
Introduction: What is Contabo?
Contabo is a German company that specializes in hosting services. It is one of the leading companies in Europe and its managed hosting services are available to businesses of all sizes.
Contabo Gmbh provides a wide range of solutions for individuals and businesses, with the most popular being VPS hosting. This type of hosting service is ideal for people who have demanding needs but don’t have the resources to handle their own server management.
The company was founded in 2003 by a team of IT professionals with over 19 years of experience in the industry. The first customers were small companies and individuals that needed reliable web hosting without complications or hidden costs.
Overview: The Basic Features
The company offers three different pricing plans, which are tailored to the needs of different customer groups. They also offer a variety of features, such as high-end security and fast servers.

Contabo actually suggests a wide range of features for both developers and no-code users, and the quality servers are pretty well reviewed by hosting specialists. Its uptime servers show always between 99,96% and 99,99% continuous connection.
The Complete Guide to Contabo VPS for Email Marketing
Contabo VPS Plans and Pricing
Contabo VPS is probably the perfect choice for people who want to set up their own email server. It provides a single domain hosting plan, which includes an email server, a webmail client, and an SSL certificate for a low price.

In order to install your own email server, you can choose one of these plans, according to your sending needs.
We will select the first plan, CLOUD VPS S, with these criteria:
- vCPU Cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 50 GB NVMe (or 200 GB SSD)
- 1 Snapshot
- 32 TB Traffic
That’s more than enough especially when you start Email Marketing.
Selecting the right options
According to your budget and location, you will choose the right payment plan. In our case, we will take a 3-Month duration (and payment) subscription, and according to your location, you will choose the closest one.

Next, we will keep the free storage, 200 SSD is an excellent option

Then, focus well here:
- If you are willing to use PowerMTA:
You will select AT LEAST CENTOS 7 or DEBIAN 9 OS, or LATER VERSION. The most recent the OS version is, the better the installation will be.
In our case, we will choose CENTOS 7

And don’t forget to Go to → Apps & Panels and select Webmin + LAMP with your OS choice.It’s free anyways. If you prefer CPanel, you can select the right OS you chose and go to the next step.

- If you are willing to use Postal Email Server:
You will select AT LEAST Ubuntu 18.xx.xx OS or LATER VERSION. The most recent Ubuntu version is, the better the installation will be.
And don’t forget to go to → Apps & Panels and select Webmin + LAMP with the It’s free anyways.

If you prefer CPanel, you can select the right OS you chose and go to the next step.
For the rest of the steps, you can keep them as they are, just make sure that you have an unmanaged server.


If you somehow checked whether your VPS IP is blacklisted on MXtoolbox or any other blacklist monitor, and figured out that you were blacklisted by UCEPROTECT3, be reinsured that your e-mail deliverability is not affected.
Important note from Contabo regarding UCEPROTECT3 blacklisted VPS
“UCEPROTECT recently changed their listing policy and this caused IP addresses from our network to be listed in their so-called “Level 3” blacklist.
Big mail providers (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) are not using the UCEPROTECT filters at all and e-mails to those providers are therefore not affected by this listing.
Even smaller mail servers using the UCEPROTECT filters will most likely not include the Level 3 rules since UCEPROTECT themselves consider the Level 3 filter as too strict.
[..] The blacklisting as such should not have any impact on regular mail delivery from your server and the current listing can be considered uncritical for general mail delivery.”
Contabo VPS FAQ
I want to install PowerMTA on my VPS, which OS do I have to choose?
You can select either CENTOS 7 or DEBIAN 9. Preferably CENTOS 7 in terms of ergonomy and architecture.
After purchasing a VPS from Contabo, I figured out that it was blacklisted from UCEPROTECT 3, what do I have to do?
UCEPROTECT 3 blacklisting as such should not have any impact on mail delivery from your server and the current listing can be considered uncritical for mail delivery.