Contabo vs Hetzner vs RackNerd 2026: Ultimate Budget Showdown

Contabo vs Hetzner vs RackNerd 2026: Ultimate Budget Showdown

When it comes to budget VPS hosting, three names stand out: Contabo with its massive storage allocations, Hetzner with its cult following and proven reliability, and RackNerd with rock-bottom promotional pricing.

All three offer incredible value, but they take very different approaches. Which budget champion is right for you?

Quick Summary

Aspect	Contabo	Hetzner	RackNerd
Starting price	~€4-6/month	€4.24/month	$10-25/year (promos)
Value level	Extreme	Excellent	Insane (when on sale)
Storage focus	Massive (200GB+)	Standard (20GB)	Standard (15-30GB)
Location	Germany/EU/US	Germany/US/Asia	US-focused
Availability	Good	Often sold out	Very limited (flash sales)
Reputation	Good	Excellent	Variable
Best for	Storage-heavy	General EU use	Ultra-budget projects

Bottom line:

• Contabo: Best for storage
• Hetzner: Best for reliability
• RackNerd: Cheapest when you catch sales

Detailed Pricing Comparison

Contabo Pricing

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price (USD est.)
VPS S	4	8GB	200GB SSD	2TB	~€4-6/mo
VPS M	8	16GB	400GB SSD	8TB	~€12-14/mo
VPS L	16	32GB	800GB SSD	17TB	~€24-28/mo

Contabo notes:

• Massive storage allocations
• Good CPU/RAM ratios
• Generally available
• VAT may apply

Hetzner Pricing

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price (USD est.)
CX11	2	4GB	20GB SSD	20TB	~€4.24/mo
CX21	3	8GB	40GB SSD	20TB	~€9.16/mo
CX31	4	16GB	80GB SSD	20TB	~€18.82/mo

Hetzner notes:

• Proven reliability
• Often sold out
• 20TB transfer all plans
• Simple pricing

RackNerd Pricing

Regular Pricing:

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price/year
KVM 512MB	1	512MB	15GB SSD	500GB	$12-15
KVM 1GB	1	1GB	30GB SSD	1TB	$20-25
KVM 2GB	2	2GB	50GB SSD	2TB	$35-40

Flash Sale Pricing (50-70% off):

• Same plans for $10-15/year
• That’s $0.83-1.25/month

RackNerd notes:

• Only worth it on sale
• Limited stock during promos
• Annual billing required
• US-focused locations

Value Comparison

At ~€5/month ($6 USD):

Contabo VPS S:

• 4 vCPU
• 8GB RAM
• 200GB SSD
• 2TB transfer

Hetzner CX11:

• 2 vCPU
• 4GB RAM
• 20GB SSD
• 20TB transfer

RackNerd 1GB (on sale):

• 1 vCPU
• 1GB RAM
• 30GB SSD
• 1TB transfer
• ~$1/month (paid annually)

Winner:

• Storage: Contabo (200GB)
• Bandwidth: Hetzner (20TB)
• Price: RackNerd ($1/month)

Storage Comparison

Contabo: 200GB-3.2TB - Clear winner for storage Hetzner: 20GB-240GB - Standard allocations RackNerd: 15GB-130GB - Basic storage

If you need storage: Contabo is the only real choice

Availability Comparison

This is crucial:

Contabo

Status: ✅ Generally available

• Can sign up anytime
• No waiting games
• Predictable

Hetzner

Status: ⚠️ Often sold out

• Popular plans frequently unavailable
• May wait days/weeks for restock
• Need to monitor for availability

RackNerd

Status: 🔥 Flash sales only

• Most plans out of stock
• Only available during promos
• Need to act fast during sales
• Limited quantities

Availability winner: Contabo - Only one that’s reliably available

Performance & Reliability

Contabo

Performance: Good for the price Reliability: Solid reputation Infrastructure: German quality Overselling: Can occur (high density)

Hetzner

Performance: Consistent and good Reliability: Excellent reputation Infrastructure: German engineering Overselling: Less than Contabo

RackNerd

Performance: Variable (budget provider) Reliability: Mixed reviews Infrastructure: Budget-focused Overselling: Likely (at these prices)

Reliability winner: Hetzner (by far) → Contabo → RackNerd

Regional Focus

Contabo

• Strong: Germany, Europe
• Good: US East
• Limited: Asia (Singapore)

Hetzner

• Strong: Germany, Europe
• Good: US West/East
• Limited: Asia (Singapore)

RackNerd

• Strong: United States (multiple locations)
• Limited: No international options

For Europe: Hetzner ≈ Contabo For US: RackNerd (price) or Contabo (value) For Asia: All limited, but Contabo has Singapore

Use Case Recommendations

Choose Contabo If:

• ✅ You need massive storage (200GB+)
• ✅ You want good availability (no waiting)
• ✅ You need many CPU cores
• ✅ You’re running media servers
• ✅ You need file hosting
• ✅ You want German quality

Perfect for:

• Plex/Jellyfin servers
• Backup servers
• File storage
• Large databases
• Media hosting

