gridscale vs OVHcloud

Compare gridscale and OVHcloud on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.

Both listed as alternatives to: Amazon Web Services (AWS), DigitalOcean, Microsoft Azure

gridscale

Germany· Cloud Computing

Needs review

Shortlist when you need a German GmbH cloud with EU/CH/AT location choice, managed Kubernetes/databases, and Hybrid Core white-label HCI. Skip when you need global hyperscaler coverage or pure lowest-cost VMs—consider Hetzner for cost-sensitive compute or AWS/Azure for worldwide breadth; use OVHcloud parent portfolio when scale across more European regions is the priority.

EU-operated (DE entity)Multi-country EU/CH locationsManaged KubernetesHybrid Core HCIBSI C5 (claimed)OVHcloud group

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OVHcloud

France· Cloud Computing

Needs review

Shortlist OVHcloud when you need a European-owned IaaS/bare-metal stack with SecNumCloud/HDS options and multi-continent regions you control per project. Skip when you need hyperscaler platform depth, or when even optional US subsidiaries/regions are a procurement red line—consider Scaleway for leaner French cloud or Hetzner for simpler dedicated/VPS estates.

EU-operated (global regions)Bare Metal + Public CloudOpenStack Public CloudSecNumCloud Private CloudAnti-DDoS includedEU / US / CA / APAC

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Highlighted rows differ between the two products.

gridscale vs OVHcloud: Snapshot
Feature	gridscale	OVHcloud
Country of origin	Germany	France
Category	Cloud Computing	Cloud Computing
Open source	No	No
Self-hosted	No	No
Headquarters	Germany	France
Legal entity	gridscale GmbH, Oskar-Jäger-Straße 173, 50825 Köln (HRB 97235, Amtsgericht Cologne)	OVH SAS / OVH Groupe (Roubaix); regional entities include OVH US LLC for US services
Governing law	German law (GTC; English GTC for information only—German prevails)	French/EU law for EU contracts; US terms apply for OVH US LLC-contracted services
US parent / control	No known US parent	No known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Medium	Medium
Hosting / residency	Customer infrastructure marketed on European Tier 3 locations (Frankfurt multi-AZ, Eichenzell, Hannover, Paderborn, Amsterdam, Gais, Lucerne, Vienna); some Hybrid Core sites partner-operated (hosttech, rhöncloud, BAIONITY, windCORES). Privacy policy also lists US-group ancillary processors: Stripe (payments), Google Analytics/GTM, Microsoft Bing Ads, Meta, LinkedIn; Mautic on-prem DE; Recruitee NL. No public claim that primary VM storage runs on AWS/GCP/Azure.	Own global infrastructure: EU regions (FR including Paris 3-AZ, DE Limburg, PL Warsaw, UK Erith, IT Milan 3-AZ, many Local Zones); US (Vint Hill VA, Hillsboro OR); Canada (Beauharnois, Toronto); APAC (Singapore, Sydney, Mumbai). Primary hosting is OVH-operated, not AWS/GCP resale. Optional non-EU regions are first-class products.
Summary	Cologne-based German IaaS/PaaS and Hybrid Core HCI cloud (OVHcloud group) with European locations, managed Kubernetes, and white-label private cloud options for DACH teams.	French cloud and infrastructure group (Roubaix): Bare Metal dedicated servers, OpenStack Public Cloud, Hosted Private Cloud (incl. SecNumCloud), and Web Cloud on OVH-operated datacentres across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
Tags	cloud api iaas paas kubernetes hybrid-cloud hci german-cloud data-sovereignty	cloud api infrastructure bare-metal openstack gdpr secnumcloud european-cloud

At a glance: gridscale vs OVHcloud
At a glance	gridscale	OVHcloud
HQ	Cologne, Germany	Roubaix, France (OVH SAS / OVH Groupe)
Legal entity	gridscale GmbH (HRB 97235)	Not listed
Parent	OVHcloud (100% since Sept 2023)	Not listed
Hosting	European Tier 3 sites DE/NL/CH/AT (+ partners)	Not listed
Commercial model	B2B; trial then per-minute usage metering	Hourly/monthly public cloud; dedicated server subscriptions; free public cloud trial credits (vendor)
Open source	No (API/IaC clients only)	Not listed
Founded	Not listed	1999 (Octave Klaba)
Hosting model	Not listed	Own datacentres and network; multi-region IaaS/bare metal
Open source product?	Not listed	No (OpenStack-based public cloud uses open APIs)
Notable certs (claimed)	Not listed	ISO 27001 family, SOC 1/2/3, HDS, SecNumCloud (Private Cloud), PCI DSS

