# Contabo

> German VPS provider: fixed-size KVM servers from $6.60 a month for 4 vCPU and 8 GB on the 1-month term, with shared cores, unlimited traffic under a fair-use throttle, and no hourly meter.

Website: https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/  
Guide page: https://botperch.com/providers/contabo/  
Checked: 2026-10-30

**Short answer:** One always-on personal agent (2 vCPU / 4 GiB / 20 GiB) costs about $6.60 a month here, the 3rd cheapest of the 22 providers that run it as described. The AI model adds about $1.88 a month on top (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (1017), 30 requests a day at 40k tokens each, median zero-retention price; from $0.46 at the cheapest host). Fits well: One always-on agent on a very cheap box: Cloud VPS 4 gives 4 vCPU, 8 GB, 100 GB and a static IPv4 for $6.60 a month.

Contabo sells ordinary KVM virtual machines in fixed sizes. Core VPS is the cheap family: 4–18 vCPU, 8–96 GB of RAM and 100–600 GB of SSD, from $6.60 a month. Performance VPS adds current AMD EPYC cores and NVMe, Storage VPS trades CPU for up to 1.4 TB of disk, and Cloud VDS gives 6–24 dedicated vCores. There are also GPU VPS and bare-metal dedicated servers.
It is a plain server product, not a sandbox API. You get root, SSH, any TCP port, a static IPv4 and a /64 IPv6 subnet, and the machine exists until you cancel it. There is no prompt endpoint, no per-session microVM, no pause that keeps memory and no fork.
Billing is prepaid by term: 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months, one flat price per server. There is no hourly or per-second meter, so a powered-off server keeps billing until the paid period ends. The 1-month term is the ongoing monthly price; the heavily advertised 24-month rate is paid upfront for two years.

**Who it is for:** Readers who want the cheapest possible always-on Linux box for one agent, an n8n instance, a chat bot or an MCP server, are comfortable with a terminal, and accept shared CPU cores and a monthly prepayment. It is not a fit for per-task sandboxes, a team that needs SSO and a hard spend cap, or anyone who needs a vendor security report.

**Isolation:** A VPS (virtual private server), not a sandbox built for agents. A full KVM virtual machine with its own kernel, root, Docker and public IP. The vCPU cores are shared with other customers on the same host, and Contabo's own blog says performance can vary with neighbouring tenant load. Nested virtualisation is not supported on Core VPS; it is supported only on the dedicated-core Cloud VDS line, which has no snapshots or Auto Backup. The GPU product is a separate, single-configuration instance.

**Sizes and regions:** Six fixed Core VPS shapes: 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 100 GB at $6.60; 6 / 12 / 200 at $9.00; 8 / 24 / 300 at $16.80; 12 / 48 / 400 at $30.00; 16 / 64 / 500 at $44.50; 18 / 96 / 600 at $58.80. CPU and RAM cannot be chosen independently. Performance VPS goes to 18 vCPU / 96 GB with NVMe; Cloud VDS to 24 dedicated vCores / 96 GB; Storage VPS to 1.4 TB. Upgrades are in place with a short reboot; there is no downgrade, and a plan-family change means a new server and a new IP.

## How it charges

- model: Prepaid term of 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months with one flat price per server. Add-ons are separate monthly charges: Auto Backup, Private Networking, an extra IPv4, a storage extension, Windows Server and control panels.
- meter: A flat price per server per month; no hourly or per-second meter. Cloud VPS 4 is $6.60 a month on the 1-month term and $5.28 a month on the 24-month term, paid upfront.
- stopped: Powering off keeps the disk and the bill. The contract is for the billing period, not for running time, and a cancellation leaves the service active until the end of the period already paid for.
- planFee: No platform fee. The plan price is the whole machine charge, and no setup fee was shown for any term at this check.
- minimum: One month of Cloud VPS 4 at $6.60. No free tier and no signup credit; payment is due before the server is provisioned.

