25 Best European DigitalOcean Alternatives in 2026
The best European alternative to DigitalOcean in 2026 is Scaleway, based in France. All 25 options below are European-owned, GDPR-native and ranked by feature parity and relevance.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Our top pick this year is Scaleway, but every option on this list is European-owned, GDPR-native, and production-ready. Worth a closer look: Hetzner Cloud, Netcup, Cloud86, IONOS.
DigitalOcean alternatives are mainly Cloud & Hosting and Domain Registrars. Browse any of those categories for a wider shortlist beyond this list.
Top European DigitalOcean alternatives compared
| # | Alternative | Country | Open source | Free tier | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scaleway | France | No | No | vs DigitalOcean → |
| 2 | Hetzner Cloud | Germany | No | Yes | vs DigitalOcean → |
| 3 | Netcup | Germany | No | No | vs DigitalOcean → |
| 4 | Cloud86 | Netherlands | No | No | — |
| 5 | IONOS | Germany | No | No | — |
-
European sovereign cloud with 100+ products — GPU clusters, managed Kubernetes, serverless, S3-compatible storage, and AI inference across four multi-AZ regions.
Scaleway is Europe's sovereign cloud and AI provider, delivering 100+ products spanning compute, storage, networking, containers, databases, AI, and even quantum computing, all from four multi-AZ regions on European soil. Part of the iliad Group, it gives startups, enterprises, and public institutions a full-stack alternative to US hyperscalers without compromising on breadth, performance, or pricing transparency.
The platform covers every layer of the cloud stack: bare metal and elastic metal for dedicated performance, CPU and GPU instances (H100, L40S, L4) for AI training and inference, managed Kubernetes (Kapsule and multi-cloud Kosmos), serverless containers, functions and jobs, S3-compatible object storage, managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB), a ClickHouse-based data warehouse, Apache Kafka and Spark clusters, IoT Hub, transactional email, domain registration, and a full networking suite with VPC, load balancers, and WAF.
Key benefits:
- 5,000+ GPUs available on-demand for AI training, inference, and research workloads
- Managed Kubernetes with Kapsule (single-cloud) and Kosmos (multi-cloud) for portable orchestration
- Serverless platform covering containers, functions, jobs, and SQL databases with pay-per-use billing
- S3-compatible object storage plus block storage and Glacier cold archival at predictable pricing
- Generative APIs and AI inference to deploy and serve models without managing GPU infrastructure
- Transparent pricing at the product level with no hidden fees, egress surprises, or commitment traps
- Startup programs offering up to €36,000 in cloud credits for early and growth-stage companies
- Quantum as a Service, making it the first European provider to offer managed quantum computing
Scaleway operates datacenters in France, the Netherlands, and Poland with upcoming regions in Sweden and Germany. Infrastructure is GDPR-compliant and HDS-certified for healthcare data hosting. The platform runs exclusively on renewable energy, publishes real-time Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metrics, and recycles hardware, making sovereignty and sustainability operational defaults rather than marketing claims.
Trusted by Mistral AI, Hugging Face, France TV, Photoroom, and the French Ministry of Education, it is the go-to European cloud for teams that need hyperscaler-grade infrastructure under European jurisdiction.
-
German cloud infrastructure with legendary price-performance — four server families, 20 TB included traffic, S3-compatible object storage, managed Kubernetes, and own-operated data centers across Europe and beyond.
Hetzner Cloud is the cloud computing arm of Hetzner Online, one of Europe's largest data center operators, delivering high-performance infrastructure at a fraction of hyperscaler pricing since 1997. Founded in Gunzenhausen, Germany, Hetzner owns and operates every rack in its facilities, giving it full control over hardware, networking, and costs that translates directly into savings for customers.
The platform offers four server families to cover every workload profile: CX (cost-optimized Intel/AMD shared vCPU), CPX (regular-performance AMD EPYC shared), CAX (Arm64 Ampere Altra at the lowest price point), and CCX (dedicated AMD EPYC vCPU with zero noisy-neighbor risk). Alongside compute, the product catalog includes S3-compatible object storage, attachable block volumes on NVMe RAID10, managed Kubernetes (HKE) with a free control plane, load balancers, floating IPs, private networks, stateful firewalls, snapshots, DNS management, and one-click app deployments for Docker, Nextcloud, GitLab, and more.
