Both Contabo and Vultr offer high-quality Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and dedicated servers at very reasonable prices.
Their hosting services are available across the globe with powerful servers ready to handle all your website needs.
But which hosting provider will serve your purpose? Let’s find out.
Contabo vs Vultr (Features)
Comparing the features offered by the two hosting providers against a common base will ensure to bring out the differences between them:
| Basis | Contabo | Vultr |
|---|---|---|
| DDoS Protection | All the packages offered by the host come with DDoS Protection. It is available free of charge for all Contabo customers. | It offers DDoS Protection as an add-on at $10 per month providing up to 10 Gbps of mitigation per instance. |
| Automatic Backups | It offers FTP backup space in different storage space options. The host stores your data on its dedicated backup servers. | Automatic backups are offered as an optional service on compute instances. Your data is stored in the same data center but on a separate fault-tolerant storage system. |
| Kernel-based Virtual Machine | Virtualization offered by the host is based on KVM and Proxmox for better stability. | Vultr also utilizes KVM on all its infrastructure. |
| Storage Customization | You can choose the type of storage you require with your VPS plan. The host offers SSD drive storage and super-fast NVMe storage. | Vultr also allows you to choose between SSD storage and high-speed NVMe Solid State Local storage. |
| Hourly Billing | Contabo does not offer hourly billing for its services. | Vultr offers hourly billing on all its servers. If you reach the monthly rate cap, you are billed the monthly rate. |
| Control Panel | It allows you to choose from Plesk, cPanel, and Webmin control panels. | Vultr has an in-built control panel of its own. However, it also offers a fully licensed version of cPanel for your VPS. |
| Secure Socket Shell or SSH | Contabo allows you to establish a connection to your server via SSH. | You can deploy a new server with Vultr through an SSH key. |
| Monitoring charts | It does not offer monitoring charts with its VPS plans. | It provides monitoring charts for network bandwidth, disk I/O, and CPU usage with its VPS plans. |
| REST API | The VPS plan does not offer a REST API. | The host offers REST API keys to manage the VPS. |
| Mobile-Friendly User Interface | Contabo is difficult to manage from a mobile device. | Vultr can be easily managed from mobiles and tablets. |
| Reverse Domain Name System | It allows you to set a reverse DNS hostname for your VPS address. | It also allows you to set a reverse DNS hostname for your VPS address. |
| Load Balancers | There is no provision to distribute your traffic across instances. | The host offers load balancers to distribute traffic across instances. |
| VPS Upgrade | Contabo allows you to upgrade or downgrade your VPS from the admin console. | Vultr also allows VPS upgrades from the admin panel. |
| Private Network | You cannot build a private network with this host. | Vultr allows you to use private IP addresses for communication between your instances. |
| Block Storage | The host offers storage-optimized VPS for your large storage needs. | You can allocate storage independently of instances with this host. |
Verdict
Reason: Both the hosting providers offer plenty of features with their hosting plans. You will also find many useful add-on services offered by both Contabo and Vultr.
Contabo vs. Vultr (User interface)
Let us compare the ease and convenience offered by the two hosts since it will impact your productivity when managing your website.
Contabo – User interface
Contabo does not have the easiest user interface. It is not at all intuitive and will, therefore, consume more of your time in finishing up your tasks. It is difficult to work with Contabo’s user interface on a mobile device.
On the positive side, Contabo offers simple navigation and easy-to-use control panels like cPanel and Plesk.
Vultr – User interface
Vultr provides a comfortable user interface with a pretty simple design. It is extremely easy to use and has flexible settings for your convenience.
You can use it on several devices including mobiles. Deploying a server is also easy. You can even deploy more instances from your mobile in the future.
Verdict
Reason: Vultr offers an intuitive user interface as opposed to Contabo. The simple design and mobile-friendliness of the platform make it an obvious winner.
Contabo vs. Vultr (Security)
Since it is important to ensure the security of your website data, let us compare the security offered by these two hosting providers:
Contabo – Security
Contabo offers:
- Two-factor authentication
- DDoS protection
- SSL certificates
- and encrypted backups with FTP for the security of your data.
