Contabo vs Hetzner (2026): Which German Budget VPS Wins After the Price Hike?

How We Compared Contabo and Hetzner

Two German hosts, one billing currency, and a price list that moved four times this year. So we pinned every figure to a date. Prices come from contabo.com and Hetzner's own price-adjustment notice, checked on July 9, 2026, with entry rate, billing term, and post-June pricing logged apart. Both firms bill in euros, so the US-dollar figures here are approximate conversions that drift with the exchange rate.

We weighted this toward how the two are actually bought: resources per euro (RAM, vCPU, NVMe), CPU consistency under load, network and traffic terms, data-center proximity, and refund policy. Sources were the vendors' own pricing pages, published specs, and review aggregators that show how many ratings back a score, ignoring anything under 4.0 across fewer than 50 reviews. Two honest limits worth stating. We didn't run synthetic load tests on either host. And Hetzner's June 15 increase applies to new orders, so a pre-June server keeps its old rate. If you're new to the category, our primer on managed versus unmanaged VPS covers who patches the box on each model. Both of these are the unmanaged kind.

What Hetzner's June 2026 Price Hike Actually Did

This is the piece most "Contabo vs Hetzner" pages haven't caught up with yet. On June 15, 2026, Hetzner repriced its cloud lineup, and the increase was lopsided. The shared Intel line (CX23) rose from EUR 3.99 to EUR 5.49, up 38%. The ARM line (CAX11) went EUR 4.49 to EUR 5.99, up 33%. Manageable. The dedicated-vCPU line is where it hurt: the CCX13 jumped 169% to EUR 42.99, and the CCX23 climbed 173% to EUR 85.99.

Read that again, because it inverts the old advice. Hetzner's dedicated cores were the reason performance-minded buyers paid the small premium over Contabo. After June 15, that premium isn't small. Existing servers keep their old price, so this bites new orders only. If you're spinning up fresh infrastructure this year, the comparison below runs on the new numbers, not the ones cached in two-year-old reviews.

Contabo – Best for Maximum RAM and Storage per Euro

Entry: Cloud VPS 10 at EUR 5.50/mo (about USD 5.95). 8 GB RAM, 4 shared vCPU, 75 GB NVMe. 99.9% uptime SLA. 14-day money-back.

Line the two up at the entry tier and the gap is almost comical. For EUR 5.50 a month, Contabo's Cloud VPS 10 hands you 8 GB of RAM, 4 shared vCPU cores, and 75 GB of NVMe (fast flash) storage. Hetzner's closest-priced plan, the CX23 at EUR 5.49, gives you 4 GB and 2 cores on 40 GB. Same money, double the memory, double the cores, nearly double the disk. Prefer capacity over speed? Swap the 75 GB NVMe for 150 GB of SSD at signup, same price.

Push up the range and Contabo holds the lead. The Cloud VPS 30 runs EUR 14 for 24 GB RAM, 8 vCPU, and 200 GB NVMe. But here's the number that rewrites the old script. Contabo's entry dedicated-core plan, the Cloud VDS S, costs EUR 34.40 for 3 physical AMD cores, 24 GB RAM, and 180 GB NVMe. Hetzner's cheapest dedicated-vCPU plan after June 15, the CCX13, is EUR 42.99 for 8 GB and 2 cores. Contabo comes in EUR 8.59 cheaper and ships three times the RAM. A year ago that comparison went the other way.

What you trade for those specs is consistency. The cheap cores are shared, and Contabo's shared vCPU draws real complaints. User reports put CPU steal (time your server waits for a physical core a neighbor is hogging) at 20-40% during peak hours on busy boxes. Support is ticket-only, no live chat, and reviews flag slow replies, hours on routine tickets and occasionally days on hard ones. The uptime promise is 99.9%, and independent monitoring lands right around there, near 99.91%. None of that dents a staging box or an overnight batch job. It dents a checkout page.

