Compare Contabo Object Storage and TransIP on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: DigitalOcean
Germany· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist when you want a Ceph S3 bucket next to Contabo VPS or VDS, can use path-style endpoints, and can live without S3 logging. Skip when you need Amazon-complete S3, a first-party custom TLS hostname, company-wide ISO 27001 or SOC 2, or a store with no US parent and no US region. Consider Hetzner Object Storage or OVHcloud Object Storage instead.
Netherlands· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist TransIP when you want a Dutch BV contract for domains plus NL-hosted VPS, managed Kubernetes, OpenStack, or S3/SWIFT object storage. Skip when you need hyperscaler global regions or first-party managed databases; consider Hetzner, OVHcloud, or Scaleway instead.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Contabo Object Storage | TransIP |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Germany | Netherlands |
| Category | Cloud Computing | Cloud Computing |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Germany | Netherlands |
| Legal entity | Contabo GmbH (Welfenstrasse 22, 81541 Munich; AG Munich HRB 180722; VAT DE267602842) | TransIP B.V., Vondellaan 47, 2332 AA Leiden (KvK 24345899, VAT NL812334966B01). ISO certificates published as team.blue NL B.V. Part of European team.blue group (Belgian group HQ). |
| US parent / control | US parent or control | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | High | Medium |
| EU-hosted status | Not listed | Partial |
| Hosting / residency | Object storage sold in the EU (eu2.contabostorage.com), United States (usc1.contabostorage.com), and Singapore (sin1.contabostorage.com). Contabo operates its own data centers. No public object-storage subprocessor list. Management API auth is at auth.contabo.com. Official custom-domain docs use Cloudflare as an optional customer-side proxy, not as the S3 data plane. | Primary VPS/Kubernetes/object workloads marketed on TransIP-operated Netherlands infrastructure (AMS0/RTM0; object store 3x NL replication). OpenStack across multiple NL datacentres; KB also names Equinix AMS3 and EUNetworks as OpenStack facility providers. Ancillary: Google Analytics and reCAPTCHA (website, consent), PayPal/iDEAL/card payments. No AWS/GCP/Azure listed as primary IaaS fabric. |
| Summary | S3-compatible object storage from Munich-based Contabo GmbH, running on Ceph with EU, US, and Singapore endpoints. | Dutch domain registrar and cloud host: KVM VPS, managed Kubernetes, OpenStack public cloud, and S3/SWIFT object storage on Netherlands infrastructure. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Contabo Object Storage | TransIP |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | Munich, Germany (Contabo GmbH, HRB 180722) | Leiden, Netherlands |
| Product | Hosted Ceph S3 object storage | Not listed |
| S3 regions | EU (eu2), United States (usc1), Singapore (sin1) | Not listed |
| Addressing | Path-style; HTTPS only | Not listed |
| Commercial model | Purchased capacity with optional auto-scale; no per-GB egress on Contabo's stated model | VPS packages + add-ons; pay-as-you-go Kubernetes/OpenStack/object storage |
| Ownership | KKR majority (2022), Oakley Capital Fund V minority | Not listed |
| Legal entity | Not listed | TransIP B.V. (KvK 24345899); certs under team.blue NL B.V. |
| Group | Not listed | team.blue (European hosting group, Belgian group HQ) |
| Primary regions | Not listed | Netherlands (AMS0, RTM0; OpenStack multi-DC) |
| Regions | Not listed | Netherlands: AMS0 (Amsterdam), RTM0 (Alblasserdam); OpenStack across multiple NL DCs (incl. Equinix AMS3 / EUNetworks named for some paths) |
| Compliance certs in region | Not listed | ISO 27001:2022, ISO 9001:2015, NEN 7510:2017 (vendor PDF certificates) |
| Key capabilities | Contabo Object Storage | TransIP |
|---|---|---|
| S3-compatible (partial) | Yes | Not listed |
| Ceph backend | Yes | Not listed |
| EU region available | Yes | Not listed |
| German GmbH | Yes | Not listed |
| In-panel DPA | Yes | Not listed |
| EU-operated (NL BV) | Not listed | Yes |
| Netherlands residency (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
| KVM VPS + API | Not listed | Yes |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | Yes |
| OpenStack public cloud | Not listed | Yes |
| ISO 27001 (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
Ceph S3 API with path-style buckets
Contabo states the store is Ceph-based and largely S3 compatible, not fully equivalent to Amazon S3. Logging is not supported. Official tool notes require Contabo S3 URLs, path-style buckets, and access_key/secret_key mapped to aws_access_key_id/aws_secret_access_key.