It takes care of the physical security at its data centers. It uses ID cards at the entry points, security cameras, lockable racks, and alarm systems to prevent any unauthorized access to its servers.
The hosting provider protects its servers against harmful elements with the use of fire alarms, smoke detectors, and heat extraction systems, and water detectors.
This is how the host describes its approach to security:
Vultr – Security
Vultr offers:
- DDoS protection
- SSH Keys
- Dedicated IP addresses
- SSL/TLS certificates
- Cloudflare
- One-click OpenVPN integration
- Custom Vultr Firewall for the security of your website data.
- and Two-factor authentication
The host also restricts its data centers with certain physical measures like 24/7 monitoring but does not reveal much about the other physical safety measures it undertakes. Since multiple server locations are available in each continent, the location of your server remains discrete with Vultr.
Verdict
Reason: Both the hosts ensure to secure your data physically and over the internet through powerful means.
Contabo vs. Vultr (Server web response time)
Server web response time is an important aspect to compare the servers of two hosting providers. Here is a quick comparison table listing the plans from the fastest to the slowest one based on their average web response time.
| Host and Plan Details | Average Server Web Response Time in milliseconds |
|---|---|
| Vultr – HF 16GB | 38.83 |
| Vultr – HF 4GB | 41.04 |
| Contabo – VDS M SG | 42.61 |
| Contabo – M NVMe Pr | 44.35 |
| Contabo – VDS S | 46.04 |
| Vultr – HF 1GB | 47.86 |
| Contabo – VDS M | 50.36 |
| Contabo – VDS L | 50.79 |
| Vultr – VC2 2GB $10 | 59.42 |
| Vultr – VC2 8G 4C | 59.70 |
| Vultr – 1GB $5 | 60.32 |
| Vultr – HF 2GB | 62.70 |
| Vultr – VC2 4GB $20 | 69.81 |
| Contabo – M SSD | 69.87 |
| Vultr – VC2 16GB 6c | 76.40 |
| Contabo – XL SSD | 83.92 |
| Contabo – L SSD | 90.05 |
| Contabo – S SSD | 97.64 |
Verdict
Reason: The fastest plan offered by Contabo is about 4 milliseconds slower than the fastest plan offered by Vultr. Also, the slowest plan offered by Vultr is about 21 milliseconds faster than the slowest plan offered by Contabo. So, you can expect a faster-performing website when choosing Vultr over Contabo.
Contabo vs. Vultr (Data Center Locations)
Here is a comparison of data center locations for Contabo and Vultr:
| Continents | Contabo Data Centers | Vultr Data Centers |
|---|---|---|
| North America | United States | United States |
| Canada | ||
| Mexico | ||
| Europe | Germany | Germany |
| Sweden | ||
| Netherlands | ||
| United Kingdom | United Kingdom | |
| France | ||
| Asia | Singapore | Singapore |
| Japan | Japan | |
| South Korea | ||
| Australia | Australia (Sydney) | Australia |
Verdict
Reason: The data centers of Vultr are available in 12 countries while that of Contabo’s are available in just 3 countries.
Contabo vs. Vultr (Price Comparison)
The pricing of different plans offered by the two hosts will impact both your short-term as well as long-term budget. Let us compare their pricing structure here:
| Contabo Pricing | Vultr Pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest VPS plan | The cheapest VPS plan offered by Contabo costs $8.49 per month. | The cheapest VPS plan offered by Vultr costs $2.50 per month. |
| Costliest VPS plan | Contabo offers its largest VPS plan at $34.99 per month. | The largest VPS plan of Vultr costs $640 per month. |
| Billing models | Contabo only offers a monthly billing model. | Vultr offers both hourly and monthly billing models. |
Comparing the cheapest VPS plans offered by Contabo and Vultr
Let us compare the cheapest VPS plans offered by the two hosting providers for a better pricing comparison:
Contabo – Entry plans
Contabo provides you with an option to choose between 4 VPS plans with different specifications.
