EU-Native Cloud Providers — The Landscape Beyond Hyperscalers and Sovereign JVs
The EU has a genuinely competitive cloud provider market that is not Bleu, not S3NS, and not a hyperscaler EU region. OVHcloud, Scaleway, Hetzner, IONOS, STACKIT, T Cloud Public, 3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud, Aruba, and a substantial tail of specialised providers serve a wide range of European workloads — from cheap commodity compute through public-sector sovereign tiers to industry-vertical platforms. This article maps the EU-native pure-play cloud provider landscape, compares the major players on the dimensions that actually drive procurement, and explains where each fits.
What “EU-native” means in this article
EU-native pure-play = cloud provider that is:
- Headquartered in the EU/EEA (or in a closely-EU-aligned jurisdiction like Switzerland, treated separately).
- Owned by EU/EEA entities with no US hyperscaler controlling stake.
- Operating on its own technology stack (not a distribution of Azure / AWS / Google Cloud under a sovereign envelope).
By this definition:
- In scope: OVHcloud, Scaleway, Hetzner, IONOS, STACKIT, T Cloud Public, 3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud, Numspot, plusserver, ITS Integra, Aruba, UpCloud, CloudFerro, Clever Cloud, Tietoevry, Leaseweb, and others.
- Adjacent (not strictly EU member): Exoscale (Switzerland-based, A1 Telekom Austria parent) — treated separately.
- Sovereign JVs with US hyperscaler technology — out of pure-play scope, covered separately: Bleu (Microsoft Azure + Orange + Capgemini), S3NS (Google Cloud + Thales), Clarence (Google Distributed Cloud Hosted + Proximus + LuxConnect). These are covered in the Sovereign Cloud Products article — briefly noted in this article for completeness.
The distinction matters because EU-native pure-play providers are commercially available to any customer (commercial, public sector, regulated industries) on the same terms — they are mass-market cloud services. The sovereign JVs (Bleu, S3NS, Clarence) target government and highly regulated workloads only and are not generally available as commodity public cloud the way OVHcloud or Scaleway are.
Reality Check
“EU-native” is a property of provider ownership and operations — not an automatic property of sovereignty or compliance. An EU-native provider hosting customer data in an EU region with weak operational controls is more concerning than a hyperscaler EU region with strong controls and customer-controlled keys. The substantive sovereignty question is: who has technical access to plaintext data, what jurisdictions reach the provider’s operational personnel, and what compliance certifications independently verify the controls. EU-native is a necessary condition for some sovereignty requirements (specifically those requiring EU-domiciled operator entity); it is not sufficient on its own. Combine EU-native provider selection with the encryption key custody and framework compliance work — none of the three substitutes for the others.
The four operational categories
EU-native providers cluster into four operational categories:
| Category | Examples | What they optimise for |
|---|---|---|
| Full-service alternatives | OVHcloud, Scaleway, IONOS | Hyperscaler-style breadth (IaaS + PaaS + managed services + global regions) on EU-native stack |
| Compute & infrastructure-focused | Hetzner, UpCloud | Aggressive pricing, performance, simple IaaS for developers and cost-sensitive workloads |
| Specialised vertical / regulated | 3DS Outscale (defence/industrial), Cegedim.cloud (healthcare), CloudFerro (Earth observation) | Domain-specific compliance, integrated tooling, regulated-sector certifications |
| Telco / conglomerate-backed sovereign | T Cloud Public (Deutsche Telekom), STACKIT (Schwarz Group), Aruba (Aruba S.p.A. + Italian PA market) | Sovereign positioning + parent-corporate strategic alignment |
Each category serves different procurement needs. The four-way split is the practical filter before evaluating specific providers.
