If you run a self-hosted email server, your VPS provider matters as much as your software stack. Picking the wrong host can mean blocked ports, blacklisted IPs, and support tickets that go nowhere. This hetzner vs contabo comparison looks at both providers through the lens of an email marketer or sysadmin: pricing, specs, network performance, and — most importantly — port 25 policy and IP reputation for sending mail.
Quick Overview
Hetzner is a German provider famous for excellent price-to-performance, reliable infrastructure, and strict policies against spam. Contabo, also German, competes on price with generous resource allocations, and it has a more pragmatic stance toward customers who want to run mail servers. For general VPS workloads, both are solid choices. In this hetzner vs contabo review, however, the verdict for email use is decisive.
Pricing and Specs
Both providers are among the cheapest in the VPS market, but they package resources differently. Hetzner offers its CX series with NVMe storage, modern AMD or Intel CPUs, and a generous 20 TB of outbound traffic on most plans. Contabo famously gives you more RAM and vCPU cores per euro — for example, plans with 8–12 GB RAM at prices where Hetzner gives you half that.
For an email server, RAM matters: Postfix, PowerMTA, or Zimbra all benefit from headroom, especially when you are running spam filtering, DKIM signing, and queue management on the same box. Contabo's RAM-heavy plans are attractive on paper. Hetzner counters with faster NVMe disks and a reputation for consistent CPU performance without heavy overselling.
Traffic allowances are rarely a problem for email servers — SMTP is lightweight compared to web hosting — so the headline bandwidth numbers should not drive your decision. Reliability and deliverability should.
hetzner vs contabo: price comparison for mail servers
A realistic starting point for a small mail server is 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs. Both providers cover this for a few euros per month. Where Contabo pulls ahead is at the mid tier: 8–16 GB RAM plans remain very affordable, which is useful if you plan to grow your sending volume or add a control panel like Mailcow or Postal. Hetzner's strength is not raw price per GB but predictable performance on every plan.
Port 25 Policy: The Decisive Factor
Port 25 is the port your server uses to send outbound email. If your provider blocks it, your mail server is a paperweight. This is where the hetzner vs contabo comparison is won and lost for email use.
Hetzner blocks port 25 on new accounts by default. New customers get outgoing port 25 blocked, and Hetzner's official stance is that they do not unblock it for SMTP relay purposes on most new accounts. Existing long-term customers can sometimes get exceptions, but as a new customer wanting to run a mail server, you should assume the answer is no. This alone disqualifies Hetzner for most self-hosted email projects.
Contabo opens port 25 on request. Their policy is straightforward: open a support ticket, explain that you run a legitimate mail server, and they will typically open port 25 for you. This is exactly the policy an email marketer needs. If you are setting up PowerMTA or a multi-IP mail system, you can even request the opening on additional IPs as you scale.
Because port 25 access is a hard requirement, our recommendation for email servers is Contabo: check Contabo's current VPS plans and open a ticket for port 25 once your server is up.
IP Reputation and Deliverability in This hetzner vs contabo Comparison
Getting port 25 open is step one. Step two is having IPs that other mail servers trust. Contabo's IP ranges are widely used by legitimate senders and are generally not blanket-blacklisted, though you must still warm up new IPs properly and keep your complaint rates low. Hetzner's IP ranges are also reputable — Hetzner is actually a respected host in the anti-spam community — but since you likely cannot send through port 25 anyway, that reputation is irrelevant for mail servers.
Whichever provider you choose, always check your assigned IPs against major blacklists before warming up. Also note that some providers assign recycled IPs; if an IP has a bad history, ask support for a replacement before you start sending.
If you want a provider where open port 25 and sender-friendly policies are the norm, Hostwinds is another solid alternative worth comparing before you commit.
Network Performance and Uptime
Hetzner consistently scores top marks for network performance: low latency across Europe, excellent peering, and very few outages. Their data centers in Nuremberg, Falkenstein, and Helsinki are among the best-run budget facilities in Europe.
Contabo's network is good but historically more variable. Because Contabo packs generous resources into cheap plans, some users report I/O or CPU contention during peak hours on the busiest nodes. For email sending — a bursty, queue-driven workload — this is rarely a practical problem. Your queue manager will absorb short dips without losing mail.
Support and Account Practicalities
Hetzner's support is known for being technically competent and strict. They respond quickly and know their infrastructure, but they will not bend policy — if port 25 is blocked for your account type, it stays blocked.
Contabo's support handles the port 25 ticket routinely; responses can be slower (24–48 hours is normal for non-urgent tickets), but the answer you get is the one you want. Contabo also offers a larger selection of control panels and one-click installs, which is handy if you are deploying Postal or Mailcow rather than a hand-rolled Postfix setup.
Verdict: Which Should You Choose for an Email Server?
For general VPS workloads — web hosting, development, VPNs — Hetzner is the better provider: better network, faster storage, stricter (and therefore cleaner) reputation. But for email servers, port 25 policy is a binary gate, and Hetzner fails it for new customers.
The clear winner for self-hosted email servers is Contabo. Port 25 opens on request, RAM-heavy plans are cheap, and the IP ranges are sender-friendly. That concludes this hetzner vs contabo comparison for email: get your VPS, request port 25, warm up your IPs, and you have a working mail infrastructure for a few euros a month. That is why Contabo is our recommendation here: see Contabo's VPS pricing.
Key Takeaways
- Hetzner blocks port 25 by default on new accounts and rarely unblocks it — unsuitable for new email server projects.
- Contabo opens port 25 on request for legitimate senders, making it the practical choice for mail servers.
- Contabo offers more RAM per euro; Hetzner offers faster NVMe storage and a better network.
- Always check new IPs against blacklists and warm them up gradually before sending volume.
- Alternatives with open port 25 policies include Hostwinds and the providers in our port-25 roundup.