9 Best European Alternatives to AWS (2026), Compared

The best European alternative to AWS is OVHcloud (France): it has the widest service range of any European cloud, eight Public Cloud regions in Europe, a managed Kubernetes control plane included on its Free plan, and SecNumCloud and BSI C5 among its qualifications. If you need a German provider with BSI C5 Type 2 and no US parent company, pick STACKIT, the cloud of the Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland).

I wrote this ranking for developers, CTOs and IT teams who run workloads on Amazon Web Services and want them with a European company instead. AWS belongs to the US group Amazon and spans 124 availability zones in 39 regions worldwide. Since 15 January 2026 there is also an AWS European Sovereign Cloud with a first region in Brandenburg, Germany, operated by EU residents and governed through three German subsidiaries – but it is still an AWS product with a US parent. The providers below are European companies. I compared fourteen cloud providers from the EU and Switzerland and kept nine.

What are the best European alternatives to AWS?

These are the European cloud platforms I would move AWS workloads to, in order.

1. OVHcloud (France) – the broadest European cloud, with eight European regions and SecNumCloud on its list of qualifications. Best for most AWS workloads.
2. STACKIT (Germany) – the Schwarz Group’s cloud, BSI C5 Type 2, data centres only in Germany and Austria. Best for regulated German companies.
3. Scaleway (France) – developer-friendly cloud with serverless, managed databases and GPUs in four multi-AZ regions. Best for startups and developers.
4. IONOS Cloud (Germany) – IONOS’s enterprise cloud with Kubernetes, databases and VMware. Best for German mid-sized companies.
5. T Cloud Public (Germany) – Deutsche Telekom’s OpenStack cloud, called Open Telekom Cloud until January 2026. Best for enterprises and the public sector.
6. Exoscale (Switzerland) – a simple cloud with zones in six countries, part of A1 Telekom Austria. Best for Central and Eastern Europe.
7. UpCloud (Finland) – fixed-price cloud servers, managed Kubernetes and zero-cost egress. Best for predictable bills.
8. Infomaniak Public Cloud (Switzerland) – OpenStack in Swiss data centres from about €4 a month. Best for Swiss data residency.
9. Hetzner Cloud (Germany) – the cheapest servers here, but closer to a VPS host than to AWS. Best for low-cost compute.

AWS alternatives compared

Prices from public pricing pages. Affiliate links and sponsored placements are labelled.

“Data hosted in” shows where each provider runs its cloud regions according to its own pages, plus the network that serves its website, based on a DNS lookup and an ASN check (25 Oct 2026).

How I compared the AWS alternatives

I looked at fourteen cloud platforms based in the EU or Switzerland and kept nine. The order is driven by how much of AWS you keep after switching, then by sovereignty and certifications, then by price. Concretely, I weighed five things:

• Service coverage – virtual machines (the EC2 part), managed Kubernetes (EKS), S3-compatible object storage, managed databases (RDS) and the number of regions.
• Jurisdiction and ownership – where the company is registered, who owns it and whether a non-European parent is involved.
• Certifications – ISO 27001, the German BSI C5 attestation and the French SecNumCloud qualification, which matter for public-sector and regulated customers.
• Price – the price of the smallest general-purpose VM, plus whether the Kubernetes control plane costs extra.
• What users say – ratings on Trustpilot, read together with the number of reviews and what the profile covers.

I left out Aruba Cloud and Seeweb (Italy) and Elastx (Sweden), which cover less of AWS in fewer countries, gridscale (Germany), which belongs to OVHcloud and mainly sells a platform for service providers, and Fuga Cloud (Netherlands), whose site now redirects to Cyso Cloud, so I could not verify where it runs. The first four are in my full ranking of European cloud platforms. All data comes from the providers’ own pricing, product, compliance and legal pages and from Trustpilot, checked on 25 October 2026.

The best European alternatives to AWS, reviewed

Each platform gets the same treatment: who is behind it, what users say, what it replaces from AWS, and my opinion.

1. OVHcloud

The broadest European cloud – compute, Kubernetes, storage and databases in eight European regions

OVHcloud is the brand of OVH SAS, a French company founded in 1999 by Octave Klaba, who is still its chairman and CEO. It says it runs more than 46 data centres on four continents. Its Public Cloud has eight regions in Europe – Strasbourg, Gravelines, Roubaix, Paris, Milan, London, Frankfurt and Warsaw – and Paris and Milan are three-zone regions. The website runs on OVH’s own network (AS16276).

