Contabo vs Hetzner: The Big Hosting Battle Every User Should Understand
Two names appear again and again. Hetzner and Contabo. Both companies come from Germany and both are known for low prices, high performance and strong global reputation. But they are not the same. This review breaks down their features in simple English, so you can decide which one fits your project better.
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What Is Hetzner?
Hetzner Online started in 1997. The company quickly became one of the biggest hosting brands in Europe. It offers cloud servers, dedicated servers and colocation services. Everything they provide is designed for fast performance and strong stability. Many IT teams and businesses use Hetzner because it delivers reliable infrastructure with enterprise-grade hardware.
What Is Contabo?
Contabo was founded in 2003, also in Germany. It serves customers who want high performance at low prices. Contabo focuses on VPS, dedicated servers and scalable cloud solutions. Many developers and companies choose Contabo for its value and global reach.
Both companies target similar customers. They focus on IT professionals, developers and businesses that want strong hosting without paying premium prices.
Product Comparison
Both providers offer VPS, dedicated servers and web hosting. Contabo includes Storage VPS and VDS options, while Hetzner provides VPS with dedicated vCPU plans. Hetzner also runs a popular server auction where users can buy discounted dedicated machines.
Contabo includes S3-compatible object storage. Hetzner does not, but it offers Online Storage instead. Contabo does not provide colocation services, while Hetzner does.
In short, both offer a wide range of services, but each has unique strengths that appeal to different users.
Add-Ons and Extra Features
Both companies include useful add-ons like backups, SSL certificates, monitoring and private networking. Contabo includes object storage. Hetzner includes block storage and load balancers. Both support reverse DNS, IPv4, IPv6, hardware firewalls and DDoS protection.
Contabo and Hetzner also support Cloud-init, which helps automate server setup.
Operating Systems and Panels
Both providers support Linux. Both offer Windows Server, but Hetzner limits Windows to dedicated servers only. Contabo offers cPanel, Plesk and Webmin across more plans. Hetzner restricts these panels to dedicated servers. This makes Contabo friendlier for users who want a pre-installed control panel on a VPS.
Payments, Currencies and Billing
Contabo supports EUR, USD and GBP. Hetzner supports only EUR. This makes Contabo easier for US and UK customers.
Both accept PayPal, credit cards, bank transfers and SEPA. Hetzner only supports manual PayPal, while Contabo supports automated PayPal.
Hetzner offers hourly billing for cloud servers. Contabo does not. Instead, Contabo offers monthly, quarterly, six-month and yearly billing. Contabo even supports prepay and some postpaid options.
Pricing Overview
Hetzner’s VPS plans usually cost a little less at the entry level. Contabo’s VPS plans offer more storage and RAM, especially in higher tiers. For dedicated servers, Hetzner is cheaper, while Contabo focuses on premium hardware like AMD EPYC.
Web hosting is cheaper on Hetzner at the entry level, but Contabo offers bigger storage in higher plans.
Global Locations
Contabo has data centers across Europe, UK, USA, Singapore, Japan and Australia. Hetzner runs centers in Germany, Finland and the USA. Contabo clearly has a wider global presence, which reduces latency for international users.
Support
Both companies offer phone and email support. Contabo also provides video guides. Both have strong knowledge bases.
Final Thoughts
Choosing between Contabo and Hetzner depends on your needs. Hetzner offers strong performance at very low prices. Contabo delivers global reach, flexible control panels and multiple currencies. For many users, Contabo feels easier and more flexible. For others, Hetzner’s low-cost power makes it the winner.