Vultr vs Contabo: Premium Speed vs Budget Specs

Two very different VPS philosophies. Vultr prioritizes performance and global reach. Contabo prioritizes raw specs at rock-bottom prices. Which one wins?

Quick Verdict

Category	Winner
Raw Specs	🏆 Contabo (4x more RAM/dollar)
Performance	🏆 Vultr (faster CPUs, NVMe)
Locations	🏆 Vultr (32 vs 5)
Reliability	🏆 Vultr
Support	🏆 Vultr
Storage	🏆 Contabo
Best Value	Depends on workload

TL;DR: Vultr for production workloads that need speed. Contabo for storage-heavy, less critical workloads where specs matter more than performance.

Pricing Comparison

This is where it gets interesting:

Specs	Vultr	Contabo	Difference
1 vCPU, 1GB RAM	$6/mo	-	-
4 vCPU, 8GB RAM	$48/mo	€5.99/mo	8x cheaper
4 vCPU, 8GB, 200GB	$96/mo	€5.99/mo	16x cheaper
6 vCPU, 16GB RAM	$96/mo	€10.49/mo	9x cheaper
8 vCPU, 32GB RAM	$192/mo	€16.99/mo	11x cheaper

Contabo's pricing looks absurd. And it kind of is.

The Catch

Contabo achieves these prices by:

• Overprovisioning CPUs (your "4 vCPU" is heavily shared)
• Using slower storage (SATA SSD, not NVMe)
• Limited locations (5 vs Vultr's 32)
• Setup fees on some plans
• Basic support

Performance Comparison

Real-world benchmarks on comparable plans (4 vCPU, 8GB):

Metric	Vultr	Contabo
Geekbench (single)	~1,200	~650
Geekbench (multi)	~3,800	~1,900
Disk Read	2,500 MB/s	400 MB/s
Disk Write	1,200 MB/s	300 MB/s
Network (download)	4 Gbps	200 Mbps
Latency (ping)	Consistent	Variable

Vultr is 2-6x faster in real-world performance despite Contabo's higher specs on paper.

Why the Gap?

Vultr:

• NVMe storage standard
• High-frequency AMD/Intel CPUs
• Lower CPU oversubscription
• Premium network (BGP peering)

Contabo:

• SATA SSDs (some plans)
• Heavy CPU oversubscription
• 200 Mbps network cap
• Shared resources

Features Comparison

Vultr Advantages

1. 32 Data Centers — Every continent covered
2. Hourly Billing — Pay only for what you use
3. Bare Metal — Dedicated servers available
4. Block Storage — Scalable volumes
5. Kubernetes — Managed K8s
6. GPU Instances — NVIDIA A100/A16
7. Snapshots — Free snapshot capability
8. DDoS Protection — 10 Gbps included

Contabo Advantages

1. Raw Specs — 4x more RAM per dollar
2. Huge Storage — 200-700GB included
3. Unmetered Bandwidth — 32TB included
4. Windows Included — No extra license cost
5. IPv6 — /64 included free
6. Long-term Discounts — Cheaper annual billing

Feature Matrix

Feature	Vultr	Contabo
Hourly Billing	✅	❌
Bare Metal	✅	✅
GPU Instances	✅	❌
Object Storage	✅	✅
Managed Kubernetes	✅	❌
Load Balancers	✅	❌
Floating IPs	✅	✅
Automated Backups	✅	✅
API	✅ Full	✅ Basic
Terraform Provider	✅	Community

Data Center Locations

Vultr (32 locations):

• North America: 8 cities
• Europe: 7 cities
• Asia Pacific: 10 cities
• South America: 2 cities
• Africa: 1 city
• Australia: 2 cities

Contabo (5 locations):

• Germany: Nuremberg, Munich
• USA: St. Louis, Seattle, New York
• Asia: Singapore

Winner: Vultr by a landslide. Contabo is very limited outside Europe/US.

