Netcup vs DigitalOcean
Netcup is a European alternative to DigitalOcean: same cloud & hosting use case, headquartered in Germany and operating under GDPR by default, while DigitalOcean is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
German web hosting and server provider with ISO 9001/27001/27701/14001 certifications, 100% renewable energy, and award-winning pricing from €2.69/month.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
DigitalOcean by DigitalOcean.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Netcup vs DigitalOcean at a glance
| Netcup | DigitalOcean | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Germany | US |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | US law applies |
| GDPR by default | Yes | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | — |
| Free tier | No | — |
| Best for | Teams that need cloud & hosting with EU data residency | Teams already invested in the DigitalOcean ecosystem |
Choose Netcup if…
- You want your data to stay under EU law without extra legal paperwork
- GDPR compliance or public-sector requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with DigitalOcean if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the DigitalOcean ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Netcup
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.
Why choose Netcup over DigitalOcean?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. DigitalOcean is headquartered in US, 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.
Netcup removes that overhead. As a Germany-based provider, it operates natively under 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 non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.