Scaleway vs DigitalOcean
Scaleway, part of the Iliad Group in France, offers developer-friendly cloud infrastructure with innovative adiabatic-cooled data centers. A European alternative to DigitalOcean with GPU instances, Kubernetes, and serverless — all with data sovereignty in Paris and Amsterdam.
Why Switch from DigitalOcean to Scaleway?
DigitalOcean is a US-based cloud provider headquartered in New York. While popular among developers for its simplicity, DigitalOcean processes data under US jurisdiction and is subject to the CLOUD Act, FISA, and other American surveillance laws. For European businesses and developers, this creates GDPR compliance challenges — your infrastructure data, application logs, and customer data on DigitalOcean’s servers can be accessed by US authorities without your knowledge.
Scaleway, part of the Iliad Group (one of France’s largest tech conglomerates, also parent of the Free mobile operator), provides a developer-friendly cloud platform built entirely in Europe. With data centers exclusively in Paris and Amsterdam, your data never leaves EU jurisdiction. Scaleway differentiates itself with innovative environmental practices — their DC5 data center in Paris uses adiabatic cooling to dramatically reduce energy consumption — and a comprehensive cloud stack that includes compute, storage, managed Kubernetes, serverless functions, managed databases, and GPU instances for AI workloads.
Founded in 1999 as Online.net and rebranded to Scaleway in 2017, the company has over two decades of infrastructure experience. The backing of the Iliad Group (which reported revenues exceeding EUR 9 billion in 2024) provides financial stability and long-term investment in European cloud infrastructure.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Scaleway | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Data center locations | Paris, Amsterdam (EU only) | 15 regions globally (US, EU, Asia) |
| Compute instances | Yes (DEV1, GP1, PRO2, Stardust) | Yes (Droplets) |
| Managed Kubernetes | Yes (Kapsule + Kosmos) | Yes (DOKS) |
| Serverless functions | Yes (Serverless Functions) | Yes (App Platform) |
| Managed databases | Yes (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis) | Yes (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB) |
| Object storage | Yes (S3-compatible) | Yes (Spaces, S3-compatible) |
| GPU instances | Yes (NVIDIA) | No |
| Block storage | Yes | Yes |
| Load balancers | Yes | Yes |
| Terraform provider | Yes (official) | Yes (official) |
| GDPR compliant | Full (French company, EU-only DCs) | Partial (US company) |
| Adiabatic cooling | Yes (DC5 Paris) | No |
Pricing
Scaleway offers transparent per-hour billing with competitive rates:
- Stardust: EUR 0.0025/hour (~EUR 1.80/month) — 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB SSD (development/testing)
- DEV1-S: EUR 0.01/hour (~EUR 7.30/month) — 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD
- DEV1-M: EUR 0.02/hour (~EUR 14.60/month) — 3 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD
- GP1-S: EUR 0.066/hour (~EUR 48.18/month) — 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 300 GB SSD
- DigitalOcean Basic Droplet: $4/month — 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB SSD
- DigitalOcean Regular Droplet: $6/month — 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD
Scaleway’s Stardust instances are among the cheapest in the European cloud market. For production workloads, pricing is comparable to DigitalOcean, with the significant advantage that Scaleway includes generous bandwidth allowances and does not charge for internal traffic between services.
Who Should Switch?
Scaleway is ideal for:
- European developers and startups who need cloud infrastructure with guaranteed EU data sovereignty and GDPR compliance
- AI and machine learning practitioners who need European-hosted GPU instances without relying on US cloud providers
- DevOps teams using Terraform and Kubernetes who want a European provider with first-class infrastructure-as-code support
- Businesses with EU data residency requirements that cannot justify sending infrastructure data to US-based providers
- Environmentally conscious organizations that value Scaleway’s adiabatic cooling and energy efficiency commitments
It may not suit teams that need a global data center presence, rely on DigitalOcean’s extensive tutorial library, or need data centers in the US or Asia for latency-sensitive applications.
The European Advantage
DigitalOcean is a US company subject to US law. The CLOUD Act allows US authorities to compel DigitalOcean to hand over data stored on any of its servers worldwide, including its European data centers. For EU businesses, this creates a fundamental GDPR conflict — you cannot guarantee data sovereignty when your infrastructure provider is legally obligated to comply with foreign government requests.
Scaleway operates under French law, one of the most GDPR-assertive jurisdictions in the EU. The French data protection authority CNIL has been among the most aggressive regulators in enforcing data sovereignty requirements. Scaleway’s data centers are located exclusively in France and the Netherlands — two EU member states — meaning your data is fully governed by European law with no exposure to US jurisdictional reach.
The Iliad Group backing provides Scaleway with the scale and investment needed to compete with US hyperscalers on technology while maintaining European ownership and governance. Their investment in adiabatic cooling technology demonstrates a commitment to sustainable infrastructure that goes beyond marketing pledges. For developers and businesses who want a technically capable cloud platform that keeps data in Europe and answers to European law, Scaleway delivers a genuine European cloud alternative with the backing of one of France’s most successful tech companies.
Looking for more European cloud hosting? See also: Hetzner and OVHcloud.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is adiabatic cooling and why does it matter?
Adiabatic cooling uses water evaporation to cool data center equipment instead of traditional energy-intensive air conditioning compressors. Scaleway's DC5 data center in Paris uses this technology to reduce cooling energy consumption by up to 40 percent compared to conventional data centers. This makes Scaleway one of the more environmentally efficient cloud providers in Europe, with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio close to 1.1.
Is Scaleway a good alternative for Kubernetes workloads?
Yes. Scaleway Kapsule provides managed Kubernetes with automatic node provisioning, persistent volumes, and load balancers. It is CNCF-certified and supports standard kubectl workflows. Scaleway also offers Kosmos, a multi-cloud Kubernetes service that can manage nodes across different providers.
Does Scaleway offer GPU instances for AI and machine learning?
Yes. Scaleway provides GPU instances powered by NVIDIA hardware, suitable for machine learning training, inference, and scientific computing. They also offer managed AI services and have invested heavily in European AI infrastructure, positioning themselves as a key player in sovereign European AI computing.
How does Scaleway's pricing compare to DigitalOcean?
Scaleway's entry-level instances start at around EUR 0.0025/hour (approximately EUR 1.80/month for a Stardust instance), which is competitive with DigitalOcean's basic droplets starting at USD 4/month. For most comparable instance sizes, pricing is similar, though Scaleway often includes more bandwidth in the base price.
Can I migrate from DigitalOcean to Scaleway easily?
Yes. If you use infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform, Scaleway has an official Terraform provider, making migration straightforward. For manual migrations, you can snapshot your DigitalOcean droplets, export them, and import them into Scaleway instances. Docker and Kubernetes workloads can be redeployed on Scaleway Kapsule with minimal changes.
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