Evaluating European Cloud Providers: Why Scaleway Shows the Way

What "Production-Ready" Actually Means

There are many European hosting providers. Not all of them are cloud platforms suitable for production workloads. The difference matters.

A VPS provider gives you virtual servers. A cloud platform provides an ecosystem: APIs for automation, managed services that reduce operational burden, and the resilience architecture to run without babysitting.

For our workloads, we needed the latter.

Our Evaluation Criteria

Before evaluating providers, we defined what we actually needed:

1. Managed Kubernetes (non-negotiable)

We're a small team; we can't spend time managing control planes. We need managed Kubernetes that handles upgrades, scaling, and integration with the provider's networking and storage.

Managed means: the provider operates the control plane (API server, scheduler, controller manager). We operate only worker nodes and workloads.

2. Multi-Availability Zone (production requirement)

A single data center is a single point of failure. For production, we require at least three availability zones within a region, allowing us to survive facility-level failures.

This is table stakes for high availability. Without multi-AZ, you're accepting single-facility risk.

3. Essential Managed Services

Kubernetes alone isn't sufficient. You need primitives:

S3-compatible Object Storage: Backups, static assets, data storage
Container Registry: Local image storage (faster pulls, lower egress costs)
Managed DNS with API: Cert-manager integration for automatic TLS
Transactional Email: Because running your own mail server is avoidable pain

These services need to work together. Container registry in Paris, object storage in Amsterdam, DNS API-driven—this creates the platform that enables independence.

Why Scaleway Shows the Way

Among European providers, Scaleway provides the most complete stack:

Managed Kubernetes (Kapsule):

Multiple versions supported (1.28, 1.29, 1.30+)
Automatic control plane upgrades
Integration with Scaleway networking, storage, DNS
Free control plane (pay only for worker nodes)
Multi-AZ within single region

Geographic Coverage:

Paris region: 3 availability zones (PAR-1, PAR-2, PAR-3)
Amsterdam region: 3 availability zones
Warsaw region: 3 availability zones

Each region independently provides multi-AZ deployment capability. This enables true high availability.

Object Storage (S3-compatible):

Available across all regions
S3 API compatibility (works with standard tools)
Multi-AZ replication within region
Cross-region replication available
Pricing: €0.01/GB/month storage

Container Registry:

Integrated with Kubernetes (image pull authentication automatic)
Multi-region support
Private registries per project
Pricing: €0.01/GB/month storage

Managed DNS:

API-driven (works with external-dns, cert-manager)
Support for all record types
DNSSEC available
Pricing: included with domains

Transactional Email (TEM):

SMTP service for application emails
Scaleway domain verification
Simple integration (SMTP credentials in app configuration)
Pricing: pay per email sent

This combination is what sets Scaleway apart: It's not just VPS hosting. It's a complete platform where the pieces integrate cleanly.

How European Providers Compare

Based on our 2025 evaluation:

Scaleway:

Most complete service offering
Strong multi-AZ support (3 AZs per region)
Good Kubernetes integration
Pricing competitive
Support responsive when needed

Best for: Organizations wanting managed Kubernetes with full ecosystem.

OVHcloud:

Larger scale, broader European presence
Multiple European regions (France, Germany, Poland, UK)
Managed Kubernetes available
Strong enterprise customer base

Best for: Larger organizations needing wide European geographic distribution.

Hetzner:

Excellent price-performance on compute
Less comprehensive managed services
Strong in Germany/Finland
Managed Kubernetes is newer

Best for: Organizations comfortable managing more themselves, cost-sensitive workloads.

IONOS:

Strong in Germany
Managed Kubernetes available
Good for German regulatory requirements

Best for: German-focused workloads with specific compliance needs.

What We've Learned Running on Scaleway

After 18+ months in production:

What works well:

Kubernetes is solid (control plane reliable, upgrades smooth)
Object storage is reliable (we've had zero data loss incidents)
Cost is predictable and reasonable (no surprise bills)
Support genuinely helps when needed (humans who understand the platform)
API integration works (external-dns, cert-manager, OpenTofu all integrate cleanly)

Where it's maturing:

Some features feel early-stage (documentation sometimes lags)
Fewer "bells and whistles" than hyperscalers
Some managed services less mature (managed PostgreSQL is good; some others are catching up)
Smaller community (fewer Stack Overflow answers, but growing)

Overall assessment: It feels like AWS did around 2012—capable, improving rapidly, occasional rough edges. For our workloads, it's a good fit.

Importantly: this assessment could change. We evaluate annually. If another provider offers better combination of services, we can migrate—because we've built on Kubernetes and portable patterns.

The "For Now" Mindset

We chose Scaleway because it currently meets our requirements. If another provider pulls ahead, we can migrate—because we've built portably.

This isn't commitment anxiety; it's good architecture. Provider relationships should be partnerships, not lock-in.

What portability looks like:

Kubernetes manifests (not provider-specific)
S3-compatible storage (not proprietary APIs)
Standard DNS (RFC-compliant)
SMTP email (standard protocol)
Container registry (standard OCI format)

These choices mean: switching providers is possible. Not trivial—there's always work involved—but possible. That optionality has value.

Practical Provider Selection

For Kubernetes-native applications: Scaleway Kapsule, OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes, IONOS—all offer solid managed Kubernetes. We run production on Scaleway; it's stable, well-priced, and support is responsive.

For compute-intensive work: Hetzner offers excellent price-performance on dedicated servers. If you can manage your own orchestration, it's hard to beat.

For object storage: S3-compatible storage is widely available. Scaleway, OVHcloud, Wasabi with European regions—all work with standard S3 tooling.

For specific compliance requirements: Map your regulatory requirements to provider certifications. SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance—verify before committing.

Making the Choice

When evaluating European providers:

Define your requirements: What do you actually need? (Managed K8s? Multi-AZ? Specific services?)
Map providers to criteria: Which providers offer what you need?
Test with pilot project: Don't commit fully. Run one workload for 3 months. Learn what works.
Evaluate honestly: Provider marketing vs. reality. What actually works in production?
Maintain portability: Build so you can migrate if needed. This preserves options.

The goal isn't finding the perfect provider forever. It's finding the right provider for now, while maintaining ability to change if circumstances change.

Sources:

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