A prepaid monthly VPS plan with one flat price per fixed size: Cloud VPS 4 is $6.60 a month on the 1-month term, there is no hourly meter, and a powered-off server keeps billing until the paid period ends.
- Term choice: the card prices the 1-month term. Cloud VPS 4 is $6.60 a month on 1, 3 or 6 months, $5.28 a month on the 24-month term ($126.72 paid upfront for two years), and €5.50 (1–6 months) / €4.68 (12 months) / €4.40 (24 months) in the EUR list. The 24-month rate is the one Contabo advertises most prominently; the 1-month rate is the ongoing price a monthly buyer pays.
- No setup fee was shown for any term in the configurator on 2026-10-30 ("No Setup Fee" under 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months). Contabo has advertised no VPS setup fee since 2014.
- There is no hourly or per-second meter. A server is sold as a monthly plan, so a single ten-minute task costs a whole month, and tasks mode assumes all runs share one plan back to back. Running one fresh server per task would need one monthly plan per task.
- A powered-off server keeps billing for the paid period: the contract is for a term, not for running time, and cancelling leaves the service active until the end of the current billing period. The card bills one monthly plan for workload C whether the server runs 90 hours or 730.
- Cloud VPS 4 is 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 100 GB SSD. The 4 vCPU and 8 GB are the smallest Core VPS allocation, so workload A (2 vCPU / 4 GiB) and workload C (2 vCPU / 4 GiB) are served by a larger shape. There is no custom CPU/RAM split.
- Contabo labels RAM and disk in GB. The card maps 8 GB to 8 GiB, as the other VPS cards do. If 8 GB is decimal, it is 7.45 GiB and workload B's 8 GiB request is 0.55 GiB short; the next shape (Cloud VPS 6, 12 GB) would be needed. This is unresolved because Contabo does not say which unit it means.
- Add-ons are separate monthly charges and are not in A/B/C: Auto Backup (€1.65/month on Cloud VPS 4 in the configurator), Private Networking (€2.29/month), one additional IPv4 (€3.50/month), 100 GB extra SSD (€1.50/month), Windows Server licence (€8.00/month). Those are net EUR prices from the configurator; the USD list is a fixed 1.2× the EUR list at this check.
- Storage Extension adds capacity of the plan's own type, up to 1.2 TB on the top Core plan. It is tied to the server and is not a detachable volume, so it is not modelled as a volume.
- GPU VPS (one NVIDIA RTX 6000 PRO configuration, EU and US Central) is a separate product and was showing a waitlist on 2026-10-30; it is not in this card.
- Prices are Contabo's own USD list on the en-US site, excluding VAT. The account currency is fixed at order; EUR and GBP lists differ, and EU consumers pay VAT on top.

## Monthly cost for each preset workload

- A personal agent that stays on (Hermes, OpenClaw): $6.60
- A coding agent for one developer: $6.60
- A code interpreter inside your product: $6.60
- A browser agent for a small team: $46.20
- Self-hosted n8n for a small team: $6.60
- A Discord or Slack bot for one server: $6.60
- Claude Code for a team of five: $33.00
- A scraper that runs four times a day: $6.60
- Your own remote MCP server: $6.60
- A: 1,000 short tasks: $6.60
- B: one always-on box: $6.60
- C: three hours a day: $6.60

## Fits well

- One always-on agent on a very cheap box: Cloud VPS 4 gives 4 vCPU, 8 GB, 100 GB and a static IPv4 for $6.60 a month.
- n8n on the 1-click image: the server is installed for you and the editor opens at the server's IP, with no terminal step.
- A predictable bill: one flat monthly price, unlimited traffic under fair use, and no per-GiB overage.
- EU data residency in Germany, with a DPA you can create online, at the same price as the US regions.
- A bigger box when needed: 18 vCPU / 96 GB for $58.80, or a VDS with 24 dedicated vCores.
- Automation through the REST API, the open-source cntb CLI or Terraform, including cloud-init.

## Fits badly

- Many short runs or one machine per task: there is no hourly or per-second meter, so a ten-minute task costs a month.
- Pause and resume: a stop powers the machine off, loses memory and still bills.
- A team that needs SAML/OIDC single sign-on, a hard account spend cap, usage alerts or a SOC 2 report.
- A workload that cannot tolerate a noisy neighbour: the vCPU cores are shared and Contabo says performance can vary.
- Managed TLS, preview URLs, a file API, a PTY API or an MCP server: none is offered.
- Nested virtualisation on the cheap Core VPS, Windows bring-your-own-licence, or a GPU today: nested virt needs the VDS line, and the GPU VPS was on a waitlist.

