Is Cockroach Labs or Contabo better?

Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Contabo at €4.5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Contabo?

Cockroach Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cockroach Labs and €4.5/month for Contabo.

Does Cockroach Labs or Contabo run on more platforms?

Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Contabo runs on Linux, Windows.

Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?

Yes. Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Contabo starts at €4.5/month.

What is Cockroach Labs best used for?

Cockroach Labs is most often used for distributed sql database for scalable applications, multi-region deployment and failover. Of those, distributed sql database for scalable applications and multi-region deployment and failover are not what Contabo is typically brought in for.

What can Cockroach Labs do that Contabo cannot?

Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Both handle Kubernetes, Encryption, Cloud deployment.

Database & Data Management · head to head

Cockroach Labs vs Contabo

Cockroach Labs

Database & Data Management

The cloud-native distributed SQL database

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Contabo

Cloud & Infrastructure

Affordable high-performance VPS hosting

From: €4.5/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Cockroach Labs basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only); Contabo fully unmanaged infrastructure requires all setup and maintenance by customer
They diverge on capability: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Contabo covers VPS Hosting.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cockroach Labs and Contabo actually diverge.

Attributes where Cockroach Labs and Contabo differ
Attribute	Cockroach Labs	Contabo
Starting price	Free	€4.5/month
Pricing model	freemium	Unknown
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	AWS, GCP, Azure	Linux, Windows
Category	Database & Data Management	Cloud & Infrastructure
Founded	2015	2003

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cockroach Labs

Distributed SQL
Automatic Sharding
Multi-region Replication
Geo-partitioning
ACID Transactions
Horizontal Scaling
Survivability
PostgreSQL Compatibility

Only in Contabo

VPS Hosting
Dedicated Servers
Object Storage
Snapshots
DDoS Protection
Custom ISO
Multiple Locations
SSD Storage

Both cover

Kubernetes
Encryption
Cloud deployment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cockroach Labs

Distributed SQL database for scalable applicationsnot Contabo
Multi-region deployment and failovernot Contabo

Contabo

Web hostingnot Cockroach Labs
Game serversnot Cockroach Labs
Development environmentsnot Cockroach Labs
VPN serversnot Cockroach Labs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cockroach Labs

Basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only)
Azure support restricted to Advanced tier only
Basic tier limited to 50 million RUs and 10 GiB storage per month
Advanced tier starts at $0.60/hour for 4 vCPUs minimum
3 TiB maximum storage on Basic and Standard tiers, 10 TiB per node on Advanced

Contabo

Fully unmanaged infrastructure requires all setup and maintenance by customer
No formal SLA with financial compensation for downtime violations

Pricing, plan by plan

Cockroach Labs

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cockroach Labs review.

Contabo

€4.5/month

Cloud VPS$4.5/month
- 4 vCPU
- 8 GB RAM
- 100 GB SSD
Cloud VDS$39/month
- Dedicated cores
- 24 GB RAM
- 180 GB NVMe
Dedicated Server$149/month
- AMD CPU
- 64 GB RAM
- 1 TB NVMe

Which should you pick?

Choose Cockroach Labs if

You need distributed sql.
You want to start without paying.
You work on AWS, GCP, Azure.
You also want automatic sharding.

Cockroach Labs review

Choose Contabo if

You need vps hosting.
You work on Linux, Windows.
You also want dedicated servers.

Contabo review

Questions people ask

Is Cockroach Labs or Contabo better?: Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Contabo at €4.5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Contabo?: Cockroach Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cockroach Labs and €4.5/month for Contabo.
Does Cockroach Labs or Contabo run on more platforms?: Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Contabo runs on Linux, Windows.
Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?: Yes. Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Contabo starts at €4.5/month.
What is Cockroach Labs best used for?: Cockroach Labs is most often used for distributed sql database for scalable applications, multi-region deployment and failover. Of those, distributed sql database for scalable applications and multi-region deployment and failover are not what Contabo is typically brought in for.
What can Cockroach Labs do that Contabo cannot?: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Both handle Kubernetes, Encryption, Cloud deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Contabo: What is the base pricing for Contabo VPS?

Contabo Cloud VPS starts at EUR 4.50 per month (approximately $4.95 USD) with 4 vCPU cores and 8 GB RAM. Prices scale up to EUR 39+ per month for dedicated performance VPS with higher specs.

Source

Contabo: Does Contabo raise prices at renewal?

No. Unlike many hosting providers, Contabo does not increase renewal prices. The promotional price you get at sign-up is locked in for future renewals.

Source

Contabo: What data center locations does Contabo offer?

Contabo operates 9 global data center regions including multiple EU locations, US East/Central/West Coast, United Kingdom, India, Singapore, Japan, and Australia.

Source

Contabo: Does Contabo provide managed services?

No. Contabo VPS is fully unmanaged. You handle all setup, security patching, and system maintenance. Managed hosting adds 2 hours per month of dedicated support for a fee.

Source

Contabo: What is Contabo's uptime guarantee?

Contabo maintains a 99.996% uptime guarantee across all plans. The platform includes unlimited traffic and free DDoS protection.

Source

Cockroach Labs vs Contabo

Cockroach Labs

Contabo

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Cockroach Labs

Only in Contabo

Both cover

What people use each for

Cockroach Labs

Contabo

Where each one falls short

Cockroach Labs

Contabo

Pricing, plan by plan

Cockroach Labs

Contabo

Which should you pick?

Choose Cockroach Labs if

Choose Contabo if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Cockroach Labs

More on Contabo

Keep looking

Other head to heads