Software · head to head
Contabo vs Fastly
The short version
- Only Fastly 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; Fastly bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- They diverge on capability: Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Fastly covers Edge Compute.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Contabo and Fastly actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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
- Custom ISO
- Multiple Locations
- SSD Storage
- Docker
Only in Fastly
- Edge Compute
- CDN
- Real-time Analytics
- Image Optimization
- Video Streaming
- API
- Instant Purge
- GitHub
Both cover
- DDoS Protection
- DDoS Protection
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Contabo
- Web hostingnot Fastly
- Game serversnot Fastly
- Development environmentsnot Fastly
- VPN serversnot Fastly
Fastly
- Serving static and dynamic content through a global CDNnot Contabo
- Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot 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
Fastly
- Bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- The same traffic therefore costs more than twice as much depending on where the audience is, which is invisible until the bill arrives
- The free allowance is 100 GB of bandwidth and 1M requests a month
- Requests are billed separately from bandwidth, at $0.01 per 10,000 above the first million
- High volume rates past 50 TB are not published and require contacting sales
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
Fastly
Free- Free TrialFree
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- Real-time analytics
- Pay-As-You-GoFree
- Usage-based pricing
- Advanced features
- Priority support
Which should you pick?
Choose Contabo if
- You need vps hosting.
- You work on Linux, Windows.
- You also want dedicated servers.
Choose Fastly if
- You need edge compute.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want cdn.
Questions people ask
- Is Contabo or Fastly better?
- Neither clearly leads. Contabo starts at €4.5/month and Fastly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Contabo or Fastly?
- Fastly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €4.5/month for Contabo and Free for Fastly.
- Does Contabo or Fastly run on more platforms?
- Contabo runs on Linux, Windows. Fastly runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Fastly for free?
- Yes. Fastly 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 Fastly is typically brought in for.
- What can Contabo do that Fastly cannot?
- Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, Real-time Analytics, Image Optimization. Both handle DDoS Protection, DDoS Protection, 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.
SourceContabo: 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.
SourceContabo: 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.
SourceContabo: 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.
SourceContabo: 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