Choose Hetzner If:

• ✅ You want proven reliability
• ✅ You value reputation
• ✅ You need generous bandwidth (20TB)
• ✅ You’re in Europe
• ✅ You don’t need massive storage
• ✅ You want German engineering

Perfect for:

• Web hosting
• Application servers
• Development environments
• Databases
• European projects

Choose RackNerd If:

• ✅ You catch a flash sale
• ✅ Budget is everything
• ✅ You need a test server
• ✅ You’re in the United States
• ✅ You don’t need reliability
• ✅ You’re learning Linux

Perfect for:

• Learning and experimentation
• Non-critical projects
• Test environments
• Development (non-production)
• Budget personal projects

Avoid for:

• ❌ Production applications
• ❌ Business-critical services
• ❌ High-traffic websites
• ❌ Customer-facing services

The Price-Performance Matrix

High Price ─────────────────────────────────────
           │
           │           Hetzner
           │        (Reliable)
           │
Mid Price  │     Contabo
           │  (Storage king)
           │
Low Price  │         RackNerd
           │     (Ultra-budget)
           └────────────────────────────────────
                 Low Performance ←→ High Performance

Interpretation:

• Hetzner: Best balance of price and reliability
• Contabo: Best storage for the price
• RackNerd: Lowest price (during sales)

The “Perfect” Setup

Many users combine all three:

RackNerd for:

• Learning and testing
• Personal experiments
• Non-critical development
• When you catch a sale

Hetzner for:

• Production web hosting
• Application servers
• Databases
• Critical infrastructure

Contabo for:

• Storage and backups
• Media servers
• File hosting
• Large datasets

This gives you the best of all worlds.

How to Choose

Decision Tree

1. Do you need storage (100GB+)?

• YES → Contabo (only option)
• NO → Continue

2. Is this for production/business use?

• YES → Hetzner (proven reliability)
• NO → Continue

3. Is budget your #1 concern?

• YES → Wait for RackNerd flash sale
• NO → Hetzner or Contabo

4. Are you in Europe?

• YES → Hetzner (reputation) or Contabo (storage)
• NO → Contabo (US locations) or RackNerd (US-focused)

5. Do you need it now?

• YES → Contabo (available) or RackNerd (if on sale)
• NO → Wait for Hetzner restock or RackNerd sale

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Plex Media Server

Need: Storage + CPU for transcoding

Winner: Contabo

Why:

• 200GB+ storage for media
• 4 vCPU for transcoding
• Good value

Plan: Contabo VPS S (~€6/month)

Scenario 2: Web Hosting Agency

Need: Reliability + reputation + multiple sites

Winner: Hetzner

Why:

• Proven reliability
• Good reputation for clients
• Consistent performance
• German quality

Plan: Hetzner CX21 (~€9/month)

Scenario 3: Learning Linux

Need: Cheap test environment

Winner: RackNerd (during sale)

Why:

• $10-15/year is perfect
• Performance doesn’t matter
• Can break things without worry

Plan: RackNerd 1GB ($15-25/year on sale)

Scenario 4: Database Server

Need: RAM + storage + reliability

Winner: Hetzner or Contabo

Hetzner:

• More RAM per euro
• Better reliability
• Good for databases

Contabo:

• More storage for large databases
• More CPU cores
• Good value

Choose based on: Storage needs (Contabo) vs. Reliability (Hetzner)

Scenario 5: Backup Server

Need: Maximum storage + low cost

Winner: Contabo (clear winner)

Why:

• 200GB-3.2TB storage
• Free backups included
• Excellent value

Plan: Contabo VPS M or higher

Comparison Summary

Feature	Contabo	Hetzner	RackNerd
Storage	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐
Reliability	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
Price	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (on sale)
Availability	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐
Performance	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
Support	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
Bandwidth	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐

Final Verdict

All three are excellent values for different purposes:

Overall Rankings:

For Storage: Contabo (clear winner) For Reliability: Hetzner (clear winner) For Price: RackNerd (when on sale) For Availability: Contabo (only reliable choice) For Performance: Hetzner (consistent) For Beginners: Hetzner (best reputation)

Quick Picks:

“I just need a VPS and don’t want to think about it”: → Hetzner (safest choice)

“I need lots of storage space”: → Contabo (only option)

“I have almost no budget”: → RackNerd (wait for flash sale)

“I need it now and don’t want to wait”: → Contabo (always available)

“I want the best value per dollar”: → Contabo (storage) or Hetzner (reliability)

Conclusion

You can’t go wrong with any of these three providers:

• Contabo: Storage king with good availability
• Hetzner: Reliable budget favorite with cult following
• RackNerd: Ultra-cheap option during flash sales

The best choice depends on your specific needs. Use our decision tree above, or try all three for different purposes!

Ready to decide? Use our VPS Finder to compare all three providers based on your exact requirements.

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Data note: All prices are estimates and change frequently. RackNerd requires catching flash sales. Hetzner stock varies. Check provider websites for current availability.

Need help with other providers? See our provider comparisons or browse all providers.