Contabo
✓ Verified by EU AltsAffordable German VPS and dedicated servers — a budget-friendly European alternative to DigitalOcean.
Overview
Contabo builds cloud infrastructure and hosting software since 2003 and is listed with a Munich, Germany base. Its EU presence does not change its ownership: EU Alts has verified that Contabo is owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (majority, with Oakley Capital as minority co-investor) (United States), and hosts customer data with Own data centers (bare-metal/VPS infrastructure) in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) plus US, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia locations, so it may still fall under the reach of the US CLOUD Act — worth weighing against AWS on this specific point.
Why European teams pick Contabo
Teams in Europe still consider Contabo for its cloud infrastructure product and Germany presence, operating since 2003, but unlike a fully EU-owned provider, Contabo is owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (majority, with Oakley Capital as minority co-investor) (United States), and hosts customer data with Own data centers (bare-metal/VPS infrastructure) in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) plus US, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia locations — so it does not fully avoid US CLOUD Act exposure the way some other alternatives to AWS do.
See more EU cloud infrastructure tools or browse other startups from Germany.
About
Contabo is a Munich-based cloud and hosting provider founded in 2003, known for offering some of the highest compute specifications per euro in the European market. Its VPS plans start at approximately €4/month and include significantly more CPU, RAM, and SSD storage than competitors at the same price point. Contabo operates data centres in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg), Netherlands, UK, and other locations — all EU-headquartered and GDPR-compliant. It also offers S3-compatible Object Storage and dedicated servers. Contabo is the preferred choice for compute-intensive workloads such as machine learning training, video processing, and self-hosted databases where raw resource density matters more than managed-service polish.
Details
- Founded
- 2003
- Headquarters
- Munich, Germany
- Ownership
- Owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (majority, with Oakley Capital as minority co-investor) (United States)
- Hosting
- Own data centers (bare-metal/VPS infrastructure), Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) plus US, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia locations
- CLOUD Act
- Exposed
- Verified
- 2026-07-31
- Last checked
- 2026-07-31
- Company size
- 51–200 employees
Categories
Compare with the US product you may be replacing
Contabo is listed in a category that our US-product comparison pages cover. See every EU option side by side:
Also from Germany
3 other listed companies are based in Germany. In the same categories as Contabo:
Other EU startups like Contabo
- Hetzner ✓ Verified by EU AltsGermany — Affordable EU cloud servers, dedicated hardware and hosting — an alternative to AWS and GCP.
- IONOS ✓ Verified by EU AltsGermany — European web hosting, cloud and domain services — a German alternative to GoDaddy and AWS.
- UpCloud ✓ Verified by EU AltsFinland — High-performance Finnish cloud with industry-leading disk I/O — an alternative to DigitalOcean and Linode.
- Infomaniak ✓ Verified by EU AltsSwitzerland — Swiss-hosted cloud, email and web services with a strong sustainability focus — an alternative to Google Workspace.
- Aruba Cloud ✓ Verified by EU AltsItaly — Italian cloud provider with low-cost VPS and public cloud — a European alternative to DigitalOcean.
- OVHcloud ✓ Verified by EU AltsFrance — Europe's largest cloud provider with global infrastructure — an alternative to AWS, Azure and GCP.
Frequently asked questions
What does Contabo do?
Contabo is affordable german vps and dedicated servers — a budget-friendly european alternative to digitalocean. It is listed under cloud infrastructure and hosting on EU Alts because its core functionality serves teams looking for a European cloud infrastructure tool with EU data residency, typically as a switch away from AWS.
Is Contabo GDPR compliant?
Contabo is listed with a Munich, Germany base, but its recorded ownership is based in United States, so EU jurisdiction is not assumed. However, EU Alts has verified that Contabo is owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (majority, with Oakley Capital as minority co-investor) (United States), and hosts customer data with Own data centers (bare-metal/VPS infrastructure) in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) plus US, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia locations, which means — unlike a fully EU-owned provider — it may still be reachable under the US CLOUD Act, similar to AWS in that respect.
How do teams switch from AWS to Contabo?
Teams evaluating a move from AWS to Contabo should note: Contabo is owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (majority, with Oakley Capital as minority co-investor) (United States), and hosts customer data with Own data centers (bare-metal/VPS infrastructure) in Germany (Munich, Nuremberg) plus US, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia locations, so this switch narrows but may not fully close the US CLOUD Act gap. Weigh that against the cloud infrastructure workflow fit before treating it as a complete Schrems II fix.
Where is Contabo based?
Contabo is headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company was founded in 2003. Its main website is https://contabo.com.