Pros:

• Roughly 2x the RAM and cores per euro versus Hetzner at entry
• NVMe or up to 150 GB SSD included, your choice, no upcharge
• Flat pricing: the sign-up rate is the renewal rate
• Data centers in Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai that Hetzner lacks

Cons:

• Shared vCPU; 20-40% CPU steal reported at peak
• Ticket-only support with a slow-response reputation
• Entry port capped at 200 Mbit/s

Pricing: Cloud VPS 10 at EUR 5.50, VPS 20 at EUR 7.50 (12 GB), VPS 30 at EUR 14 (24 GB), VPS 40 at EUR 25 (48 GB). Dedicated cores begin at the VDS S, EUR 34.40. Object storage from EUR 2.49 for 250 GB. No setup fee on 12-month terms, and Contabo does not raise the price at renewal.

Best for: self-hosters who want big memory and disk cheap and can run their own Linux box. Skip if: your workload is latency-sensitive and can't absorb CPU steal, or you need a data center Contabo doesn't operate.

Verdict: Contabo wins when the spec sheet is the whole point and you own the sysadmin work. If your traffic is latency-critical or you want per-second cloud primitives, that's a Hetzner job, and no amount of cheap RAM changes it.

Hetzner – Best for Consistent Performance and Cloud Tooling

Entry: CX23 at EUR 5.49/mo (about USD 5.93). 4 GB RAM, 2 Intel vCPU, 40 GB SSD, 20 TB EU traffic. ARM and dedicated-vCPU lines. Hourly billing.

Start with the bad news, since it reshapes everything else. On June 15, 2026, Hetzner's dedicated-vCPU line stopped being a bargain. The CCX13 went EUR 15.99 to EUR 42.99, the CCX23 EUR 31.49 to EUR 85.99. The shared lines rose more gently, but the plans people came to Hetzner for, guaranteed cores at low prices, took the full hit. If dedicated cores are your reason to switch, Contabo's VDS S now undercuts the CCX13 by EUR 8.59 with triple the RAM.

So why still pick it? Because within a tier, Hetzner behaves. Its shared vCPU shows far less steal than Contabo's, and the network is faster and more even. The platform underneath is a real cloud, not a plain server rental. You get an API, Terraform support, managed load balancers, private networks, firewalls, floating IPs, and free snapshots. Hourly billing means you can spin a server up for an afternoon and delete it when you're done. Contabo has none of that cloud-native layer. If your mental model is closer to a small AWS than a cheap box, browse the wider field of cloud hosting platforms and you'll see where Hetzner sits.

The value pick in Hetzner's 2026 catalog is ARM. The CAX11 gives 4 GB and 2 Ampere ARM cores for EUR 5.99, and if your stack runs on ARM (most modern Linux software does), it runs cooler and often faster than the Intel CX23 at nearly the same price. Contabo offers no ARM at all. One number to watch, though. Hetzner's headline 20 TB of included traffic only applies in Europe. US servers include 1 TB and Singapore just 0.5 TB, with overage at EUR 1/TB in the US and a steep EUR 7.40/TB in Singapore. Contabo's traffic is unlimited (fair-use throttled). For a busy site outside the EU, that one line can flip the entire cost comparison toward Contabo.

Pros:

• Real dedicated-vCPU option with little CPU steal
• Cloud-native stack: API, load balancers, ARM, private networks
• 20 TB included EU traffic, EUR 1/TB overage
• Hourly billing and free snapshots

Cons:

• Dedicated-vCPU line up 169-173% since June 15, 2026
• US and Singapore traffic cut to 1 TB / 0.5 TB
• Half the RAM of Contabo at the same entry price

One more thing before you commit. Hetzner has no money-back guarantee. Hourly billing is the safety net instead, so you delete a server and charges stop. And new accounts, especially outside Germany, sometimes need an ID scan before the first server boots. Neither is a dealbreaker, but both catch people off guard who expect a one-click signup.

