Table of Contents
Head to head at matching sizes
Prices are monthly in USD from Hetzner's price API and Contabo's US plan page (September 2026). Hetzner's prices exclude the $0.60 a month primary IPv4 address; Contabo's are introductory for the first 24 months. Contabo has no plan smaller than 8 GB, so the 2 GB and 4 GB rows are Hetzner only.
| Size | Hetzner (Germany, Finland) | Hetzner (US) | Contabo (all locations) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 GB | CPX12: 1 vCPU, 40 GB NVMe, 20 TB, $13.49 | CPX11: 2 vCPU, 40 GB NVMe, 1 TB, $20.49 | No 2 GB plan |
| 4 GB | CX23: 2 vCPU, 40 GB NVMe, 20 TB, $6.49 (not available); CAX11 Arm: $6.99 (not available); CPX22: 2 vCPU, 80 GB, $22.99 | CPX21: 3 vCPU, 80 GB NVMe, 1 TB, $37.49 | No 4 GB plan |
| 8 GB | CX33: 4 vCPU, 80 GB NVMe, 20 TB, $9.99 (not available); CPX32: 4 vCPU, 160 GB, $41.99 | CPX31: 4 vCPU, 160 GB NVMe, 1 TB, $73.49 | Cloud VPS 4: 4 vCPU, 100 GB SSD, unlimited on 200 Mbit/s, $6.60 |
| 12 GB | No 12 GB plan | No 12 GB plan | Cloud VPS 6: 6 vCPU, 200 GB SSD, 300 Mbit/s, $9.00 |
| 16 GB | CX43: 8 vCPU, 160 GB NVMe, 20 TB, $18.49 (not available); CPX42: 8 vCPU, 320 GB, $81.99 | CPX41: 8 vCPU, 240 GB NVMe, 1 TB, $141.49 | Cloud VPS 8: 8 vCPU, 24 GB, 300 GB SSD, 600 Mbit/s, $16.80 |
| 32 GB | CX53: 16 vCPU, 320 GB NVMe, 20 TB, $34.99 (not available); CPX62: 16 vCPU, 640 GB, $152.99 | CPX51: 16 vCPU, 360 GB NVMe, 1 TB, $279.49 | Cloud VPS 12: 12 vCPU, 48 GB, 400 GB SSD, 800 Mbit/s, $30.00 |
| Storage type | Local NVMe on every plan | Local NVMe | SSD on the Cloud VPS line; NVMe on the Performance VPS line |
| Traffic | At least 20 TB | At least 1 TB; $1.20 per extra TB | Unlimited, on a capped port |
| Billing | Hourly, capped at the monthly price | Same | Monthly; introductory for 24 months |
| Snapshots, backups | Snapshots and daily backups as add-ons | Same | One snapshot included on Cloud VPS 4; auto backup as a feature |
The two providers are not selling the same size ladder. Hetzner's ladder starts at 2 GB and doubles memory with price; Contabo's starts at 8 GB and adds memory faster than price. That is why "Hetzner vs Contabo" only has a clean answer once you fix the size: at 4 GB only Hetzner sells anything; at 8 GB and above Contabo is a fraction of Hetzner's price everywhere, and the question becomes whether the port cap and the SSD (rather than NVMe) matter to you.
In Europe: the $6.49 vs $6.60 comparison
The classic matchup is Hetzner CX23 against Contabo Cloud VPS 4, eleven cents apart. For the $6.49, Hetzner gives 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe, 20 TB of traffic, hourly billing and its API, in Falkenstein, Nuremberg or Helsinki. For the $6.60, Contabo gives 4 vCPU, 8 GB, 100 GB SSD and unlimited traffic on a 200 Mbit/s port in Germany, plus the option of six other countries, billed monthly at an introductory rate for two years.
Two things decide it. First, availability: the CX23 row on Hetzner's own page carries a "not available" label as of September 2026, and so do the rest of the CX and CAX lines, which means the comparison is theoretical until Hetzner reopens them; the orderable Hetzner plan at 4 GB is CPX22 at $22.99. Second, the shape of the workload. A small database-backed site, a Docker host with a handful of containers, or a self-hosted app is memory-bound and does not saturate 200 Mbit/s; Contabo's extra 4 GB is worth more than Hetzner's port. A file or media server, a backup target, or a VPN exit for a team is bandwidth-bound; Hetzner's uncapped port and 20 TB are what matter, and Contabo's 300 and 600 Mbit/s plans are the way to get both memory and port at Contabo.
In the United States: a different comparison
Hetzner's US locations (Ashburn, Hillsboro) do not sell the CX or CAX lines at all. The cheapest US plan is CPX11 at $20.49 for 2 vCPU, 2 GB and 40 GB NVMe with 1 TB of traffic and $1.20 per additional TB; 8 GB is CPX31 at $73.49. Contabo charges the same prices in Carlstadt NJ, St. Louis and Seattle as in Germany: $6.60 for 8 GB. At the US price points this is not a close call on hardware; Hetzner's US line is bought for hourly billing, the API and Terraform, not for the specifications.