## Features

- **Isolation** (yes): KVM VM; root, Docker. A full VM with its own kernel, root, Docker and public IP. The vCPU cores are shared with other customers. Nested virtualisation is not supported on Core VPS; it is supported only on the dedicated-core Cloud VDS line. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- **Sizes and regions** (partly): 18 vCPU / 96 GB; 9 regions. Six fixed Core VPS shapes from 4 vCPU / 8 GB to 18 vCPU / 96 GB, with CPU and RAM in a fixed ratio. Performance VPS and Storage VPS change the ratio, Cloud VDS goes to 24 dedicated vCores, but there is no custom sizing. Nine regions: EU (Germany), UK, three US, Singapore, Japan, India and Australia. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- **Lifecycle** (no): Stop loses memory. The panel and API offer start, stop, restart and shutdown, but no pause or hibernate. A stop is a power-off: memory and running processes are lost, the disk survives, and the monthly plan keeps billing. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- **Snapshots and forks** (partly): Disk only; 1 slot, 30 days. Snapshots do not use the plan's disk, cannot be downloaded, and are deleted after 30 days. Cloud VPS 4 includes one slot, Cloud VPS 6 two, larger plans three. There is no memory snapshot, no fork of a running machine, and no documented way to start new servers from a snapshot. Auto Backup is a separate paid add-on with 10 daily off-server backups. [source](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000270385-how-do-i-create-a-snapshot-of-my-server-) [docs](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000270385-how-do-i-create-a-snapshot-of-my-server-)
- **Storage** (yes): Whole disk; +1.2 TB max. The whole VM disk persists with the machine, including a stop. Storage Extension adds capacity of the plan's own type, up to 1.2 TB on the top Core plan, but it is tied to that server: there is no detachable block volume. Object Storage is a separate S3-compatible product. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- **Idle and waking** (yes): No idle stop. There is no idle timer, no session lifetime and no wake-on-request, because a VPS never sleeps. A machine can run for weeks; the trade-off is that the monthly plan bills through every idle hour. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- **Reaching it** (yes): Public IPv4; SSH; VNC. One static public IPv4 plus a /64 IPv6 subnet, any TCP or UDP port, real SSH and a browser VNC console. There is no tokenised preview link and no private URL; the firewall filters inbound traffic and leaves outbound unrestricted. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/ip-assignment/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/ip-assignment/)
- **Custom domains** (partly): DNS yes; TLS yourself. Contabo hosts DNS zones and manages PTR records for its IPs, for domains at Contabo or another registrar. It does not issue or renew TLS certificates for a VPS: you run Caddy, Certbot or a proxy. The n8n and OpenClaw images may include their own web server, but no managed certificate is documented. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/dns-management/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/dns-management/)
- **Outbound network** (yes): Unlimited, fair use. Inbound and outbound traffic are unmetered, with no per-GiB price and no allowance to exceed. The catch is a fair-use policy: Contabo may throttle exceptionally high or disruptive usage, the port is 200 Mbit/s on Cloud VPS 4, and the Terms do not guarantee the bandwidth actually available. Outbound firewall rules are not offered. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/) [docs](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- **Keys and secrets** (partly): Provisioning secrets only. The API can store secrets of type password or ssh, reuse an SSH key across servers, and let support access a machine without emailing a password. It does not inject API keys into the machine as environment variables and has no proxy that hides a key from the agent. API users are role-scoped, not resource-scoped. [source](https://api.contabo.com/) [docs](https://api.contabo.com/)
- **Ways to drive it** (yes): Panel, API, CLI, Terraform. Control panel, documented REST API with OAuth2, open-source cntb CLI, Terraform provider, cloud-init and custom images. No official Python or TypeScript SDK, no MCP server, and no PTY or file endpoints: commands and files go over SSH. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/) [docs](https://contabo.com/en/contabo-api/)
- **Built-in agents** (partly): OpenClaw, Hermes, n8n images. 1-click images include OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, n8n, Paperclip AI and Ollama, installed and configured at first boot. There is no prompt API and no model credentials: you add your own keys. OpenClaw and Hermes both require SSH and their own onboarding wizard after deployment, and Contabo's support stops at the install. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- **Teams and accounts** (partly): 8 roles; no SSO or cap. Several users per account with eight predefined roles (Owner, Full Access, Technician, Billing Admin, Invoice, Abuse & Fraud, Object Storage, Object Storage r/w). API audit endpoints record changes per resource. No SAML/OIDC identity-provider login, no account-wide spend cap and no usage-alert threshold is published. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/) [docs](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- **Billing models** (partly): $6.60/mo, monthly only. Prepaid terms of 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months with one flat price per server. The 1-month term is $6.60 and the 24-month rate is $5.28, paid upfront. There is no hourly or per-second meter, so a ten-minute task costs a month and a powered-off server keeps billing. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/) [docs](https://contabo.com/en-us/pricing/)
- **Trials and free tiers** (no): No trial or credit. Contabo advertises no free tier, trial or signup credit on its pricing, VPS or order pages, and the cheapest 1-month plan is paid at order. Payment can be card, PayPal or bank transfer, but nothing runs before it clears. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/) [docs](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000269311-which-currencies-are-accepted-by-contabo-)
- **The company** (partly): GmbH; 99.9%; no SOC 2 offer. Contabo GmbH, Munich, founded 2003, about 300 staff and 275,000+ customers; KKR has held a majority stake since 2022. The Terms promise 99.9% annual average connectivity with no service credit, and a DPA can be created online. Location pages list SOC 1/SOC 2 Type 2 for the data centre, but Contabo publishes no trust centre or report-request route. [source](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/) [docs](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/)