What users say. On Trustpilot OVHcloud has 3.8/5 from 9,008 reviews, but that is a merged profile for the whole company, including domains, web hosting and VoIP. Reviewers praise good value; complaints are about slow support, outages and identity checks.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. OVHcloud covers the AWS core: virtual machines (EC2), Managed Kubernetes Service with the control plane included on the Free plan (EKS), S3-compatible Object Storage with classes down to Cold Archive (S3 and Glacier), and managed MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB and Valkey (RDS and ElastiCache). What you lose: far fewer high-level services than AWS, and only two European regions with three availability zones.

Facts: HQ France · founded 1999 · Discovery d2-2 (1 vCPU, 2 GB) €0.0104/hour or €5.71/month · General Purpose b3-8 (2 vCPU, 8 GB) €0.0512/hour · prices excl. VAT · Kubernetes Standard plan with 99.99% SLA costs extra · Object Storage from about €0.014/GiB a month (three-zone) · ISO 27001, SOC 1/2/3, HDS, BSI C5 and SecNumCloud listed on its compliance page.

Switching from AWS: moderate – the S3 API and Kubernetes make the core move familiar, but you rebuild IAM, networking and any AWS-only managed service.

My take: OVHcloud is the closest thing Europe has to a hyperscaler. It is first because it covers the most of AWS across the most European regions. Use a three-zone region if you need AWS-style high availability. Best for: companies moving most of their AWS stack to one European provider. Not for: teams that depend on dozens of AWS-only managed services.

Visit ovhcloud.com →

2. STACKIT

The Schwarz Group’s sovereign cloud – BSI C5 Type 2, data centres only in Germany and Austria

STACKIT is the cloud brand of Schwarz Digits Cloud GmbH & Co. KG in Bad Friedrichshall, Germany (renamed in 2026, formerly STACKIT GmbH & Co. KG). Schwarz Digits is the IT and digital division of the Schwarz Group, which also owns Lidl and Kaufland. The brand was created in 2018 and has been sold to outside customers since 2022. STACKIT runs seven data centres in Germany and Austria and says that, with no US parent company, it is not subject to the US CLOUD Act. Its website is hosted in Germany (SOPRADO GmbH, AS20546).

What users say. STACKIT has no reviews on Trustpilot yet. Its customers are companies and public bodies – STACKIT says plainly it is not a B2C cloud provider.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. STACKIT lists more than 40 services. You get Compute Engine VMs and GPUs (EC2), STACKIT Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Foundry (EKS and Elastic Beanstalk), object, block and file storage (S3, EBS, EFS), PostgreSQL Flex, MongoDB Flex, SQLServer Flex, MariaDB, OpenSearch and a key-value store (RDS, DocumentDB, ElastiCache), plus RabbitMQ, KMS and AI Model Serving. What you lose: only two countries and high prices for small VMs.

Facts: HQ Germany (Bad Friedrichshall) · brand created 2018 · 7 data centres in Germany and Austria · General Purpose g1.1 (1 vCPU, 4 GB) €0.0379/hour, €27.30/month (720 hours, net) · Tiny t1.1 (1 vCPU, 0.5 GB) €2.19/month · Object Storage about €0.03/GB a month · BSI C5 Type 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, TISAX Level 3.

Switching from AWS: moderate – Kubernetes and the S3 API carry over; plan time for database migration and for rebuilding your network setup.

My take: STACKIT is the safest legal choice in this list. It sits second only because OVHcloud has more regions and cheaper compute; if your compliance team decides, it may be your first choice. Best for: regulated German and Austrian companies and public bodies. Not for: startups looking for the cheapest servers.

Visit stackit.com →

3. Scaleway

The developer’s European cloud – serverless, managed databases and GPUs in four multi-AZ regions

Scaleway SAS is a Paris-based subsidiary of the French iliad Group. It operates four multi-AZ cloud regions in France, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy, with deployments in Sweden and Germany announced, and it lists more than 100 cloud and AI products. Its website runs behind Cloudflare, a US CDN, while the console is served from OVH infrastructure in Warsaw. Full Scaleway review →

What users say. Scaleway has only 1.5/5 from 358 reviews on Trustpilot, and 79% of them are one-star. Most complaints are about billing, accounts restricted during identity checks and slow support.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Scaleway feels the most like AWS: Instances and NVIDIA GPU Instances (EC2), Kubernetes Kapsule with a free control plane (EKS), Multi-AZ Object Storage (S3), managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB and Redis, Serverless SQL and ClickHouse (RDS, Redshift), plus serverless functions and containers. What you lose: fewer regions, no SecNumCloud yet and a poor support reputation.