Support Quality

Vultr:

• 24/7 ticket support
• Live chat available
• Good response times
• Comprehensive documentation
• Active community

Contabo:

• Ticket support only
• Business hours (German timezone)
• Slower responses (24-48h common)
• Basic documentation
• Setup fees for support tickets (some countries)

Winner: Vultr. Contabo support is functional but slow.

Use Case Recommendations

Choose Vultr For:

✅ Production websites — Speed matters for SEO and UX ✅ APIs and applications — Low latency required ✅ Global audiences — Need servers near users ✅ Development — Hourly billing for testing ✅ Enterprise — SLA and reliability matter ✅ GPU workloads — AI/ML applications

Choose Contabo For:

✅ Storage-heavy workloads — Backups, media, archives ✅ Personal projects — Budget is primary concern ✅ Learning/testing — Specs matter more than speed ✅ Seedboxes — High storage, unmetered bandwidth ✅ Game servers — If your players are in EU/US ✅ Batch processing — Not time-sensitive

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: E-commerce Site

Winner: Vultr

Page load speed directly impacts sales. Vultr's NVMe storage and global CDN integration make it the only choice.

Scenario 2: Plex Media Server

Winner: Contabo

You need storage, not speed. Contabo's 200GB+ plans crush Vultr on storage/dollar.

Scenario 3: SaaS Application

Winner: Vultr

Reliability, performance, and API are critical. Vultr's infrastructure is built for this.

Scenario 4: Backup Server

Winner: Contabo

Pure storage play. Contabo's specs can't be beat for archival.

Scenario 5: Minecraft Server (EU/US)

Winner: Contabo (surprisingly)

Game servers need RAM more than disk speed. Contabo's 8GB for €5.99 beats Vultr's $48.

Migration Considerations

From Contabo to Vultr

Common reasons:

• Need better performance
• Expanding to new regions
• Require GPU instances
• Want hourly billing

From Vultr to Contabo

Common reasons:

• Need more storage
• Budget constraints
• EU data residency
• Less critical workload

Pricing Breakdown (Entry Plans)

Vultr Cloud Compute:

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Price
vc2-1c-1gb	1	1GB	25GB	$6/mo
vc2-1c-2gb	1	2GB	55GB	$12/mo
vc2-2c-4gb	2	4GB	80GB	$24/mo
vc2-4c-8gb	4	8GB	160GB	$48/mo

Contabo Cloud VPS:

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Price
Cloud VPS S	4	8GB	200GB	€5.99/mo
Cloud VPS M	6	16GB	400GB	€10.49/mo
Cloud VPS L	8	30GB	800GB	€16.99/mo
Cloud VPS XL	10	60GB	400GB	€26.99/mo

Our Recommendation

For most users: Consider Hostinger first.

Wait, what? Here's why:

• $4.99/mo for 4GB RAM
• NVMe storage (like Vultr)
• Better specs than Vultr's entry tier
• More reliable than Contabo

Hostinger hits the sweet spot between Vultr's performance and Contabo's value.

But if choosing between these two:

Situation	Pick
Need speed	Vultr
Need storage	Contabo
Production	Vultr
Personal/hobby	Contabo
Global reach	Vultr
Europe only	Either

FAQ

Is Contabo legit?

Yes, they've been around since 2003. They're a legitimate German company. Just understand the tradeoffs.

Why is Contabo so cheap?

Heavy resource oversubscription, slower hardware, limited regions, and minimal support staff.

Can Contabo handle traffic spikes?

Poorly. The 200 Mbps network cap and oversubscribed CPUs mean spikes will be felt.

Is Vultr overpriced?

No — you're paying for performance, reliability, and features. It's priced fairly for what you get.

Which has better uptime?

Vultr. They offer 100% SLA. Contabo has no published SLA.

Can I host email on either?

Both allow it, but Vultr's cleaner IP reputation makes deliverability better.