Contabo vs DigitalOcean
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We have tested 10 VPS plans from Contabo and DigitalOcean. We'll show which one is best based on a detailed performance analysis, on features and prices.
Contabo
Contabo was founded as a VPS provider in 2003.
It is headquartered in Germany.
It offers Web, Dedicated and VPS hosting products.
- Australia
- Germany
- India
- Japan
- Singapore
- United Kingdom
- United States
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean was founded as a VPS provider in 2012.
It is headquartered in the USA.
It offers VPS, Database, Storage and Networking hosting products.
- Canada
- Germany
- India
- Netherlands
- Singapore
- United Kingdom
- United States
VPS Plans
| Plan Name | Monthly Price | CPU cores | Memory (GB) | Disk Space (GB) | Data Transfer (GB) | Latest trial | |
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Cloud VPS 1 | 4.50€ | 4 | 6.0 | 100 | 32000 | Oct 25 2024 |
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Cloud VPS 2 | 9.50€ | 6 | 16.0 | 200 | 32000 | Mar 13 2024 |
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Basic Premium AMD 2GB 1core | $14.00 | 1 | 2.0 | 50 | 2000 | Jul 24 2024 |
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Cloud VPS 3 | 14.00€ | 8 | 24.0 | 300 | 32000 | Jun 12 2024 |
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CPU Optimized 4GB | $47.00 | 2 | 4.0 | 50 | 4000 | Jan 24 2024 |
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Cloud VDS S NVMe | 42.99€ | 3 | 24.0 | 180 | 32000 | Sep 11 2024 |
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Cloud VDS M NVMe | 55.99€ | 4 | 32.0 | 240 | 32000 | Jan 29 2024 |
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Cloud VPS 6 | 61.50€ | 24 | 120.0 | 600 | 32000 | Jul 27 2024 |
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Cloud VDS L NVMe | 79.99€ | 6 | 48.0 | 360 | 32000 | Apr 28 2024 |
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Cloud VDS XL NVMe | 102.99€ | 8 | 64.0 | 480 | 32000 | Dec 09 2024 |
Compare specs for all plans from all providers
Performance Grades
To summarize the performance of each VPS plan, we generated grades based on the various tests that were run: web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Each grade focuses on one aspect of the VPS speed or stability (cpu, disk IO, network IO...) and is made of one or more metrics measured during the tests.
Grades are evenly distributed between A and F. A is best, F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
Screen all VPS from Contabo and DigitalOcean| Plan Name | Web Perf | Raw CPU Power | Perf Stability | Disk IO Perf | Network Perf | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Cloud VPS 1
4.50€ |
A | B | B | C | E |
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Cloud VPS 2
9.50€ |
E | B | E | E | D |
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Basic Premium AMD 2GB 1core
$14.00 |
F | F | E | E | C |
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Cloud VPS 3
14.00€ |
E | B | E | E | D |
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CPU Optimized 4GB
$47.00 |
D | E | E | E | C |
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Cloud VDS S NVMe
42.99€ |
B | C | B | C | E |
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Cloud VDS M NVMe
55.99€ |
C | B | B | C | D |
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Cloud VPS 6
61.50€ |
E | B | F | E | D |
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Cloud VDS L NVMe
79.99€ |
D | B | C | C | D |
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Cloud VDS XL NVMe
102.99€ |
C | B | C | C | D |
Features and Datacenters
This list is a subset of the features each provider may offer.
CPUs
These are the CPUs we have seen in Contabo and DigitalOcean instances in the past 18 months.
| Contabo | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|
| All Contabo CPUs by plan | All DigitalOcean CPUs by plan |
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AMD EPYC 7282 16-Core Processor AMD EPYC 9224 24-Core Processor |
DO-Premium-AMD Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8168 CPU @ 2.70GHz |
Performance Consistency
The provider consistency score shows how much variation can be expected between 2 servers of the same type at the same provider. A high consistency score (>65) means the performance of all servers of the provider is consistent over many trials and many plans.
Providers who don't have enough data yet at VPSBenchmarks don't have a consistency score.
Screenshots
VPS Instance Provisioning Time
This is the average time it took to create an instance for Contabo and DigitalOcean from instance order to instance accepting connections.
| Contabo | DigitalOcean | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of instance creations in sample | 11 | 2 |
| Average provisioning time | 20279s | 35s |
Performance in Depth...
These are some of the test results that are used to determine the grades above.
Web Response Times
We ran a database intensive web application at various levels of load on cloud servers from Contabo and DigitalOcean. This is the average response time measured locally on the VPS for each plan we tested.
Local Response Time per Plan
Lower is better
Maximum HTTP Load
We ran a database intensive web application at various levels of load on cloud servers from Contabo and DigitalOcean. This is the maximum rate of HTTP requests that each server handled without timing out.
Maximum HTTP request rate
Higher is better
Sysbench CPU Performance
We ran the full suite of Sysbench tests on VPS plans of Contabo and DigitalOcean. These are the Sysbench CPU test results:
Rate of operations
Higher is better
Sysbench Disk IO Performance
We ran the full suite of Sysbench tests on VPS plans of Contabo and DigitalOcean. These are the Sysbench Disk IO Random Read test results:
Rate of operations
Higher is better
Review and compare all Sysbench numbers on the Sysbench Comparison page for Contabo and DigitalOcean.
Network Transfers
We have performed large file transfers from the Contabo and DigitalOcean VPS and we measured the speed of downloads and uploads.
The transfers involve multiple files, 10 threads and last for at least 10 seconds at maximum speed. The transfers are repeated 3 times from different servers and only the fastest transfer is reported here.
Download Speed per Plan
Higher is better
Sustained CPU Endurance Tests
We pushed the CPU of those VPS plans hard for 24 hours straight.
This test shows how fast the VPS can go for long periods of time, how stable the performance is and it also gives clues on how overallocated the VPSs may be.
Throughput variations of the endurance test over 24 hours. The coefficient of variation is the standard deviation of the test throughput divided by its average value. Low variations mean that resources allocated to the server were stable for the duration of the test and there was little contention.
Ops/hour coefficient of variation
Lower is better
Having trouble finding the VPS that fits your needs?
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Run VPSBenchmarks on your own servers
With "Private Trials", the same benchmarks that run on all VPS at vpsbenchmarks.com will run on the servers of your choice. The results are private and you will be able to compare them to any other public benchmark on this website.
Run your first Private Trial for just $4.
