Sovereign EU Cloud Providers Compared
Apr 03, 2026
In this guide
How EU cloud providers actually compare
There are now over a dozen European cloud providers competing for your workloads. But how do they actually stack up against each other? Not in marketing speak, but in concrete features: can you get managed Kubernetes? Are there GPU instances? Is there a WAF? What about message queues?
We went through the product pages and documentation of the major EU cloud providers and mapped out exactly what each one offers across compute, storage, networking, managed services, and AI/GPU infrastructure. Every checkmark in the tables below was verified against the provider's current product catalog.
Compute
Most providers offer managed Kubernetes, except Hetzner (by design). Serverless remains rare: only Scaleway, Gcore, and Open Telekom Cloud. GPU instances are broadly available across all providers listed here.
Storage
Block and object storage are table stakes: every provider offers both. Managed NFS is available from most, except Scaleway and Hetzner.
Networking
VPCs and load balancers are universal. Beyond that, it varies. Open Telekom Cloud has the most complete networking stack. WAFs are offered by Scaleway, Gcore, Open Telekom Cloud, and StackIT. Managed VPNs only from Open Telekom Cloud, IONOS, and UpCloud.
Managed services
| Provider | Databases | Queues | Transactional Email |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, Kafka, Cassandra, OpenSearch | ||
| Scaleway | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, ClickHouse | SQS, SNS, NATS, Kafka | |
| Gcore | PostgreSQL | ||
| Open Telekom Cloud | PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server | Kafka | |
| IONOS | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis | Kafka | |
| Hetzner | |||
| UpCloud | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, OpenSearch | ||
| StackIT | PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, SQL Server, Redis, OpenSearch | RabbitMQ |
This is where differences become stark. Scaleway is the only provider offering databases, queues, and transactional email in one platform, with SQS/SNS protocol compatibility. OVHcloud and StackIT have the most database engines. Hetzner offers no managed services at all, by design. Message queues remain a gap: only Scaleway, StackIT (RabbitMQ), IONOS (Kafka), and Open Telekom Cloud (Kafka).
GPUs and AI
| Provider | GPU Models | AI Inference API |
|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | H200, H100, A100, L40S, L4, V100S, T4 | |
| Scaleway | H100, L40S, L4 | |
| Gcore | H200, H100, A100, L40S | |
| Open Telekom Cloud | H100, A100, V100, T4 | ModelArts (train + deploy) |
| IONOS | H200, H100, L40S, A10, T4, RTX PRO 6000, Gaudi 2/3 | |
| Hetzner | RTX 4000 Ada, RTX 6000 Ada, RTX PRO 6000 (dedicated only) | |
| UpCloud | L40S | |
| StackIT | Not disclosed (up to 8 GPUs per instance) |
OVHcloud and IONOS have the widest GPU selection. IONOS uniquely offers Intel Gaudi as a non-NVIDIA option. AI inference APIs (OpenAI-compatible) are available from OVHcloud, Scaleway, Gcore, IONOS, and StackIT. Hetzner's GPUs are dedicated servers only, not elastic cloud instances.
Our picks
Best for startups and developers on a budget: Hetzner. If you are comfortable with Linux and want to keep costs as low as possible, nothing in Europe comes close. You trade managed services for raw infrastructure at prices that make even other EU providers look expensive. Pair it with external services for AI inference.
Best all-rounder with an AWS-like experience: Scaleway. If you want one provider that handles compute, Kubernetes, databases, queues, serverless, email, and AI inference without stitching together five different vendors, Scaleway is the closest thing the EU has to a full-service cloud. The developer experience and documentation are strong.
Best for GPU and AI workloads: OVHcloud or IONOS. Both offer the broadest range of GPU models. OVHcloud also has AI Endpoints for serverless inference. IONOS uniquely offers Intel Gaudi accelerators if you want a non-NVIDIA option.
