Netcup Alternatives in 2026: What to Buy When the Bestseller Plan Is Sold Out
Netcup’s low price only helps if you can still place the order. On 22 September 2026 the company raised prices for new servers and replaced the old plans with a new set called G12.5. A normal new server now costs about 40% more, and the disk is half the size. The cheap plans also keep selling out. This page is not a “best VPS” list. It answers a smaller question: what can you buy today that is close?
Prices and stock checked: October 2026
Netcup’s low price only helps if the order button still works. New servers are the pricier G12.5 plans. An old G12 contract keeps the old price.
You already have a server
Stay. Renewals and upgrades inside that same plan family keep the old price. A new order does not.
I already have a Netcup contractYou need a server today
Europe, and you can show ID: Hetzner. No passport: Clouvider. Visitors in the US: RackNerd, or Netcup in Virginia if it is in stock.
I need a server I can order todayPrices come from company pages, not a lab test: Netcup’s 22 September note, Hetzner’s June sheet, and the other hosts’ order pages.
Start with the problem you actually have
A virtual private server is a rented computer in a data center. You get your own slice of processor, memory, and disk. Netcup, a German host, was popular because that slice was cheap and the traffic rule was easy to read.
The name G12 is the old plan family. G12.5 is the new family for new orders. If you already pay for a G12 server, do not cancel it to “upgrade.” Renewals keep the old price. So does an upgrade to a bigger plan in that same old family. A brand-new order does not.
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You already have a G12 server | Stay. Switching throws away the old price. |
| You are in Europe and can show ID | Hetzner’s CX plans, at the prices from 15 June 2026. The old CX22 name is gone. |
| You will not upload a passport | Clouvider. Netcup asks for less ID than Hetzner. It is not a no-questions checkout. |
| Your visitors are in the United States | A RackNerd yearly plan, or Netcup’s Virginia site if it is in stock. |
| You want a European company that is not German | Infomaniak or Scaleway. You are buying a different company, not a copy of the Netcup server. |
| You want the lowest bill | Wait for a Netcup Lite plan to come back, or pay RackNerd for a year. |
Check Netcup stock · Open Hetzner Cloud
What changed on 22 September 2026?
Netcup’s price page says the new rates apply to new orders only. Current contracts are not raised. Renewals are not raised. If you already have a server, you can still move up inside that same plan family at the old price.
The same day, chief executive Alexander Windbichler posted a forum note called “RAMpocalypse: We need to talk about pricing … again.” Memory chips had become much more expensive. He said the company had four choices: sell what it had and mark the rest sold out, pack too many customers onto each machine, keep the price and cut the hardware hard, or raise the price and keep a server on sale. Netcup chose the last one. That is the fair reading. It sold the stock it had. It did not quietly promise you memory it no longer had.
The increase is not one number.
Lite is the cheap line. Those prices rose by up to 20%. The hardware did not change. Pico, the smallest, is about €1.85 a month on a 12-month term: 1 core, 1 GB of memory, 30 GB of disk. Lite 1 is about €4.92 a month: 2 cores, 4 GB of memory, 80 GB of disk.
The normal Intel and AMD servers rose by up to 40%. Disks were cut in half. The disk is still fast flash storage, shared safely across drives. Netcup no longer promises the faster NVMe type. NVMe is a kind of flash disk. You may still get it. You cannot demand it. The VPS 500 G12.5 plan is 2 cores, 4 GB of memory, and 64 GB of disk. The listed price is about €7.98 a month, €6.94 if you pay for 12 months, and €5.90 if you pay for 24 months. Those numbers leave out tax.
Root servers are the line with processor cores reserved for you. Those prices rose by about 70% to 110%, and the disks shrank too. Do not use that percentage to describe the normal VPS 500. It is a different product.
The old VPS 500 G12 was 2 cores, 4 GB of memory, and 128 GB of NVMe, about €5.91 a month with 19% German tax included. That is roughly €4.96 before tax on a 12-month term. Do not mix that old row with the new one. The new server has half the disk and a higher price.
Netcup’s site often shows the price before tax. German tax is 19%. A buyer in the United States may see the before-tax number at checkout. Picking a city by name costs extra. The cheap choice is “No preference, Europe,” which lets Netcup place you in a European city.