## Capabilities

- Its own virtual machine: yes (KVM VM, own kernel) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Root access: yes (root over SSH) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Docker inside: yes (Docker on a KVM VM) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Nested virtualisation: partly (VDS only). Only the dedicated-core Cloud VDS line supports it; Core VPS, the plan this card prices, does not. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/max-performance-vps/)
- Your own image: yes (ISO or QCOW2) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Any size you like: no (Fixed shapes only) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Large machines: yes (18 vCPU / 96 GB) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Resize while running: partly (Upgrade in place; reboot). An upgrade needs a short reboot and cannot shrink; a smaller plan means a new server, a new IP and a manual migration. [source](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000269700-how-to-make-changes-to-your-vps-or-vds-plan)
- GPUs: partly (RTX 6000 PRO; waitlist). GPU VPS is one fixed configuration in two locations, cannot be customised, and was on a waitlist at this check. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/pricing/)
- Choose the region: yes (9 regions, 11 locations) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Runs in the EU: yes (Germany (EU)) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/locations/)
- Pause keeps memory: no (No pause) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Pre-started pools: no (No pre-started pool) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Starts in under a second: no (Minutes to provision) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Snapshots of files: yes (Disk image, 30 days) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Snapshots with memory: no (Disk only) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Copy a running machine: no (No fork) [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Pick an older snapshot: partly (1 slot on VPS 4). Cloud VPS 4 holds one snapshot at a time, so there is no earlier point to return to once it is replaced; every snapshot expires after 30 days. [source](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000270385-how-do-i-create-a-snapshot-of-my-server-)
- Reusable templates: no (Custom images only) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Automatic backups: yes (Daily, 10 days (add-on)) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps-auto-backup/)
- Files survive a stop: yes (Whole disk kept) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Separate volumes: no (No block volumes) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/storage/object-storage/)
- One volume, several machines: no (No shared block volume) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Mount outside storage: partly (S3 + s3fs/goofys). Object Storage is S3-compatible, but there is no native mount; Contabo documents s3fs-fuse or goofys for filesystem access. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/storage/object-storage/)
- Large disk: yes (1.4 TB Storage VPS) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Can stay on indefinitely: yes (Runs until cancelled) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Choose the idle timeout: partly (Never; no timer). There is no idle setting at all: the only behaviour is to run until you stop it, so you cannot choose a timeout or save money by letting it sleep. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Wakes on a request: no (No sleep to wake) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Scheduled runs: no (No managed scheduler) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Public link to a port: yes (Public IPv4, any port) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/ip-assignment/)
- Private link: no (No private link) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/firewall/)
- Real SSH: yes (Real SSH) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Terminal in the browser: partly (VNC console). The browser console is a VNC screen for emergencies, not a shell; day-to-day work needs SSH. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Tunnel to your computer: yes (ssh -L) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Non-web ports: yes (Any TCP/UDP port) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/firewall/)
- Your own domain: yes (DNS zone + A record) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/dns-management/)
- Automatic HTTPS: no (No managed certificate) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/dns-management/)
- Outbound data included: yes (Unlimited, fair use) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Allow only some sites: no (Outbound unrestricted) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/firewall/)
