IONOS Cloud VPS 2026 Review – Europe's Best Kept Secret?

IONOS (formerly 1&1) is a massive European hosting provider. Most people know them for shared hosting and domains. But their cloud VPS offering is surprisingly good.

I've used IONOS for two projects over the past year. Here's my review.

Overview

IONOS Cloud VPS launched several years ago. It's not as popular as DigitalOcean or Vultr, but it competes directly with them. Data centers are in the US (Las Vegas, Newark) and Europe (Berlin, London, Logroño).

Pricing starts at $4 for 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, and unlimited traffic (fair use policy).

What IONOS Does Well

Unlimited traffic. Most VPS providers cap bandwidth. IONOS does not. They say "unlimited" with fair use. For typical websites, you won't hit the limit.

Snapshots and backups included. Automatic daily backups are included on all plans. That's rare at this price point. Many providers charge extra for backups.

DDoS protection included. Basic DDoS protection is included. Not as strong as OVH, but better than nothing.

Data center in Germany. For GDPR‑sensitive projects, a German data center matters. IONOS offers Berlin and London locations.

Simple pricing. $4, $8, $12 plans. No surprise bills. The control panel shows usage clearly.

Where IONOS Falls Short

Control panel is dated. The interface works but feels old. Creating a VPS takes more clicks than DigitalOcean. Navigation isn't intuitive.

Performance is average. UnixBench single‑core score around 850. That's fine for basic sites but below Hetzner and UpCloud. Disk I/O is decent but not NVMe fast.

Limited global presence. Only 5 data centers. If you need Asia or South America, IONOS isn't an option.

Support is ticket‑only on lower plans. Phone support requires higher‑priced plans. Response times are usually within a few hours.

Real‑World Performance

I tested a $8 plan (2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM) in the Newark data center running Ubuntu 24.04.

UnixBench single‑core: around 850. Multi‑core around 1600. Disk write speed around 300 MB/s sequential. Good enough for small WordPress sites and light databases.

Uptime over 3 months was 99.95%. No major incidents.

IONOS vs. Competitors

IONOS is not the best performer. But the included unlimited traffic and daily backups make it attractive for specific use cases.

Who Should Use IONOS?

Users who need unlimited traffic. If your site serves many images or files, bandwidth limits on other providers are restrictive. IONOS's unlimited policy is generous.

GDPR‑sensitive projects. German data center location matters for European compliance.

Budget‑conscious users who want backups included. Daily backups are built into the price, not an add‑on.

Developers familiar with the IONOS ecosystem. If you already use IONOS for domains or shared hosting, adding a VPS is convenient.

Who Should Skip IONOS?

Performance‑sensitive users. Hetzner and UpCloud are faster for similar money.

Users needing Asia or South America locations. IONOS has no presence there.

Developers who want a modern control panel. The interface is functional but dated.

Final Verdict

IONOS Cloud VPS is underrated. It's not the fastest or prettiest, but the value proposition is solid: unlimited traffic and included backups at a low price.

For a high‑traffic blog or media site, the unlimited traffic is a big win. For most other use cases, Hetzner gives better performance per dollar.

Score: 7/10
- Price: 8/10
- Performance: 6/10
- Features (backups, traffic): 9/10
- Ease of use: 6/10
- Global reach: 4/10

Check out IONOS Cloud VPS