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Contabo Object Storage

S3-compatible object storage from Munich-based Contabo GmbH, running on Ceph with EU, US, and Singapore endpoints.

object-storages3-compatiblecephgermanygdpriaasbackups
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Contabo Object Storage is the S3-compatible object store sold by Contabo GmbH, a Munich hoster founded in 2003 (the company used the Giga-International name until 2013). It is a hosted bucket service, not a self-hosted appliance. You buy capacity in the Customer Control Panel or through Contabo's management API, then talk to a regional Ceph endpoint with ordinary S3 access keys.

The product exists for teams that already run Contabo compute, or that want a capacity-priced European object store without Amazon-style request and egress billing. Official connection docs list three S3 regions: European Union (eu2.contabostorage.com), Singapore (sin1.contabostorage.com), and the United States (usc1.contabostorage.com). Every location on an account shares the same access key pair.

The concrete differentiator is a Ceph S3 implementation with published defaults (5 TB maximum object size, 100 buckets, 3 million objects, 250 API requests per second) plus bucket versioning and object lock through the AWS CLI. Compatibility is partial. Contabo states that logging is not supported, path-style addressing is required, and FileZilla Pro does not work because it forces virtual-hosted bucket names.

S3-compatible (partial)Ceph backendEU region availableGerman GmbHIn-panel DPA

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.

Key capabilities

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

At a glance

HQ
Munich, Germany (Contabo GmbH, HRB 180722)
Product
Hosted Ceph S3 object storage
S3 regions
EU (eu2), United States (usc1), Singapore (sin1)
Addressing
Path-style; HTTPS only
Commercial model
Purchased capacity with optional auto-scale; no per-GB egress on Contabo's stated model
Ownership
KKR majority (2022), Oakley Capital Fund V minority

Best fit when

  • Teams already on Contabo Cloud VPS or VDS that need a same-account backup or media bucket
  • Workloads that speak standard S3 via rclone, aws cli, Velero, Plesk, or s3cmd and can use path-style URLs
  • Buyers who want capacity-tier billing without per-gigabyte egress modelling
  • Operators who can pin eu2.contabostorage.com and sign the in-panel DPA
  • Buckets that need versioning or Object Lock but not S3 server access logging

Poor fit when

  • Applications that require full Amazon S3 feature parity, especially server access logging or virtual-hosted bucket names
  • Public websites that need a first-party custom hostname and TLS without a reverse proxy
  • Procurement that requires company-wide ISO 27001 or SOC 2, or a vendor with no US private-equity majority owner
  • Strict EU-only policies if anyone on the account might create a US or Singapore store
  • High-QPS or multi-gigabit pipelines that will hit the documented 250 rps or 10 MByte/s defaults

Consider instead when

  • 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.

Jurisdiction & ownership

Legal entity
Contabo GmbH (Welfenstrasse 22, 81541 Munich; AG Munich HRB 180722; VAT DE267602842)
US parent / control
US parent or control
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)
High
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.

German GmbH with a US private-equity majority owner (KKR, June 2022) plus an optional US object-storage region. CLOUD Act row is a EuropeanStack assessment, not a vendor claim. Indicative only, not legal advice.

  • Independent security / no-logs auditNot found
  • ISO 27001Partial
  • SOC 2 / SOC 3Not found
  • GDPR / EU data protectionVendor claimed
  • +3

Considerations & known limitations

  • HighUS private-equity majority owner

    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.

  • MediumOptional United States object region

    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.

  • MediumPartial S3 compatibility

    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.

  • MediumDefault request and bandwidth caps

    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.

  • MediumNo public company-wide audit

    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.

  • LowNo first-party custom TLS hostname

    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.

Open questions for due diligence

  • Is there a current company-wide ISO 27001 or SOC 2 for Contabo GmbH (not a colocation-facility mark)?
  • Where is the public subprocessor list for Object Storage, backups, support tooling, and the Customer Control Panel?
  • Does Contabo offer server-side encryption at rest and customer-managed keys for objects? Not documented on the pages reviewed.
  • What is the Ceph replication factor / durability target for each object-storage region?
  • The marketing URL https://contabo.com/en/object-storage/ returned Storage VPS content when fetched during research. Confirm the SKU is still sold and the product page has not been retired.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Contabo says the product is based on Ceph and is not fully compatible with the AWS S3 API. Logging is an explicit gap. Path-style addressing is required. Virtual-hosted bucket names break FileZilla Pro. Core PUT/GET/DELETE/LIST, public sharing, versioning, and Object Lock are documented. Treat Amazon-only features (inventory, S3 Select, rich IAM policies) as unproven until you test them against eu2.contabostorage.com.

Region is chosen when you create the store. The EU endpoint is https://eu2.contabostorage.com. Contabo also sells United States (usc1) and Singapore (sin1) stores. The management API allows one purchase per location. Credentials are shared across locations, so EU residency depends on which endpoint your application calls, not on the legal entity alone. Pin the EU URL in every client if that is a hard requirement.

Yes. Contabo documents a Customer Control Panel wizard that creates a DPA and lists Object Storage among the covered services (alongside VPS, VDS, dedicated servers, webspace, FTP storage, and colocation). The contracting party is Contabo GmbH in Munich. A DPA does not remove the KKR ownership or US-region facts. Confirm the generated PDF covers the exact services and data categories you use.

Not as a first-party feature. Contabo says Object Storage is HTTPS-only and that CNAME records are not supported without certificate errors. The documented workaround is a reverse proxy that presents your certificate and rewrites requests to the tenant-prefixed public URL (https://eu2.contabostorage.com/<tenantId>:<bucket>/...). The official example uses Cloudflare and applies only to publicly shared objects. Public-to-private ACL changes may stay cached for up to one hour.

Official defaults: 5 TB maximum file size, 100 buckets per customer, 3 million objects per customer (Contabo says this can be raised on request), 250 S3 API requests per second, and 10 MByte/s (80 Mbit/s) default bandwidth. Auto-scale raises purchased capacity, not those request or object caps. High-QPS or multi-gigabit restore jobs need a measured test, not an assumption of Amazon-class throughput.