In our previous blog, we explored why more European organizations are moving away from US cloud providers. Regulatory pressure, data sovereignty, and trust are pushing companies to rethink where their data lives.
The next question is unavoidable: which European cloud alternatives are actually worth considering?
Rather than listing every available option, we focused on providers that could realistically replace large parts of an existing AWS setup without disrupting modern development workflows. We are fully aware that there is no true drop in replacement for AWS and that a small number of services remain provider specific.
Instead, we deliberately focused on the areas where a well considered tradeoff is possible, aiming for a setup where at least 80% of applications can be deployed on either platform while prioritizing the most achievable wins.
How we defined “viable” European cloud alternatives
We didn’t start with vendors. We started with requirements.
Our selection was based on European initiatives that map cloud providers operating fully under EU jurisdiction. From there, we applied a set of practical criteria rooted in day-to-day product development.
Our non-negotiables:
Kubernetes as a first-class citizen
Managed database services
Object storage as an alternative to S3
Compatibility with CI/CD pipelines
Scalability for internal and customer-facing applications
The goal was not ideological purity, but feasibility.
The shortlist
Based on this approach, three European cloud providers stood out.
Hetzner is widely respected for its cost efficiency and reliable infrastructure. However, it lacks the managed services needed for teams that rely heavily on Kubernetes and managed databases. That would introduce additional operational complexity, which made it less suitable for our use case.
OVHCloud offers an extensive and powerful portfolio. While that breadth is impressive, it also comes with complexity. Evaluating and adopting the right subset of services would require more effort than we were aiming for at this stage.
Scaleway struck the right balance.
Its services closely mirror common AWS workflows, particularly around Kubernetes, managed databases, and object storage. From a team perspective, this made the transition feel realistic rather than disruptive.
Why familiarity matters when leaving AWS
One of the biggest misconceptions about switching cloud providers is that everything has to change.
In reality, the closer a platform aligns with existing patterns, the lower the cognitive and operational cost for teams. Scaleway’s approach allowed us to keep our development philosophy intact while moving infrastructure under European jurisdiction.
What this shortlist tells us
There is no single “best” European cloud provider. But our first choice is Scaleway.
What this shortlist proves is that European cloud alternatives have matured. For organizations running modern, container-based workloads, moving away from US cloud providers is no longer a theoretical exercise.
What’s next in this series
In the next blog, we’ll move from selection to execution. We’ll share how we’re migrating applications to Scaleway and what that looks like in practice.