Key benefits:
- 20 TB monthly traffic included in EU regions, 4 to 5x more than competitors, with no surprise egress bills
- Four server families (CX, CPX, CAX, CCX) from shared ARM instances at €3.99/mo to dedicated vCPU machines
- Managed Kubernetes (HKE) with free control plane, auto-scaling node groups, and integrated load balancers
- S3-compatible object storage built on Ceph with flat, predictable pricing and no per-operation fees
- Own-operated data centers in Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki, Ashburn, Hillsboro, and Singapore
- Full automation stack with REST API, CLI, Terraform provider, Ansible modules, and Kubernetes integrations
- NVMe local storage delivering 40k+ random IOPS and ~3 GB/s sequential throughput
- 100% renewable energy from hydropower since 2008, with PUE between 1.10 and 1.16 and zero water cooling
Hetzner's German and Finnish data centers hold ISO 27001 and BSI C5 certifications, and the company is EMAS-certified for environmental management. Infrastructure sits entirely outside the US CLOUD Act, making Hetzner a natural fit for teams that need GDPR-compliant hosting with genuine European data residency. Natural air cooling handles climate control for up to 98% of the year, waste heat warms office spaces, and servers average an 8-year lifecycle through refurbishment, reducing CO₂ emissions by 77,000 tonnes annually compared to standard grid power.
The go-to European cloud for developers, startups, and businesses that refuse to overpay. Hetzner proves that world-class infrastructure and transparent pricing are not mutually exclusive.
-
German web hosting and server provider with ISO 9001/27001/27701/14001 certifications, 100% renewable energy, and award-winning pricing from €2.69/month.
Netcup is a German web hosting and server provider operating from Karlsruhe, known for aggressively competitive pricing on high-performance infrastructure. Part of the Anexia Group, Netcup runs its own data centres powered entirely by renewable energy and holds an impressive stack of certifications (ISO 9001, 27001, 27701, 14001).
The provider has won "Service Provider of the Year" gold in reader's choice awards and consistently ranks top in German hosting comparisons, combining German engineering with transparent, predictable pricing.
Key features:
- Web hosting from €2.69/month with email storage included
- Virtual servers (vServer x86) from €5.91/month or €0.01/hour
- ARM64 servers for efficient workloads from €7.78/month
- Root servers with dedicated AMD EPYC from €12.78/month
- Domain registration across 500+ TLDs, with .de from €0.42/month
- Multiple payment methods including bank transfer, PayPal, credit card, and SEPA
- ISO certified to 9001, 27001, 27701, and 14001
- 100% renewable energy powering the data centres
- 24/7 German support and active community forum
Winner of the Reader's Choice Service Provider Awards 2025 Gold and HOSTtest Web Host of the Year 2025. A top pick for German developers and SMEs seeking predictable, certified EU hosting.
-
Independently-tested fastest hosting in Europe — Dutch-hosted with LiteSpeed, QUIC.Cloud CDN, and a 2-minute support response, trusted by 40,000+ customers.
Cloud86 is a Dutch web hosting provider marketed as "the fastest hosting in Europe", a claim independently verified by tests from Start24, Hostingvergelijker, and Webhosters. The company runs all infrastructure from Dutch data centres, making it a fully GDPR-native alternative to US-based hosts like Bluehost and DigitalOcean.
With 40,000+ customers, a 4.8/5 Trustpilot score across 2,100 reviews, and a 2-minute average live chat response time, Cloud86 has built a reputation for performance and support quality among European SMEs and WordPress agencies.
Key features:
- Fastest hosting in Europe thanks to LiteSpeed + QUIC.Cloud CDN + CloudLinux + Imunify360
- Web hosting from €1.95/month on entry-level plans with the full feature set
- Managed WordPress & WooCommerce with optimised stacks from €7.95/month
- Managed VPS starting at €189.95/month for high-performance workloads
- AI website builder for no-code site generation from €2.95/month
- Domain registration with free migration service
- Plesk Control Panel with WordPress Toolkit pre-installed
- Automated daily backups including 7-day retention
- 24/7 monitoring and malware scanning
- Dutch EU infrastructure that is GDPR-compliant by design
Trusted by 40,000+ customers with 98% satisfaction. A strong pick for European WordPress agencies and SMEs prioritising speed and EU data residency.
-
Launch and market your business with comprehensive online solutions. Access domains, website builders, hosting, cloud services, and expert support to succeed online.
IONOS is Germany's (and arguably Europe's) largest hosting provider, operating from the Karlsruhe area with 6.5M+ customers and 30 years of hosting experience. Part of the United Internet group (alongside 1&1), IONOS covers the complete stack from domains to enterprise cloud, with DSGVO/GDPR-compliant infrastructure running on 100% renewable energy.
The platform stretches from €1/month shared hosting all the way to private cloud on VMware, with Tier IV-certified data centres in Germany, France, Spain, the UK, and the US. A real alternative to AWS, Azure, and GCP for European enterprises that need sovereign cloud.
