The verdict in three sentences
Repatriating hosting from a US cloud to an EU provider (OVH, Scaleway) costs 2,000 to 8,000 EUR in migration and 40 to 200 EUR/month in infrastructure in 2026. The stake is not only technical: it is a direct answer to the GDPR, to data-protection authority guidance and to the legal uncertainty of the US Cloud Act. The key deliverable for the DPO: a data residency clause written into the contract, auditable.
OVH / Scaleway vs US cloud: the comparison
The choice hinges on data location, compliance and cost. Here are 2026 orders of magnitude for a medium-sized site and its database.
| Criterion | US cloud (e.g. AWS us-east) | OVH / Scaleway (EU) |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | USA / multi-region | France / EU guaranteed |
| Cloud Act exposure | High | None (EU law) |
| Monthly hosting | 50-250 USD | 40-200 EUR |
| Residency clause in contract | Rare / optional | Standard |
| Certifications | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | ISO 27001, HDS, SecNumCloud |
| EU user latency | 40-120 ms | 10-40 ms |
For personal or health data, the HDS label (OVH, Scaleway) and SecNumCloud qualification often tip the balance to the EU side.
Migration cost and timeline
Price depends on data volume, the number of services to move (site, database, storage, mail) and the zero-downtime requirement. Here is the typical structure.
| Item | Range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Audit + migration plan | 500-1,500 EUR | 2-4 days |
| Data + database transfer | 800-3,000 EUR | 3-7 days |
| DNS/SSL/CDN reconfiguration | 400-1,500 EUR | 1-3 days |
| Tests + zero-downtime cutover | 300-2,000 EUR | 2-5 days |
| Indicative total | 2,000-8,000 EUR | 2-4 weeks |
These 2026 figures assume a standard site. A multi-service or high-availability architecture pushes toward the top of the range.
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Mini case study
Sophie, DPO of a B2B health SME in Berlin, hosts 40 GB of patient data on a US cloud. The internal audit flags a Cloud Act risk incompatible with her client commitments. She budgets a migration to Scaleway (HDS label) at 5,500 EUR, 3-week timeline, hosting 140 EUR/month. The gain is not only compliance: latency drops from 95 ms to 22 ms, and the EU residency clause unlocks 2 public tenders that required it, for a 180,000 EUR pipeline. The migration pays back on the first signature.
FAQ
Does the GDPR ban hosting outside the EU? Not outright, but it strictly governs transfers outside the EU. Since the Privacy Shield was struck down, hosting in the EU remains the safest and simplest option to document.
What is the Cloud Act? A US law letting US authorities access data held by US companies, even stored in Europe. Hence the value of an EU-law provider.
Who needs HDS and SecNumCloud? HDS is mandatory to host health data in France. SecNumCloud is an ANSSI qualification required for certain sensitive and public contracts.
Does migration cause downtime? A well-prepared cutover (low-TTL DNS, prior sync) happens with a few minutes of downtime, or none. Count 2 to 5 days of testing before cutover.
What is the monthly cost premium? Often neutral or lower: OVH and Scaleway are competitive (40 to 200 EUR/month). The real cost is the one-off initial migration.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your current host, data volume and compliance obligations, and we will price the migration and draft the residency clause. 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.
