The verdict in three sentences
For a mid-sized company's corporate website, hosting rarely exceeds 20% of the annual budget: application maintenance and the quality of the contract make the difference. A European VPS (OVHcloud, TransIP, Leaseweb) at 15 to 60 EUR a month is enough if a competent team runs it, managed Scaleway at 40 to 150 EUR a month reduces operational load, and AWS with a CDN at 80 to 400 EUR a month makes sense for international traffic or heavy peaks. Before signing, demand a quantified SLA, backups restored in a test and a precise exit clause.
Hosting options compared in 2026
| Criterion | European VPS (OVHcloud, TransIP) | Managed Scaleway | AWS with CloudFront CDN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative monthly cost | 15 to 60 EUR excl. VAT | 40 to 150 EUR excl. VAT | 80 to 400 EUR excl. VAT |
| System administration | Yours or your agency's | Partly handled | Yours, managed services optional |
| Data location | Netherlands, France, Germany | Amsterdam, Paris, Warsaw | Frankfurt or Ireland regions, US group |
| CLOUD Act exposure | No, European companies | No, European company | Yes, US company |
| Advertised availability SLA | 99.9% depending on range | 99.9% to 99.95% depending on service | 99.9% to 99.99% depending on service |
| Global CDN | Optional | Optional | Native, 600+ points of presence |
| Best fit | Corporate site with steady traffic | Company without an ops team | International group, traffic peaks |
Prices are public 2026 estimates excluding exceptional traffic. On AWS the bill moves with outbound bandwidth: a site with 300,000 page views a month often stays under 150 EUR, but a video campaign can double it.
On sovereignty, if the site hosts a careers portal, an extranet or forms collecting sensitive data, the GDPR and your internal policy may call for a European provider; the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) expects transfers outside the EU to be documented. For a purely editorial site, AWS remains defensible if transfers are recorded in your processing register.
The maintenance contract: what must be in writing
Agency maintenance costs 300 to 1,500 EUR excl. VAT a month in the Randstad, depending on included hours. Price matters less than what is guaranteed in writing.
| Clause | Minimum acceptable | Recommended for a mid-sized company |
|---|---|---|
| Response time for a blocking outage | 8 business hours | 2 hours, 7 days a week |
| Backup frequency | Daily | Daily, plus before every release |
| Backup retention | 7 days | 30 days, copy at a second provider |
| Restore test | Not planned | Quarterly, with a written report |
| Security updates | Monthly | Within 72 hours for a critical flaw |
| Exit terms | Code handover | Code, database, access, documentation and 5 days of support |
| SLA breach penalties | None | 5 to 10% of the monthly fee per incident |
Exit terms are the most neglected clause. Without them, switching provider takes 2 to 3 months and often costs the equivalent of 6 months of maintenance. Insist that domain names, hosting accounts and the code repository are registered to your company from day one.
As a benchmark, Kolonell maintenance plans cost 50, 110 and 180 EUR a month (35,000, 75,000 and 120,000 FCFA) for the Basic, Standard and Premium levels, covering updates, backups and uptime monitoring.
Mini case study
Sanne, IT director of a 400-employee industrial company in Amsterdam (illustrative example), currently pays 250 EUR a month for premium shared hosting and 1,200 EUR a month for agency maintenance, or 17,400 EUR a year, with no restore test and no exit clause.
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She compares two scenarios. Managed Scaleway at 120 EUR a month plus maintenance at 600 EUR a month: 8,640 EUR a year, saving 8,760 EUR. A European VPS at 40 EUR a month with the Kolonell Premium plan at 180 EUR a month: 2,640 EUR a year, provided she accepts a smaller volume of interventions. In both cases she requires a quarterly restore test and ownership of every access.
FAQ
Does a Dutch corporate website need a CDN?
If more than 30% of visits come from abroad or you publish video, yes. A CDN costs 10 to 50 EUR a month for a mid-sized site and cuts load times outside the Netherlands by 30 to 60%.
What uptime should we target?
99.9% means about 8 h 45 of downtime a year, enough for a corporate site. For a client extranet, aim for 99.95%, or 4 h 20 a year.
How many maintenance hours should we plan?
A corporate site of 50 to 150 pages uses 4 to 10 hours a month on average. Beyond 12 regular hours, renegotiate the plan or consider a rebuild.
Can we switch hosts without downtime?
Yes, with a prepared DNS switch: lower the TTL to 300 seconds 48 hours ahead, keep a synchronised copy, then switch. Visible downtime falls below 5 minutes.
Does the GDPR require hosting in the Netherlands?
No, it requires hosting in the EU or safeguards for transfers. For sensitive data, a European host greatly simplifies compliance.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current contract and monthly traffic: we will price suitable hosting and Kolonell maintenance from 35,000 to 120,000 FCFA a month (50 to 180 EUR), with SLA and exit terms in writing. 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.