Pricing: CX23 at EUR 5.49 (4 GB Intel), CX33 (8 GB), CAX11 at EUR 5.99 (4 GB ARM), CAX21 at EUR 10.49 (8 GB ARM), CCX13 at EUR 42.99 (8 GB, dedicated). Servers ordered before June 15 keep their pre-hike rate. Watch the extras: automatic backups add 20% to the monthly rate, each IPv4 runs about EUR 0.50/mo, and some newer orders carry a setup fee. Contabo, by contrast, folds an IPv4 and one snapshot into its sticker price.

Best for: developers who want consistent cores, ARM options, and cloud primitives in an EU region. Skip if: you need dedicated cores on the cheap (Contabo's VDS is now cheaper) or you deploy heavy traffic in the US or Singapore.

Verdict: Hetzner earns its keep for EU-region apps that value predictable performance and real tooling over headline RAM. If you're buying dedicated cores or serving Asia and Australia, Contabo now wins the same money, so don't pay Hetzner's June prices out of habit.

Price Per Resource: Where the Euro Goes Further

Strip away the branding and match tier for tier. At entry, EUR 5.50 buys 8 GB and 4 cores at Contabo or 4 GB and 2 cores at Hetzner. Contabo doubles you on both. Around 24 GB of RAM, Contabo's Cloud VPS 30 is EUR 14 with shared cores. To match that memory on Hetzner you'd climb well up its shared lines, and its dedicated 16 GB CCX23 alone now runs EUR 85.99.

The dedicated-core tier is the headline flip. Contabo VDS S at EUR 34.40 gives 3 physical cores and 24 GB RAM. Hetzner CCX13 at EUR 42.99 gives 2 vCPU and 8 GB. On raw allocation, Contabo wins that matchup by a wide margin after June 15. Where Hetzner claws value back is ARM: the CAX11 at EUR 5.99 has no Contabo equivalent, and for ARM-native workloads it's cheap, efficient, and consistent. So the price answer isn't "one is cheaper." It's Contabo for memory and dedicated cores, Hetzner for ARM and for what a euro buys in stability rather than gigabytes.

Now the twist most buyers miss: true bare metal reverses the dedicated story. Contabo wins cheap dedicated vCPU through its VDS line. But Hetzner owns cheap physical hardware through its Server Auction. These are refurbished machines with no setup fee or minimum term, starting near EUR 35/month. Contabo's cheapest bare-metal server starts around USD 110/month. Want a whole physical box rather than a guaranteed slice? Hetzner's auction undercuts Contabo by roughly 3x, and the June price hike left it untouched. If bare metal is the goal, weigh both against the wider dedicated server field before you buy.

Performance, Network, and Global Reach

Specs win the spreadsheet; behavior wins production. Contabo's shared cores can hit 20-40% CPU steal at peak, and reviewers note time-to-first-byte (how fast the server starts replying) swinging through the day on loaded machines. Hetzner's shared cores wobble less, and its dedicated-vCPU line, pricey as it now is, removes the noisy-neighbor problem outright. Network favors Hetzner too: Contabo caps the entry port at 200 Mbit/s, while Hetzner runs a faster, more even backbone. If your bottleneck is bandwidth or steady response time, that difference is the product.

Reach flips the other way. Contabo spreads across 9 regions and 11 data centers: a European hub in Germany plus the UK (Portsmouth), three US regions (New York, Seattle, St. Louis), Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, and Mumbai. Hetzner runs six locations across four countries: Falkenstein and Nuremberg in Germany, Helsinki in Finland, Ashburn and Hillsboro in the US, and Singapore. For an audience in Japan, Australia, or India, Contabo puts a box near them; Hetzner can't. Both are German companies, so for EU data-residency under GDPR either one keeps data on the continent. That's worth weighing alongside the broader German hosting market if your users sit in Central Europe.

How to Choose Between Contabo and Hetzner

Don't default to the cheaper sticker. Match the box to the job.

Workload: memory-hungry app, budget under EUR 15/mo, latency not critical → Contabo Cloud VPS 30 (EUR 14, 24 GB RAM). Self-hosted analytics, a game server, a big database cache, or a staging fleet all want RAM more than steady microsecond timing. Hetzner can't touch 24 GB at that price without jumping to an EUR 85.99 dedicated plan. Skip Contabo only if the app can't tolerate occasional CPU steal.