It also is not a two-horse race in the US. At 2 GB, InterServer sells 1 core, 2 GB and 40 GB SSD for $3 in New York City, Los Angeles or Dallas; at 4 GB, OVHcloud sells 2 vCores, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe and unlimited traffic for $5.35 in Virginia or Oregon, with a daily backup included. A US buyer choosing between Hetzner and Contabo at those sizes should look at both; Contabo remains the memory-per-dollar pick at 8 GB and up.
Ports and traffic: what each provider states
| Hetzner | Contabo | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider's own statement | "The host systems for our Cloud instances all have a redundant 10 Gbits connection. This connection is shared by all instances on the host. We do not offer bandwidth guarantees for our Cloud servers, but you can expect about 300-500 Mbits." | "Port speeds run from 200 Mbit/s up to 1 Gbit/s" across the VPS lines; 200 Mbit/s on Cloud VPS 4, 300 on VPS 6, 600 on VPS 8, 800 on VPS 12 |
| Traffic | At least 20 TB (EU), 1 TB (US), 0.5 TB (Singapore); outgoing only; $1.20 per additional TB in the EU and US | Unlimited |
| What it means | No hard cap; throughput depends on host load and the path; overage is cheap | A hard cap per plan; no overage; a busy transfer pins at the cap |
These are the providers' words, not measurements, and they describe different things: an expectation on a shared host at Hetzner, a fixed interface cap at Contabo. The practical reading is that Hetzner's typical throughput will usually exceed Contabo's entry cap, and that Contabo's 600 and 800 Mbit/s plans close most of the gap for anyone who needs it. If throughput is a purchase criterion, Hetzner publishes test files at each datacenter (see the Hetzner specifications page) and both providers sell by the month, so a one-month test is cheap.
Hetzner's "not available" plans
Searches for "hetzner vps not available" land on this page, so here is the state of things in September 2026. On Hetzner's cost-optimized plan page, every CX plan (CX23, CX33, CX43, CX53) and every CAX plan (CAX11 to CAX41) is marked not available at the EU locations. The Regular Performance CPX plans and the dedicated CCX plans are orderable, in Europe and the US. Hetzner gives no reason on the page and no date. If you need a server now at the price the CX line was known for, the list is: Contabo Cloud VPS 4 ($6.60, 8 GB, Germany or elsewhere), OVHcloud VPS-1 ($5.35, 4 GB, US only), InterServer ($3 for 2 GB, $6 for 4 GB, US only). If you need Hetzner specifically, CPX22 at $22.99 is the orderable 4 GB plan in Europe, and the Hetzner review covers what else changes.
Tooling, billing and locations
| Hetzner | Contabo | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Hourly, capped at the monthly price; no minimum term | Monthly; prices introductory for the first 24 months; setup fees on some terms shown at checkout |
| API and IaC | Public API, official Terraform provider, CLI | Contabo API and CLI, described as Terraform-compatible; Cloud-Init |
| Snapshots and backups | Snapshots and daily backups (seven slots) as paid add-ons | One snapshot included on Cloud VPS 4; auto backup listed as a feature |
| Private networking | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | No | Yes, as a separate Windows VPS line |
| Control panels | None sold | Plesk and cPanel VPS lines |
| Locations | Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki, Ashburn, Hillsboro, Singapore | Germany, Portsmouth (UK), Carlstadt NJ, St. Louis, Seattle, Australia, Japan, Singapore, India |
| Dedicated CPU option | CCX line, all locations, from $50.49 | Max Performance VPS line |
Hetzner's platform is the deeper one for people who script their infrastructure: hourly billing makes test servers nearly free, and the Terraform provider is first-party. Contabo's advantages are breadth of locations (the only one of the two in the UK, Australia, Japan, India or the central US) and product lines (Windows, panels, storage servers) rather than depth of API.
Who should pick which
Pick Contabo if you need 8 GB or more for the least money, your workload is memory-bound rather than bandwidth-bound, you want a location Hetzner does not have (UK, Australia, Japan, India, central US), or you need Windows or a panel. Accept the port cap, the SSD rather than NVMe on the Cloud VPS line, and check the renewal price after 24 months.
Pick Hetzner if you automate servers and want hourly billing and Terraform, you move a lot of data (20 TB in Europe), you want NVMe at 4 GB, or you need dedicated vCPUs at a fair price (CCX13, $50.49 in Europe, $50.99 in the US). In Europe, wait for the CX line to reopen or pay CPX prices; in the US, understand that you are paying for the platform.
Pick neither if you want the cheapest 2 to 4 GB server in a US datacenter: that is InterServer or OVHcloud, and the under-$10 page ranks them.