EU, US, and Singapore S3 endpoints
Documented base URLs are eu2.contabostorage.com (European Union), usc1.contabostorage.com (United States), and sin1.contabostorage.com (Singapore). The management API allows one object-storage purchase per location. All locations on an account share the same S3 credentials.
Bucket versioning and Object Lock
Versioning is enabled per bucket via s3api put-bucket-versioning on the regional endpoint. Suspending versioning stops new versions but does not delete old ones. Object Lock can be turned on at bucket creation (example uses GOVERNANCE mode) so objects cannot be overwritten or deleted for a retention period.
Capacity auto-scale via management API
The Contabo API (not the S3 API) orders, upgrades, cancels, and auto-scales purchased space up to a monthly size limit. Usage statistics are exposed there. The open-source cntb CLI (GPL-3.0) wraps the same management API. S3 keys come from the User Management API or the Object Storage panel.
Published client list and hard limits
Documented working tools include cntb, aws cli, rclone, Cyberduck, goofys, s3fs-fuse, s3cmd, WinSCP, Cloudberry Explorer, BucketAnywhere, Virtualmin, Velero, and Plesk. FileZilla Pro is listed as incompatible. Defaults include 5 TB max object size, 100 buckets, 3 million objects (increasable on request), 250 requests per second, and 10 MByte/s default bandwidth.
KVM VPS on AMS0/RTM0 with NVMe triple copies
Root VPS on TransIP's KVM platform with package tiers, optional dedicated vCPU and IOPS add-ons, private networking, HA-IP, and load balancers. Storage is described as distributed NVMe with three copies; free in-zone backups every four hours, with optional weekly and offsite backups.
Managed Kubernetes with free control plane
Control-panel Kubernetes where TransIP runs the control plane; customers add shared or dedicated worker node pools, attach NVMe or Big Storage volumes, and use HA-IP load balancing. Data is marketed as stored in the Netherlands with minute-based pay-as-you-go nodes.
OpenStack Public Cloud (API + Horizon)
Programmable OpenStack with Octavia load balancing, Barbican secret management, Cinder volume backups, and Terraform-friendly automation. First project is offered with a free trial window; infrastructure is described as multi-datacentre with triple rack-level copies.
S3 and SWIFT Object Store in the Netherlands
Object storage with S3 and OpenStack SWIFT APIs, Keystone/S3 token management, and triple replication across Dutch availability zones. Usable standalone or beside VPS/OpenStack; billed on used storage and egress rather than reserved blocks.
Domains, DNS, and REST API in one panel
Domain registration and DNS alongside infrastructure, with a documented REST API (api.transip.nl) for domains, VPS, Kubernetes, and OpenStack projects. Fits teams that want registrar plus compute under one Dutch operator.
| Assurance & compliance | Contabo Object Storage | TransIP |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not found Searched About, help, and product docs. No public independent audit PDF for Object Storage. | Not applicable IaaS/hosting provider, not a no-logs VPN. Assurance is via ISMS certifications and responsible disclosure (Intigriti), not a public no-logs audit. |
| ISO 27001 | Partial Some Contabo location marketing pages list colocation-facility ISO 27001 (for example Singapore). No company-wide Contabo ISO 27001 certificate found. | Vendor claimed Vendor publishes ISO 27001:2022 PDF (team-blue-nl-bv naming). Independent registry re-check not completed in this draft. |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found No Contabo-issued SOC 2 or SOC 3 report found. Facility-level SOC marks on some non-EU location pages are not treated as a Contabo attestation. | Not found No clear TransIP product-level SOC 2/3 claim found on primary legal/security pages reviewed. |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed EU legal entity; DPA available in the Customer Control Panel and listed as covering Object Storage. EU region is optional, not exclusive. | Vendor claimed Dutch controller/processor entity; privacy policy and control-panel DPA. Residency depends on selected product/zone. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Partial Contabo GmbH is German, but KKR (US) has been the majority investor since June 2022 and Contabo sells a US object-storage region. Not legal advice. | Partial EuropeanStack assessment: Dutch entity / no known US parent / NL-first hosting, but privacy names Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA, and PayPal, and OpenStack KB names Equinix colo. Not a vendor safety claim. Not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Vendor claimed Customer Control Panel wizard. Object Storage is an explicit covered service. Review the generated PDF. | Vendor claimed Processor agreement available to view/accept in the control panel per knowledge base. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Object storage IaaS, not an AI system. | Not applicable Infrastructure hosting/registrar; not marketed as an AI system provider. Optional third-party AI assistant images on VPS are customer-chosen workloads. |