Netcup had already changed prices earlier in 2026. A May rise did reach people who already had a server. September is different. September replaced the G12 plans for anyone placing a new order.
What people were actually buying
The euro price was only part of it. Buyers also wanted a German company, a traffic rule that slows the port instead of sending a surprise bill, and an ID check lighter than Hetzner’s. Some also wanted the root-server line, where the processor cores are reserved.
None of the eight hosts below copies all of that. Contabo is the warning, not a recommendation. It offers a lot of memory by sharing the processor more aggressively. That is the opposite of what people liked about a normal Netcup server. It is not reviewed here.
Eight hosts, and who each one is for
These are not ranks. Stock was not checked server by server this week. If the order button says sold out, the button wins.
Hetzner
Hetzner is the first stop if you are in Europe and you can show ID. The plan people still call CX22 is now CX23. Same idea: a small shared server. On 15 June 2026 Hetzner raised prices for new orders and for size changes. An old server you do not resize can keep its old price.
CX23 in Germany and Finland is €5.49 a month before tax, and that price does not include the IPv4 address. You get 2 shared cores, 4 GB of memory, and 40 GB of disk. CX33 is €8.49 on the same basis: 4 cores, 8 GB, 80 GB. Add 19% if German tax applies. The IPv4 address is a separate line on the bill. European plans have often included 20 TB of traffic a month, then a fee per extra terabyte. Check that line. Price is not the same as stock. A September 2026 write-up also marked some of these small plans unavailable in Europe.
Skip Hetzner if you will not upload ID, if your users are mainly in the United States, or if an old article sent you to a CPX plan as the cheap one. After June 2026 those plans cost much more. Speed was not tested this week.
Clouvider
Clouvider is the next stop when the blocker is a passport, not the country. It is a London company. The 4 GB plan is VPS.4: 2 cores, 4 GB of memory, 80 GB of fast NVMe disk, 5 TB of traffic, and a 10 gigabit port. One IPv4 address is included. Listed prices sit around £5 a month, or about $6.69, before tax. UK tax is 20%. The brochure page often hides the price. The order form is the price.
Skip it if you wanted Netcup’s reserved-core root server, or if 5 TB of traffic is too small. Clouvider is not a promise that nobody will ever ask who you are. It is a lighter signup than Hetzner’s passport and video-call path. Speed was not tested this week.
RackNerd
RackNerd is the practical US choice when you can pay for a year up front. Its 2026 sale page has listed a 4 GB server at $59.99 for the year: 3 cores, 60 GB of disk, 7 TB of traffic, and a 1 gigabit port. The 1 GB plan has listed at $21.99 a year. These are prepaid years, not hourly cloud servers. The sale price repeats only while RackNerd keeps that offer on the service. Plans sell out. Check the sale page before you count on it.
Skip it if you need a German invoice, hourly billing, or a clean address for email. A cheap yearly server does not include a good mail reputation, and port 25, the port mail uses to send, is a separate question. That job belongs on a RackNerd page, not in this price table. Speed was not tested this week.
Cherry Servers
Cherry Servers is a Lithuanian host. Use it if you wanted reserved processor cores more than a €5 sticker. The shared 4 GB plan has listed around $10.53 a month, with 1 TB of outbound traffic. That is already more, per gigabyte of memory, than a new Netcup VPS 500. The dedicated plans are closer to a Netcup root server, and they cost more. You can also pay by the hour.
Skip Cherry if the only goal is the cheapest 4 GB shared server. You would be paying a reserved-core price for a shared plan. Speed was not tested this week.
Scaleway
Scaleway is the French company in this list. Cities include Paris, Amsterdam, and Warsaw. Billing can be hourly. The small DEV1-S plan is 2 cores and 2 GB of memory. That is not a match for Netcup’s VPS 500, which has 4 GB. A 4 GB plan is a different product, with Scaleway’s own traffic rules.
Skip it if you need 4 GB and a 64 GB disk on day one. Choose it if the invoice should not be German and you are willing to pick the size yourself. Speed was not tested this week.
Infomaniak
Infomaniak is the Swiss company. You are buying its public cloud, not a renamed Netcup plan. One example on its pricing page is 4 cores, 8 GB of memory, and 50 GB of disk, listed at CHF 16.10 a month in a comparison block. Traffic on the server is mostly included. File storage is the part that can grow a bill. Staff and machines are in Switzerland. That legal home is the reason to pick it.
