The verdict in three sentences
Moving from a US host to a European provider (OVHcloud, Scaleway, Hetzner, Infomaniak in Switzerland) rarely costs more: a properly sized business website runs at 20 to 80 EUR per month on a VPS, or 150 to 600 EUR per month with fully managed hosting. The real cost is the migration, budget 800 to 2,500 EUR depending on the number of forms, CRM integrations and subdomains. The payoff is mainly GDPR compliance: form submissions and backups stored in the European Union, with a provider not subject to the US Cloud Act.
Why a CFO is finally looking at website hosting
For years, website hosting was a 30 EUR line on a company card. In 2026, three reasons put it on the CFO's desk. Contact and job application forms collect personal data (CVs, phone numbers, quote requests) covered by GDPR. Public tenders and large accounts now ask for data located in the EU, sometimes with SecNumCloud qualification for certain lots. Finally, the cyber insurer asks about backups, retention periods and restore time.
A European host solves data location, but not everything: you also need an identified GDPR processor (Article 28 contract), an up-to-date record of processing and tested backups.
Comparison of EU hosting options (2026)
| Option | Indicative 2026 price | Best for | What stays on your side |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting (OVHcloud Perso/Pro, o2switch) | 5 to 15 EUR/month | Brochure site < 5,000 visits/month | CMS updates, application security |
| VPS (OVHcloud VPS, Scaleway Instances) | 20 to 80 EUR/month | WordPress or Next.js, 5,000 to 100,000 visits/month | System admin, patches, monitoring |
| Managed cloud (Scaleway Serverless, Clever Cloud) | 40 to 200 EUR/month | Apps with traffic peaks | Application code |
| Fully managed (agency or MSP) | 150 to 600 EUR/month | SMEs without dedicated IT | Approving changes |
| SecNumCloud-qualified cloud (Outscale, OVHcloud Bare Metal Pod) | 800 to 3,000 EUR/month | Public sector, health, defense | Qualification project |
| European CDN (Bunny.net, OVHcloud CDN) | 1 to 30 EUR/month | Any image-heavy site | Cache configuration |
For an 80-employee SME with a brochure site, a careers section and a quote form, the most common setup is VPS + European CDN + off-site backups, roughly 60 to 120 EUR per month all in, or managed hosting at 250 EUR per month if nobody in-house wants to run a server.
What the migration really costs
| Migration item | 2026 range (EUR, excl. VAT) | Indicative duration |
|---|---|---|
| Audit of current setup (DNS, email, integrations) | 300 to 600 | 1 to 2 days |
| Copy of site and database | 200 to 500 | 1 day |
| Reconfiguring forms, CRM, analytics | 200 to 800 | 1 to 3 days |
| DNS switch and SSL certificates | 100 to 300 | 0.5 day |
| 30-day off-site backups | 100 to 300 | 0.5 day |
| Load testing and acceptance | 200 to 500 | 1 day |
| Total migration | 800 to 2,500 | 1 to 3 weeks |
Watch out: email is often hosted with the website at the old provider. Migrating both at once doubles the outage risk. Best practice is to split the two projects, with the email switch scheduled on a Friday evening.
Compliance checklist to demand from the host
| Requirement | What to obtain | Recommended minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | Named datacenter (Roubaix, Paris, Frankfurt) | EU only |
| Processing agreement | Signed GDPR Article 28 annex | Mandatory |
| Backups | Retention and storage location | 30 days, separate site |
| Availability | Contractual SLA | 99.9% (about 8 h 45 downtime/year) |
| Restore | Tested recovery time | Under 4 h |
| Certification | ISO 27001, HDS if health data | ISO 27001 |
| Jurisdiction | EU-law company, not a US subsidiary | Recommended |
Mini case study
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Claire, CFO of an 80-employee manufacturing SME in Lyon, currently pays 95 EUR per month for managed hosting with a US provider, plus 40 EUR per month for a backup plugin. She moves to a Scaleway VPS at 45 EUR per month, a European CDN at 10 EUR, and light managed services at 150 EUR per month including monitoring and a restore test every quarter. Monthly cost: 205 EUR versus 135 EUR before, i.e. 840 EUR more per year, plus a 1,600 EUR migration.
In return, the company can now pass the security questionnaires of two automotive clients that required EU hosting. A single contract worth 60,000 EUR of annual margin pays for everything in under a month.
FAQ
Is a European host slower than a US host?
Not for a European audience: a server in Paris or Roubaix answers in 10 to 30 ms versus 80 to 120 ms from the US East Coast. With a European CDN under 30 EUR per month, load times often drop below 2 seconds.
Does GDPR forbid US hosting?
Not formally, the 2023 Data Privacy Framework allows some transfers. But it remains contested, and many public tenders and large accounts require 100% EU hosting in 2026, which makes it a sales criterion.
How long is the site down during migration?
With a prepared DNS switch (TTL lowered to 300 seconds 48 h before), downtime is usually under 15 minutes. Forms are frozen for a few hours to avoid losing requests.
Do we need HDS certification?
Only if the site hosts health data (medical booking, patient records). HDS hosting costs about 2 to 4 times a standard VPS in 2026.
Can we keep WordPress?
Yes, WordPress runs on every host listed. The migration is also a chance to move to PHP 8.3, remove unused plugins and shrink the attack surface.
Let's scope your project. We audit your current hosting and price the move to a European provider, with an indicative budget of 800 to 2,500 EUR and a switch in 1 to 3 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.
