You spot a €5 VPS with 4 cores and 8GB RAM and think: this feels way too good to be real. That’s exactly what a lot of developers, founders, and small business owners run into when comparing Contabo vs Hetzner.
To make things simple, we dug through user reviews, forum threads, performance tests, and provider data, so you don’t have to. We’ll look at where Contabo’s crazy-low pricing actually delivers, and where Hetzner’s stability and infrastructure justify paying more. Here’s the full breakdown.
 Overall grade:8.7 |
 Overall grade:7.9 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Performance and speed | 9.1 | 8.0 |
| Uptime and reliability | 9.0 | 8.5 |
| Ease of use | 8.4 | 8.0 |
| Features and add-ons | 9.0 | 7.8 |
| Customer support | 8.3 | 7.5 |
| Security features | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| Pricing and value | 8.2 | 9.5 |
| Integrations and ecosystem | 8.6 | 7.8 |
Performance and speed
9.1
8.0
Performance is where most people either fall in love with a provider or regret choosing it. For all use cases, you need your server to just work in a stable manner and without ugly surprises. We spent hours reading user reports and checking what people say on forums like Reddit. Here’s the honest picture.
Hetzner: You’re buying peace of mind
Hetzner is what we call “boringly reliable,” which is exactly what you want in production.
The hardware is well grounded. German-engineered, fast NVMe storage, great CPUs. You don’t hear much drama about overloaded nodes or noisy neighbors. They have production-grade stability.
If you need heavy horsepower (AI/ML, training models, big data stuff), Hetzner’s got dedicated GPU servers ready to go. Plus, if you want full control over hardware, their server auctions let you grab entire machines at prices that often beat cloud competitors. You pay a bit more than budget hosts, but you’re buying consistency.
Contabo: Big specs, small price, but a gamble
Contabo is tricky. On paper, it’s insane how much you get: 4 vCPUs and 8GB RAM for around €5. If you’re bootstrapping, it looks like a no-brainer.
However, there’s a problem: they’re overselling. Contabo is known for packing a lot of VPS instances onto shared hardware. If you land on a crowded node, your server might crawl: CPU steal percentages can spike, apps get laggy, and sometimes you have to move to a different node to get decent performance.
That said, plenty of users are happy. If you get lucky, your server hums along beautifully for months. Singapore’s data center, for example, gets a lot of praise from users targeting Asia.
It’s still very much great when it works, frustrating when it doesn’t.
The quick take
- If you’re running something important (client sites, ecommerce, SaaS), lean towards Hetzner. Stability matters.
- If it’s for personal projects, dev sandboxes, hobby blogs, Contabo might give you killer specs for pocket change, as long as you’re okay with rolling the dice.
Uptime and reliability
9.0
8.5
Performance is how fast your server runs. Uptime is whether it even shows up when someone tries to visit your site, and no amount of CPU power helps if your server isn’t reachable. Again, we went deep into real user reports, not just what the providers advertise. Here’s what happens when you look at Contabo vs Hetzner side by side.
Hetzner: Set it and forget it
Hetzner’s uptime track record is one of the big reasons people stay with them for years. You’ll see plenty of users casually mentioning things like 1000+ days of uptime before needing a reboot. That’s real-world feedback from long-term customers.
Are there occasional hiccups? Sure. Things like isolated hardware swaps or maintenance windows come up now and then, but these issues are rare and don’t point to any ongoing patterns. Once your instance is up, you generally stop thinking about it.
Contabo: Looks good on paper, not always in practice
On paper, Contabo promises a 99.996% uptime SLA, which sounds excellent. In reality, user reports paint a more mixed picture. Some customers report random downtime or brief outages where servers become unreachable: whether that’s lost SSH access, temporary network drops, or entire instance hiccups.
There are plenty of users who report long periods of stable uptime, but reports of downtime events show up more frequently than you’d hope for in important projects.
The quick take
- If uptime truly matters (production SaaS, client work, ecommerce), Hetzner is the safer bet.
- Contabo can work for non-critical projects, but you have to be okay with the occasional surprise downtime.
Ease of use and control panel
8.4
8.0
Nobody wakes up excited to fight with a confusing hosting dashboard. The smoother the control panel, the less time you waste clicking around or hunting for settings. Here’s how Hetzner and Contabo stack up when it comes to just using the thing.
Hetzner: Smooth, but with a few advanced corners
Hetzner’s cloud panel is one of the nicer ones out there. It’s clean, fast, and doesn’t bury basic actions under five layers of menus. Deploying a new cloud server takes just a few clicks, and you’re up and running in minutes.
Their Server Auction interface is a bit more advanced. You’re bidding on hardware, so naturally it feels slightly more technical, but once you get the hang of it, it’s incredibly powerful for getting dedicated resources at a good price.