Skip it if the only goal is the lowest euro per gigabyte of memory. You will pay more than a new Netcup server in Nuremberg and get a different company, not a magically faster disk. Speed was not tested this week.
GreenCloudVPS
GreenCloud is a sale-page host with US cities and a fast 10 gigabit port on its budget line. The ordinary 4 GB plan on the budget page is $20 a month: 2 cores, 4 GB of memory, 30 GB of disk, and 4 TB of traffic. Yearly sales have listed far below that, then sold out. Treat $20 as the price you can plan on. Treat the sale page as a maybe.
Skip it if you wanted a European contract with reserved cores and a published slowdown rule. Choose it if RackNerd is sold out and a US yearly plan is actually in stock. Speed was not tested this week.
HostHatch
HostHatch has more cities than Netcup, including the United States, the Netherlands, the UK, and Singapore. A 4 GB plan has listed around $72 a year: 2 cores, 20 GB of fast disk, and 1 TB of traffic. The small disk is the clue. You are not replacing a 64 GB Netcup disk. Popular cities sell out.
Skip it if the site stores a lot of files. Choose it if the city matters and 20 GB is enough. Speed was not tested this week.
Netcup does not have one traffic rule
Traffic here means how much data the server can send and receive. A slowdown means the port gets slower. It does not mean a surprise invoice. Do not squash the two Netcup rules into one sentence. “2 TB, then 100 Mbit” mixes two products.
| Plan | What trips the limit | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Netcup VPS, and the ARM plans | More than 2 TB in 24 hours | Port drops to 200 Mbit/s until that day-long window clears |
| Lite, including the tiny Pico and Nano plans | Average speed over 24 hours stays above 100 Mbit/s | Port is held at 100 Mbit/s |
| Netcup root server | More than 3 TB in 24 hours | Port drops to 300 Mbit/s |
| Hetzner Cloud in Europe | A monthly allowance, often listed at 20 TB | A fee per extra terabyte. The port is not held. |
| RackNerd 2026 sale plans | A monthly cap, from 3 TB to 20 TB | 1 gigabit port. It is not unlimited. |
| Clouvider VPS.4 | 5 TB | 10 gigabit port until you hit the cap |
A backup that bursts for an hour can trip a Lite plan and leave a normal Netcup VPS alone. A 3 TB copy in one day does the opposite. Read the rule before you chase the lower sticker.
What 4 GB of memory costs
Prices below are before tax, checked in October 2026. Dollar plans are converted at $1.08 per €1 so they can share a column. That rate is only for this table. It is not your checkout rate. Hetzner’s address fee is extra.
| Plan | Memory | Listed price | Euros per GB of memory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netcup Lite 1 | 4 GB | €4.92 before tax | €1.23 |
| Netcup VPS 500, 12-month price | 4 GB | €6.94 before tax | €1.74 |
| Hetzner CX23, Germany or Finland | 4 GB | €5.49 before tax, no IPv4 | €1.37 |
| Clouvider VPS.4 | 4 GB | about $6.69 before tax | about €1.55 |
| RackNerd 4 GB yearly sale | 4 GB | $59.99 a year | about €1.16 |
| Cherry shared 4 GB plan | 4 GB | about $10.53 a month | about €2.44 |
| GreenCloud ordinary 4 GB plan | 4 GB | $20 a month | about €4.63 |
| HostHatch 4 GB yearly plan | 4 GB | about $72 a year | about €1.39 |
Lite wins the sticker and loses on the traffic rule. RackNerd wins the sticker if you pay a year and accept a US sale-server address. GreenCloud’s ordinary $20 plan loses. Its sale page is a different offer and was not used as the list price.
What about US speed?
Netcup does have US servers. Manassas, in Virginia, sits on the location list next to Nuremberg, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Singapore. “Netcup has no US servers” is false. Stock is the problem. Choosing Virginia can also cost more than “No preference, Europe.”
This page did not run speed tests. Not tested this week. Do not borrow someone else’s ping chart and call it ours. If Manassas is in stock and your users are in the eastern United States, order that city and measure it. If it is sold out, RackNerd’s US yearly plans are the server you can actually buy. The email-address warning still belongs on the RackNerd page.