Facts: HQ France (Paris) · iliad Group · DEV1-S (2 vCPU, 2 GB) €0.00898/hour, about €6.55/month · BASIC2-A2C-4G (2 vCPU, 4 GB) about €16.79/month · prices before tax, egress and IPv6 included, public IPv4 and storage extra · Kapsule control plane free · Object Storage €0.01606/GB a month · ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and HDS · SecNumCloud qualification ongoing.

Switching from AWS: moderate – the S3 API, Kubernetes and serverless concepts map well, so developers settle in quickly.

My take: Scaleway is the European cloud that developers coming from AWS will understand fastest. It is third because reviews point to billing and support trouble, and SecNumCloud is still ongoing. Best for: startups and developers who want AWS-style building blocks in Europe. Not for: enterprises that need SecNumCloud or premium support.

Visit scaleway.com →

4. IONOS Cloud

The German web host’s enterprise cloud – VMs, Kubernetes, databases and VMware under German law

IONOS Cloud is run by IONOS Cloud GmbH in Montabaur, Germany, part of the German web host IONOS SE. IONOS says it operates seven data centres in Germany and 18 more in Europe; the cloud’s international site also lists locations in the UK, France, Spain and the USA. IONOS describes itself as fully independent of the USA and China and operating under German jurisdiction. The German cloud website runs on IONOS’s own network in Germany (AS8560).

What users say. IONOS has 4.6/5 from 45,563 reviews on Trustpilot, but that profile covers the whole company – mostly web hosting and domains, not the cloud platform – and IONOS pays for a Trustpilot subscription and invites customers to review.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Compute Engine and Cloud Cubes (EC2), Managed Kubernetes (EKS), object, block and NFS storage (S3, EBS, EFS), PostgreSQL, MariaDB and MongoDB (RDS, DocumentDB), Kafka (MSK), an AI Model Hub and GPU VMs, plus private VMware clouds. What you lose: fewer managed extras than AWS, and BSI C5 only at Type 1 so far.

Facts: HQ Germany (Montabaur) · IONOS SE group · Basic Cube XS (1 vCPU, 2 GB, 60 GB) €0.007/hour, €5.04 per 30 days · vCPU servers €0.012 per vCPU and €0.002 per GB RAM an hour · no separate Kubernetes control-plane fee listed · ISO 27001, ISO 27001 based on IT-Grundschutz, BSI C5:2020 Type 1 (Type 2 in preparation).

Switching from AWS: moderate – Kubernetes, S3-compatible storage and managed databases map directly; the visual Data Center Designer takes some getting used to.

My take: IONOS Cloud has a wide catalogue and some of the lowest prices for small machines. It sits fourth because it has fewer certifications than STACKIT and fewer regions than OVHcloud. Best for: German mid-sized companies that want one provider for cloud, VMware and hosting. Not for: teams that need many AWS-style managed services.

Visit cloud.ionos.com →

5. T Cloud Public

Deutsche Telekom’s OpenStack cloud for enterprises – formerly Open Telekom Cloud

T Cloud Public is the public cloud of T-Systems International GmbH, the business-customer arm of Deutsche Telekom; it was called Open Telekom Cloud until January 2026. Its regions are exclusively in Europe: a twin-core region in Germany (Biere/Magdeburg), a region in the Netherlands and complementary offers in Switzerland. The platform is fully OpenStack-based, and its website runs on T-Systems’ own network in Germany (AS6878).

What users say. T Cloud Public has no reviews on Trustpilot.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Elastic Cloud Server (EC2), Cloud Container Engine (EKS), object, block and file storage (S3, EBS, EFS), RDS for MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, document and Redis databases, and FunctionGraph (Lambda). What you lose: AWS-style APIs, more than two main regions, and a simple public price page.

Facts: HQ Germany · T-Systems (Deutsche Telekom) · regions in Germany and the Netherlands · ECS billed hourly (elastic) or as monthly reservations · BSI C5:2020 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, TISAX · fully OpenStack-based.

Switching from AWS: moderate to hard – the OpenStack APIs and console differ from AWS, though Kubernetes and standard tooling help.

