Contabo VPS vs IONOS Cloud Servers
IONOS Cloud Servers is cheaper across every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | Contabo VPS | IONOS Cloud Servers | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $5.50/mo | $4.00/mo | 1.4× IONOS Cloud Servers |
| Data transfer out | Free | Free | Same |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | — |
Source: Contabo pricing (May 2026) · IONOS pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | Contabo VPS | IONOS Cloud Servers | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | $5.50 | $4.00 | IONOS Cloud Serverssaves $1.50/mo (27%) |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | $11 | $8.00 | IONOS Cloud Serverssaves $3.00/mo (27%) |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | $5.50 | $4.00 | IONOS Cloud Serverssaves $1.50/mo (27%) |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
Contabo VPS
by Contabo
The most RAM and disk per dollar in the category, with unlimited traffic. Single-thread performance and network consistency are noticeably weaker than the price suggests.
Free tier: Unlimited traffic, throttled after 32 TB
IONOS Cloud Servers
by IONOS
Per-minute billed servers from a German provider, with unlimited traffic and pricing aimed at small European businesses rather than at scale-out workloads.
Free tier: Unlimited traffic included
Common questions
- Is Contabo VPS or IONOS Cloud Servers cheaper in 2026?
- IONOS Cloud Servers is cheaper in all 3 modelled workloads.
- Which has the better free tier, Contabo VPS or IONOS Cloud Servers?
- Both publish one. Contabo VPS: Unlimited traffic, throttled after 32 TB. IONOS Cloud Servers: Unlimited traffic included.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.