| NEN 7510 (Dutch healthcare information security) | Not listed | Vendor claimed Vendor publishes NEN 7510:2017 certificate PDF; accounts processing medical data can be marked for extra handling per cert page. |
| Considerations & known limitations | Contabo Object Storage | TransIP |
|---|---|---|
| US private-equity majority owner | High Oakley Capital announced in June 2022 that KKR would be majority investor, with Oakley Fund V retaining a minority stake. Treat CLOUD Act exposure as high at the ownership layer even when objects sit on eu2.contabostorage.com. | Not listed |
| Optional United States object region | Medium usc1.contabostorage.com is a first-party SKU. Shared credentials across locations make it easy to point a client at the US endpoint by mistake. Pin the EU URL if residency is a hard requirement. | Not listed |
| Partial S3 compatibility | Medium Contabo states the Ceph API is not fully compatible with AWS S3. Logging is unsupported. Path-style addressing is required. FileZilla Pro does not work. Test SDK features before migrating production. | Not listed |
| Default request and bandwidth caps | Medium Published defaults include 250 API requests per second, 10 MByte/s bandwidth, 100 buckets, and 3 million objects. Auto-scale increases purchased terabytes, not those caps. | Not listed |
| No public company-wide audit | Medium No independent Object Storage audit, Contabo-issued ISO 27001, or SOC 2 report was found. Facility ISO/SOC marks on some location pages are not a substitute. | Not listed |
| No first-party custom TLS hostname | Low HTTPS-only S3 endpoints reject a simple CNAME. Public websites need a customer-operated reverse proxy. Public-to-private ACL changes may remain cached for up to one hour. | Not listed |
| team.blue group entity complexity | Not listed | Low Brand is TransIP B.V.; certificates use team.blue NL B.V. Procurement should map the exact contracting entity, DPA signatory, and cert scope to the services purchased. |
| US SaaS on website/payments path | Not listed | Medium Privacy policy discloses Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA, and PayPal. These are not described as the VPS storage backend, but they affect overall vendor diligence and CLOUD Act style questionnaires. |
| Equinix-named OpenStack facilities | Not listed | Low OpenStack facility list includes Equinix AMS3 (US-parent colo operator). Workloads remain in Amsterdam physically; treat as partial EU-hosted diligence, not AWS-region hosting. |
| Narrower managed-platform depth than hyperscalers | Not listed | Medium No broad multi-continent region map or hyperscaler-class managed database suite on the pages reviewed. Teams needing those should plan self-managed stacks or another cloud. |
| No standalone public subprocessor register found | Not listed | Medium Diligence relies on privacy policy, product pages, and DPA rather than a dedicated exhaustive subprocessor HTML table. Request an up-to-date schedule under NDA if required. |
When: You want a German hoster's object store with an EU-concentrated footprint and no US majority PE owner
Consider: Hetzner Object Storage
Contabo's own comparison places Hetzner object storage in European data centers and notes a thinner APAC story.
When: You need a broader EU compliance portfolio (ISO 27001, SecNumCloud) more than a simple capacity bill
Consider: OVHcloud Object Storage
Billing and product surface are more complex than Contabo's single-account IaaS stack.
When: You need managed Kubernetes or managed Postgres next to S3, not just raw buckets
Consider: Scaleway Object Storage
France-first footprint. Contabo does not sell first-party managed databases or Kubernetes.
When: You need Amazon-complete S3 (logging, IAM, global regions) and will accept a US cloud
Consider: Amazon S3
Use Contabo only after you have tested the Ceph compatibility gaps against your SDK.
When: You need large bare-metal choice and owned DE/FI parks with optional extra-EU cloud
Consider: Hetzner
Deeper server auction and multi-park footprint; different registrar story.
When: You need multi-country EU cloud plus SecNumCloud-style private cloud paths
Consider: OVHcloud
Broader region map and product depth; French group contracting.
When: You want more EU region pins or managed data services with selectable residency
Consider: Scaleway or UpCloud
Compare region lists and managed DB/Kubernetes packaging directly.
When: You specifically want another Dutch IaaS peer for side-by-side diligence
Consider: Leaseweb or Cyso Cloud
Similar NL diligence questions; different panel and product mix.