My take: T Cloud Public is the corporate choice, with the certifications procurement teams ask for. It sits mid-table because pricing is hard to read and the OpenStack console is less friendly than AWS. Best for: large enterprises and public bodies that want a German telecom behind their cloud. Not for: small teams that want cheap, self-service VMs.

Visit t-cloud-public.com →

6. Exoscale

A simple Swiss-born cloud with zones in six European countries

Exoscale is a trademark of Akenes SA, a Swiss company founded in 2011 with its address in Lausanne. Exoscale is a member of A1 Digital International GmbH & Co KG and so part of the A1 Telekom Austria Group, which is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Its zones are in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna (two), Geneva, Zurich, Sofia and Zagreb, with Madrid marked as upcoming. Switzerland is outside the EU but in EFTA. The website is hosted on Akenes’s own network in Switzerland (AS61098).

What users say. Exoscale has 3.5/5 on Trustpilot, but from only 2 reviews, so it says very little.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Compute Instances (EC2), Scalable Kubernetes Service with free Starter clusters (EKS), S3-compatible object storage (S3), and managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, Kafka, ClickHouse and OpenSearch (RDS, MSK). What you lose: a big catalogue and multi-zone regions.

Facts: HQ Switzerland (Lausanne) · A1 Telekom Austria Group · Small (2 vCPU, 2 GB) €0.02333/hour, about €17.03/month · Micro (1 vCPU, 512 MB) €0.00729/hour · prices excl. tax, local storage extra · SKS Starter free, Pro about €0.055/hour · BSI C5:2020 Type 2.

Switching from AWS: moderate – a simple API, Kubernetes and S3-compatible storage keep the move straightforward for small and mid-sized setups.

My take: Exoscale is a clean, no-surprises cloud with unusual locations such as Sofia and Zagreb. It is sixth because it covers less of AWS than the five above. Best for: SaaS companies that need zones in Central and Eastern Europe. Not for: teams that need a full catalogue of managed services.

Visit exoscale.com →

7. UpCloud

Fixed-price Finnish cloud servers with managed Kubernetes and zero-cost egress

UpCloud is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. It was formed in 2011 as a spin-off of the Finnish web host Sigmatic, and its founder Joel Pihlajamaa is still the CEO. UpCloud says it has more than 10,000 customers and 15 data centres in 12 countries, including locations outside Europe. Its website runs behind Cloudflare, a US CDN.

What users say. UpCloud has 3.0/5 from 170 reviews on Trustpilot. Users praise transparent pricing; complaints are about accounts blocked after automated checks.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Cloud Servers (EC2), Managed Kubernetes (EKS), Object Storage (S3), Managed Databases (RDS), load balancers, gateways and a container registry. Every plan includes zero-cost egress under a fair-use policy, often the surprise on an AWS bill. What you lose: a much smaller service list.

Facts: HQ Finland (Helsinki) · formed 2011 · Starter plans from €3/month (1 core, 1 GB) and €8/month (2 cores, 2 GB), IPv4 included · prices exclude local taxes · zero-cost egress · Kubernetes control plane free for Development, €60/month for Production · ISO 27001 certified.

Switching from AWS: moderate – Kubernetes and the S3 API work, and fixed prices make it easy to estimate the bill.

My take: UpCloud is the one I would pick if AWS data-transfer charges are your main pain. It sits seventh because it covers fewer AWS services and lists fewer certifications. Best for: SaaS teams that want predictable bills without egress fees. Not for: regulated companies that need C5 or SecNumCloud.

Visit upcloud.com →

8. Infomaniak Public Cloud

OpenStack in Swiss data centres – from about €4 a month, with free bandwidth

Infomaniak Public Cloud comes from Infomaniak, a Swiss hosting company headquartered in Geneva, founded in the early 1990s and with the Infomaniak Foundation as its major shareholder. The cloud runs on OpenStack in tier 3+ data centres in Switzerland, with six zones in two regions, and its website is on Infomaniak’s own network (AS29222).

What users say. Infomaniak has 3.9/5 from 2,068 reviews on Trustpilot, but that profile covers all Infomaniak products, mostly mail, storage and web hosting.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. OpenStack instances including NVIDIA GPUs (EC2), Kubernetes with a free shared control plane or dedicated ones from €0.036 an hour (EKS), S3-compatible object storage (S3), block storage and managed MySQL (RDS). Traffic is generally free; only object storage traffic above 10 TB a month is billed. What you lose: EU regions and other managed databases.

