The verdict in three sentences
As soon as an application stores patients' health data, it must run on infrastructure that meets health-grade hosting standards: HDS certification is mandatory for French patients, and Dutch healthcare buyers expect NEN 7510 alignment. For a digital health startup in Amsterdam, budget EUR 450 to 1,500 per month on OVHcloud's certified offering or EUR 300 to 1,200 on AWS (Paris or Frankfurt region), plus a one-off EUR 6,000 to 15,000 excl. VAT for GDPR compliance. A standard non-certified offer, such as Scaleway at EUR 150 to 600 per month, only suits environments with no real health data.
Hosting providers compared in 2026
The prices below are for a production application serving 5,000 to 50,000 patients: 2 to 4 application servers, a managed PostgreSQL database, object storage and backups.
| Criterion | OVHcloud HDS | AWS (Paris or Frankfurt) | Scaleway (standard offer) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative monthly cost | EUR 450 to 1,500 | EUR 300 to 1,200 | EUR 150 to 600 |
| Health hosting certification | Yes, dedicated scope | Yes, eligible services | Not on the chosen setup |
| Data location | EU (France) | EU | EU (France, Netherlands) |
| Exposure to extraterritorial law | Low, European company | US company, Cloud Act | Low, European company |
| Managed database | Yes | Yes, very complete | Yes |
| Admin complexity | Medium | High, many services | Low |
| Recommended use | Production with health data | Production, if AWS team | Staging, synthetic data |
Add a staging environment (30 to 40% of production cost) and off-site backup storage with a second provider (EUR 30 to 120 per month).
GDPR obligations and their cost
Certified hosting is not enough: the software publisher remains responsible for its application's compliance. Here is a typical budget for initial compliance.
| Obligation | Deliverable | Cost excl. VAT 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Records of processing | Sheets per purpose, retention periods | EUR 800 to 2,000 |
| DPIA (impact assessment) | Risk analysis, measures, DPO opinion | EUR 2,000 to 5,000 |
| Encryption | TLS, encryption at rest, key management | EUR 1,000 to 3,000 |
| Off-site backups | 3-2-1 policy, quarterly restore tests | EUR 800 to 2,000 |
| Access logging | Logs, alerts, 6 to 12 month retention | EUR 800 to 2,000 |
| Contract documentation | Data processing agreements, privacy policy | EUR 600 to 1,000 |
| Total compliance | 4 to 8 weeks | EUR 6,000 to 15,000 |
Then plan for an outsourced DPO at EUR 300 to 900 per month and an annual penetration test at EUR 4,000 to 10,000, often required by hospital clients.
The right order of decisions
Map your data first: if no identifiable health data is stored (for example a simple practitioner directory), certified health hosting is not required. Otherwise, choose the certified provider before writing infrastructure code, because migrating after go-live costs EUR 5,000 to 20,000 and requires a downtime window. Use a non-certified provider for development environments, with synthetic data only.
Mini case study
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Lea, founder of an Amsterdam remote monitoring startup for diabetic patients in the Netherlands and France, expects 12,000 patients in year one. Her CTO is weighing AWS (estimated EUR 780 per month) against OVHcloud HDS (EUR 920 per month). With staging at 35% and off-site backups at EUR 60 per month, annual cost would be EUR 13,360 on AWS versus EUR 15,620 on OVHcloud. Lea chooses OVHcloud because two prospect university hospitals require a provider not subject to the Cloud Act: the EUR 2,260 annual gap is covered by a single EUR 18,000 per year contract. She adds EUR 9,500 of compliance work. First-year budget: EUR 25,120, or EUR 2.09 per patient.
FAQ
Is certified health hosting mandatory for a digital health app?
For French patients, yes, as soon as you host personal health data on behalf of third parties. Under GDPR, fines can reach 4% of global annual turnover.
How much does certified health hosting cost for a startup?
Budget EUR 450 to 1,500 per month on OVHcloud HDS for production, and EUR 300 to 1,200 on AWS eligible services. A small application can start under EUR 500 per month.
Can we use Scaleway for a health application?
For development and staging with synthetic data, yes, at EUR 150 to 600 per month. For production with real data, you need a certified health hosting scope.
What is a DPIA and how much does it cost?
It is a mandatory impact assessment for large-scale processing of sensitive data. It costs EUR 2,000 to 5,000 and takes 2 to 4 weeks.
How long does it take to be production-ready?
Plan 4 to 8 weeks for GDPR compliance and 2 to 3 weeks for certified infrastructure, in parallel. Start both at least 2 months before your go-live date.
Let's scope your project. Describe your data, patient volume and target clients: we will price certified hosting, EUR 6,000 to 15,000 of compliance work and the infrastructure, with a 6 to 8 week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
