AWS vs OVHcloud vs Scaleway: Cloud Infrastructure Sovereignty Comparison Audit

Cloud infrastructure is the foundation layer of the entire technology stack. Every application, database, and service running on cloud infrastructure inherits the sovereignty profile of the underlying provider. An organisation that achieves sovereignty at the application layer but runs on US-jurisdictioned infrastructure has not achieved meaningful sovereignty.

For European organisations subject to NIS2 (infrastructure resilience), DORA (financial entity ICT risk), or handling sensitive government data, cloud infrastructure jurisdiction is not optional — it is a regulatory and strategic requirement.

**AWS's position**: AWS operates extensive EU data centre regions and has invested heavily in EU compliance. However, Amazon's US incorporation means the CLOUD Act applies to all data under AWS's control, regardless of region selection. This creates a structural sovereignty gap that no amount of compliance certification can close.

**The market has matured**: European cloud providers are no longer early-stage alternatives. OVHcloud and Scaleway offer production-ready infrastructure used by enterprises, governments, and critical infrastructure operators across Europe.

AWS is the world's largest cloud provider, operated by Amazon (US-incorporated).

**Data residency**: Extensive EU regions (Frankfurt, Ireland, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich, Spain). AWS Dedicated Local Zones and Outposts offer on-premises deployment options.

**Jurisdictional exposure**: Subject to US CLOUD Act. Amazon can be compelled to produce data regardless of storage region. AWS has published transparency reports and challenges overbroad requests, but the legal obligation is clear.

**Managed services depth**: AWS's primary advantage is its breadth of managed services — Lambda, DynamoDB, SageMaker, Aurora, EventBridge, and hundreds of others. Many have no direct equivalent in European providers.

**NIS2/DORA**: AWS as a critical ICT third-party service provider creates concentration risk. Its dominance means that AWS disruption would cascade across sectors. DORA requires financial entities to assess this concentration.

**Lock-in**: High. AWS-specific services create deep architectural coupling. Organisations using Lambda functions, DynamoDB, Step Functions, or SageMaker face substantial migration effort. IaaS workloads (EC2, EBS) are more portable.

OVHcloud is Europe's largest cloud provider, headquartered in Roubaix, France.

**Data residency**: EU-only data centres across France, Germany, UK, Poland, and others. No US data centre presence. OVHcloud's infrastructure is entirely European-controlled.

**Jurisdictional protection**: As an EU-incorporated company, OVHcloud is not subject to the US CLOUD Act. Data on OVHcloud infrastructure is governed by EU law exclusively. French and EU legal process applies.

**Service catalog**: Comprehensive IaaS (virtual machines, bare metal, block storage, object storage), managed Kubernetes, managed databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis), private cloud (VMware-based), and web hosting. AI/ML managed services are growing but less mature than AWS.

**Certifications**: SecNumCloud (French ANSSI qualification), SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, HDS (health data hosting), PCI DSS. SecNumCloud qualification positions OVHcloud for French and EU government workloads.

**Trade-offs**: Fewer managed services than AWS. Developer tooling and documentation are improving but less polished. Smaller community and ecosystem. Some enterprise features (advanced networking, global CDN) are less mature.

**Migration from AWS**: Medium complexity for IaaS workloads. S3-compatible object storage simplifies data migration. Kubernetes workloads port well. AWS-specific PaaS services require replacement or redesign.

Scaleway is a French cloud provider, part of the Iliad Group (one of France's largest telecoms and technology companies).

**Data residency**: EU-only data centres in Paris and Amsterdam. All infrastructure is EU-operated with no US presence.

**Jurisdictional protection**: EU-incorporated, not subject to US CLOUD Act. Backed by Iliad Group's financial stability and long-term commitment to European digital infrastructure.

**Service catalog**: Strong developer-focused offering — managed Kubernetes (Kapsule), serverless containers, serverless functions, managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis), object storage (S3-compatible), GPU instances for AI/ML workloads, and IoT Hub.

**Developer experience**: Scaleway emphasises clean APIs, comprehensive CLI tooling, and developer-friendly documentation. The developer experience is often cited as superior to OVHcloud and competitive with AWS for core services.

**Trade-offs**: Smaller scale than OVHcloud. Fewer data centre regions (currently Paris and Amsterdam). Enterprise support and certifications are less extensive than OVHcloud. Some advanced enterprise networking features are still maturing.

**Migration from AWS**: Medium complexity for standard workloads. Terraform provider available for infrastructure-as-code migration. Kubernetes workloads port directly. Serverless functions require adaptation from Lambda.

**Where EU providers match AWS**: Compute (VMs, bare metal), block and object storage, managed Kubernetes, managed relational databases, container registries, DNS, load balancing, basic networking.

**Where AWS leads**: Serverless ecosystem breadth (Lambda + API Gateway + DynamoDB + Step Functions), AI/ML platform (SageMaker), advanced analytics (Redshift, Athena, QuickSight), IoT platform depth, media services, global network edge presence, breadth of managed database engines.

**Practical migration guidance**: - **Tier 1 — immediate migration candidates**: IaaS workloads, containerised applications, standard databases, static hosting, object storage - **Tier 2 — moderate effort**: Custom serverless functions, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring stacks, queue-based architectures - **Tier 3 — significant redesign**: Deep Lambda/DynamoDB architectures, SageMaker ML pipelines, EventBridge-driven architectures, AWS-specific data lakes

**Cost comparison**: European providers are often price-competitive or cheaper for compute and storage. The total cost equation changes when factoring in the operational overhead of fewer managed services and potentially more self-managed components.

**Public sector and critical infrastructure**: OVHcloud's SecNumCloud qualification and EU-only operation make it the primary choice for French and EU government workloads. Scaleway is equally suitable where SecNumCloud is not required.

**Financial services (DORA)**: DORA requires assessment of ICT concentration risk. Diversifying from AWS to EU providers reduces concentration while improving jurisdictional alignment. Both OVHcloud and Scaleway are credible alternatives for financial workloads.

**Fractional CTOs and enterprise architects**: The structured comparison data in this audit provides procurement-ready evidence for recommending EU cloud migration for sovereignty-sensitive workloads.

**Engineering teams**: Teams should audit AWS service dependencies to classify workloads by migration tier. Kubernetes-based architectures offer the most portable migration path to either EU provider.