Facts: HQ Switzerland (Geneva) · a1_ram2_disk20 (1 vCPU, 2 GB, 20 GB) €0.00577/hour, about €4.21/month · a1_ram2_disk0 €0.00363/hour · prices excl. VAT · CHF 300 of free credit for 3 months · shared Kubernetes control plane free · ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 50001.

Switching from AWS: moderate – OpenStack and Kubernetes are standard, and the free credit lets you trial a migration.

My take: Infomaniak’s cloud is cheap and Swiss, and the free bandwidth is rare. It is eighth because it replaces only the core of AWS, and only in Switzerland. Best for: companies that want their data in Switzerland at low prices. Not for: teams that need many managed services or EU regions.

Visit infomaniak.com →

9. Hetzner Cloud

The cheapest cloud servers in Europe – closer to a VPS host than to AWS

Hetzner Cloud is run by Hetzner Online GmbH, a German hosting company from Gunzenhausen founded in 1997. It operates its own data centre parks in Nuremberg and Falkenstein (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland), and also offers cloud servers in the USA and Singapore. Its website runs on Hetzner’s own network (AS24940).

What users say. Hetzner has 3.0/5 from 3,011 reviews on Trustpilot, for the whole company. Users praise the prices; complaints are about support and suspensions.

What it replaces from AWS – and what it doesn’t. Hetzner replaces EC2-style servers very cheaply, plus private networks, firewalls at no extra cost, load balancers, block and object storage, with 20 TB of traffic included in Germany and Finland. What it does not do: its cloud page offers no managed Kubernetes and no managed databases – you run those yourself on the servers.

Facts: HQ Germany (Gunzenhausen) · founded 1997 · CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB) €5.99/month or €0.0096/hour, IPv4 included, excl. VAT – shown as currently unavailable on 25 October 2026 · CAX11 Arm (2 vCPU, 4 GB) €6.49/month · 20 TB traffic in the EU · ISO 27001 data centre parks, BSI C5 · 99.9% SLA.

Switching from AWS: hard for managed services, easy for plain servers – you rebuild Kubernetes and databases yourself.

My take: Hetzner is where you put compute when price matters most, but it is a VPS-style cloud, not a platform. It is last because you keep the least of AWS. Best for: developers and small companies who want cheap compute and can run their own stack. Not for: teams that rely on managed AWS services.

Visit hetzner.com →

What European cloud platforms cost compared with AWS

AWS bills by the hour or second and charges separately for storage, IP addresses and data transfer. The table compares each provider’s entry-level VM as listed on its own price page. Specs differ, so read the vCPU and RAM columns before comparing prices.

Prices as shown on each provider’s pricing page or price list on 25 October 2026, in the currency shown there, excluding VAT (IONOS does not say). Monthly figures are the provider’s own where given, otherwise the hourly price × 730 hours. AWS price from the AWS on-demand price list for EU (Frankfurt), Linux; EKS price for standard support.

How to switch from AWS to a European cloud platform

1. Map your services. List what you use on AWS – EC2, EKS, S3, RDS, Lambda, IAM – and check which of them your new provider offers as a managed service and which you will run yourself.
2. Start with stateless workloads. Containers on Kubernetes and VMs described as infrastructure code move most easily; check that your new provider supports the tooling you use.
3. Copy your object storage. All nine offer S3-compatible storage, so tools like rclone or the AWS CLI with a custom endpoint can copy buckets directly. Budget for AWS egress fees on the way out.
4. Migrate databases with replication. Use native replication or dump-and-restore into the new managed database, then switch traffic when the replica has caught up.
5. Cut over DNS and keep AWS running for a while. Lower DNS TTLs, switch traffic, watch for errors, and only delete AWS resources once everything has run cleanly for a few weeks.

AWS alternatives: FAQ

My verdict: which European cloud platform to switch to

Most teams leaving AWS should look at OVHcloud first: it covers compute, Kubernetes, object storage and databases across eight European regions, and lists SecNumCloud where regulators ask for it. If your priority is German law and certifications, choose STACKIT; if you are a developer or startup who wants AWS-style building blocks, Scaleway is the quickest to learn. For cheap compute you run yourself, Hetzner Cloud is hard to beat.

Whatever you choose, move in stages and keep AWS running until the new setup has proven itself.