European Alternatives to DigitalOcean
Find GDPR-compliant, EU-hosted replacements for DigitalOcean.
DigitalOcean is widely used, but organisations across Europe are increasingly looking for alternatives that offer genuine GDPR compliance without the legal uncertainty of US data jurisdiction. The European market now offers 5 mature alternatives to DigitalOcean that match core functionality while keeping your data exclusively under European law.
The alternatives listed below are all headquartered in Europe, store data within EU/EEA data centres, and offer Data Processing Agreements aligned with GDPR Article 28. Several are open source, giving you additional transparency and flexibility that proprietary US services cannot offer.
Why Switch from DigitalOcean
Data Privacy Concerns
- US CLOUD Act jurisdiction
- All infrastructure managed by a US-incorporated company
- Limited EU data center options compared to European providers
- US government can compel data access regardless of server location
EU Alternatives
Hetzner Cloud
Affordable European cloud infrastructure
Scaleway
European multi-cloud infrastructure provider
IONOS
Cloud hosting and infrastructure by United Internet
UpCloud
High-performance European cloud infrastructure
Exoscale
Swiss cloud infrastructure with full EU data sovereignty
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Hetzner Cloud | Scaleway | IONOS | UpCloud | Exoscale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Hetzner Cloud | Scaleway | IONOS | UpCloud | Exoscale |
| Pricing | From €4.51/mo (usage-based) | From €7/mo (usage-based) | From €1/mo | From €5/mo (usage-based) | From €5/mo (usage-based) |
| Free Tier | |||||
| GDPR | |||||
| ISO 27001 | |||||
| Open Source | |||||
| Headquarters | Gunzenhausen, DE | Paris, FR | Montabaur, DE | Helsinki, FI | Lausanne, CH |
| Data Centers | DE, FI | FR, NL, PL | DE, GB, ES, US | FI, DE, NL, GB, ES, PL | CH, DE, AT, BG |
| Cloud servers (VPS) | |||||
| Dedicated servers | |||||
| Managed Kubernetes | |||||
| Load balancers | |||||
| Block storage | |||||
| Object storage | |||||
| Firewalls | |||||
| Floating IPs |
Try These Alternatives
Related Categories
GDPR-Compliant Options
What to Expect When Switching
Switching from DigitalOcean to a European alternative is typically straightforward. Under GDPR Article 20, you have the right to data portability — DigitalOcean must allow you to export your data in a machine-readable format. Most European providers offer import tools or migration guides to help you transfer your data with minimal downtime.
For small teams, migration can often be completed in a single day. Larger organisations should plan for a phased rollout over one to four weeks, starting with a pilot group to identify any workflow adjustments. The most common challenge is not the data migration itself, but updating integrations and retraining team members on the new interface.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best European alternatives to DigitalOcean?
Is DigitalOcean GDPR compliant?
Why switch from DigitalOcean to a European alternative?
Related Pages
Compare these two European alternatives
Compare these two European alternatives
Compare these two European alternatives
Amazon Web Services is a comprehensive cloud computing platform by Amazon offering over 200 services including compute, storage, databases, and machine learning from data centers worldwide.
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform offering a wide range of services including virtual machines, databases, AI, and DevOps tools for building and managing applications.
Google Cloud Platform is a suite of cloud computing services by Google offering infrastructure, data analytics, machine learning, and application development tools.