European Alternatives to AWS
Amazon Web Services is the world's dominant cloud platform. Despite EU regions, Amazon is a US company fully subject to the US CLOUD Act, which enables US authorities to access data stored anywhere worldwide.
Why Switch from AWS?
- ⚠US CLOUD Act: US government can demand your data without notifying you
- ⚠Despite EU regions, all data is legally under US jurisdiction
- ⚠GDPR compliance is complicated by US-EU data transfer conflicts
- ⚠Vendor lock-in through proprietary services makes migration costly
Is AWS GDPR Compliant?
Is AWS GDPR compliant? Amazon Web Services is a US company and the world's dominant cloud platform. Despite operating EU data centres in Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, and Stockholm, AWS is legally subject to the US CLOUD Act. This means US authorities can compel Amazon to produce data stored on any AWS server — including EU-region servers — without notifying EU customers or data subjects.
AWS GDPR compliance measures: AWS provides a comprehensive Data Processing Addendum, ISO 27001/27017/27018 certification, and standard contractual clauses for EU-US data transfers. AWS also offers dedicated Compliance Programmes for healthcare (HIPAA), financial services, and public sector. These are substantial measures — AWS is more GDPR-prepared than most cloud providers.
The CLOUD Act problem: no amount of GDPR compliance tooling changes the fundamental legal reality. The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act (2018) gives US authorities the power to compel US companies to produce data stored anywhere in the world. For the EU's most sensitive workloads — government data, health records, financial information — this creates an unacceptable jurisdiction risk that no DPA can resolve.
AWS GDPR Germany and the public sector: German federal and state data protection authorities have issued guidance that public sector organisations should prefer EU-sovereign cloud providers for sensitive data. The German government's Sovereign Cloud initiative specifically excludes US-jurisdiction providers for classified and highly sensitive government data. The BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) supports EU-sovereign cloud as the preferred option for critical infrastructure.
European cloud providers provide genuine EU sovereignty. Hetzner (Germany) offers bare-metal and cloud servers with all infrastructure in Germany and Finland — no US parent, no CLOUD Act. OVHcloud (France) is Europe's largest cloud provider with 43 data centres across Europe. Scaleway (France) provides cloud-native services including Kubernetes, serverless, and GPU. All operate exclusively under GDPR and European law.
2 European Alternatives
Sorted by privacy score
Hetzner
High-performance cloud hosting. Data centers in Germany & Finland.
| Tool | Score | Privacy | Pricing | OSS | EU Data | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
#1Hetzner High-performance cloud hosting. Data centers in Germany & Finland. High Trust | 92 | 90 | Paid | — | ✓ | 🇩🇪 | |
Europe's largest cloud provider. Data centers across the EU. High Trust | 87 | 88 | Paid | — | ✓ | 🇫🇷 |
AWS vs. European Alternatives — Feature Comparison
| Feature | AWS | Hetzner | OVHcloud | Scaleway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU Headquarters | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No CLOUD Act | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GDPR Sovereign | ⚠ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ISO 27001 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Managed Kubernetes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| EU Data Guarantee | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ = available · ✗ = not available · ⚠ = limited / US data transfer risk
Frequently Asked Questions
Why switch from AWS to a European cloud provider?
European cloud providers like Hetzner, OVHcloud, and Scaleway are headquartered in the EU and subject only to GDPR and European law. Unlike AWS, US authorities cannot compel them to hand over your data under the CLOUD Act. This is increasingly important for GDPR compliance.
Is European cloud infrastructure as capable as AWS?
Yes — OVHcloud is Europe's largest cloud provider with global datacentres. Hetzner offers exceptional price-performance with 99.9% SLA. Scaleway provides serverless, Kubernetes, and GPU services. All offer the core infrastructure services you need.
Can I migrate from AWS to a European provider?
Yes, migration is achievable. All major European cloud providers support standard cloud-native tools, Terraform, Docker, and Kubernetes. Services like OVHcloud are multi-region with full API compatibility. Start with stateless workloads and migrate incrementally.
Do European cloud providers have compliance certifications?
Yes — Hetzner, OVHcloud, and Scaleway all hold ISO 27001 certification. OVHcloud also has SOC 1/2, PCI-DSS, and various national certifications. For healthcare, finance, and public sector, European providers typically hold the same certifications as AWS.
Is AWS GDPR compliant?
Conditionally. AWS offers extensive GDPR compliance features and a DPA. However, Amazon Web Services, Inc. is a US company subject to the US CLOUD Act. US authorities can compel Amazon to produce data stored on EU AWS servers without notifying EU data subjects. European cloud providers like Hetzner (Germany), OVHcloud (France), and Scaleway (France) operate exclusively under EU law — no CLOUD Act exposure.
Can companies be GDPR compliant while using AWS EU regions?
With significant effort: yes — but it requires careful architecture, a Transfer Impact Assessment, and acceptance of ongoing legal risk. AWS EU regions store data in Europe but remain under US jurisdiction. Many GDPR compliance experts consider this an acceptable risk with proper contracts; others advise moving to EU-sovereign providers for the most sensitive workloads, especially healthcare, financial, and government data.