Contabo vs RackNerd (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, RackNerd grades higher than Contabo: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
RackNerd grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
RackNerd
Low-cost KVM VPS, shared hosting and dedicated servers
Which one is for you
Pick Contabo if
- Fits if you want a lot of RAM and storage for little and can manage a server
- Works for staging boxes, CI runners and hobby servers
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you can't look after a Linux server, as support covers the VPS only
- Not for you if you won't commit: the lowest price is for 24 months
- Watch out: a one-time setup fee applies on monthly Cloud VPS 4 orders
- Watch out: outgoing traffic is unlimited only under fair use, and heavy servers can be throttled
- Watch out: the price after the term isn't shown
Pick RackNerd if
- Fits if you are comfortable running a Linux server yourself
- Works for small side projects that need a cheap VPS
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a managed server, as VPS plans are unmanaged
- Watch out: yearly specials and monthly plans are on different pages and do not follow one price scale
- Tight if you need IPv6, which is provided on request by support ticket
- Skip it if you want a trial, as nothing is free
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAContaboWeak | 1.8GPARackNerdWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$5.28 a month excl. VAT on a 24-month term for 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM and 100GB, at the edge of the cheaper quarter ($5.28). Terms differ and the price after the term isn't shown. | AA 1 GB KVM VPS special at $21.99 a year, about $1.83 a month, under 60% of the $5 cheaper-quarter start. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial on record; every plan is paid from the first day. | FNothing free and no trial on the pages read, so you pay from day one. |
| Features | CVPS sizes from 4 to 18 vCPU, snapshots, Plesk and cPanel options, many locations. The gap: it's a bare server, and Contabo supports the VPS, not the software on it. | CKVM VPS with root access, a control panel, cPanel shared hosting and dedicated servers. The VPS is unmanaged, so the basics come with a lot of work for you. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. An unmanaged VPS means installing, patching and troubleshooting it yourself. | DUnmanaged root and SSH servers: you install, configure and secure the system yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb panel only, with no integrations listed. | CWeb control panel with no integrations or apps listed. |
| Best for | cheap servers with lots of RAM | cheap unmanaged VPS servers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Contabo and RackNerd. How we grade
Price against what you get
Contabo starts at $5.28 a month and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. RackNerd starts at $1.83 a month when paid by the year and scores 1.7.
They score the same, and RackNerd starts $3.45 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 39 score higher than Contabo for less, and 5 score higher than RackNerd for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- RackNerd also covers databases.
At a glance
| Contabo | RackNerd | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $5.28 per month excl. VAT, 24-month subscription (Cloud VPS 4) | $21.99 per year (1 GB KVM VPS special) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Contabo GmbH | RackNerd LLC |
| Price read from | contabo.com | racknerd.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Contabo
- The price shown is the monthly rate on a 24-month subscription; the page does not show the price after the term or a plain monthly price.
- A one-time setup fee applies to new Cloud VPS 4 orders on monthly contracts.
- Outgoing traffic is unlimited under a fair usage policy, and Contabo may throttle servers with very high or disruptive usage.
- Contabo supports the VPS itself, not the software installed on it; maintenance and troubleshooting are the user's job.
RackNerd
- VPS plans are unmanaged: the vendor describes root access and SSH, and the buyer runs the server.
- The yearly VPS specials and the monthly VPS plans are priced on different pages, and the figures do not follow one scale.
- IPv6 addresses are provided on request by support ticket, and the VPS page names only some locations for it.
- The homepage advertises promo codes for dedicated servers; those are not counted here.
Key features
Contabo
- Cloud VPS range
- Six Cloud VPS sizes from 4 to 18 vCPU cores and 8GB to 96GB RAM, each with unlimited, unmetered incoming traffic and fair-usage outgoing traffic.
- Other VPS lines
- Performance VPS on AMD EPYC CPUs with NVMe storage, Max Performance, Storage VPS, Windows VPS and GPU VPS are sold alongside.
- Plesk and cPanel VPS
- Plesk and cPanel VPS plans are listed, and Plesk is free for the first month on Cloud VPS, Cloud VDS, Storage VPS and dedicated servers.
