AWS alternatives for startups: Contabo compares managed VPS and PaaS

Contabo's blog published a guide on 28 July 2026 that compares alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud for startups, distinguishing between two paths: self-managed VPS or PaaS platforms that handle the entire infrastructure layer. For anyone reviewing their monthly cloud bill, it's the question that really matters before signing a new contract.

The diagnosis: where bloated invoices come from

According to the guide, tripling an AWS bill is almost never caused by a single factor, but by multiple smaller line items that accumulate silently, including NAT Gateway costs, cross-AZ traffic and idle resources that remain active without anyone noticing. Contabo's practical advice is to open AWS Cost Explorer and filter by Usage Type: if data transfer exceeds 30% of the bill, migration helps more than optimisation, because that cost line doesn't exist on fixed-rate VPS providers.

Self-managed VPS: the four names mentioned

The guide lists Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Contabo as options for teams comfortable with Linux and Docker, with root access and no surprise egress charges. We've verified current official pricing:

Provider	Entry plan	Specifications	Verified price
Contabo	Cloud VPS 4	4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD	€5.50/month (official list price)
Hetzner	CX23	2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic	€5.49/month (official list price, Germany/Finland only)

Worth noting: Hetzner significantly increased prices for its dedicated CCX line in 2026 — the CCX13 went from €15.99 to €42.99 per month, a 169% price increase — whilst the shared CX line saw more modest increases, in the 30–38% range.

For Contabo, the guide highlights the unlimited traffic model included in every Cloud VPS and VDS plan, and a scaling path that runs from Cloud VPS to Cloud VDS and up to Dedicated Server within the same account without switching providers.

Managed PaaS: the DevOps-free alternative

For teams wanting to skip server management, the guide mentions Render, Fly.io and Railway. Render starts at around $7 per month per service plus a workspace fee, with deployments linked to Git and managed Postgres/Redis databases. Fly.io starts at around $1.94 per month for shared-CPU instances, with container deployments across 30+ regions and per-second billing. The trade-off in both cases is a higher cost per unit of compute compared to bare VPS, in exchange for zero operating system management.

Contabo is a Prime Software product.