Workload: production API or checkout flow, EU audience, needs consistent cores → Hetzner. Buy the CAX11 (EUR 5.99 ARM) if your stack is ARM-ready, or step to a dedicated CCX plan if it isn't and the budget allows. The point here is predictable response time, and Contabo's shared-core variance works against you. Pair it with a managed load balancer as you scale.

Audience: primarily Japan, Australia, or India → Contabo, on distance alone. A Tokyo or Sydney box shaves latency that no amount of Hetzner tuning recovers from Falkenstein. Hetzner's only Asia-Pacific site is Singapore, and its 0.5 TB traffic cap there makes a busy site expensive fast.

Budget: you want dedicated cores as cheap as possible → Contabo VDS S (EUR 34.40, 3 cores, 24 GB). Post-June, this undercuts Hetzner's CCX13 (EUR 42.99, 2 cores, 8 GB) on both price and resources. A year ago the smart pick was Hetzner; the June hike reversed it. One caveat: if the workload can run on ARM, Hetzner's CAX11 is the exception that still beats Contabo on efficiency per euro.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Hetzner still cheaper than Contabo after the 2026 price increase?

Not on resources. At entry, both sit near EUR 5.50, but Contabo gives 8 GB of RAM to Hetzner's 4 GB. For dedicated cores the gap widened after June 15: Contabo's VDS S (EUR 34.40, 24 GB) now undercuts Hetzner's CCX13 (EUR 42.99, 8 GB). Hetzner is only "cheaper" if you count ARM value or the stability you get per euro, not the gigabytes.

Does Contabo or Hetzner have less CPU steal?

Hetzner, clearly. Contabo runs shared cores, and users report steal climbing to 20-40% during busy hours, which shows up as uneven response times. Hetzner's shared cores are steadier, and its dedicated-vCPU CCX plans remove steal entirely. If your app is latency-sensitive, that consistency is the main reason to pay Hetzner's higher 2026 prices.

Which is better for hosting in Asia or Australia, Contabo or Hetzner?

Contabo, by reach. It runs data centers in Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai, and Singapore, so you can place a server near the audience. Hetzner's only Asia-Pacific location is Singapore, and that region includes just 0.5 TB of traffic with EUR 7.40/TB overage, which punishes busy sites. For Japanese, Australian, or Indian users, Contabo is the practical pick.

Can I run Docker and Kubernetes on both Contabo and Hetzner?

Yes on both, since each gives full root on an unmanaged server. The difference is tooling. Hetzner offers an API, a Terraform provider, load balancers, and private networks that make a self-run Kubernetes cluster far less painful. On Contabo you wire all of that yourself. For hands-off container orchestration, Hetzner's cloud-native pieces save real hours.

Do Contabo and Hetzner offer refunds?

Contabo offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on new orders, though conditions apply (the auto-renewal grace period doesn't cover German customers). Hetzner offers none. It bills by the hour instead, so cancelling a server stops the meter right away. Want a trial window to bail out? Contabo's refund is the safer route. Happy to pay only for the hours you actually run? Hetzner's model fits better.

Final Verdict

There's no single winner, and anyone who names one hasn't read the June price list. Contabo takes raw value: double the RAM at entry, cheaper dedicated cores after Hetzner's hike, unlimited traffic, and data centers across Asia and Australia. Buy it when raw capacity is the point and you can live with shared-core variance. Hetzner takes consistency and tooling: steadier cores, a genuine cloud API, ARM servers, and 20 TB of EU traffic. Buy it for EU-region production apps where predictable performance beats headline gigabytes, and lean on the CAX11 ARM plan to sidestep the dedicated-line price shock.

Weighing other budget hosts against these two? Our Contabo vs Linode comparison pits Contabo's cheap RAM against Akamai's network, and Kamatera vs Hetzner covers hourly-billed cloud against Hetzner's fixed plans.