Since the GDPR took effect in 2018, the issue of data sovereignty has evolved from a marketing talking point to a legal requirement. Yet, a majority of startups and small businesses continue to host their infrastructure with American tech giants, often out of habit or for the sake of convenience. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure: these platforms are powerful, well-documented, and ubiquitous in technical startup guides. It’s hard to fault them for existing.
The problem is that since the 2020 Schrems II ruling and the recent geopolitical tensions surrounding the U.S. CLOUD Act, the legal landscape has become significantly more complex. Hosting in the United States or through an entity subject to U.S. law—even if the servers are physically located in Europe—potentially exposes your data to extraterritorial access requests. For a startup that handles personal data from European customers, this is a real risk, not just a theoretical one.
And then, beyond compliance, there is another reality: the European cloud ecosystem has become deeply established in recent years. Alternatives exist; they are competitive, and several of them have been designed specifically to meet the needs of companies that want to retain control over their data. Scaleway, OVH, Clever Cloud, Infomaniak, Proton Drive, and Platform.sh each have their own strengths, use cases, and unique positioning.
This article reviews the 6 best options for startups, entrepreneurs small teams looking to build a robust infrastructure without compromising their data sovereignty.
Scaleway is one of must-have French sovereign cloud must-have . A subsidiary of the Iliad Group (the parent company of Free), the platform started out as a traditional hosting provider before transforming into a full-fledged cloud provider with a service offering that now seriously competes with the American giants in several segments.
What sets Scaleway apart is the breadth of its technical offerings. This isn’t just about server hosting: the platform provides compute instances (including GPUs for AI workloads), S3-compatible object storage, managed databases, Kubernetes, serverless functions, container registries, and even offerings specifically designed for training machine learning models. The entire infrastructure is hosted in data centers in France and the Netherlands, which are ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant.
Prices are generally lower than those of AWS or GCP for equivalent configurations, which is a real advantage for growing startups. The console is user-friendly, the technical documentation is high-quality, and the API is well-designed.
Scaleway is primarily aimed at technical teams: developers, DevOps professionals, and SaaS startups in need of scalable infrastructure. If you’ve already worked with AWS or GCP and are looking for a European alternative without having to start from scratch, Scaleway is likely the most natural choice. S3 compatibility also makes it easy to migrate from Amazon.
It is also an excellent option for AI/ML projects that want to take advantage of GPUs at competitive prices without relying on U.S. infrastructure.
OVH is Europe’s leading cloud provider in terms of capacity and revenue. With over 400,000 servers deployed and a presence in more than 140 data centers worldwide (a large number of which are in Europe), the Roubaix-based group is a must-have partner must-have businesses looking to scale up without leaving Europe.
The OVH Public Cloud offering is built on OpenStack, the widely adopted open-source platform in the industry, which simplifies migrations and minimizes vendor lock-in. It includes all the components needed for a modern cloud infrastructure: compute instances, object storage, managed databases, Kubernetes, streaming, AI, and more.
OVH also offers a startup program (OVH Startup) that provides cloud credits worth up to several thousand euros for eligible startups.
OVH Public Cloud is suitable for a wide range of users, from entrepreneurs developers entrepreneurs technical teams at SMEs and startups. The robustness of the infrastructure and the diversity of available services make it a reliable option for ambitious projects that anticipate scaling up. It is also the preferred choice for companies with strict regulatory requirements (healthcare, finance, public sector) that need HDS- or SecNumCloud-certified hosting.
If you’re looking for a cloud partner that will still be around in 10 years and can support your business’s growth over the long term, OVH is hard to ignore.
Clever Cloud occupies a unique position in the market: it isn’t really an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) like Scaleway or OVH, but rather a PaaS (Platform as a Service) designed so that developers no longer have to worry about infrastructure. You deploy your code, and Clever Cloud takes care of the rest: automatic scaling, high availability, backups, and security updates.
The company is based in Nantes, its data centers are located in France (with options in Europe), and it is one of the few to have obtained ANSSI’s SecNumCloud certification, making it the solution of choice for organizations with strict digital sovereignty requirements (the public sector, operators of critical infrastructure, and companies handling sensitive data).
The absence of egress fees is a factor that is often overlooked: with AWS or GCP, outbound data transfers can account for a significant portion of the bill. With Clever Cloud, this is not the case.
Clever Cloud is ideal for developers and startups who want to focus on their product rather than managing infrastructure. If your team is small, you don’t have a dedicated DevOps team, and you want a simple and reliable deployment without sacrificing data sovereignty, this is likely one of the best options on the market.
It is also the go-to solution for French public and quasi-public entities that require a SecNumCloud-certified cloud.
Infomaniak is a Swiss company founded in 1994 that has built a solid reputation based on two pillars: data privacy and environmental commitment. All of its data centers are located in Switzerland, one of the world’s most protective jurisdictions when it comes to personal data. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but it is recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection (adequacy decision), making it compliant with the GDPR.
on plan its product offerings, Infomaniak provides both traditional cloud services (web hosting, domains, email) and a more technical cloud portfolio that has expanded in recent years: storage, cloud servers, Kubernetes, and a suite of collaboration tools (kDrive, kSuite) that positions itself as an alternative to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
Infomaniak has also been committed to carbon neutrality since 2021 and powers its data centers entirely with renewable energy, making it an attractive choice for companies with ambitious CSR policies.
Infomaniak is particularly well-suited for freelancers, small businesses, and startups looking for an all-in-one solution: web hosting, professional email, storage, and collaboration—all within a single ecosystem—without relying on Google or Microsoft. It’s also the right choice for industries that handle sensitive data (legal, medical, financial) and for which Swiss jurisdiction offers a real competitive advantage.