Where things get a bit less plug-and-play is when you’re ordering dedicated custom setups. Those can take a few days to provision (around 3+), and there’s a small learning curve if you’re new to custom hardware. But overall, very polished, very reliable.
Contabo: Gets the job done, but not fancy
Contabo’s control panel is fine. It works. It’s not going to win design awards, but if you’ve used VPS panels before, you’ll figure it out pretty quickly.
That said, a lot of users mention that the billing system can get a bit confusing. Things like license charges, upgrades, or cancellations aren’t always as transparent as they could be. You might find yourself double-checking invoices more than you’d like.
One place where Contabo gets praise: instant setup. Their standard VPS products spin up fast, so you’re not waiting long to get started. Overall, it feels more like managing a raw server, you have control, but you’re also a bit more on your own.
The quick take
- Hetzner feels more polished and intuitive, especially if you want a smooth cloud-like experience.
- Contabo works fine once you learn it, but expect a few more rough edges, especially around billing.
Features and add-ons
9.0
7.8
This is where you start seeing what each provider actually brings to the table, beyond just raw specs. Some folks just want lots of RAM and CPU, while others need more advanced tools like backups, object storage, or GPUs. In the Contabo vs Hetzner matchup, they take totally different directions here.
Hetzner: Lots of toys for serious projects
Hetzner goes well beyond just launching a VPS.
- Automatic snapshots & backups: You can easily set up automated backups (they cost about 20% extra), which is great if you don’t want to manage that manually.
- Object Storage (S3-compatible): If you need to store lots of files, backups, or media, Hetzner’s object storage works just like AWS S3, but way cheaper.
- Dedicated AI GPU servers (GEX130): If you’re working with machine learning, AI training, or any GPU-heavy work, Hetzner offers serious hardware that Contabo simply doesn’t have.
- Kubernetes support: For those running containerized apps, Hetzner supports Kubernetes clusters, helpful if you’re scaling apps across multiple nodes.
- Custom dedicated server auctions: If you want full control over hardware, you can bid on actual physical servers via their auction system and often grab great deals.
Basically, Hetzner’s toolbox is built for developers, SaaS builders, agencies, or anyone who needs more than just a plain VPS.
Contabo: Big resources, fewer extras
Contabo takes a much simpler approach: huge specs for cheap.
- Even at the lowest price tiers, you get high RAM and CPU allocations compared to most competitors.
- Their Storage VPS plans are pretty popular for people who just need lots of space for cheap (think backups, file servers, etc.).
- But, no object storage. No GPU servers. No Kubernetes. You’re not getting advanced infrastructure tools here.
- You do get full Windows VPS support if you’re running Windows-based apps, which some users find handy.
So if you mostly care about stuffing a lot of files or running basic workloads, Contabo gives you a ton of bang for your buck, just not many extra bells and whistles.
The quick take
- If you need advanced features like object storage, GPUs, and Kubernetes, Hetzner is the clear winner.
- If you just want a cheap VPS with lots of RAM, CPU, and disk space, Contabo will get you there, no frills attached.
Customer Support
8.3
7.5
Support is one of those things you don’t think much about until you really, really need it. When you do, how fast and helpful your provider is can decide everything.
Hetzner: Reliable, but you may not need it much
A lot of Hetzner users barely interact with support, mostly because things work. When you do need them, support is professional, structured, and serious. They’ll verify your ID and may ask for extra documentation depending on the issue. It feels very German: strict, but organized. You’re not chatting with bots or getting canned replies; it’s actual humans following clear processes.
For most business-critical use cases, that kind of professional, reliable support is exactly what you want. Not necessarily warm and fuzzy, but efficient.
Contabo: Hit-or-miss experience
Contabo markets their “award-winning support”, but when you read actual user stories, the reality is a bit more mixed:
- Many Reddit users mention waiting several days for support replies (not ideal if your server’s down or you’re locked out).
- Some have reported surprising fees, like paying €40 just to reset a 2FA key.
- That said, once you do get a reply, their support is typically handled by real people, but the delays can be frustrating if you’re stuck waiting.
In short: if things go wrong at Contabo, it can sometimes feel like you’re left hanging longer than you’d like.
The quick take
- Hetzner: Reliable, professional, and very “by the book.”
- Contabo: Support exists, but when you need help fast, it may test your patience.
Security features
8.8
7.9
Just like support, nobody wants to think about security until something bad happens. However, in the Contabo vs Hetzner comparison, this is where the differences really matter. If you’re hosting client data, handling payments, or building anything serious, security needs to be baked into your hosting. It’s not something you hope goes well.
Hetzner: Business-grade security baked in
Hetzner takes security seriously right from the start. They’re fully GDPR-compliant, which is a must if you’re dealing with European customers or personal data. Account creation includes strict ID verification, adding an extra layer of protection against account takeovers.
