The verdict in three sentences
For an organization that must host its institutional website in the EU for GDPR reasons and, increasingly, sovereignty requirements such as France's SecNumCloud, the monthly budget runs from EUR 20 to 300 depending on provider and redundancy, plus EUR 1,500 to 6,000 for migration. OVHcloud and Scaleway are French-law companies not subject to the US Cloud Act, while AWS (Paris or Dublin regions) stores data in the EU but answers to a US parent. For a public website without sensitive data, Scaleway or OVHcloud is enough; for health data or government services, target a SecNumCloud-qualified offer.
The regulatory frame behind the choice
France's "Cloud au centre" doctrine requires public bodies to favor SecNumCloud-qualified offers for sensitive data, and the 2024 SREN law extends this to some operators. GDPR does not ban a US host, but Cloud Act exposure complicates the impact assessment and transfer clauses. The same debate drives Irish public procurement around Dublin.
| Criterion | OVHcloud | Scaleway | AWS Paris / Dublin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headquarters and governing law | France, Roubaix | France, Paris (Iliad group) | United States, Seattle |
| Cloud Act exposure | No | No | Yes |
| SecNumCloud qualification | Yes, Bare Metal Pod and Hosted Private Cloud | In progress on part of the range | No |
| HDS health certification | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data center locations | Gravelines, Roubaix, Strasbourg | Paris (PAR1, PAR2, PAR3) | Paris and Dublin, 3 zones each |
| Published efficiency | Water cooling, PUE around 1.26 | PUE around 1.25 to 1.4 | Via AWS tooling |
2026 pricing for an institutional website
A typical institutional site (headless CMS or WordPress, 50,000 to 300,000 visits a month, database, media storage) runs on one to three instances with a CDN.
| Configuration | OVHcloud | Scaleway | AWS Paris / Dublin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small: 1 instance, built-in database, daily backup | EUR 25 to 45/month | EUR 20 to 40/month | EUR 40 to 70/month |
| Medium: 2 instances, managed database, CDN | EUR 70 to 120/month | EUR 60 to 110/month | EUR 120 to 180/month |
| High availability: multi-zone, replicated database, WAF | EUR 150 to 200/month | EUR 130 to 180/month | EUR 220 to 300/month |
| Contractual SLA | 99.9% to 99.99% | 99.9% to 99.99% | 99.99% multi-zone |
| Data egress cost | Included or very low | Included up to a cap | About EUR 0.09 per GB beyond 100 GB |
| Local-language support | French, English | French, English | Yes, paid beyond basic tier |
The price gap comes mainly from outbound traffic and managed services: on AWS, a spike in annual report PDF downloads can inflate the bill.
What migration costs
| Step | Simple site | Multilingual institutional site | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit and migration plan | EUR 400 | EUR 1,200 | Inventory, dependencies, DNS |
| Infrastructure provisioning (infrastructure as code) | EUR 500 | EUR 1,800 | Terraform, environments |
| Data transfer and testing | EUR 400 | EUR 1,500 | Database, media, redirects |
| DNS cutover and monitoring | EUR 200 | EUR 800 | Night window, rollback planned |
| Documentation and handover | Included | EUR 700 | Runbooks |
| Indicative total | EUR 1,500 | EUR 6,000 | 2026 order of magnitude |
Mini case study
Isabelle, CIO of a 180-staff regional public body, hosts its institutional site on AWS Paris for EUR 210 a month, EUR 2,520 a year, and her data protection officer wants Cloud Act exposure removed. She moves to a medium Scaleway setup at EUR 95 a month with managed database and CDN: EUR 1,140 a year. Migration is billed at EUR 4,800. Annual saving: EUR 1,380, a payback in 3.5 years, but above all a simpler impact assessment and compliance with the sovereignty doctrine demanded by her public funders.
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FAQ
Which host should we choose for an EU institutional website in 2026?
For a public site without sensitive data, OVHcloud or Scaleway at EUR 20 to 200 a month offer the best compliance-to-price ratio. For a public body's sensitive data, choose a SecNumCloud-qualified offer, usually 2 to 3 times more expensive.
Is AWS Paris or Dublin GDPR compliant?
Data stays in the EU and AWS offers suitable contractual clauses, so use is possible. But the parent company remains subject to the Cloud Act, which rules AWS out of tenders requiring immunity from extraterritorial laws.
What does a 99.9% or 99.99% SLA mean?
99.9% allows about 8 h 45 min of downtime a year, 99.99% about 52 minutes. Moving from one to the other often doubles infrastructure cost.
How long does a migration take?
From 1 to 2 weeks for a simple site to 4 to 6 weeks for a multilingual institutional site with integrations. Actual downtime is limited to 15 to 60 minutes during DNS cutover.
Are backups included?
A daily backup is often included or billed at EUR 2 to 10 a month. Require an off-site copy in a second data center and a restore test at least quarterly.
Let's scope your project. Tell us about your site, traffic and GDPR constraints: we will price sovereign hosting and migration, between EUR 1,500 and 6,000, over 2 to 6 weeks. 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.
