The verdict in three sentences
For a B2B website with contact forms, a VPS or managed instance at OVHcloud or Scaleway (20 to 120 EUR a month) answers 90 % of the GDPR and CLOUD Act questions raised by public-sector clients. A SecNumCloud-grade offer (300 to 1,500 EUR a month) is only justified when the site processes sensitive data or a tender explicitly requires it. A US hyperscaler (50 to 400 EUR a month) remains defensible with an EU region and standard contractual clauses, but you will have to document it in every client audit.
The real issue: who can access the data
The CIO of a mid-sized Amsterdam manufacturer receives a precise question from a public client: "are your contact forms subject to the CLOUD Act?". The US CLOUD Act lets US authorities demand data held by an American company, even when hosted in Europe. A host under French, Dutch or other EU law with no US parent is not subject to it.
| Criterion | OVHcloud / Scaleway standard | SecNumCloud offer | Hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP) EU region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applicable law | European | French, immune to non-EU law | US + European |
| CLOUD Act exposure | No | No | Yes |
| Data location | EU (incl. Netherlands) | France | EU (chosen region) |
| GDPR transfer basis | None needed | None needed | Data Privacy Framework + SCCs |
| Security certification | ISO 27001 | ANSSI SecNumCloud | ISO 27001 (no sovereignty label) |
| Monthly price, B2B site | 20 to 120 EUR | 300 to 1,500 EUR | 50 to 400 EUR |
| Paperwork in client audits | Low | Very low | Medium to high |
The website is only part of the issue. Forms often send data to a US CRM, emailing tool or anti-spam service. Hosting the site in the EU without reviewing those processors solves nothing.
Full budget for sovereign hosting
| Item | Budget option | Recommended mid-size option | SecNumCloud option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site hosting (VPS or PaaS) | 20 EUR/month | 80 EUR/month | 600 EUR/month |
| European CDN (Bunny, OVHcloud, Scaleway Edge) | 20 EUR/month | 60 EUR/month | 200 EUR/month |
| Managed database | 15 EUR/month | 45 EUR/month | 250 EUR/month |
| Off-site backups | 5 EUR/month | 20 EUR/month | 80 EUR/month |
| EU forms and transactional email (Brevo, Mailjet) | 0 to 25 EUR/month | 40 EUR/month | 80 EUR/month |
| Managed services and monitoring | 0 EUR | 250 EUR/month | 600 EUR/month |
| Monthly total | 60 to 85 EUR | 495 EUR | 1,810 EUR |
| Initial migration | 1,500 EUR | 3,000 EUR | 5,000 EUR |
The recommended option for a mid-sized company puts the site, database and forms with European providers, with managed services guaranteeing security updates. The gap with a well-configured hyperscaler lies mainly in how simple your audit answers become.
Performance and availability: no forced trade-off
| Indicator | OVHcloud / Scaleway + EU CDN | Hyperscaler + global CDN |
|---|---|---|
| Server response from Amsterdam | 30 to 80 ms | 30 to 70 ms |
| Response from Dakar or Casablanca | 120 to 180 ms | 90 to 150 ms |
| Contractual availability | 99.9 to 99.99 % | 99.9 to 99.99 % |
| Restore time from backup | 15 to 60 min | 15 to 60 min |
| Achievable Core Web Vitals score | 90+ | 90+ |
For a B2B site with a European audience, the performance difference is negligible. It only matters if 30 % or more of traffic comes from Asia or the Americas.
Mini case study
Pieter, CIO of an aerospace subcontractor near Amsterdam (420 staff), must answer a public-sector buyer. His current site runs on a hyperscaler at 180 EUR a month, with forms linked to a US CRM.
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He picks the recommended option: 495 EUR a month, 3,000 EUR migration, and moves the forms to an EU-hosted CRM. Extra annual cost: (495 minus 180) times 12, so 3,780 EUR, plus migration. In return, the public client's security questionnaire drops from 3 days of work to half a day, and the target contract is worth 1.2 million euros over 3 years. The first-year total of 6,780 EUR is 0.6 % of that contract.
FAQ
Is an AWS EU region enough for GDPR?
Legally yes, thanks to the Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses. But it does not answer the CLOUD Act question, which 30 to 40 % of public buyers ask in 2026.
Is SecNumCloud mandatory for public clients?
Not for a marketing website. Sovereignty requirements target sensitive government data, not a supplier's website.
How long does a migration take?
Allow 1 to 3 weeks for a 50 to 200 page B2B site, with under 15 minutes of downtime during the DNS switch.
Should we change analytics too?
It is advisable. Self-hosted Matomo or Plausible (EU) cost 10 to 50 EUR a month and avoid one more transfer.
Are European hosts less reliable?
No. Availability commitments are equivalent, 99.9 to 99.99 %. The point to watch is redundancy: choose backups in a second datacentre, for 5 to 20 EUR a month.
Let's scope your project. Describe your site, your forms and your clients' requirements, and we will price the right hosting and a 1 to 3 week migration. 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.
