Contabo VPS Complete Review (2023)
- 10 Minutes to read
Table of Content
- Introduction – What is Contabo?
- Features Included With Contabo
- The Pros and Cons of Contabo
- Contabo Hosting Types
- Contabo Pricing
- Top 5 CMS Hosted on Contabo 2023
- Top 5 OS Hosted on Contabo 2023
- Top 5 Languages Hosted on Contabo 2023
- Top 5 Servers Hosted on Contabo 2023
- Contabo VPS Server Features
- Contabo Dedicated Server Features
- Contabo Virtual Dedicated Server Features
- Contabo Ease of Use
- Contabo Performance
- Contabo Security
- Contabo Customer Support
- Best Contabo Alternatives
- Contabo Review: The Final Verdict
Introduction – What is Contabo?
Contabo is a German hosting provider that offers processing power, storage, and networking for commercial or private applications, Internet beginners, and experts with high availability demands. It focuses mostly on Virtual Private Server (VPS), Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS), dedicated server hosting, and Web spaces with made-in-Germany quality. It also includes 365-day customer service.
They have a wide range of plans to fit any budget, and they offer great features like premium storage space, large bandwidth, premium hardware, and more. Contabo has 24/7 hosting and VPS support. Contabo’s data centers have improved their offerings and rates. The best thing Contabo could do to improve quality would be to use faster hard drives in its best VPS hosting plans.
So, what is Contabo really? What makes it different from other hosting services, and what does it do that others don’t? This in-depth, first-hand review of Contabo will answer all of your questions.
Features Included With Contabo
What makes Contabo so unique? We know what’s going through your mind. So, here are the things that you should know. Keep on reading.
Data Centers Using Less Energy
Compared to other hosting businesses, Contabo promotes energy efficiency. It’s great for reducing pollutants. The company’s two data centers are powered by different energy companies in case something goes wrong.
Automated DDoS Protection
Contabo’s DDoS defense protects your website against cyber attacks. These attacks are common. Contabo’s hosting services all include DDoS protection, and you don’t have to activate it. It will run itself.
Domain Name Registration
Contabo lets you rapidly register a website domain. You can switch registrars if you already have one. Contabo now offers over 300 domain extensions. You get a client dashboard when you buy a domain from Contabo.
Web and Data Security
Contabo add-ons simplify data backup. It uses FTP encryption and automates backups. Using an SSL certificate encrypts your website’s data, rendering it unreadable, useless, and unusable. SSL certificates let Google users purchase Contabo online safely. Two-factor authentication secures Contabo accounts and even email or phone verification gets secured.
Website Builder and eCommerce Features
Contabo’s Webspace plans include an easy-to-use website builder with a responsive design and over 200 designs. If you have an eCommerce website, Contabo’s security features can help you set up an online store. Contabo’s web space offerings allow you to create a free website.
The Pros and Cons of Contabo
Besides the pros, there are also some cons to think about. So, here is a review of the pros and cons of Contabo.
Pros
- Contabo Server is a platform for hosting websites that also offers colocation services to its users.
- With Contabo, it’s easy to add more users.
- Contabo has a lot of different things for sale.
- Prices are low compared to other hosts.
- With your order, you will get a free domain name for one year.
- There are many different databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, CGI-BIN, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby on Rails, and many more.
- 100% customer satisfaction is guaranteed by Contabo’s 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to try out their service and help and decide if you like it or not. Please be aware that this will remove the cost of the domain from the payment status.
Cons
- The biggest problem with Contabo is that you can’t buy domains from it unless you also buy one of its hosting services.
- Since there is no option for live chat, it can be hard to report problems when they happen.
- Users have to pay extra for important services like automatic backups that other hosting companies offer for free.
- Their customer service may take a while to respond, which could be because of long lines, but they do a good job with a one-minute average.
Contabo Hosting Types
Contabo’s Cheap Hosting
- 1-click installations of 300+ apps
- Unlimited bandwidth and traffic
- FREE DDoS and virus protection
- FREE SSL certificates for all domains
- POP3 and IMAP email support
Contabo’s Dedicated Hosting
- Full root or admin access
- Choice of cPanel, Plesk, or Webmin
- Windows or Linux (CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSUSE)
- Optional managed services, monitoring, and notifications
- 10Gbit/s connections available
Contabo’s VPS Hosting
- Multiple SSD configurations
- Intel hardware and KVM virtualization
- Web interface for managing FREE hard or soft reboots
- Choice of operating system and control panel
- 1-click snapshots available
| Money-back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time | |
| Contabo’s Cheap Hosting | N/A | 50 GB – 500 GB | Free ( 1 year) | 4 minutes |
| Contabo’s Dedicated Hosting | N/A | 800 GB – Unlimited SSD | New or Transfer | 7 minutes |
| Contabo’s VPS Hosting | N/A | 500 GB – 1200 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 6 minutes |
Contabo Pricing
- Shared Hosting – $3.99 – $12.99
- VPS – $5.99 – $119.99
- Dedicated Server – $38.99 – $229.99
Contabo’s VPS and dedicated server prices are very competitive. Hosting options don’t compromise on capacity, but the company may benefit from offering unlimited storage to compete with other shared providers. Contabo shares servers’ bandwidth to provide websites with infinite traffic.