- Longer terms for lower prices
- Prices shown are the effective monthly rate for a 24-month subscription, and no setup fee applies on longer contracts.
- Snapshots and storage extension
- Each Cloud VPS includes snapshots, and Core VPS plans can double their storage through Storage Extension.
- Many locations
- The product page describes hosting across the EU, US, UK, Australia and Asia.
RackNerd
- KVM VPS with full root access
- Instantly provisioned KVM virtual servers in locations including Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Amsterdam and Toronto, with a 1Gbps network port.
- ctrl control panel
- RackNerd's own VPS panel handles reboot, reinstall, console, a network firewall and one-click installs of apps such as n8n, Ollama, LibreChat and Portainer.
- cPanel shared hosting
- Shared plans run cPanel with LiteSpeed, Softaculous, free SSL and JetBackup daily backups, and can be deployed in the US, Europe or Singapore.
- Free migration for shared hosting
- The vendor says it will migrate a site from a previous host after a support ticket with the login details.
- Dedicated servers and colocation
- Dedicated servers start at $139 a month, with Ryzen, unmetered 10, 20 and 40Gbps and hybrid options, plus colocation.
- Reseller hosting
- cPanel and WHM reseller plans let a customer sell shared hosting accounts.
Plans
Contabo
Cloud VPS 4$5.28
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $6.60 incl. tax
4 vCPU cores, 8GB RAM, 100GB SSD, 1 snapshot, 200 Mbit/s port and unlimited traffic. A setup fee applies on monthly contracts.
Cloud VPS 6$7.20
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $9.00 incl. tax
6 vCPU cores, 12GB RAM, 200GB SSD or 100GB NVMe, 2 snapshots, 300 Mbit/s port and unlimited traffic.
Cloud VPS 8$13.44
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $16.80 incl. tax
8 vCPU cores, 24GB RAM, 300GB SSD or 150GB NVMe, 3 snapshots, 600 Mbit/s port and unlimited traffic.
Cloud VPS 12$24.00
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $30.00 incl. tax
12 vCPU cores, 48GB RAM, 400GB SSD or 200GB NVMe, 3 snapshots, 800 Mbit/s port and unlimited traffic.
Cloud VPS 16$35.60
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $44.50 incl. tax
16 vCPU cores, 64GB RAM, 500GB SSD or 250GB NVMe, 3 snapshots, 1 Gbit/s port and unlimited traffic.
Cloud VPS 18$47.04
per month excl. VAT, 24-month term; $58.80 incl. tax
18 vCPU cores, 96GB RAM, 600GB SSD or 300GB NVMe, 3 snapshots, 1 Gbit/s port and unlimited traffic.
RackNerd
1 GB KVM VPS special$21.99
per year
1 vCPU, 20 GB SSD, 3 TB monthly transfer, a 1Gbps port and full root access. The specials page also lists 2 GB at $35.99 and 4 GB at $59.99 a year.
512 MB KVM VPS$26.99
per year
1 vCore, 30 GB RAID-10 SSD, 500 GB transfer at 1Gbps and one IPv4 address.
Shared 30 GB$5.59
per month
cPanel shared hosting with 30 GB SSD, 2 TB transfer, unlimited domains and databases, free SSL, LiteSpeed and daily JetBackup backups.
Shared 100 GB$9.59
per month
100 GB SSD and 3 TB monthly transfer with the same cPanel, LiteSpeed and backup features. A 200 GB plan is $15.59 a month.
2 GB KVM VPS$20.59
per month
3 vCore, 75 GB RAID-10 SSD and 2 TB transfer. The 1 GB monthly plan is $17.99 and the 4 GB plan $24.59 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Contabo or RackNerd?
As of Nov 13, 2026, RackNerd is cheaper to start with: $1.83 a month when paid by the year, against $5.28 a month for Contabo. Contabo starts at $5.28 per month excl. VAT, 24-month subscription (Cloud VPS 4), and RackNerd starts at $21.99 per year (1 GB KVM VPS special).
Which has a free plan, Contabo or RackNerd?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Contabo nor RackNerd has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.