Provider snapshot — who they are
| Provider | HQ | Parent / Ownership | Listed? | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | Roubaix, FR | Klaba family (founder), public float | Euronext Paris (15 Oct 2021) | 1999 |
| Scaleway | Paris, FR | Iliad Group | Iliad listed on Euronext Paris | 1999 (as Online.net), Scaleway brand 2015 |
| IONOS | Karlsruhe, DE | United Internet (majority) + public float | Frankfurt Prime Standard (8 Feb 2023) | 1988 (as 1&1) |
| Hetzner | Gunzenhausen, DE | Privately held (Hetzner family) | No | 1997 |
| T Cloud Public (formerly Open Telekom Cloud) | Bonn, DE | Deutsche Telekom (via T-Systems) | Parent DT listed | 2016 |
| 3DS Outscale | Saint-Cloud, FR | Dassault Systèmes (majority since 2017) | Parent 3DS listed Euronext | 2010 |
| Cegedim.cloud | Boulogne-Billancourt, FR | Cegedim Group | Parent Cegedim listed Euronext | IT division of Cegedim Group |
| STACKIT | Heilbronn, DE | Schwarz Group (Schwarz Digits) | No (parent private) | Internal cloud 2018-2019; commercial 2021-2022 |
| plusserver | Köln, DE | BC Partners exited Nov 2024; new owner not publicly disclosed at time of writing | No | 1999 |
| Numspot | Paris, FR | French JV: Docaposte + Dassault Systèmes + Bouygues Telecom + Banque des Territoires | No | Alliance Oct 2022; commercial launch Q1 2025 |
| ITS Integra | Lyon, FR | Privately held | No | 1997 |
| Aruba S.p.A. | Ponte San Pietro (Bergamo), IT | Privately held | No | 1994 |
| UpCloud | Helsinki, FI | Privately held | No | 2012 |
| CloudFerro | Warsaw, PL | Privately held | No | 2015 |
| Clever Cloud | Nantes, FR | Privately held | No | 2010 |
| Tietoevry | Espoo, FI | Public float | Nasdaq Helsinki, Stockholm | 2019 (merger of Tieto + EVRY) |
| Leaseweb | Amsterdam, NL | Ocom Group (privately held) | No | 1997 |
| Exoscale (adjacent) | Lausanne, CH | A1 Digital (A1 Telekom Austria) | Parent A1 listed Vienna | 2011 |
Service breadth — what they actually offer
| Provider | IaaS Compute | Object Storage | Managed K8s | Managed DB | PaaS / Serverless | SaaS / Workloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | ✓ Public + Private | ✓ | ✓ (MKS) | ✓ (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, …) | ✓ (Functions, Web) | ✓ (Hosted Exchange, SharePoint) |
| Scaleway | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (Kapsule, Kosmos) | ✓ (Managed DBs) | ✓ (Serverless Functions, Containers, Jobs) | Limited |
| IONOS | ✓ (Compute Engine, Cloud Cubes) | ✓ (S3) | ✓ (DataPlatform) | ✓ | Limited | ✓ (Hosting, Productivity Suite) |
| Hetzner | ✓ (Cloud + dedicated) | ✓ | ✗ (no managed offering) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| T Cloud Public | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| 3DS Outscale | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (OKS) | ✓ | Limited | Specialised (industrial design) |
| Cegedim.cloud | ✓ (CegNumCloud) | ✓ | Limited | ✓ | Limited | ✓ (Cegedim healthcare apps) |
| STACKIT | ✓ (OpenStack-based) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Growing | Limited |
| plusserver | ✓ (pluscloud open + VMware) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | Managed cloud services |
| Numspot | ✓ (built on Outscale) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Managed services platform | Sovereign workloads |
| ITS Integra | ✓ (ITSecureCloud — Nutanix) | ✓ | ✓ (ITSecureKube) | ✓ | Limited | Managed sovereign cloud |
| Aruba S.p.A. | ✓ (Virtual Private Cloud, Cloud Server) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | ✓ (Domains, PEC, digital signatures, hosting) |
| UpCloud | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | Limited |
| CloudFerro | ✓ (CREODIAS) | ✓ (EO-data hot) | ✓ | ✓ | EO-specific tooling | ✓ (Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem) |
| Clever Cloud | Limited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (PaaS-first) | Limited |
| Tietoevry | ✓ (Tietoevry Tech Services) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | ✓ (industry verticals, public sector) |
| Leaseweb | ✓ (dedicated + cloud) | ✓ | Limited | Limited | Limited | ✓ (managed hosting) |
| Exoscale (adjacent) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (SKS) | ✓ | Limited | Limited |
Compliance matrix — what they hold
| Provider | ISO 27001 / 17 / 18 | BSI C5 | SecNumCloud | ENS | ACN Qualif. | HDS | KsVC-ready evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud | ✓ (broad) | ✓ | ✓ 3.2 — Hosted Private Cloud (VMware) at Roubaix, Gravelines, Strasbourg | ENS-compatible | ✓ | ✓ | Standard evidence package portable to KsVC | Largest qualification footprint |