Managed services, automatic backups, emergency support, and adding a control panel to VPS or dedicated accounts cost extra. Overall, we like Contabo’s cost, flexibility, and customizability.
Comparatively, Contabo’s prices are moderate and inexpensive. Monthly plans require a one-time setup cost. Compared to other companies, the setup charge is small. Choosing the annual plan waives the setup charge.
Top 5 CMS Hosted on Contabo 2023
Top 5 OS Hosted on Contabo 2023
Top 5 Languages Hosted on Contabo 2023
Top 5 Servers Hosted on Contabo 2023
Contabo VPS Server Features
- Contabo offers cheap virtual servers with many operating systems and root access.
- Clients may install servers in minutes with quick provisioning.
- Contabo doesn’t charge for overage usage, unlike other firms. Each VPS package includes 32 TB outbound and unlimited receiving traffic.
- Contabo VPS are hardware-virtualized. Users profit from the server’s hardware components.
Contabo Dedicated Server Features
- Contabo’s dedicated server provides raw computational power. No virtualization layer means users can use all hardware.
- Users choose the server’s storage. One can start with one little disc and focus on its computational power or stuff it with 11 more discs.
- Contabo lets users establish private networks utilizing switches, routers, and hardware firewalls.
- Users can alter Contabo’s hardware configuration to meet their needs.
Contabo Virtual Dedicated Server Features
- CPU, RAM dedicated: Virtual VDS. Permanently allocated CPU cores and RAM.
- Contabo’s VDS employs NVMe SSD, the fastest storage available. 2 more discs can expand storage.
- Contabo VDS provides powerful computing quickly.
- Contabo includes Hyper-threading with every VDS at no extra cost.
Contabo Ease of Use
Contabo is a service that is not managed and is not at all easy for new users to use. Because of this, developers and server managers like this service. It’s a good choice for advanced server solutions because it’s easy to use and doesn’t cost much. You can also choose to have a Webmin control panel installed for free if you want to.
With this kind of service, you take on all the responsibilities (and benefits). You get the hardware and the connection to it, which you can set up and change however you want. Contabo has everything you need to do all of the above. Since many of these tasks require advanced tools and features, the platform can’t really be easy for beginners to use.
But if ease of use isn’t a concern and you know you’re buying an unmanaged server solution with everything that comes with it, we are good to go. Then, it’s pretty easy to manage to host with Contabo. This is what you’ll see on the main account dashboard when you log in:
As you can probably tell, most people wouldn’t say that the dashboard of Contabo is sleek or up-to-date. Despite this, it does the job perfectly.
First of all, all of the important features are grouped together on the left side of your screen. In the middle, you can see a list of your VPSs and some quick-access buttons like “Start,” “Restart,” “Stop,” and “Manage.”
In the end, the dashboard’s design won’t win any awards for being cutting edge. But if you know how to use the tools and features of an unmanaged server, it should be easy enough to find your way around.
Another good thing about Contabo is that you can install a Webmin control panel for free. You have to choose to join, though, when you check out.
It’s easy to understand and easy to use. Most importantly, it has all the features and tools you need to set up, configure, maintain, and upgrade your server. Some of these are useful for setting up users, changing and controlling apps, setting up DNS, and more.
Overall, I’d put the dashboard and Webmin control panel that comes with Contabo in the “win” column. You should be able to easily control every part of your server if it is both easy to use and gives you a lot of power.
Contabo Performance
In this Contabo review, performance is a big part of figuring out if the service is as reliable and fast as it says it is. Given how cheap the Contabo VPS server was, it’s safe to say that it did very well. It doesn’t have the best performance in its field, but it’s still perfect.
Response Time
In terms of response times, Contabo did better than its competitors. I tested in five places around the world, and the results ranged from 36ms to 384ms, both of which are very fast. Contabo has servers in New York City, Seattle, St. Louis, Germany, Singapore, and St. Louis, Missouri. The company has more and more data centers, and New York and Seattle are the newest ones.
