GDPR-Compliant EU Hosting for a B2B Website in Berlin: OVH vs AWS (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For the IT lead of a Berlin company, hosting a B2B website and customer portal without transfers outside the EU costs 20 to 220 EUR per month at Hetzner, 30 to 300 EUR at OVHcloud and 80 to 600 EUR on AWS Frankfurt in 2026, for a comparable scope. Price matters less than two legal questions: exposure to extraterritorial laws (the US CLOUD Act) and the BSI C5 attestation that German public and regulated customers increasingly request. Whatever you choose, require 30-day backups stored outside the primary zone and a documented restore test.

The three hosts compared for a Berlin B2B company

A Berlin B2B company typically processes customer contacts, contracts and invoices, sometimes with integrations to an ERP. The hosting choice therefore drives GDPR compliance, the processing agreement under Article 28 and, for some clients, procurement requirements such as C5 or ISO 27001.

For a public site and a customer portal with standard business data, all three options are defensible under the GDPR if the processing agreement is solid. When a large German client or a public body requires C5, AWS or another C5-attested provider becomes the practical choice; when the concern is the CLOUD Act, a European-law provider simplifies the transfer impact assessment.

Detailed monthly budget for an equal scope

Assumption: 60-page public site, customer portal for 5,000 accounts with 1,200 active per month, managed database, 30-day backups and a staging environment.

These figures exclude managed operations, often the real cost driver: budget 600 to 1,800 EUR per month for monitoring, security patching and on-call support, whichever host you pick.

Backups, exit and audit: the clauses to require

Three clauses make the difference on the day of an incident. First, a written backup policy: daily, kept 30 days, stored in another zone than production, with a restore test at least twice a year. Second, an exit clause specifying the data export format and recovery timeline at contract end, which the EU Data Act reinforces for cloud switching from 2025. Third, an audit right compatible with your clients' supplier questionnaires and, for financial sector clients, with DORA requirements on ICT third parties.

Mini case study

Illustrative example: Jonas, IT lead of a 120-employee industrial supplier in Berlin, compares two scenarios over three years. AWS Frankfurt scenario: 420 EUR per month, which is 15,120 EUR, plus a legal review on CLOUD Act transfers estimated at 3,500 EUR. Hetzner scenario with a third-party CDN and WAF: 180 EUR per month, which is 6,480 EUR, but 4 extra hours of internal ops per month at 70 EUR, which adds 10,080 EUR. The gap narrows to about 2,000 EUR, so the decision rests on whether his largest customers require C5, which in his case tips the choice to AWS.

FAQ

How much does GDPR-compliant EU hosting cost for a B2B website in 2026?

Market estimate: 100 to 220 EUR per month at Hetzner, 150 to 300 EUR at OVHcloud and 320 to 600 EUR on AWS Frankfurt for a mid-sized site and portal. Managed operations add 600 to 1,800 EUR per month.

Is AWS Frankfurt GDPR compliant?

Data stays in Germany, but AWS is subject to the US CLOUD Act. The 2023 EU-US Data Privacy Framework covers part of the risk, and many German firms still prefer a European-law provider to keep the transfer assessment simple.

What is BSI C5 and do we need it?

C5 is the German federal cloud security attestation. It is mandatory for many federal authorities and increasingly requested by regulated clients; if 20% or more of your revenue comes from such clients, factor it into the choice.

Which backup retention should we choose?

A reasonable minimum is 30 days of daily retention with a copy outside the production zone. For accounting and contract data, a monthly archive over 12 months is recommended, in line with German retention rules.

How long does a migration to a new host take?

Plan 4 to 8 weeks for a site and customer portal, including testing and an overnight cutover. Rehearse the database migration one week before the switch.

Let's scope your project. Describe your site, your customer portal and your contractual constraints, and we will scope the architecture, the hosting choice and the migration timeline in a free quote. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.