Gcore vs Microsoft Azure
Gcore is a European alternative to Microsoft Azure: same cdn & ddos protection use case, headquartered in Luxembourg and governed by EU GDPR, while Microsoft Azure is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Comprehensive cloud services, CDN, DDoS protection, and AI infrastructure across 210+ global locations. Scale your business with edge computing solutions.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Runs the workloads most large organisations already depend on, and the identity link between Entra ID, Microsoft 365 and Azure resources is what makes leaving genuinely painful. Billing is consumption-based, with 200 dollars of credit for the first 30 days and roughly 65 services that stay free. Microsoft Corporation is in Redmond, Washington, so EU regions still sit under a US parent.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Gcore vs Microsoft Azure at a glance
| Gcore | Microsoft Azure | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Luxembourg | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need cdn & ddos protection built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Microsoft Azure ecosystem |
Choose Gcore if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Microsoft Azure if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Microsoft Azure ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Gcore
Gcore is a Luxembourg-headquartered global cloud and edge services provider offering CDN, cloud hosting, edge computing, DDoS protection, managed video streaming, and AI inference from a single platform. With 210+ points of presence across six continents and an owned network backbone, it delivers sub-20ms latency to 95% of the global internet population.
Cloud VMs and bare metal servers deploy across multiple EU and global regions. AI inference at the edge runs models close to users for real-time applications without routing to central data centres, while managed Kubernetes, S3-compatible object storage, and a Web Application Firewall complete the platform stack.
Key benefits:
- 210+ global PoPs with EU-origin traffic served from European infrastructure
- Edge CDN with real-time purge APIs, custom rules, and developer-friendly configuration
- Cloud VMs and bare metal across EU and international regions
- AI inference at the edge for low-latency model serving close to end users
- Inline DDoS protection at network-layer speeds, with no traffic rerouting or latency penalty
- Managed Kubernetes with autoscaling for containerised application workloads
- S3-compatible object storage for static assets, media, and backups
- Free tier for CDN and compute to evaluate performance before committing
Gcore is headquartered at 2 Rue Edmond Reuter, Contern, Luxembourg, an EU member state. The platform holds ISO 27001 certification and is fully GDPR-compliant, with EU data residency available across all core services. Founded in 2014 with approximately 600 employees, Gcore owns its physical infrastructure and peering agreements rather than reselling third-party cloud capacity.
Trusted by gaming companies, media platforms, and enterprises globally, it offers hyperscale CDN and cloud performance with genuine EU headquarters and sovereignty guarantees.
Why choose Gcore over Microsoft Azure?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Microsoft Azure is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Gcore removes that overhead. As a Luxembourg-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.