Geekbench Scores
In case you didn’t know, Geekbench is a set of tests that measure how fast your processor and memory are. It runs tests that mimic real-world operations and apps to find out how long it would take the processor to run them. Better results are what you want because they show that the CPU finishes the tests faster. The Geekbench score for Contabo was found by putting it to the test. The results of the tests were 616 for a single core and 1942 for multiple cores. Even though I tested on the lowest server, the numbers aren’t great, but they’re good enough.
Uptime
When it comes to performance and availability, Contabo got an average score of 99.95%. Scores went up and down, but never so much that a connection couldn’t be made. Contabo has great speed and uptime, which makes sense since they own and run their own data centers.
Website Load
A load test is the best way to find out how well a website works when it has a lot of visitors. In this experiment, we did 50 queries at the same time per second. Using the website is the same as making a request. As a result, 50 concurrent requests per second equals 50 interactions per second. Besides the spike, the graph of the reactions was mostly flat. It means that the server didn’t change at all during the test.
Contabo Security
Since Contabo has unmanaged servers, it doesn’t have all the security solutions you might need. But the steps suggested are very helpful. Also, the security at the provider’s data center is very good.
Let’s look at Contabo’s security features in more detail:
Authentication with Two Things
Here, you have to prove who you are by giving your email address and phone number. Also, you have to give permission to anyone who contacts the provider from a new email if it has to do with your customer account.
Defense against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
A DDoS attack is when a lot of requests from computers that have been hacked overload a server in order to stop it from doing its job. DDoS protection is included in all of Contabo’s packages, and it is already turned on.
Safety at the Data Center
Contabo seems to care about data center security. It has 24/7 CCTV monitoring with more than 50 observation cameras and video recording, magnetic card access, an alarm system, multiple live webcams, and security service that is on duty 365 days a year.
Also, the provider protects against the elements with things like smoke and fire detectors, water detectors, and heat extraction systems.
Aside from the ones above, Contabo also has other safety measures in place. But the provider made it clear that it “can’t talk about the details.” Suffice it to say that it’s “obsessed with security.”
It’s too bad that we don’t know exactly what these safety measures are. But based on the fact that there aren’t any bad reviews of Contabo’s security, it looks like these precautions are working.
Overall, I’m happy with how well-rounded and detailed Contabo’s commitment to security is. But the company could be even more open about how its security solutions work.
Contabo Customer Support
You can only get help from Contabo by phone or email between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. CEST. The good news is that Contabo also has a knowledge base with a lot of articles on a wide range of topics.
You can call or email Contabo’s customer service if you have any problems. You’ll find that the team uses a three-tiered system where members work as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level agents. Or “supporters,” as the provider calls them.
From what we could see, all three levels of agents are well-trained and do their jobs well. But the second and third levels are made up of experienced system administrators who know a lot about how things work.
It’s great that email is a free way to get in touch with Contabo. But you might have to wait a bit because the support team only checks emails during business hours, which isn’t great if you need help right away.
Best Contabo Alternatives
Contabo may be the best choice for many people looking for cheap VPS solutions, but it may not be the best choice for you. In that case, you might want to try a couple of other providers.
Hostinger VPS
Hostinger is the first company that comes to mind because its plans are even cheaper than Contabo’s. Its VPS plans start at just $1.99/mo. So, if you don’t need too many resources, Hostinger might be a good choice.
Hostinger also offers semi-managed service, which is great for people who want to make sure their website is easy to use. There is even an easy-to-use control panel that is already installed.
Hostinger is also well-known for how well it works. With data centers in 7 places around the world, the service provider is reliable and very fast.
Liquid Web
Liquid Web is known for its business-level hosting services. Even though Liquid Web isn’t as cheap as Contabo, its prices are more than fair. The cheapest managed VPS plan costs $25.00/mo with our introductory discount.
Plesk and cPanel are included with their managed hosting to make it easier to use. Liquid Web is also fast and reliable in terms of how it works.
And if you don’t like how Contabo helps you, Liquid Web is a great alternative. You can talk to a person by phone, email, or live chat at any time. Live chat is even guaranteed to respond within 59 seconds.
Contabo Review: The Final Verdict
From what has been said so far in this Contabo review, we can say that Contabo is a good platform for hosting websites. The data centers were mostly in Germany, but some were also in other parts of Central Europe. Contabo can be your perfect choice because of its amazing features and price.
Users of Contabo can choose between different hosting options, such as shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting. Every plan comes with an SSL certificate, no transaction fees, DDoS protection, 1-click upgrading, a free domain, and an uptime monitor.
Contabo’s clients have always signed up for long-term services and high-quality help for any technical problems they may have while hosting with Contabo. Things like redundant power supply, internet connection, effective cooling, physical security, and customer support make it a better choice than most competitors. So Contabo is your right choice if you are looking for web hosting services.