Their security processes feel very buttoned-up, exactly what you want if you’re running production workloads or dealing with sensitive data.
Contabo: Covers basics, but is thinner on the edges
Contabo is also GDPR-compliant, which covers the legal baseline, but beyond that, things start feeling a bit more DIY. Several users report that even simple security tasks, like resetting a lost 2FA key, require paid support tickets.
There’s also less transparency around how redundancy and internal security is handled. You don’t get the same level of clear, business-class processes you see at providers like Hetzner. If you’re spinning up a personal VPS or hobby server, that may be fine, but for production-grade projects, you may want more peace of mind.
The quick take
- Hetzner: Much stronger for business-grade security and clear processes.
- Contabo: Covers the basics, but you’re more on your own for anything serious.
Pricing and value
8.2
9.5
Let’s talk about money. Specs are one thing, but what do you actually get for what you pay?
Hetzner: Fair pricing with pro-level value
Hetzner doesn’t try to be the cheapest, and that’s kind of the point. Their hourly and monthly billing options give you flexibility, especially if you want to spin up short-term projects or scale gradually.
Prices for their cloud servers start modestly, but if you need premium hardware, you’ll definitely pay for it. On the other hand, the server auctions are a hidden gem. You can snag dedicated machines at surprisingly good prices, and people love that combo of raw power with predictable billing.
Current and past customers didn’t report any weird setup fees or pricing tricks. What you see is what you get. So, if you care more about stability and long-term ROI than just the cheapest entry point, Hetzner often pays off over time.
Contabo: Wildly cheap, if you can live with the tradeoffs
Contabo’s whole thing is offering the most resources for the least amount of money, and they absolutely deliver on that. Their VPS plans with 4 cores and 8GB RAM for around €5 are basically unbeatable. This is why developers, students, and side project folks flock to them.
However, some plans include setup or provisioning fees, and you’re locked into monthly billing only, no hourly flexibility here. A lot of users say the same thing: Contabo’s pricing is hard to beat.
The quick take
- Contabo is your go-to if you want the most specs for the fewest euros, especially for testing, learning, or low-risk projects.
- Hetzner isn’t the cheapest, but it gives you long-term value, cleaner billing, and way fewer surprises.
Integrations and ecosystem
8.6
7.8
Beyond raw servers, the question is: how much can you actually build on top of this? Some providers give you a full toolbox to connect into modern cloud workflows, while others stay pretty barebones.
Hetzner: Plays nicely with modern stacks
If you’re building apps, deploying containers, or automating infrastructure, Hetzner gives you plenty to work with:
- You can run Kubernetes workloads natively, which is huge if you’re orchestrating clusters or scaling apps automatically.
- Their S3-compatible Object Storage slots right into many existing software stacks that expect S3-style storage, useful for backups, media, or data storage without having to mess with workarounds.
- For automation fans, Hetzner offers solid cloud APIs that make it easy to spin up or manage servers programmatically.
- Plus, as their GPU offerings continue to expand, they’re becoming increasingly attractive for AI, ML, and data-heavy workloads.
For developers who want infrastructure that fits neatly into existing tools and workflows, Hetzner makes it pretty easy.
Contabo: Simple, focused, and mostly self-contained
Contabo keeps things a lot more straightforward.
- The focus is really on core VPS hosting, you get your box, and then it’s pretty much up to you to build whatever you need on top of it.
- They offer fewer built-in integrations or developer-focused extras, so you won’t find much in the way of APIs, orchestration tools, or plug-and-play storage options.
- This stripped-down approach works fine if you’re just after a basic server to host websites, game servers, or personal projects. But if you’re looking for built-in cloud features, you’ll likely need to handle more yourself.
The quick take
- Hetzner gives developers and teams more options to build sophisticated, automated, and scalable environments.
- Contabo keeps it simple: straightforward VPS hosting without much of an extended ecosystem.
Final verdict: Contabo vs Hetzner
If you’re still deciding, here’s the simple version:
| User type | Recommendation |
| Beginners | Contabo: Only if price is absolutely your #1 priority and you can live with occasional bumps (support delays, node sharing, etc.). For serious projects, Hetzner remains safer. |
| Small business | Hetzner: Better long-term stability, stronger security, and more features make it worth the higher price if your business depends on uptime and data safety. |
| SaaS / developers | Hetzner: You get mature APIs, better automation support, object storage, and growing AI/GPU options. It’s simply a more complete developer stack. |
| Enterprises | Hetzner: Compliance, infrastructure quality, and long-term reliability put Hetzner solidly ahead for business-critical workloads. |
| Asia-based | Contabo (Singapore location): If latency is the priority and the workload is non-critical, Contabo’s Singapore presence gives you a budget option closer to your users. |
Contabo vs Hetzner FAQ
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