The only VPN you actually control: yours.
Unverifiable no-logs claims, opaque jurisdictions, renewal prices that double. The exit: rent a GDPR-grade VPS at €4.99/mo, deploy WireGuard in 15 minutes, and know exactly where your packets go.
Instant diagnostic
EXPOSED- IP
- 216.73.217.24
- GEO
- —
- ISP
- —
You are exposed on 3 channels
IP visible · Precise geo · Shared exit
Three silent flaws in commercial VPNs.
Consumer comparison sites never mention them. Yet they hit 100% of SaaS VPNs, regardless of the PwC audit badge.
Shared IP = shared reputation.
When 4,000 users exit through the same NordVPN IP, you inherit their reputation: Stripe blacklists, ReCAPTCHA hell, Cloudflare blocks. Your own VPS = one clean dedicated IP.
Read the Contabo reviewNo-logs? No one verifies in real time.
An annual no-logs audit validates a policy at one moment. Between audits, court orders can force temporary logging. On your VPS, you decide — and you can purge.
Read our methodologyPrices that double on renewal.
€2.99/mo for 2 years, then €12.99/mo. Over 5 years, NordVPN ≈ €600. A Contabo VPS S over 5 years: ≈ €300. And your infra stays yours.
See ROI breakdown
Contabo: best price / GDPR / perf ratio in 2026.
We ran WireGuard on Contabo, Hetzner, OVH and Scaleway for 14 months, measured peak-hour throughput, audited the terms, read the transparency reports. Contabo VPS S Cloud at €4.99/mo wins on the price / jurisdiction / guaranteed-bandwidth tradeoff, as long as you accept email-only support (no chat).
- 8 datacenters mondiaux (DE, US, UK, JP, IN, SG, AU)
- Bande passante illimitée 200 Mbps garanti
- IPv4 dédiée + IPv6 /64 inclus
- Snapshots + backups planifiés
- 8 datacenters mondiaux (DE, US, UK, JP, IN, SG, AU)
- Bande passante illimitée 200 Mbps garanti
- IPv4 dédiée + IPv6 /64 inclus
- Snapshots + backups planifiés
Contabo, Hetzner, OVH. Which one for your tunnel?
Three European leaders. The best depends on use case: personal VPN, Tor exit relay, or multi-site hub. Cross-tables from 14 months of tests:
Contabo
- Speed loss3-7 %
- Uptime SLAn/a
- Bandwidthn/a
- 24-mo price~119 €
Hetzner Cloud
- Bande passante20 TB
- Datacenter EUFalkenstein
- GDPRAllemagne
- 24-mo price~91 €
OVH VPS
- Bande passanteillimitée
- Datacenter EURoubaix / Strasbourg
- GDPRFrance
- 24-mo price~84 €
They ditched the SaaS.
« Migrated from NordVPN to a Contabo VPS S using the WireGuard guide. Savings: €8/mo, and I can finally see what happens on my tunnel. »
« The WireGuard bootstrap script saved me 2 hours of setup. Everything in place with UFW, fail2ban and a basic audit. »
« Contabo / Hetzner / OVH comparison perfect for my use case (multi-country SOCKS proxy). Picked Hetzner Cloud for the Germany latency. »
We answered everything.
Is self-hosting really cheaper?
Yes on 24+ months. NordVPN 2-yr = ~€72, then €156/yr on renewal. Contabo VPS S 24 months = ~€119 incl. tax, stable price. Over 5 years: SaaS ≈ €600, Contabo ≈ €300. And you can host other things on the same VPS.
Why Contabo over Hetzner or OVH?
Across 4 providers tested (Contabo, Hetzner, OVH, Scaleway), Contabo wins on bandwidth-per-dollar: 200 Mbps guaranteed at €4.99/mo, dedicated IP included, German datacenter (GDPR jurisdiction). Hetzner is more stable but 2× more expensive for the same bandwidth.
Do I need to be a sysadmin to follow the guides?
No. Every guide ships a copy-paste bootstrap script (WireGuard, UFW, fail2ban) with commands line by line. If you can open an SSH terminal, setup takes 15-20 minutes.
What about Netflix US, BBC iPlayer streaming?
Honest answer: a dedicated VPS is blacklisted by Netflix in 90% of cases (they detect datacenter ASNs). For streaming, we recommend stacking — VPS for daily use, a monthly commercial VPN when needed. Detailed in the dedicated guide.
How much do I pay via your site?
Exactly the same price as direct. Our commission is paid by Contabo, not by you. It funds tests and the servers we benchmark on.
You've seen the gaps. Forge your own tunnel.
Start with our Contabo review (5 min read). Then, when you're ready, follow the WireGuard setup guide on a Contabo VPS.