Key features:
- Domains & security covering registration, SSL, DNSSEC, and domain security
- Email & office with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Nextcloud, and custom email
- Website building via MyWebsite with AI assistance and a managed homepage service
- E-commerce through WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and a managed online shop builder
- Hosting in shared, WordPress, and managed flavours
- Servers spanning VPS, dedicated, GPU, and bare metal
- Cloud offerings from public cloud and private cloud (VMware) to cloud storage and an AI Model Hub
- AI tools like the KI-Telefonassistent (AI phone receptionist) and AI writing
- Tier IV data centres running on 100% renewable energy, DSGVO/GDPR compliant
- 24/7 personal advisor as a named support contact for business customers
One of the deepest product stacks in European hosting. "Number 1 in Germany and Europe" per their own claims, backed by 6.5M+ customers and broad enterprise adoption.
-
Get high-performance cloud VPS starting at €4.50/month with 99.996% uptime, global availability across 9 regions, and award-winning 24/7 support from real people.
German provider of budget cloud VPS starting at 4.50 euros per month, with data centers across 9 regions worldwide and 24/7 support from real people.
-
Lithuanian hosting giant with 4M+ customers across 150+ countries — AI-powered Horizons site builder, managed WordPress, and VPS from $2.99/month.
Hostinger is Lithuania's flagship web hosting company, operating from Kaunas with 4M+ customers across 150+ countries and 10M+ websites built on the platform. With 20+ years in operation, Hostinger has become one of Europe's most globally recognised hosting brands, featured in TechRadar, WIRED, and Forbes.
The company has aggressively invested in AI, from the conversational Hostinger Horizons website/app builder to the Kodee AI support agent. Pricing is promotional-heavy (48-month commitments) but consistently among the most affordable hosting options in Europe.
Key features:
- Web hosting across shared, cloud, and VPS from $2.99/month (promo)
- Hostinger Horizons, an AI-powered site/app builder with conversational prompts
- AI Website Builder with 15 to 30 AI credits per plan tier
- Managed WordPress covering automated maintenance, speed, and security
- Cloud & VPS hosting on scalable infrastructure with performance optimisation
- Business email and email marketing
- Self-hosted n8n for no-code workflow automation on your infrastructure
- Kodee AI agent for customer support and onboarding guidance
- Domain registration with a free domain for 1 year on eligible plans
Three main tiers: Premium (3 websites, 20GB), Business (50 websites, 50GB), Cloud Startup (100 websites, 100GB). A popular EU alternative to Bluehost, DreamHost, and GoDaddy for global small businesses.
-
Delivers secure, high-performance cloud solutions built on open standards. Ensure GDPR compliance and data sovereignty with expert support and transparent pricing.
Cyso Cloud is a Dutch managed cloud and hosting provider delivering managed private cloud, OpenStack public cloud, managed Kubernetes and colocation from its own data centres in the Netherlands. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Alkmaar, it is one of the Netherlands' longest-running independent cloud operators, focused on mid-market and enterprise customers with European sovereignty requirements.
The platform pairs VMware, Nutanix and OpenStack-based infrastructure with 24/7 Dutch-speaking NOC and security operations teams, managed database services, backup, disaster-recovery and professional services. Cyso's architecture runs entirely outside the US hyperscalers and allows customers to contractually exclude any non-EU sub-processor.
Key benefits:
- Managed private cloud on VMware, Nutanix or OpenStack with dedicated resources
- Public cloud on OpenStack with pay-as-you-go VMs, object storage and networking
- Managed Kubernetes with cluster lifecycle, upgrades and observability handled by Cyso
- Disaster recovery and backup with geo-redundant replication across NL sites
- 24/7 NOC and SOC staffed by Dutch engineers with ISO 27001 and NEN 7510 processes
- Colocation and hybrid cloud from Alkmaar and Amsterdam data centres
- No US hyperscaler dependency, so customers can exclude any non-EU sub-processor
Cyso Cloud is headquartered in Alkmaar, Netherlands, and operates from Dutch data centres under GDPR, the Dutch AVG and the EU Data Act. ISO 27001, ISO 9001, NEN 7510 (healthcare), ISAE 3402 and a full DPA are standard, and customers can sign SCCs that prohibit any US transfer.
Trusted by Dutch healthcare, government, finance and media organisations for decades, Cyso Cloud is the reference choice for enterprises that want fully sovereign, CLOUD-Act-free Dutch cloud infrastructure with 24/7 local support.
-
High-performance cloud infrastructure with 15 data centers, 99.999% SLA, 24/7 support, and transparent pricing. EU-based with global reach for developers and businesses.
Finnish cloud with 15 data centers worldwide, a 99.999% uptime SLA, transparent pricing and 24/7 support for developers and businesses running real workloads.