| Scaleway | ✓ 27001:2022 | ✓ | Process initiated 2024-25, not yet qualified | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ (since Jul 2024) | Standard package | Kubernetes-native |
| IONOS | ✓ 27001 + BSI IT-Grundschutz | ✓ Type 1 (Compute Engine, Cloud Cubes, S3) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | Strong DACH SMB focus |
| Hetzner | ✓ 27001:2022 | ✓ Type 2 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | No HIPAA BAA, narrower compliance vs hyperscalers |
| T Cloud Public | ✓ | ✓ (annually since 2018) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | DACH large-enterprise focus |
| 3DS Outscale | ✓ 27001/27017/27018 | ✓ | ✓ 3.2 (first cloud operator qualified, Dec 2023) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | Standard package + SecNumCloud | TISAX, CISPE additionally |
| Cegedim.cloud | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ 3.2 (CegNumCloud, Dec 2024) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (since 2009) | Standard package + SecNumCloud | ISO 20000-1, ISO 50001 additionally |
| STACKIT | ✓ | ✓ + ISAE 3000 (SOC 2) + ISAE 3402 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | KRITIS-compliant |
| plusserver | ✓ | ✓ (pluscloud open, tested) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) participant |
| Numspot | Via Outscale base | ✓ | Filed Sep 2024, target qualification pending | ✗ | ✗ | Via Outscale | Standard package | Built on SecNumCloud-qualified Outscale |
| ITS Integra | ✓ | ✓ | J0 (Sep 2025) + J1 (Dec 2025); target mid-2026 | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | Standard package | Two offerings in qualification scope |
| Aruba S.p.A. | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ QC1 + QC2 + QC3 (multiple services) | ✗ | Standard package | Largest ACN-qualified footprint in IT |
| UpCloud | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | Performance-focused |
| CloudFerro | ✓ 27001:2022 + 27017 + 27018 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ESA SECRET / CONFIDENTIAL authorised | Earth observation specialist |
| Clever Cloud | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | Standard package | Part of Post Telecom consortium (EU framework) |
| Tietoevry | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | First Nordic VMware Sovereign Cloud partner |
| Leaseweb | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | IPCEI-CIS participant |
| Exoscale (adjacent) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Standard package | Swiss HQ; Austrian parent (A1 Telekom Austria) |
Per-provider snapshots
Tier 1 — Full-service EU-native
OVHcloud (France) is the largest EU-native pure-play cloud infrastructure provider by revenue (~€1.08B FY2025). SAP and Deutsche Telekom are larger by absolute cloud-related revenue but operate broader portfolios; OVHcloud is the largest dedicated cloud-infrastructure pure-play. Founded 1999 by Octave Klaba in Roubaix, listed on Euronext Paris since October 2021. 44+ data centres globally as of 2026 with 7 more planned, including Local Zones in Bogota, Tallinn, Johannesburg. The SecNumCloud-qualified offering is Hosted Private Cloud powered by VMware at Roubaix, Gravelines, and Strasbourg — not the entire Public Cloud portfolio. Full product portfolio: Public Cloud (IaaS + PaaS), Hosted Private Cloud (VMware), Bare Metal, Web Hosting. The most comprehensive compliance portfolio of any EU-native provider.
Scaleway (France) is the Iliad Group’s cloud subsidiary with strong cloud-native developer experience focus. Regions: Paris (DC2-5), Amsterdam (AMS1-2), Warsaw (WAW1-2); Milan added in 2026, additional Italy/Sweden expansion in progress. ISO 27001:2022, HDS (since July 2024). SecNumCloud qualification process initiated 2024-2025 but not yet qualified. Distinctive strengths: Kubernetes-native (Kapsule managed K8s, Kosmos multi-cluster), Serverless Functions/Containers/Jobs, simpler developer-friendly pricing. Selected April 2026 for EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework as one of four awardees.
IONOS (Germany) is the largest German listed cloud provider (Frankfurt Prime Standard since 8 February 2023, IPO at €18.50/share, ~€2.6B initial valuation). United Internet remains majority owner. Cloud portfolio includes Compute Engine, Cloud Cubes (block storage), S3 Object Storage. BSI C5 Type 1 certified for Compute Engine, Cloud Cubes, and S3. ISO 27001 + BSI IT-Grundschutz (first German cloud provider holding both). Strong SMB market position; also addresses public sector via the govdigital framework agreement.