The cheapest Contabo VPS plan is called VPS S and it has the following pricing and features:
VPS S
Price: $8.49 per month
Features:
- 4 vCPU cores
- 50 GB NVMe storage or SSD storage of 200 GB
- 8 GB RAM
- Up to 32 TB data transfer with unlimited incoming traffic
Vultr – Entry plans
Vultr has a more detailed plan structure with different pricing plans for SSD storage and super-fast NVMe local storage:
The cheapest Vultr VPS plan offers the following features and pricing:
Price: $2.50 per month or $0.004 per hour
Features:
- 1 CPU
- 10 GB SSD storage
- 512 MB memory
- 50 TB Bandwidth IPv6 only
Vultr has a separate pricing structure for its VPS plans with high-speed NVMe local storage. Its cheapest high-frequency VPS plan has the following features and pricing:
Price: $6.00 per month or $0.009 per hour
Features:
- 1 CPU
- 32 GB NVMe
- 1024 MB memory
- 1 TB Bandwidth
Comparing the costliest VPS plans offered by Contabo and Vultr
Let us compare the largest plans offered by the two hosting providers for further understanding their pricing plans:
Contabo – Advanced plans
The costliest VPS plan from Contabo is known as VPS XL. It has the following features and pricing:
VPS XL
Price: $34.99 per month
Features:
- 10 vCPU cores
- 400 GB NVMe or 1.6 TB SSD storage
- 60 GB RAM
- Up to 32 TB data transfer with unlimited incoming traffic
Vultr – Advanced plans
The costliest Vultr VPS plan offers the following features and pricing:
Price: $640 on monthly billing or $0.952 on hourly billing
Features:
- 24 CPU
- 1600 GB SSD storage
- 96 GB memory
- 15 TB Bandwidth
The costliest high-frequency VPS plan from Vultr with high-speed NVMe local storage offers the following features and pricing:
Price: $256 per month or $0.381 per hour
Features:
- 12 CPU
- 768 GB NVMe
- 48 GB memory
- 8 TB Bandwidth
Verdict
Reason: Contabo offers a lot of storage and resources even with its cheapest plan making it a clear winner.
Contabo vs. Vultr (Pros & Cons)
Let us examine the pros and cons of Contabo and Vultr for comparison:
Pros & Cons of Contabo
- DDoS protection is included for free.
- Availability of super-fast NVMe storage.
- It offers powerful specs for its VPS servers.
- Servers are available across 4 continents.
- The host makes scaling your plan easy.
- The host provides extremely affordable hosting solutions.
- The host offers customer support via both phone and email.
- Strong security measures are undertaken to protect your data.
- The pricing structure of the host is simple and easy to understand.
- No Firewall is available.
- It does not offer any hourly billing method.
- Inconsistent performance due to their servers being oversold.
- Contabo uses shared CPUs which can at times impact the performance.
- There are some complaints that the server slows down during peak traffic.
- Its user interface is not intuitive enough and certainly not the easiest one to use.
Pros & Cons of Vultr
- Availability of super-fast NVMe storage.
- The host offers dedicated IP addresses.
- The host makes scaling of your plan easy.
- The host provides affordable hosting solutions.
- It offers an easy and comfortable user interface.
- Strong security measures are undertaken to protect your data.
- It offers powerful VPS servers delivering excellent performance.
- The data centers are available in 12 countries around the world.
- You can choose between hourly billing and monthly billing methods.
- DDoS protection is a paid feature.
- Customer support is not available via phone.
- Its pricing structure can be confusing for many.
- Vultr does not reveal much information about the physical security measures undertaken at its data centers.
Final Verdict: Who Wins?
The overall comparison of features, pricing, ease-of-use, and other aspects reveals that Vultr remains the best choice for all your hosting needs. You get:
- More data center options
- Hourly billing options
- and a better user interface with Vultr that gives it an edge over Contabo.
FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
Is Vultr any good?
Yes, with its 19 data centers spread across 12 countries, Vultr offers extremely low latency for your website. And a special mention to the intuitive UI, flexible plans, and useful add-ons. Wouldn’t that shoot up your business growth?
Is Contabo real legitimate company?
Yes, Contabo is a German web host with more than 10,000 servers across the globe. It offers extremely affordable hosting packages with plenty of features.
