plans often come with additional benefits like free SSL, daily backups, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Contabo distinguishes itself with a higher number of CPU cores and greater storage capacities, ideal for users needing scalable resources.

Enterprise plans

SiteGround’s enterprise plans focus on robust cloud hosting solutions starting at $100.00/month, with advanced features suitable for large-scale operations. Conversely, Contabo offers a variety of enterprise-grade dedicated servers, with the starting price at €99.98/month, boasting high CPU core counts and significant memory configurations. Both providers support customized solutions, but Contabo’s higher RAM and NVMe storage options stand out for resource-intensive applications.

🏆 Winner: SiteGround: Efficient and user-friendly hosting solution with comprehensive features.

When comparing the admin panels, SiteGround employs a custom solution tailored for both technical and non-technical users. It integrates an Automated Site Setup Wizard which simplifies the process of launching a new site, choosing among WordPress, Magento, and 20+ applications. Additionally, the WordPress Starter Plugin assists novice users in selecting professional themes and essential plugins quickly. Meanwhile, Contabo offers the Contabo Control Panel, a straightforward interface suitable for managing VPS plans and dedicated servers. This panel enables users to handle various server operations such as status checks, OS reinstalls, and resource upgrades. While Contabo’s Control Panel is functional and user-friendly, it might not match the accessibility and convenience offered by SiteGround’s custom solution for less tech-savvy users.

SiteGround on the other hand, offers a dual interface that combines a custom dashboard with full cPanel access, catering to both beginners and technically advanced users. The platform includes a comprehensive help center filled with a wide variety of guides and tutorials, aimed at assisting users in managing and optimizing their websites effectively.

Both SiteGround and Contabo offer migration services for websites, but their approaches and costs differ. SiteGround provides free automated migrations for WordPress sites specifically within the first 30 days after purchasing a new shared hosting plan. For non-WordPress sites, however, SiteGround charges $149 for migration services, although users have the option to undertake manual migrations, which demand considerable technical expertise. On the other hand, Contabo offers both automated and manual migration options for WordPress and non-WordPress or custom sites alike. Their paid migration service is considerably more affordable at approximately $30.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. SiteGround offers a wide range of resources alongside 24/7 chat and phone support. Contabo also boasts a detailed help center with an intuitive search function and around-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, ensuring comprehensive user support.

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: Offers advanced user management features and enhanced control.

SiteGround and Contabo offer distinct approaches to user roles and permissions management. SiteGround provides granularity in user role customization, allowing you to create specific roles with tailored access to Site Tools. Collaborators can manage sites independently and even contact support directly. In contrast, Contabo is more focused on individual user settings like changing personal information and passwords, with limited emphasis on role customization. Contabo does allow for authorizing individuals to manage servers, but it does not offer the same level of flexibility as SiteGround in creating and defining user roles.

Both SiteGround and Contabo provide user-friendly interfaces for managing users, but they differ in complexity. SiteGround’s Client Area makes it easy to add collaborators and assign roles, benefiting users who require detailed access management. The process for creating roles and assigning them is straightforward, accessible from the profile section in the Client Area. On the other hand, Contabo’s Control Panel focuses on personal and security settings, such as enabling Two-Factor Authentication and updating personal information. The user interface in Contabo is simpler and more oriented towards individual user control rather than collaborative site management.

In managing access control, SiteGround excels with advanced settings, including white-label clients for GoGeek and Cloud plan users. This ensures that client users do not see SiteGround branding, maintaining a professional appearance. The ability to customize roles further enhances SiteGround’s scalability for teams and clients. Contabo ensures security through mandatory Two-Factor Authentication and offers features like managed services and DDoS protection, but its approach to user management is less sophisticated. SiteGround’s advanced access control measures make it more capable of handling a growing number of users efficiently.

SiteGround user roles table:

Contabo user roles table:

🏆 Winner SiteGround: A highly reliable hosting provider with extensive customer support options and exceptional service quality.

SiteGround provides a comprehensive range of customer support options, including 24/7 live chat, phone support, helpdesk tickets, and automated solutions. Their support team is highly trained, friendly, and efficient, with a 98% satisfaction rate. The availability of an AI assistant and professional expert migrations further enhances the customer experience, making SiteGround a versatile choice for users needing reliable assistance.

Contabo offers phone support, email/ticket support, and a self-help section with detailed articles and tutorials. Although they have a good response time and managed services for additional assistance, their lack of live chat support and 24-hour availability are notable limitations. Despite these shortcomings, Contabo still provides valuable support features such as emergency support upgrades and free DDoS protection for all plans.

Siteground vs Contabo: User feedback

SiteGround garners consistently high praise for its exceptional customer support and user-friendly tools, frequently being described as reliable and straightforward to use. Users commend the fast and knowledgeable technical assistance, which is available through various channels like chat and phone, often highlighting the effectiveness and patience of support representatives. Despite these positive aspects, some users find renewal pricing relatively expensive and note that navigating to the support section can be cumbersome. Issues with specific features, such as the webmail interface and certain plugins, are also mentioned, but overall, SiteGround is recommended for its strong support and ease of use, especially for beginners and small businesses.

Contabo offers affordable and powerful VPS plans, which are particularly beneficial for running demanding software and complex tasks. Several users have praised the reliability, stability, and cost-effectiveness of the service, highlighting its great value for money. However, frequent downtime, limited customer support, and a somewhat outdated control panel have been significant points of concern. Some users have experienced slow response times and unresolved service requests, suggesting areas for improvement in customer service and operational transparency.

Siteground vs Contabo: FAQ