Cloudways vs Contabo: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Cloudways and Contabo to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Cloudways
7/10
Managed cloud hosting platform that runs WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Laravel and PHP apps on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud servers.
Contabo
5.1/10
Munich-based provider of low-cost cloud VPS, dedicated servers and S3-compatible object storage, aimed at developers and small businesses that want a lot of resources for a low price.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7/10 | 5.1/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 2/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 10/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Reliability | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 3/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €4/mo Cloud VPS 4 |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $14/mo Flexible Micro (DigitalOcean) | €4/mo Cloud VPS 4 |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| VPS Hosting | ||
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Automatic Backups | ||
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Cloudways
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 2/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose Contabo
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for developers (8/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Cloudways
Pros
- You can choose from five cloud providers and more than 50 locations from one control panel.
- Hourly pay-as-you-go billing, with a 5-day trial that needs no credit card.
- Every server includes free SSL, Layer 3 and 4 DDoS mitigation, a firewall and offsite backups.
- Agencies get one-click staging, cloning and Git auto-deployment for many client sites.
- Ratings are strong, at about 4.7 on G2 and 4.6 on Trustpilot.
Cons
- Email hosting and domain registration are not included.
- Billing gets hard to track once add-ons and bandwidth overages are added, and some reviewers report charges after cancelling.
- Some reviewers say support quality has dropped since the DigitalOcean acquisition.
- Power users report limited low-level control.
- Phone support requires a paid premium support add-on.
Contabo
Pros
- Very low prices for the RAM, CPU and disk you get, starting at about 4.40 euros a month on a 24-month term
- Unlimited traffic and DDoS protection included on every VPS
- Object storage has no egress fees and works with the AWS CLI, s3cmd and rclone
- Choice of 11 locations across Europe, the US, Asia and Australia
- REST API and CLI for automation
Cons
- Independent benchmarks rate CPU, disk and network performance near the bottom of the market
- Phone support was dropped for a chatbot-first live chat, and users report slow responses
- New servers can take hours to provision
- Backups, Windows licences and control panels all cost extra
- No managed Kubernetes, managed databases or integrated monitoring