Hetzner (Germany) is the price-leader IaaS provider in Europe — cloud instances from approximately €3.49/month, generally 50-70% cheaper than hyperscalers for comparable compute. Owned data centres in Nuremberg, Falkenstein (Germany), and Helsinki/Tuusula (Finland); colocation presence in Singapore (2024) and US (Ashburn VA, Hillsboro OR). ISO 27001:2022, BSI C5 Type 2. No managed Kubernetes, no managed databases, no HIPAA BAA, no SOC 2 — narrower compliance and managed-service portfolio than hyperscalers, by design. Best fit: cost-sensitive workloads, developer / SMB / startup market, dedicated server consumers.
Tier 2 — Significant EU operators
T Cloud Public (Germany, formerly Open Telekom Cloud) is Deutsche Telekom’s sovereign cloud platform, rebranded from Open Telekom Cloud. OpenStack-based architecture, historically built on Huawei FusionSphere; current technology relationships are less publicly disclosed than in 2016-2017. Data centres in Germany and Netherlands — exclusively European operation. BSI C5 attestation held annually since 2018. Large-enterprise customer base in DACH including Shell, Mercedes-Benz, VW, BMW, DHL, Deutsche Bahn, and Swiss Federal Railways.
3DS Outscale (France) is the Dassault Systèmes cloud brand — the first cloud operator qualified under SecNumCloud 3.2 (announced 11 December 2023). HDS, ISO 27001/27017/27018, CISPE, TISAX held. Recent product evolution: OUTSCALE Kubernetes Service (OKS) expanded 10 December 2025. Positioning is sector-agnostic (“trusted business experience as a service across all industries”); parent Dassault Systèmes’ strength in aerospace/defence/manufacturing software lends 3DS Outscale a natural fit for those verticals.
Cegedim.cloud (France) received SecNumCloud 3.2 qualification on 4 December 2024 (publicly announced 18 December 2024) for the CegNumCloud Secured IaaS offering. Cegedim Group is France’s leading healthcare software publisher; Cegedim.cloud is HDS-certified since 2009. Holds ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISO 50001 additionally. Four French data centres across two regional campuses. Healthcare and regulated industries focus.
STACKIT (Germany) is the Schwarz Group sovereign cloud platform (Schwarz Digits division — parent of Lidl and Kaufland). Established internally 2018-2019; externally available 2021-2022; commercial public cloud from May 2022. BSI C5, ISAE 3000 (SOC 2), ISAE 3402 certifications obtained 2024. KRITIS-compliant. Three Availability Zones near Heilbronn (Germany) plus Austrian data centres. At “TECH Conference 2025” Schwarz Digits announced explicit positioning shift — expansion into a “German hyperscaler.” Selected April 2026 for EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework.
plusserver (Germany) operates pluscloud open (OpenStack-based, built on Sovereign Cloud Stack/SCS) and VMware-based managed services. BSI C5 tested. Registered office in Köln (Cologne) with operations across multiple German locations. BC Partners exited November 2024; new owner is not publicly disclosed at time of writing — confirm directly with plusserver corporate communications before any specific procurement reliance.
Numspot (France) is a French sovereign cloud JV with all four shareholders French-domiciled and French/EU-controlled: Docaposte (La Poste Group), Dassault Systèmes, Bouygues Telecom, Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts). Alliance announced October 2022; commercial managed services platform launched Q1 2025. Built on 3DS Outscale’s SecNumCloud-qualified IaaS — meaning Numspot leverages an already-EU-native, already-SecNumCloud-qualified foundation rather than a US hyperscaler stack. Unlike Bleu (Microsoft) and S3NS (Google), Numspot is fully EU-native. SecNumCloud qualification filed September 2024 for Numspot’s own offering, target early 2026 (status unconfirmed at time of writing). Early customers: CNP Assurances, Ministry of Armed Forces, Île-de-France Region.
ITS Integra (France) — privately held, headquartered in Lyon, established 1997. Two offerings in SecNumCloud qualification scope: ITSecureCloud (Nutanix-based IaaS) and ITSecureKube (Kubernetes PaaS). J0 milestone September 2025; J1 milestone December 2025 (evaluation strategy validation); next phase is in-depth audit. Target full SecNumCloud qualification: mid-2026.