- Turn the internet off: no (No offline mode) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/firewall/)
- Fixed outgoing IP: yes (Static IPv4 for life) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/ip-assignment/)
- Stored secrets: partly (Password/SSH only). The secret store holds provisioning passwords and SSH keys; it does not put API keys into the machine as environment variables. [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Secrets the agent cannot read: no (No proxy) [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Limited API keys: partly (Role-scoped API users). API users can be limited by account role, but there are no per-key scopes or per-resource restrictions. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- Create from the website: yes (Control panel) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Command-line tool: yes (cntb, open source) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Python SDK: no (No official SDK) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- TypeScript SDK: no (No official SDK) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Documented HTTP API: yes (Documented REST API) [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- MCP server: no (No MCP server) [source](https://contabo.com/en/contabo-api/)
- Interactive terminal over the API: no (No PTY API) [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Files over the API: no (No file API) [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Coding agents preinstalled: no (No coding agent image) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Send it a prompt: no (No prompt API) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- One-click Hermes: partly (Image + SSH setup). Hermes is installed from a 1-click image, but you must SSH in and point it at a model before it works. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/hermes-ai-vps-hosting)
- One-click OpenClaw: partly (Image + SSH setup). OpenClaw is installed from a 1-click image, but onboarding needs SSH and the terminal wizard. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/openclaw-hosting)
- Browser built in: no (Not preinstalled) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Desktop for computer use: no (No desktop) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Runs other platforms' agents: no (Not documented) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- Team workspace: yes (Several users) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- Roles and permissions: yes (8 predefined roles) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- Single sign-on: no (No SAML/OIDC) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- Hard spending cap: partly (Prepaid plan only). The prepaid term caps the machine's own bill, but there is no account-level spending limit; add-ons and upgrades are separate purchases. [source](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/)
- Usage alerts: not-published (Not published) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- Audit log: partly (Per-resource API audits). API audit endpoints record changes per resource, but no account-wide audit log with export or a retention period is published. [source](https://api.contabo.com/)
- Billed per second: no (Monthly plans only) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- CPU billed only while working: no (Allocated, not active) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Paused costs only storage: no (Stop still bills) [source](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000387511-i-would-like-to-add-or-remove-a-service)
- No monthly fee: no (Monthly plan only) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Flat monthly price: yes ($6.60/mo) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Ongoing free tier: no (No free tier) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Free starting credit: no (No signup credit) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Try without a card: no (Pay before provisioning) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- Public status page: yes (contabo-status.com) [source](https://contabo-status.com/)
- Uptime promise (SLA): partly (99.9%, no credits). The promise is an annual average for physical connectivity and carries no service credit or refund. [source](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/)
- SOC 2 report: not-published (No report offered) [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/locations/india/)
- Data processing agreement: yes (Online DPA) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/dpa/dpa/)
- Open source or self-hostable: no (Proprietary platform) [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)