Teams that aren't purely technical but need simple, well-integrated collaboration tools will find kSuite to be a serious alternative to American solutions.
Proton originated in the world of secure email (Proton Mail, launched at CERN in 2014) and has gradually expanded its ecosystem to meet all the digital needs of privacy-conscious professionals. Proton Drive is the cloud storage service within this suite, and it stands out with a strong promise: end-to-end encryption on all files, including metadata.
In practical terms, not even Proton’s own teams can access the contents of your files. This is a “zero-knowledge” architecture that goes further than what most competitors offer, including some European providers. All servers are located in Switzerland.
The offering was expanded in 2024 and 2025 with the addition of collaborative features: secure file sharing, version control, shared folders with access controls, and a desktop app available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Note that with a Proton Unlimited subscription, you get access to Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Pass, and Proton Docs in addition to storage, which offers excellent value for money as a replacement for many Google tools.
Proton Drive is designed for users who prioritize privacy above all else: journalists, lawyers, healthcare professionals, as well as any entrepreneur who simply wants to maintain control over their data without worrying about who has access to it. It’s also an excellent choice for freelancers and small teams looking to migrate away from Google Drive or Dropbox with maximum security.
The "all-in-one suite" approach (email + VPN + storage + calendar + password manager) makes it a comprehensive solution for those who want to streamline their tech setup while enhancing their security.
Platform.sh is a PaaS platform acquired by OVH in 2021 that has since established itself as one of the most advanced solutions for development teams requiring fully consistent preview, staging, and production environments. The core concept: each Git branch corresponds to an isolated deployment environment, complete with its own database, services, and environment variables.
This tool is designed for teams that work collaboratively—specifically, teams with multiple developers, review cycles, and the need to test features in isolation before merging them into production. The underlying infrastructure is hosted by OVH, which is based in Europe, and complies with GDPR requirements.
The pricing is higher than that of a standard VPS, but this is the cost of a managed platform that saves you a considerable amount of time in managing environments.
Platform.sh is the right choice for mid-sized web development teams: 2 to 15 developers working on a complex project, with regular release cycles and a need for consistency across environments. It is particularly popular among web agencies, teams maintaining Symfony, Laravel, Drupal, or Magento applications, and startups that have moved beyond the MVP stage and need to structure their deployment workflow.
If you're working alone or on a simple project, Platform.sh is probably overkill. But for a team of five or more developers, it's an infrastructure that really streamlines day-to-day operations.
Here is a summary to help you quickly make a choice based on your priorities. The prices listed are approximate and subject to change.
| Solution | Type | Accommodation | Departure (estimated) | Ideal Profile | SecNumCloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scaleway | IaaS | 🇫🇷 France | ~€1.50/month | Dev / DevOps / AI | No |
| OVH Public Cloud | IaaS | 🇫🇷/🇪🇺 Europe | ~€0.01 per hour | SMEs / Startups / Scale-ups | In progress |
| Clever Cloud | PaaS | 🇫🇷 France | ~$4/month | Developers without DevOps | ✅ Yes |
| Infomaniak | IaaS + Suite | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | ~€5/month | Freelancers / Small Businesses | No |
| Proton Drive | Storage | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | ~$9.99/month | All profiles (confidentiality) | No |
| OVH Platform.sh | PaaS | 🇫🇷/🇪🇺 Europe | ~€50/month | Web development teams | No |
Here are a few frequently asked questions to help you make an informed decision before choosing your infrastructure.
The technical security (encryption, firewalls, certifications) of major U.S. providers is generally up to par. That’s not where the difference lies. The real issue is legal certainty: a provider subject to the U.S. CLOUD Act could theoretically be compelled to hand over your data to U.S. authorities, even if your servers are physically located in Europe. A European provider, subject solely to European law, offers different safeguards. For sensitive data, this distinction is far from trivial.
The GDPR requires that the personal data of European citizens be processed in accordance with its rules, regardless of where it is hosted. However, it also imposes strict restrictions on data transfers outside the EEA (European Economic Area). Hosting your data with a European provider allows you to avoid having to manage these transfer restrictions and significantly simplifies your compliance efforts.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) gives you access to raw resources: servers, storage, and networking. You retain full control, but you must manage configuration, updates, and scalability yourself. A PaaS (Platform as a Service) abstracts all of that: you deploy your code, and the platform handles the underlying infrastructure. For a startup without a dedicated DevOps team, PaaS often represents the best balance between cost, simplicity, and reliability.
SecNumCloud is a certification issued byANSSI (the French National Cybersecurity Agency), France’s leading authority on cybersecurity. It is the gold standard for sovereign cloud services in France and is required, in particular, for hosting sensitive data in the public and quasi-public sectors. To date, very few providers have obtained this certification: Clever Cloud is one of them, which gives it a unique position in the market.
It depends on your current architecture. If you use services that are very specific to AWS (Lambda, DynamoDB, etc.), the migration may require significant customization. On the other hand, if you use standard services (compute, S3-compatible object storage, traditional databases), most European providers have designed their offerings to facilitate this migration. Scaleway and OVH, in particular, have worked on S3 and OpenStack compatibility specifically to reduce the cost of switching.
In fact, it’s often recommended. A multi-cloud strategy might involve, for example, hosting your core infrastructure with Scaleway or OVH, your collaboration tools with Infomaniak or within the Proton ecosystem, and your application deployments via Clever Cloud or Platform.sh. Diversification helps avoid vendor lock-in and improves overall resilience.
The honest answer: not always, but often yes when comparing equivalent configurations, particularly in terms of computing and storage. What is certain is that hidden costs (data egress fees, support costs, and additional GDPR compliance costs associated with non-European hosting) often tip the scales in favor of local providers when you look at the big picture.