Aruba S.p.A. (Italy) is the largest Italian hosting and cloud provider (manages 2.7M+ domains, ~9.8M email accounts, ~9M PEC accounts, ~16M users across Europe). Four Italian data centres (IT1-IT4) plus presence in Czech Republic, UK, France, Germany, Poland. Holds ACN Qualificazione across QC1, QC2, and QC3 tiers across different services: Virtual Private Cloud and Hosted Private Cloud at QC3; Red Hat Open Hybrid Cloud at QC2; Object Storage, Cloud Pro/Server, Unified Storage, DBaaS, Cloud Backup, Cloud Monitoring, Managed Kubernetes at QC1. Adjacent products: PEC (certified email), digital signatures — operating across the broader Italian digital-trust services market.
Tier 3 — Specialised / smaller
UpCloud (Finland) — Helsinki-based, performance-focused IaaS. 14-15 data centre locations worldwide including 10 in Europe: Finland (HEL1, HEL2), Sweden, Denmark (Copenhagen, launched December 2025), Netherlands, Spain, Poland, UK, Norway (launched January 2026), Germany. ISO 27001 certified. Niche: developers and workloads where IaaS performance matters more than full PaaS portfolio.
CloudFerro (Poland) — Warsaw-based, founded 2015. Lead operator of the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE) — the European Earth observation data platform that superseded the Copernicus DIAS programme in 2023. ~100 PB of EO data made publicly accessible. ISO/IEC 27001:2022 / 27017 / 27018. Authorised to handle ESA SECRET and ESA CONFIDENTIAL classified information. New cloud region in Łódź announced March 2026 with €75M expansion. Niche: Earth observation, scientific computing, HPC, EU space programme adjacent workloads.
Clever Cloud (France) — Nantes-based, founded 2010, French PaaS specialist. HDS-certified. Partnered with Post Telecom in the Post Telecom + Clever Cloud + OVHcloud consortium awarded the EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework in April 2026. Smaller scale but increasingly visible; PaaS-first focus distinguishes it from other EU-native providers.
Tietoevry (Finland) — Espoo-headquartered, listed on Nasdaq Helsinki and Stockholm, formed in 2019 from the Tieto + EVRY merger. Nordic IT services with sovereign cloud designation; first Nordic VMware Sovereign Cloud partner. Strong public-sector and Nordic enterprise customer base.
Leaseweb (Netherlands) — Amsterdam-based, Ocom Group owned. IPCEI-CIS (Important Project of Common European Interest) participant. Combination of dedicated servers, cloud, and managed hosting. Significant Dutch and European customer base in the developer/mid-market segment.
EU-adjacent (Swiss HQ, Austrian parent)
Exoscale (Switzerland) — Lausanne-based, founded 2011, owned by A1 Digital, subsidiary of A1 Telekom Austria Group since 2018. Cloud zones in Vienna (Austria), Switzerland, and elsewhere. Strictly speaking, Switzerland is not an EU member state — Exoscale’s Swiss HQ places it outside the EU. The Austrian parent provides EU-domiciled ownership and EU operational presence; this makes Exoscale EU-adjacent / EEA-aligned rather than strictly EU-native. For Slovak procurement consuming Exoscale services, treat the Swiss-jurisdiction aspect explicitly under the Switzerland article’s framework where applicable.
Sovereign JVs with US hyperscaler technology — out of scope, briefly
For completeness, three “trusted cloud JVs” are EU-domiciled but built on US hyperscaler technology under sovereign envelope. These are NOT mass-market commercial cloud services like the providers above — they target government and highly regulated workloads through structured procurement:
- Bleu (France) — Orange + Capgemini JV distributing Microsoft Azure technology. SecNumCloud J0 passed; full qualification target H1 2026.
- S3NS (France) — Thales + Google Cloud JV. SecNumCloud 3.2 qualified December 2025 (PREMI3NS offering, ~30 services in scope).
- Clarence (Belgium / Luxembourg) — Proximus NXT + LuxConnect distributing Google Distributed Cloud Hosted (air-gapped). Selected April 2026 as part of the EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework.
These three are covered in detail in the Sovereign Cloud Products article. They serve a different procurement context than the EU-native pure-play providers above — they exist specifically to bridge hyperscaler technology into French/EU sovereign procurement frameworks.