## Usability

- Dashboard: Yes: the Customer Control Panel creates and manages servers, start/stop/restart, reinstall, snapshots, a VNC console, the rescue system, firewall, private networking, storage extension, DNS and reverse DNS, upgrades and add-ons.
- Without code: Partly. Ordering, the OS or 1-click image and the first boot are click-through. n8n then opens in a browser at the server's IP. OpenClaw and Hermes still need SSH and their own onboarding wizard, and everything after the image is yours.
- Signup: An email address and a payment method. There is no free tier or starting credit and the first invoice is due before provisioning; card, PayPal, bank transfer and SEPA are offered depending on currency, and non-card first payments are manual.
- Docs: A product documentation site at docs.contabo.com, a large help centre, a Redoc API reference at api.contabo.com, an open-source cntb CLI, a Terraform provider and a status page. No official Python or TypeScript SDK and no MCP server.
- Trips people up: There is no hourly meter: a ten-minute task costs a whole month, and stopping the server does not stop the bill.
- Trips people up: The advertised $5.28 is the 24-month rate paid upfront; the monthly price is $6.60.
- Trips people up: The vCPU cores are shared, and Contabo's own blog says performance can vary with neighbouring tenants.
- Trips people up: Snapshots are disk-only, limited to one slot on Cloud VPS 4, and deleted after 30 days.
- Trips people up: There is no downgrade: a smaller plan means a new server, a new IP and a manual migration.
- Trips people up: The Terms require four weeks' notice before the end of a term, while the VPS page says pre-paid contracts need no notice; check the panel before relying on either.
- Trips people up: Support covers the server and the 1-click install, not the application: OpenClaw, Hermes and n8n maintenance is yours.
- Trips people up: Contabo labels RAM in GB; if that is decimal, the 8 GB plan is 7.45 GiB and is short of an 8 GiB request.

## Company

- Legal entity: Contabo GmbH, Welfenstrasse 22, 81541 Munich, Germany; AG Munich HRB 180722; VAT DE267602842. Managing directors Stephan Wolfram and Mario Wilhelm. [source](https://contabo.com/en/legal/impressum/)
- Founded: Launched in 2003. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- History: Originally Giga-International; renamed Contabo in 2013. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- Customers: 275,000+ customers in 190 countries. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- Servers: Over 450,000 servers running worldwide. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- Footprint: 11 locations in 9 regions on 4 continents. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- Team: About 300 staff. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- Ownership: KKR agreed in June 2022 to acquire a majority stake; Oakley Capital kept a minority stake alongside management and the hosting entrepreneurs Thomas Strohe, Jochen Berger and Thomas Vollrath. No later change is stated on the pages checked. [source](https://www.kkr.com/content/dam/kkr/country-sites/de/press-release/20220608-pressemitteilung-kkr-erwirbt-mehrheitsbeteiligung-am-globalen-cloud-infrastruktur-und-hosting-anbieter-contabo.pdf)
- Uptime promise: 99.9% annual average physical connectivity for VPS, VDS and dedicated servers, excluding maintenance and causes outside Contabo's control. No service credit or refund formula is published. [source](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/)
- Data processing: A standardised GDPR data processing agreement can be created in the control panel, covering VPS, VDS, dedicated servers and object storage, in English, German or Spanish. [source](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/dpa/dpa/)
- Certifications: The India location page lists ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS and SOC 1/SOC 2 Type 2 among the data centre's certifications. The page does not say whether Contabo or the facility holds them, and Contabo publishes no trust centre or route to request a SOC 2 report. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/locations/india/)
- Support response: Ticket support, advertised at a two-hour average response time; no contractual response time is published. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/support-experience)
- Support scope: Covers the VPS, network, hardware and the initial install of a 1-click app; maintaining the application is the customer's job. [source](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)