When waiting is the better buy
A sold-out Lite button does not mean the company closed. Netcup puts stock back on the order page. Windbichler also pointed current customers to the server exchange. A transferred old G12 server can keep the old price while offers last. That is a used contract, not a new G12.5 order.
Waiting makes sense if Lite fits the job, the price gap is a few euros, and the current server can survive another week. It does not make sense if the site is down and the only question is what you can boot today.
When you should not switch
If the contract is an old G12, the audience is in Europe, and your traffic fits the slowdown rule, stay. The money you save by leaving is small. The price you give up is the whole point.
The old VPS 500 was about €5.91 a month with 19% German tax. The new VPS 500 at the 12-month before-tax price is €6.94, about €8.26 with that tax. The gap is roughly €2.35 a month, about €28 a year. An upgrade inside the old plan family keeps the old disk size and the old price. A new order does not.
Hetzner’s CX23 at €5.49 before tax is close to the new Netcup price only before the address fee and before the ID check. It does not give you back the larger disk on the contract you already have.
Switch if the city is wrong, the plan is sold out and you cannot wait, or the new job needs a port and a traffic rule that Lite will not give you.
What this page will not decide
This is not the Hetzner ID page. Hetzner can ask for a passport and, in some cases, a video call. Netcup’s check is lighter, and it is still not zero. If the form stops on a document, read that guide. Clouvider is a normal company with an easier signup, not a way to hide who you are.
This is also not the RackNerd email page. A $22 year does not include a clean sending reputation or an open mail port. Buying a second cheap year will not fix a blocked address.
Contabo stays one sentence. More memory on a harder-shared processor is a different bet. It is not scored here.
FAQ
Why is Netcup sold out in 2026?
Memory chips got expensive. Netcup chose to sell the machines it had rather than pack too many customers onto each one. New orders moved to G12.5 on 22 September 2026, at higher prices and, on the normal servers, smaller disks. Popular plans still show sold out between restocks. This page did not scrape stock. Check the order button.
Did Netcup raise prices for existing customers?
Not in the 22 September change. Current contracts and renewals stay on the old price. So do upgrades inside that same plan family. A new server is a new order. An earlier 2026 rise did reach existing customers. That was May, not this new plan family.
Does Netcup have US servers?
Yes. Manassas, Virginia, is a location, next to Nuremberg, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Singapore. The cheap choice is “No preference, Europe.” Virginia can be sold out, and picking it can add a fee.
What is Netcup’s traffic limit?
Two rules. Normal servers, and the ARM servers: more than 2 TB in 24 hours, then the port drops to 200 Mbit/s. Lite, including the tiny plans: if the average speed over 24 hours stays above 100 Mbit/s, the port is held at 100 Mbit/s. Root servers are a third rule: 3 TB, then 300 Mbit/s. You do not get an overage bill. You get a slower port.
Is Hetzner a good Netcup alternative?
Yes, if you can pass the ID check and you order CX23 or CX33 at the prices from 15 June 2026. No, if you need Virginia, if you will not upload a document, or if an old article sent you to a CPX plan as the budget server. Old CX22 prices are dead.
Does Netcup require ID?
It can. The check is lighter than Hetzner’s passport and video-call path, and it is not a no-questions checkout. If uploading a document is a hard stop, start with Clouvider and read the ID guide before you assume any host is anonymous.
What is the cheapest Netcup alternative right now?
The cheapest Netcup-shaped order is a Lite restock. Pico is about €1.85 before tax. Lite 1 is about €4.92 before tax, with the 100 Mbit/s average-speed rule. The cheapest US server on a listed yearly sale is RackNerd’s 1 GB plan at $21.99 a year. That is not a 4 GB server. Hetzner’s CX23 at €5.49 before tax, without the address, is the cheapest serious European cloud plan if the form lets you through.
Close
If you already have the contract, keep it. If you need a server today, match the blocker. You can show ID: Hetzner. You will not upload a passport: Clouvider. Your users are in the US: Netcup in Virginia if it is in stock, otherwise a RackNerd year. You want a non-German European invoice: Infomaniak or Scaleway, knowing you are buying a company, not a copied disk. You want the lowest bill: wait for Lite, or pay RackNerd for the year and read the traffic rule first.
Prices and stock checked: October 2026. Prices change. The order page is the price.
