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Cloud · head to head

Contabo vs Dokku

Contabo logo

Contabo

Cloud

Affordable high-performance VPS hosting

From
€4.5/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Dokku logo

Dokku

Cloud

Single-server platform that accepts a git push and runs Heroku buildpacks on Docker

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Dokku 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; Dokku one maintainer accounts for nearly all human commit activity and the project records roughly 10,500 US dollars of annual income on Open Collective, which is not enough to fund a maintainer, so continuity rests on one person continuing to volunteer.
  • They diverge on capability: Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dokku covers Git push deploy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Contabo and Dokku actually diverge.

Attributes where Contabo and Dokku differ
AttributeContaboDokku
Starting price€4.5/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsLinux, WindowsLinux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted
Founded2003Unknown

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

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 Dokku

  • Git push deploy
  • Heroku buildpacks
  • Datastore plugins
  • Automatic certificates
  • Zero downtime deploys
  • Pluggable schedulers

What people use each for

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

Contabo

  • Web hostingnot Dokku
  • Game serversnot Dokku
  • Development environmentsnot Dokku
  • VPN serversnot Dokku

Dokku

  • Running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with Heroku style deploymentnot Contabo
  • Moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic hasnot Contabo
  • A consultancy that wants buildpack deployments without teaching every client team Kubernetesnot Contabo
  • Keeping a legacy Procfile application alive on hardware you control after a managed platform deprecates its stacknot 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

Dokku

  • One maintainer accounts for nearly all human commit activity and the project records roughly 10,500 US dollars of annual income on Open Collective, which is not enough to fund a maintainer, so continuity rests on one person continuing to volunteer.
  • Dokku Pro asks 849 US dollars for a lifetime licence from a project with no disclosed legal entity behind the promise and no published refund terms, while the product is still described as in development at early bird pricing.
  • Dokku is single-server by design, and the k3s scheduler that provides multi-node support is missing log retrieval, process inspection and content-based health checks, with a post-run hook the documentation says does not consistently fire.
  • Supported operating systems are limited to Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 and Debian 11 or later, so organisations standardised on Red Hat, Rocky or Alma Linux cannot run it on their approved base image.
  • Backups are separate commands per datastore plugin that you schedule yourself, with no unified snapshot, no point-in-time recovery and no tested restore path, so verifying that a restore works is entirely your responsibility.

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

Dokku

Free
  • DokkuFree
    • MIT licensed, no usage limits
    • Command line and SSH only
    • All datastore and certificate plugins
  • Dokku Pro$849/one-time
    • Lifetime licence with free upgrades and no subscription
    • Covers 1 production and 2 pre-production servers
    • Web dashboard and JSON REST API

Which should you pick?

Choose Contabo if

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

Choose Dokku if

  • You need git push deploy.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted.
  • You also want heroku buildpacks.
Dokku review

Questions people ask

Is Contabo or Dokku better?
Neither clearly leads. Contabo starts at €4.5/month and Dokku at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Contabo or Dokku?
Dokku has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €4.5/month for Contabo and Free for Dokku.
Does Contabo or Dokku run on more platforms?
Contabo runs on Linux, Windows. Dokku runs on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted.
Can I use Dokku for free?
Yes. Dokku 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 Dokku is typically brought in for.
What can Contabo do that Dokku cannot?
Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Dokku covers Git push deploy, Heroku buildpacks, Datastore plugins, Automatic certificates.

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
Dokku: Is Dokku still maintained?

Yes. Version 0.38.27 shipped in August 2026 with roughly six releases in the preceding two months. The caveat is that one maintainer writes nearly all of it.

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
Dokku: What does Dokku Pro give me over the free edition?

A web dashboard, a JSON REST API, git push over HTTPS, browser log tailing, team management and email support from the maintainers. It costs 849 US dollars once for one production and two pre-production servers.

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
Dokku: Can Dokku run across multiple servers?

Only through the k3s or Nomad schedulers. The k3s path is missing several commands and health check types, and the older Kubernetes scheduler is deprecated and no longer developed.

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
Dokku: Will my Heroku application run on it unchanged?

Usually. Dokku runs the same buildpacks and reads a Procfile, so the application layer normally moves across. Add-ons, scaling behaviour and backups are the parts you have to rebuild.

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
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