## Caveats

- **The cores are shared, not dedicated** (contradiction): Core VPS uses shared vCPU cores. Contabo's blog says a VPS shares physical cores with other customers and that performance can vary with neighbouring load, while the product docs call CPU and RAM "dedicated allocations but shared at the hypervisor level". The two statements describe the same thing: an allocation that is not a guaranteed physical core.
- **A monthly plan is the smallest unit of billing** (open): There is no hourly or per-second rate. One ten-minute task costs a whole month, and 1,000 tasks only become cheap if they share one server. This is the opposite of what a per-task agent workload needs.
- **Stopping does not stop the bill** (open): The plan is sold by term, not by running hour. Powering off keeps the disk but the period is already paid for, and a cancellation leaves the service active until the end of the current billing period. There is no cheaper stopped-storage rate.
- **Two first-party statements on cancellation notice** (contradiction): The Terms say a contract extends for another term unless either party terminates with four weeks' notice before the end. The VPS page footnote says the minimum cancellation notice is "None (pre-paid) or 4 weeks (post-paid)". The model assumes a 1-month prepaid term that can be ended at the end of the paid month, but a buyer should confirm in the panel which rule applies to their contract.
- **The 24-month price is not the monthly price** (open): The $5.28 headline is the effective monthly rate on a 24-month term, paid as $126.72 upfront. The 1-month term is $6.60. The card uses $6.60 because the site prices the cheapest monthly-billed term at its ongoing price.
- **The USD list is a fixed multiple of the EUR list** (open): Every USD figure on the en-US pages is 1.2× the EUR figure at this check (€5.50 → $6.60, €4.40 → $5.28), not a market exchange rate, with small rounding on Cloud VPS 16 ($44.50 vs €37.00 × 1.2 = $44.40). The account currency is fixed at order and EU consumers pay VAT on top. Add-on prices in the configurator are shown in EUR even on the en-US site.
- **One snapshot slot, deleted after 30 days** (open): Cloud VPS 4 includes one snapshot; larger plans include two or three. Every snapshot is deleted after 30 days, cannot be downloaded, and is a disk image, not a memory image. Auto Backup is a separate paid add-on with 10 daily off-server backups, and Contabo does not guarantee that a backup is recoverable.
- **The support page still says 75 GB NVMe** (contradiction): The support page's product strip says Cloud VPS 4 starts with "75 GB NVMe", while the VPS page, pricing page and product docs all say 100 GB SSD. The model uses 100 GB SSD; the support line looks stale.
- **SOC 2 is listed for the data centre, not clearly for Contabo** (open): Location pages list SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 among the facility's certifications. Contabo publishes no trust centre, no report-request route and no statement that the report covers its VPS platform. A procurement team should ask for the report and its scope before assuming either way.
- **Support ends where the application begins** (open): Contabo supports the VPS, network and hardware and the initial install of a 1-click app. It says maintenance, upgrading and troubleshooting of the application are the customer's responsibility, and the advertised two-hour response time is an average, not a promise.
- **GB is not necessarily GiB** (open): Contabo labels RAM and disk in GB. The card maps 8 GB to 8 GiB. If the figure is decimal, 8 GB is 7.45 GiB and workload B's 8 GiB request does not fit; the next plan (12 GB) would be needed. Contabo does not publish which unit it uses.

## Sources

- [Core VPS plans and prices](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/)
- [All product prices](https://contabo.com/en-us/pricing/)
- [Cloud VPS 4 configurator](https://contabo.com/en-us/vps/cloud-vps-core-4)
- [Product documentation: VPS](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps/)
- [Product documentation: Images and 1-click apps](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/images/)
- [Product documentation: Auto Backup](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/servers-hosting/vps-auto-backup/)
- [Product documentation: IP assignment](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/ip-assignment/)
- [Product documentation: Firewall](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/firewall/)
- [Product documentation: DNS management](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/network-services/dns-management/)
- [Product documentation: Object Storage](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/storage/object-storage/)
- [Product documentation: User management and roles](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/account-management/user-management/)
- [Product documentation: DPA](https://docs.contabo.com/docs/dpa/dpa/)
- [API reference](https://api.contabo.com/)
- [Contabo API overview](https://contabo.com/en/contabo-api/)
- [Contabo CLI](https://contabo.com/en/contabo-cli/)
- [Help: snapshots and 30-day retention](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000270385-how-do-i-create-a-snapshot-of-my-server-)
- [Help: plan changes, upgrades and migration](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000269700-how-to-make-changes-to-your-vps-or-vds-plan)
- [Help: cancellation and the end of the billing period](https://help.contabo.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000387511-i-would-like-to-add-or-remove-a-service)
- [OpenClaw hosting](https://contabo.com/en-us/openclaw-hosting)
- [Hermes Agent hosting](https://contabo.com/en-us/hermes-ai-vps-hosting)
- [n8n hosting](https://contabo.com/en-us/n8n-hosting)
- [Locations](https://contabo.com/en-us/locations/)
- [About Contabo](https://contabo.com/en-us/about-us)
- [Support experience](https://contabo.com/en-us/support-experience)
- [Terms and conditions](https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/)
- [Legal notice](https://contabo.com/en/legal/impressum/)
- [Status page](https://contabo-status.com/)