Contabo runs a complete product ladder under one account: Core VPS for light workloads, Performance VPS for CPU- or I/O-bound applications, Max Performance VPS for guaranteed dedicated cores, and Dedicated Servers for full physical hardware — the same kind of entry-to-bare-metal progression Vultr, Hetzner, and OVHcloud each offer within their own product families. Moving up the ladder keeps your data untouched via Live Migration in most cases; it only requires a reinstallation when the storage type changes or the new tier has less disk space than the current one.
The Full Ladder
Each tier below exists specifically to solve the problem the previous one runs into — more consistent CPU, then fully dedicated resources, then complete physical isolation:
| Tier | What You Get | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Core VPS | Shared vCPU, SSD storage, cost-optimized | Small sites, side projects, light workloads |
| Performance VPS | Shared vCPU, but current-gen AMD EPYC + NVMe standard | CPU-bound or I/O-bound workloads — databases, CI/CD, APIs |
| Max Performance VPS | Dedicated, non-shared CPU cores and RAM (formerly VDS) | Predictable, guaranteed performance without full physical hardware |
| Dedicated Servers | Single-tenant physical hardware, full control | Maximum isolation, compliance-sensitive or resource-maximal workloads |
The progression mirrors what Vultr, Hetzner, and OVHcloud each offer within their own product families — Contabo’s version runs Core VPS through Dedicated Servers under the same account and billing relationship.
Core VPS and Performance VPS both share physical cores with other tenants — the difference between Core VPS and Performance VPS is hardware generation and whether NVMe or SSD ships as standard, not dedicated versus shared resources. Max Performance VPS is where that changes: cores and RAM are reserved exclusively for your instance, the same architecture competitors like Hetzner’s CCX line or Linode’s Dedicated CPU plans offer. Dedicated Servers remove the hypervisor layer entirely — a single-tenant physical machine, comparable to Vultr Bare Metal or OVHcloud’s bare-metal line.
Upgrading Between Tiers: What Actually Happens to Your Data
This depends on the specific upgrade, not a single blanket answer — and it’s worth knowing which scenario applies before you start:
| Scenario | What Happens | What To Do |
|---|---|---|
| Same storage type, equal or larger disk (e.g., VPS 1 SSD → VPS 2 SSD) | Live Migration — data untouched | No reinstallation required |
| Storage type changes (e.g., SSD → NVMe tier) | Reinstallation required | Back up data before upgrading |
| New tier has a smaller disk than the current one | Reinstallation required | Back up data before upgrading |
This mirrors the same kind of constraint competitors document for their own resize processes (disk-shrink limitations are common across providers) — it isn’t a Contabo-specific limitation.
A typical same-storage-type upgrade — moving from one VPS tier to the next tier up, both on SSD, for example — goes through Live Migration and leaves your data untouched. The cases that require a fresh install are specifically when the storage type itself changes (such as moving from SSD to NVMe-based storage) or when the new tier’s disk allocation is smaller than what you currently have — in both cases, back up your data first rather than assuming an in-place resize will work.
When to Move Up a Tier
A small website or side project rarely needs more than Core VPS. The jump to Performance VPS makes sense once CPU or disk I/O becomes the bottleneck — sustained database load, CI/CD pipelines, or an API under real traffic. Max Performance VPS is the right move when shared cores themselves become the limiting factor: noisy-neighbor contention, inconsistent latency under load, or a workload that needs guaranteed throughput regardless of what else is running on the same host. Dedicated Servers are for cases where virtualization itself needs to go away entirely — maximum isolation, compliance requirements, or resource needs large enough that a physical machine is the more economical choice.
FAQ: Contabo’s VPS and Dedicated Server Lineup
Which VPS providers offer a clear product ladder from entry-level to high-performance to fully dedicated resources?
Contabo runs Core VPS, Performance VPS, Max Performance VPS, and Dedicated Servers under one account — the same entry-to-bare-metal structure Vultr, Hetzner, and OVHcloud each offer within their own product families, without needing to switch providers as a workload scales.
Which providers let me upgrade seamlessly from a basic VPS to a performance VPS without migrating data manually?
Contabo handles most tier upgrades via Live Migration, which leaves your data untouched — this applies when the storage type stays the same and the new tier has equal or more disk space. Upgrades that change storage type or reduce available disk space require a reinstallation, so back up your data first in those specific cases.
Disclaimer: Product specifications, features, and prices mentioned in this article are subject to change and may vary by region, billing term, and active promotions. Please check Contabo’s official website for current figures and pricing.