April 2026 — EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework
A material industrial-policy event in the EU-native cloud market: in April 2026 the European Commission selected four consortia for a €180M sovereign cloud procurement framework:
- Post Telecom + Clever Cloud + OVHcloud (Luxembourg-led)
- STACKIT (Schwarz Digits)
- Scaleway (France)
- Proximus + S3NS + Clarence + Mistral (Belgium-led)
The framework is significant for two reasons:
- Validation of EU-native pure-play providers — three of four awarded consortia are led by or include pure-play EU-native providers (Clever Cloud, OVHcloud, STACKIT, Scaleway). The fourth includes Clarence + S3NS (US-hyperscaler-tech JVs) alongside Mistral (French AI) under Proximus leadership.
- Industrial-policy direction — the Commission is putting procurement money behind EU-native infrastructure rather than only hyperscaler EU regions, signalling a stronger sovereign-cloud demand pull from the EU institutional level over the medium term.
Worth tracking as a leading indicator on whether EU-native providers gain durable institutional adoption beyond commercial markets.
Selection criteria — when each provider fits
Mapping common use cases to suitable EU-native providers:
| Use case | Suitable providers | Why |
|---|---|---|
| French OIV/OSE sensitive workloads (SecNumCloud-mandated) | 3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud, OVHcloud (Hosted Private Cloud), Numspot (when qualified) | SecNumCloud 3.2 qualified |
| German federal procurement (BSI C5) | T Cloud Public, IONOS, Hetzner, STACKIT, OVHcloud, plusserver | BSI C5 attestation |
| Italian PA procurement (ACN-qualified) | Aruba (QC1-QC3), plus hyperscalers via JV | ACN Qualificazione |
| Healthcare data (HDS-certified) | Cegedim.cloud, 3DS Outscale, Scaleway, OVHcloud, Clever Cloud | HDS certification |
| Slovak public sector via KsVC (U2) | OVHcloud, IONOS, Hetzner, STACKIT, Scaleway, T Cloud Public, Aruba, UpCloud | ISO 27001/27017/27018 evidence portable to KsVC |
| Slovak public sector via KsVC (U3) | OVHcloud (Hosted Private Cloud SecNumCloud), 3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud | SecNumCloud-qualified — Slovak Cybersecurity Auditor evidence-mapping streamlines U3 audit |
| Cost-sensitive commodity compute | Hetzner, UpCloud, Scaleway | Aggressive pricing |
| Kubernetes-native development | Scaleway, Clever Cloud, 3DS Outscale (OKS), STACKIT | Strong K8s product focus |
| Earth observation / HPC | CloudFerro | Domain specialisation, ESA-data integration |
| Nordic enterprise / public sector | Tietoevry, UpCloud | Nordic operations + sovereign cloud designation |
| Italian commercial hosting + cloud combined | Aruba S.p.A. | Largest Italian footprint across services |
The table is a starting point. Actual procurement decisions also factor pricing, regional latency, customer support quality, multi-region SLA, and specific technical features that this article does not enumerate.
Architectural Pro Tip
For most organisations choosing an EU-native provider, the practical decision sequence is: (1) identify the compliance bar (SecNumCloud-mandated, ACN QC3+, BSI C5, KsVC U-tier, HDS, etc.) — this narrows the candidate list immediately; (2) identify the service breadth required (do you need managed Kubernetes? managed databases? PaaS? — Hetzner/UpCloud cover narrow IaaS; OVHcloud/Scaleway/STACKIT cover broad portfolios); (3) check regional latency requirements — most EU-native providers have 2-5 European regions, fewer than hyperscalers; (4) check cost positioning — EU-native pricing varies widely from Hetzner’s aggressive pricing to OVHcloud/STACKIT’s hyperscaler-comparable pricing. Working through these four filters in order — compliance → breadth → regions → cost — produces a shortlist of 2-4 providers without exhaustive product-by-product comparison.
Multicloud factor — using EU-native alongside hyperscaler
For organisations operating multicloud (hyperscaler EU regions + EU-native), the operational pattern that works:
- Hyperscaler EU mainline — workloads with hyperscaler-feature-dependent architectures (specific managed services, ML/AI platforms, large-scale managed databases, specific data warehouse products).
- EU-native — workloads with sovereignty-relevant compliance requirements, cost-sensitive infrastructure, regulatory-sector workloads, predictable pricing horizons.
The architectural patterns:
- Active workload split — production runs on EU-native (e.g., OVHcloud Hosted Private Cloud + SecNumCloud) for compliance; non-sensitive analytics or development runs on hyperscaler EU.
- DR and exit strategy — EU-native provider as the documented exit alternative for hyperscaler-hosted workloads, addressing DORA Article 30 exit-strategy obligations.
