{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "contabo",
 "name": "Contabo",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "contabo.com",
 "category": "Developer Tools",
 "task": "Hosting & websites",
 "summary": "Unmanaged cloud VPS, virtual dedicated and bare-metal servers with a lot of RAM and CPU per plan, unlimited traffic under fair use, and data centres in Europe, the US, Asia and Australia.",
 "best_for": "developers and small teams who are comfortable running their own Linux server and want the most RAM and CPU for the money, and can commit to a longer term",
 "skip_if": "you want managed hosting with backups included, or you need a server for a short project without prepaying",
 "honest_knock": "The advertised prices are for a 24-month term, and that term is prepaid: the Cloud VPS 12 configurator asked €480.00 upfront. Month-to-month costs about 25% more. Backups (€6.70 a month on that size), Windows Server, cPanel and Plesk are paid add-ons, and the servers are unmanaged. Traffic is unlimited only under a fair-use policy that lets Contabo throttle heavy users. Prices on the page exclude VAT. We have not used Contabo ourselves.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "€4.40",
  "entry_price_terms": "Cloud VPS 4 · per month on a 24-month term, excluding VAT, 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(read 2026-10-08 on contabo.com/en/vps and contabo.com/en/pricing in a browser render from a Netherlands connection, EUR, excluding VAT; the site has its own currency selector) The Core Cloud VPS line is priced for a 24-month term: Cloud VPS 4 (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD, 200 Mbit/s port) €4.40 a month, Cloud VPS 6 (6 vCPU, 12 GB, 200 GB SSD or 100 GB NVMe, 300 Mbit/s) €6.00, Cloud VPS 8 (8 vCPU, 24 GB) €11.20, Cloud VPS 12 (12 vCPU, 48 GB) €20.00, Cloud VPS 16 (16 vCPU, 64 GB) €29.60 and Cloud VPS 18 (18 vCPU, 96 GB) €39.20. In the configurator for Cloud VPS 12 the term changes the price: 1 month €25.00, 12 months €21.25 (save 15%), 24 months €20.00 (save 20%), with no setup fee on any term; the 24-month term is prepaid, €480.00 due today. Add-ons in that configurator: a United Kingdom location €5.80 a month (EU free), Windows Server €53.00, cPanel €21.75, Plesk with Linux €12.00, Auto Backup €6.70 a month and double storage €6.00. Every Cloud VPS has unlimited traffic under a fair-use policy (Contabo may throttle servers whose traffic is exceptionally high), DDoS protection, a firewall and IPv4 and IPv6. The pricing page also lists Performance VPS (Cloud VPS Plus 4 from €10.80), virtual dedicated servers (Cloud VDS S from €39.20) and dedicated servers (from €109.65 as a limited offer), all quoted for a 24-month term.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-08",
  "source_url": "https://contabo.com/en/pricing/"
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "Add-ons in that configurator: a United Kingdom location €5.80 a month (EU free), Windows Server €53.00, cPanel €21.75, Plesk with Linux €12.00, Auto Backup €6.70 a month and double storage €6.00.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-08",
   "source_url": "https://contabo.com/en/pricing/"
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "DigitalOcean",
  "why": "DigitalOcean is in our dossiers too and bills its servers by the hour with no term, plus managed databases and app hosting around them. Contabo gives much more RAM and CPU per euro, but its best prices need a prepaid 24-month term and backups cost extra."
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/contabo.json",
  "review": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/b2b/contabo-review/",
  "marketplace": null,
  "vendor_site": "https://contabo.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-101832528-17207185-1771510179000",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "contabo:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "contabo:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "contabo:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "contabo:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_checked",
   "detail": "We could not read the vendor's pages as plain HTML.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}