-
Access a leading European cloud with full data sovereignty. Utilize powerful AI and GPU solutions on a sustainable, cost-effective platform. Over 80 services.
OVHcloud is Europe's flagship cloud infrastructure provider. Founded in Roubaix, France in 1999, it now operates 46 data centres across 4 continents serving 1.6 million customers. It's Europe's most credible answer to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, combining sovereign infrastructure, open standards, and aggressively competitive pricing.
OVHcloud holds SecNumCloud certification, France's highest cloud security standard, alongside GDPR compliance and multiple international frameworks. The platform runs on one of the world's most energy-efficient data centre designs, with 7× less water usage than competitors and a PUE of 1.24.
Key features:
- Public cloud covering compute, object/block/file storage, and managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
- Kubernetes and container orchestration
- AI & ML with AI Endpoints, AI Training, AI Notebooks, and managed model hosting
- Private cloud running VMware, Nutanix, and SAP HANA on dedicated or shared infrastructure
- Bare metal across Kimsufi, Advance, Game, Scale, and High Grade tiers
- VPS from €5.52/month with transparent pricing
- Web hosting spanning shared hosting, managed WordPress, email, and VoIP
- Domains with ~900 TLDs available through an ICANN-accredited registrar
- Data sovereignty promising "your data is not sold, used, or transferred" without consent
- No egress fees, a reversible cloud built on open standards
Scale: 1.6M customers, 46 data centres, 100 Tbit/s global network, 44 redundant points of presence. SecNumCloud, GDPR, and ISO 27001 certified. The go-to European alternative to AWS, Azure, and GCP for sovereign cloud.
-
Dutch provider of cloud hosting and secure file sharing with all data stored in data centers in the Netherlands.
-
Fully managed Container-as-a-Service platform for Docker hosting. Deploy unlimited services per server with automatic health checks and zero-downtime deploys.
German managed Container-as-a-Service for Docker that runs unlimited services per server, with automatic health checks and zero-downtime deploys.
-
Deploy intensive applications across GPUs, CPUs, and accelerators in 50+ locations. Scale from zero to production with sub-200ms cold starts and 80% cost savings.
French serverless platform for deploying compute-heavy apps on GPUs, CPUs, and accelerators across 50+ locations, scaling from zero with sub-200ms cold starts.
-
European ISO-certified cloud provider offering on-demand GPU instances, serverless inference, and AI model hosting with 100% renewable energy and competitive pricing.
Finnish ISO-certified cloud with on-demand GPU instances, serverless inference and AI model hosting, all powered by 100% renewable energy.
-
Host Docker applications with built-in MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis databases and storage on German bare-metal servers. GDPR-compliant hosting from €2.50/month.
Deploy Docker apps on German bare-metal servers with MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis and storage included. GDPR-compliant hosting starts at EUR 2.50 a month.
-
Managed cloud servers with guaranteed resources, automatic backups, and 100+ one-click apps. Swiss-hosted with 7-day support and 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Swiss-hosted managed cloud servers with guaranteed resources, automatic backups, and over 100 one-click apps, backed by a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
-
Powerful cloud VPS hosting with root access, unlimited traffic, and choice of Linux/Windows OS. Swiss-hosted infrastructure with 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Swiss-hosted cloud VPS with full root access, unlimited traffic and your choice of Linux or Windows, backed by a 99.99 percent uptime guarantee.
-
Deploy sites and apps directly from GitHub with automatic builds, staging environments, and secure IONOS infrastructure. Supports PHP, static sites, and SPAs.
German hosting that deploys straight from GitHub with automatic builds and staging environments, supporting PHP, static sites and single-page apps on IONOS infrastructure.
-
Scalable GPU bare metal and virtualized clusters for AI training and inference. Pay-as-you-go pricing from $0.30/hour with solutions from 100 to 15,000 GPUs.
GPU bare metal and virtualized clusters for AI training and inference, scaling from 100 to 15,000 cards. French-built with pay-as-you-go pricing from 0.30 dollars an hour.
-
Experience blazing-fast Kubernetes deployments in 90 seconds, carbon-neutral GPU computing, and predictable pricing starting at $5.43/month. Try free with $250 credit.
UK cloud offering Kubernetes clusters that spin up in about 90 seconds, carbon-neutral GPU compute, and predictable flat pricing.
-
Access powerful NVIDIA H100, B200, and AMD GPUs on-demand or reserved. Global compliance, real-time monitoring, and flexible billing for AI training and ML workloads.
Rent NVIDIA H100, B200 and AMD GPUs on demand or reserved for AI training and ML workloads, with real-time monitoring, global compliance and flexible billing.
