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Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head

Contabo vs Prometheus

Contabo logo

Contabo

Cloud & Infrastructure

Affordable high-performance VPS hosting

From
€4.5/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Prometheus logo

Prometheus

Network & Connectivity

Open source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Prometheus 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; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • They diverge on capability: Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Contabo and Prometheus actually diverge.

Attributes where Contabo and Prometheus differ
AttributeContaboPrometheus
Starting price€4.5/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsLinux, WindowsLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCloud & InfrastructureNetwork & Connectivity
Founded20032015

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 Contabo

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

Only in Prometheus

  • Multi-dimensional Data Model
  • PromQL Query Language
  • Pull-based Collection
  • Service Discovery
  • Alerting Rules
  • Federation
  • Local Storage
  • Grafana

Both cover

  • Kubernetes

What people use each for

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

Contabo

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

Prometheus

  • Cloud-native monitoring and alertingnot Contabo
  • Time-series metrics collectionnot Contabo
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot 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

Prometheus

  • Not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • Hard limit on scrape body size; large responses cause scrape failure
  • Per-scrape sample limit enforced; exceeding limit marks targets as failed
  • Not designed for long-term durable storage; optimised for metrics collection

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

Prometheus

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Prometheus review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Contabo if

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

Choose Prometheus if

  • You need multi-dimensional data model.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want promql query language.
Prometheus review

Questions people ask

Is Contabo or Prometheus better?
Neither clearly leads. Contabo starts at €4.5/month and Prometheus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Contabo or Prometheus?
Prometheus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €4.5/month for Contabo and Free for Prometheus.
Does Contabo or Prometheus run on more platforms?
Contabo runs on Linux, Windows. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Prometheus for free?
Yes. Prometheus 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 Prometheus is typically brought in for.
What can Contabo do that Prometheus cannot?
Contabo covers VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Object Storage, Snapshots. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery. Both handle Kubernetes.

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
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