1. Company Credentials, Legal Entity & Certifications
Before committing to a 12- or 24-month infrastructure contract, verify the provider’s corporate structure, regulatory jurisdiction and audit certifications:
| Attribute | Verified Specification / Source |
|---|---|
| Legal entity & commercial register | netcup GmbH, Daimlerstraße 25, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany (Amtsgericht Mannheim HRB 705547; VAT ID: DE261347532) |
| Founding & corporate parent | Founded in 2008 (operating since 2002); subsidiary of the Austrian cloud group Anexia since November 2016 |
| Scale & network footprint | Over 300,000 customers worldwide, >400,000 managed products, >550,000 domains, >100 employees, ~1 exabyte annual network traffic (AS197540 / AS42473) |
| Audited certifications | ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001 (TÜV Nord) & ISO/IEC 27701 privacy information management (CIS); 100% green hydro/solar electricity |
| Independent industry awards | Voted HOSTtest Web Host of the Year (2015–2025) and Service Provider Awards 2026 Platinum (Managed Hosting) |
2. Hardware Performance: Published YABS Benchmarks (G12 EPYC 9645)
netcup’s G12 and G12.5 Root Servers run on AMD EPYC 9645 (Turin) processors with DDR5 ECC memory and NVMe SSDs. Below are five published third-party YABS runs showing single-core and multi-core Geekbench 6 scores plus fio mixed 50/50 read/write throughput, including follow-up tests after 2–4 weeks of production uptime:
| Plan | Data center | Test date | Geekbench 6 (1C / Multi) | fio 4k mixed R/W | fio 64k mixed R/W | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS 1000 G12 (4c / 8 GB) Fresh deploy | Vienna (AT) | 2025-09-11 | 2290 / 7559 ↗ | 749.2 MB/s (187.3k IOPS) | 4.13 GB/s (64.6k IOPS) | vpsceping.org ↗ |
| RS 1000 G12 (4c / 8 GB) Fresh deploy | Vienna (AT) | 2025-09-10 | 2205 / 7071 ↗ | 672.2 MB/s (168.0k IOPS) | 3.79 GB/s (59.2k IOPS) | m-hofmann.dev ↗ |
| RS 1000 G12 (4c / 8 GB) After ~1 month | Nuremberg (DE) | 2025-10-06 | 1619 / 5156 ↗ | 545.8 MB/s (136.4k IOPS) | 2.47 GB/s (38.6k IOPS) | m-hofmann.dev ↗ |
| RS 2000 G12 Pro (8c / 16 GB) Fresh deploy | Vienna (AT) | 2025-11-25 | 2146 / 10817 ↗ | 395.3 MB/s (98.8k IOPS) | 2.41 GB/s (37.7k IOPS) | m-hofmann.dev ↗ |
| RS 2000 G12 Pro (8c / 16 GB) After 15 days uptime | Vienna (AT) | 2025-12-12 | 1767 / 7947 ↗ | 290.6 MB/s (72.6k IOPS) | 1.76 GB/s (27.5k IOPS) | m-hofmann.dev ↗ |
- CPU performance & node maturation: Single-core Geekbench 6 scores reach 2,146–2,290 on freshly provisioned nodes and stabilize at 1,619–1,767 (with 5,156–7,947 multi-core) after 2–4 weeks once sibling VMs populate the host chassis.
- NVMe storage behavior: Sequential/64k block throughput sustains 1.76 to 4.29 GB/s (27.5k–67.0k IOPS). Random 4k IOPS settles from initial empty-node bursts (98.8k–186.3k IOPS) to a realistic 72.6k–136.4k IOPS (290.6–545.8 MB/s) under sustained production load.
- Network port: All G12.5 RS and VPS plans have a 2.5 Gbit/s interface with up to 3 TB/24h (RS) or 2 TB/24h (VPS) before temporary throttling to 300 or 200 Mbit/s.