- Multi-EU-native — using two EU-native providers for resilience (e.g., OVHcloud + Scaleway) where multicloud concentration risk under DORA and NIS2 supply-chain rules drives diversification.
The BYOK/HYOK article is the practical companion: even on hyperscaler EU mainline, customer-controlled keys with an EU-native HSM (or EU-resident HSM-aaS) provide significant additional sovereignty without going fully to EU-native infrastructure.
Slovak context
For Slovak public-sector procurement via KsVC, EU-native providers offer a practical alternative to hyperscaler EU regions across U1-U3 tiers. OVHcloud (broadest qualification footprint), Scaleway (cloud-native DX), IONOS (DACH-aligned SMB-friendly), and Hetzner (cost-leader) are the most realistic candidates for U1-U2 listings. For U3, the SecNumCloud-qualified offerings — OVHcloud Hosted Private Cloud (VMware), 3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud — reduce the Slovak Cybersecurity Auditor’s evidence-mapping work because the SecNumCloud audit produces evidence that translates well to Slovak zákon 69/2018 audit conformity. U4 remains the private government cloud segment — not a commercial EU-native procurement question. Slovak commercial entities serving NBS-supervised banks or other regulated customers face similar logic: EU-native providers at the appropriate compliance tier reduce both the sovereignty and the supply-chain-evidence work compared with hyperscaler EU mainline alternatives.
Closing checklist
- EU-native pure-play = EU/EEA-headquartered, EU-controlled ownership, EU-native technology stack. Distinct from hyperscaler EU regions (different ownership) and from sovereign JVs with US hyperscaler technology (Bleu, S3NS, Clarence — different scope and procurement context).
- Four operational categories: Full-service alternatives (OVHcloud, Scaleway, IONOS) / Compute-focused (Hetzner, UpCloud) / Specialised vertical (3DS Outscale, Cegedim.cloud, CloudFerro) / Telco-conglomerate-backed (T Cloud Public, STACKIT, Aruba).
- Largest pure-play: OVHcloud (~€1.08B FY2025 revenue, 44+ data centres, Euronext-listed). SAP and Deutsche Telekom are larger by absolute cloud-related revenue but operate broader portfolios.
- Open Telekom Cloud rebranded to T Cloud Public as of 2025-2026. Update terminology in older references.
- SecNumCloud-qualified pure-play providers: 3DS Outscale (Dec 2023, first qualified), Cegedim.cloud (Dec 2024), OVHcloud Hosted Private Cloud (VMware, multi-DC). ITS Integra (J1 Dec 2025, target mid-2026), Scaleway (in process), Numspot (filed Sep 2024).
- OVHcloud SecNumCloud scope is limited: only the Hosted Private Cloud (VMware) at Roubaix, Gravelines, and Strasbourg is qualified — not the full OVHcloud Public Cloud portfolio.
- ACN-qualified largest footprint: Aruba S.p.A. holds QC1, QC2, and QC3 across various services in Italy.
- Earth observation specialist: CloudFerro operates the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE) — the European EO data platform that superseded the Copernicus DIAS programme in 2023.
- April 2026 EU Commission €180M sovereign cloud framework validates OVHcloud + Clever Cloud + Post Telecom, STACKIT, Scaleway, and the Proximus + S3NS + Clarence + Mistral consortia — industrial-policy validation event worth tracking.
- plusserver ownership: BC Partners exited November 2024; new owner not publicly disclosed at time of writing — verify directly with plusserver before procurement reliance.
- Exoscale is EU-adjacent, not strictly EU-native: Swiss HQ + Austrian parent (A1 Telekom Austria). For procurement under Swiss-jurisdictional rules see the Switzerland article.
- Selection sequence: compliance bar → service breadth → regional latency → cost positioning. Apply in this order.
- EU-native is necessary but not sufficient for sovereignty. Combine provider selection with encryption key custody (BYOK/HYOK) and framework compliance work.
- What to read next: Sovereign Cloud Products for the JV-with-US-hyperscaler category (Bleu, S3NS, Clarence) and the broader sovereign cloud product framing; BYOK/HYOK for the encryption patterns that complement EU-native infrastructure; Decision Framework to apply the selection logic to a specific organisation; France SecNumCloud for the qualification framework that several providers above hold; Italy ACN for the QC1-QC4 framework Aruba and others operate under; Slovakia KsVC for Slovak public-sector procurement mapping.