netcup Servers Compared: VPS, Lite or Root Server

Not every recipe needs the biggest stove. netcup offers two server classes: the VPS (virtual server) and the root server (RS) – plus the especially cheap budget variant VPS Lite. VPS and RS differ technically in two main points.

All codes per plan and netcup’s conditions verbatim are on the netcup vouchers page.

VPS or root server – the difference

In short: a VPS shares CPU power with others and comes with a lower availability commitment of 99.6% (annual average) – but it’s cheap and perfectly fine for most starter projects. A root server gives you dedicated CPU cores and a stronger 99.9% availability SLA, meaning predictable performance and a contractual commitment – worthwhile as soon as something needs to run reliably in production.

VPS Lite – the cheapest option for small services

For many single services – a Vaultwarden, a Pi-hole, a small wiki – very little power is enough. That is exactly what VPS Lite is for: the same shared-vCore basis and the same SSD as a regular VPS, but permanently price-optimised. The difference comes down to two things – bandwidth is throttled (500 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s interface, and anything above 100 Mbit/s on a 24-hour average is temporarily capped at 100 Mbit/s) and minimum availability is 99.0% instead of 99.6%. For light services that aren’t I/O-heavy you’ll barely notice it in everyday use, but you save noticeably.

VPS – SSD & full bandwidth

Shared vCores and 99.6% minimum availability, plus full bandwidth (2.5 Gbit/s interface, 2 TB of traffic on a 24-hour average) – the all-rounder once a Lite gets too tight or several services run side by side. Since generation G12.5 the virtual servers ship with an SSD; at netcup, NVMe is now a root-server feature.

How much performance actually arrives is shown in the VPS 1000 G12 benchmark – CPU, disk, network and the steal time of the shared cores. The direct comparison with dedicated cores is in RS 1000 vs. VPS 1000 (Tutorial expected in December).

Root server (RS) – dedicated cores, NVMe & SLA

Dedicated CPU cores on an AMD EPYC 9645, NVMe storage and a contractual availability guarantee for production. Since G12.5 there is also a small entry point, the RS 500 with 2 dedicated cores.

More storage when you need it: Local Block Storage

If the built-in storage eventually runs out – for a growing media library, large photo collections or backups – you don’t have to book a bigger server package straight away. With netcup Local Block Storage you attach an additional disk to your existing server at any time: from 1 GB up to several terabytes, for around €0.0143 per GB and month (incl. VAT, so roughly €14.28 per terabyte), cancellable monthly and without reinstalling or downtime. You can work out the current price tiers in the netcup price calculator* . “Local” means the storage sits on the same host as your server and delivers its full hardware performance without a network detour – under Linux it simply shows up as a second disk (e.g. /dev/vdb) that you partition and mount. You order it in your customer control panel (CCP) under your server in the “Local Block Storage” tab; it is available for root servers from G9 and virtual servers from G10/G11 onwards. Keep in mind that a server snapshot only backs up the system disk – the data on the block storage needs its own place in your backup strategy.

Important: the total limit applies including the built-in server storage – it is 8 TB (VPS & root server) and 4 TB (VPS Lite). So a root server with 1 TB NVMe can be extended by up to 7 TB. The product cards above show you for every model how much Local Block Storage you can still add (the G11.5s entry-level Lites pico/nano don’t support it).

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the IP address at netcup? No. The IP address is permanently tied to the server and can’t be swapped. If you need another address, you can buy additional IPs. The upside of a fixed address: you set your DNS records once and never have to touch them again as long as the server stays.

Can I move to a bigger model later? Yes, an existing contract can be upgraded, for example from an RS 1000 to an RS 2000. Since the price change to G12.5, such upgrades even run at the old terms for existing contracts – more on that in the 100-day review (Tutorial expected in October). Whether an upgrade helps at all is what the five upgrade signals (Tutorial expected in November) tell you.

Can my server send email? Not via SMTP out of the box: netcup blocks outbound ports 25, 465 and 587 with the default policy “netcup Mail block”. You remove it yourself in the SCP – here’s how.

Contract term: what the price assumes

netcup bills the monthly price based on the minimum contract term. For virtual and root servers you can pick 1, 12 or 24 months: 12 months is around 13% cheaper than paying monthly, 24 months around 27%. The prices on this page are the 12-month prices – a sensible middle ground, and the same figure netcup shows on its own overview page. Pay monthly and it gets more expensive; commit for two years and it gets cheaper. With VPS Lite each plan brings its own minimum term (pico 12 months, nano and Lite 1 six, Lite 2 three, Lite 3 two, Lite 4 one month). There is no setup fee on any plan, and the prices apply to the “no preference Europe” location with IPv4 and IPv6 – picking a fixed location (Nuremberg, Vienna, Amsterdam) costs around €1 more per month.

All prices include statutory VAT and are without guarantee – the current information on the netcup site always applies (including the exact SLA terms). Links marked “Ad” are affiliate links (see About).