3. Strengths vs. Weaknesses
Where netcup Excels
- Unmatched dedicated-core price/performance: RS 1000 G12.5 gives 4 dedicated EPYC cores, 8 GB DDR5 and 128 GB NVMe for €15.52/mo (24M) or €18.26/mo (12M, 0% VAT) — nearly 5× cheaper than Hetzner’s dedicated-vCPU CCX23 (€86.49/mo, 0% VAT).
- Generous traffic rule: Up to 3 TB per 24 hours on RS (theoretically ~90 TB/month) with automatic unthrottling and €0 overage charges.
- Price stability: No introductory bait pricing; renewal prices stay identical after year 1.
- Complete KVM toolset: Free 500-rule stateful firewall, offline
.raw.zstsnapshot export, custom ISO upload, Grml rescue system,/64IPv6 subnet and OpenAPI REST API. - Risk-free testing on RS & Webhosting: 30-day satisfaction guarantee on first orders plus free ownership transfer (PUSH) in the CCP.
Where netcup Falls Short (Common Complaints)
- Contract lock-in & 31-day notice rule: Unlike Hetzner or DigitalOcean, there is no hourly billing. If you miss the 31-day cancellation deadline in the CCP, your contract renews for another term.
- Fixed data center surcharges: “No preference Europe” is free, but pinning Nuremberg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Manassas or Singapore adds €0.87 to €56.12/mo at 0% VAT (€1.04 to €66.78/mo incl. 19% VAT).
- Initial invoice required before provisioning: First orders are not instant cloud spins; netcup issues a CCP invoice that must be paid via PayPal or card before the server deploys.
- Ticket support speed: Standard support operates during business hours in German and English; 24/7 emergency response is reserved for critical infrastructure faults.
4. Verdict: Who Should Buy netcup (and Who Should Use Hetzner Instead)
Independent Recommendation
Choose netcup if you run persistent 24/7 workloads — production web apps, Docker/Kubernetes nodes, PostgreSQL/MySQL databases, mail servers, Nextcloud or CI runners — where you know the server will stay online for 12–24 months. With a 2-free-month product voucher, the effective cost per dedicated EPYC core and NVMe gigabyte is the lowest among ISO-27001-certified German hosts.
Choose Hetzner Cloud instead if you spin servers up and down by the hour, need Terraform/API autoscaling billed per minute, or require free location selection in Helsinki/Nuremberg/Falkenstein without a contract term.
Active netcup Vouchers
netcup New-Customer Voucher (€4.20 net / €5 gross)
- First order of a new account
- Deducted once at 0% VAT (€4.20 net)
- Not for domains, VPS ARM, VPS Lite
€4.20 net off (0% VAT)
Worth €4.20(one-time cart deduction at 0% VAT (excl. tax); €5.00 face value incl. 19% DE VAT)
36nc178336462744 backup codes
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Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.
RS 1000 G12.5
- 4 dedicated cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 128 GB NVMe
- 2.5 Gbit/s
2 months free
Worth €36.52(2 × €18.26 · 12-month rate, 0% VAT (excl. tax))
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Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.
RS 2000 G12.5
- 8 dedicated cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 256 GB NVMe
- 2.5 Gbit/s
1 month free
Worth €34.20(1 × €34.20 · 12-month rate, 0% VAT (excl. tax))
6875nc179390168504 backup codes
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Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.
1 month free
Worth €12.18(1 × €12.18 · 12-month rate, 0% VAT (excl. tax))
6877nc179405148604 backup codes
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Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.
1 month free
Worth €22.62(1 × €22.62 · 12-month rate, 0% VAT (excl. tax))
6878nc179429653204 backup codes
6878nc179344784906878nc179382777206878nc179414454206878nc17942522710
Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.
30% off every billing period
Worth €12.20(30% of 12 × €3.39 in year one, 0% VAT (excl. tax))
5207nc179374615904 backup codes
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Product codes are single-use. If netcup reports the code as already redeemed, use the next one.