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Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head

Contabo vs Lambda (AWS Serverless)

Contabo logo

Contabo

Cloud & Infrastructure

Affordable high-performance VPS hosting

From
€4.5/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lambda (AWS Serverless) logo

Lambda (AWS Serverless)

Cloud & Infrastructure

Run code without thinking about servers

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lambda (AWS Serverless) has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Contabo fully unmanaged infrastructure requires all setup and maintenance by customer; Lambda (AWS Serverless) billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
  • They diverge on capability: Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Contabo and Lambda (AWS Serverless) actually diverge.

Attributes where Contabo and Lambda (AWS Serverless) differ
AttributeContaboLambda (AWS Serverless)
Starting price€4.5/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownusage-based
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsLinux, WindowsWeb, Api
Founded20032014

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).

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 Contabo

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

Only in Lambda (AWS Serverless)

  • Function-as-a-Service
  • Event-driven execution
  • Auto-scaling
  • Pay-per-use
  • Multiple languages
  • Concurrency limits
  • Dead Letter Queues
  • Environment variables

Both cover

  • Encryption
  • Cloud deployment
  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Contabo

  • Web hostingnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
  • Game serversnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
  • Development environmentsnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
  • VPN serversnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)

Lambda (AWS Serverless)

  • Event-driven functions without managing serversnot Contabo
  • API backends behind API Gatewaynot Contabo
  • Processing S3, DynamoDB, SQS and Kinesis eventsnot Contabo
  • Scheduled jobs without a always-on instancenot Contabo
  • Edge compute through Lambda@Edgenot Contabo

Where each one falls short

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

Contabo

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

Lambda (AWS Serverless)

  • Billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
  • Provisioned concurrency, used to avoid cold starts, is charged separately at $0.0000041667 per GB-second whether or not the function runs
  • Ephemeral storage beyond the included 512 MB is metered
  • Lambda@Edge costs $0.60 per million requests, three times the standard request rate
  • VPC use and cross-region data transfer carry EC2 charges on top

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Lambda (AWS Serverless)

Free
  • Free TierFree
    • 1M free requests/month
    • 400,000 GB-seconds/month
    • Always free

Which should you pick?

Choose Contabo if

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

Choose Lambda (AWS Serverless) if

  • You need function-as-a-service.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want event-driven execution.
Lambda (AWS Serverless) review

Questions people ask

Is Contabo or Lambda (AWS Serverless) better?
Neither clearly leads. Contabo starts at €4.5/month and Lambda (AWS Serverless) at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Contabo or Lambda (AWS Serverless)?
Lambda (AWS Serverless) has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €4.5/month for Contabo and Free for Lambda (AWS Serverless).
Does Contabo or Lambda (AWS Serverless) run on more platforms?
Contabo runs on Linux, Windows. Lambda (AWS Serverless) runs on Web, Api.
Can I use Lambda (AWS Serverless) for free?
Yes. Lambda (AWS Serverless) has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Contabo starts at €4.5/month.
What is Contabo best used for?
Contabo is most often used for web hosting, game servers, development environments, vpn servers. Of those, web hosting and game servers are not what Lambda (AWS Serverless) is typically brought in for.
What can Contabo do that Lambda (AWS Serverless) cannot?
Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service, Event-driven execution, Auto-scaling, Pay-per-use. Both handle Encryption, Cloud deployment, Web support.

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

Related pages

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