Key capabilities: gridscale vs OVHcloud
Key capabilities	gridscale	OVHcloud
EU-operated (DE entity)	Yes	Yes
Multi-country EU/CH locations	Yes	Not listed
Managed Kubernetes	Yes	Not listed
Hybrid Core HCI	Yes	Not listed
BSI C5 (claimed)	Yes	Not listed
OVHcloud group	Yes	Not listed
Bare Metal + Public Cloud	Not listed	Yes
OpenStack Public Cloud	Not listed	Yes
SecNumCloud Private Cloud	Not listed	Yes
Anti-DDoS included	Not listed	Yes
EU / US / CA / APAC	Not listed	Yes

gridscale

Panel + API + Terraform provisioning
Deploy VMs with attached storage in seconds via the control panel or automate with the REST API and common IaC clients (Terraform, Packer). Built for teams that want both click-ops and git-ops without a hyperscaler control-plane learning curve.
Managed Kubernetes, databases, and load balancers
PaaS layers cover managed Kubernetes orchestration plus fully managed databases with audit logs and automatic backups, and managed load balancers for traffic distribution—so app teams avoid running the full stack themselves.
S3-compatible object storage and Rocket NVMe storage
Object storage follows S3-style APIs for backups, archives, and unstructured data, with region choice called out for GDPR-oriented placement. Rocket Storage targets high-IOPS NVMe workloads; not every Hybrid Core location exposes object storage—check the data-center matrix.
Per-minute GPU bare-metal for AI/ML
GPU instances are marketed as dedicated bare-metal performance for AI/ML and data science, with CPU, RAM, and storage included and usage billed by the minute rather than only long-term reserved shapes.
Hybrid Core Concierge HCI and white-label cloud
Fully managed hyperconverged packages combine hardware delivery, installation, remote operations, white-label branding/SAML options, and access to the wider gridscale location ecosystem—aimed at enterprises and hosters building private or partner clouds.

OVHcloud

Bare Metal dedicated servers (in-house hardware)
Physical servers assembled and operated by OVHcloud across ranges such as Advance, Scale, High Grade, and Game—full CPU/RAM/storage without a hypervisor layer. Water cooling and hardware lifecycle are part of the industrial model. Best for performance-sensitive, virtualisation, gaming, or large single-tenant workloads where you administer the OS.
OpenStack Public Cloud and managed PaaS
On-demand compute, multi-class object storage (S3-compatible API), block/file storage, managed databases, Kubernetes/container services, networking, and data/AI platforms. Deploy via Control Panel or OpenStack APIs with 1-AZ or 3-AZ region options (for example Paris and Milan). Suited to cloud-native and hybrid automation without US hyperscaler lock-in.
Hosted Private Cloud with SecNumCloud path
VMware-based Hosted Private Cloud (and related stacks) for dedicated virtualisation estates. Selected Private Cloud offerings hold French ANSSI SecNumCloud qualification, with customer data under European regulation and hosting in French sites (Roubaix, Gravelines, Strasbourg)—relevant for French public sector and sensitive workloads under Cloud at the Center doctrine.
Global multi-region footprint (EU, US, CA, APAC)
Own datacentres and regions spanning Europe (France, Germany, Poland, UK, Italy, many Local Zones), North America (Vint Hill VA, Hillsboro OR, Beauharnois and Toronto in Canada), and Asia-Pacific (Singapore, Sydney, Mumbai and related offerings). Choose residency for latency and law; do not assume EU-only by default.
Anti-DDoS and vRack private networking included
Network-integrated anti-DDoS mitigation is standard across services. vRack provides private L2 networking across eligible OVHcloud locations so bare metal, public, and private cloud can interconnect without public exposure. Public bandwidth is typically unmetered in Europe and North America with fair-use rules; Asia-Pacific often uses lower default bandwidth and monthly traffic caps—verify per SKU.

Assurance & compliance: gridscale vs OVHcloud
Assurance & compliance	gridscale	OVHcloud
Independent security / no-logs audit	Not applicable IaaS/PaaS provider—not a no-logs VPN product. Request penetration-test or SOC-style reports under NDA if required.	Not applicable IaaS/hosting provider, not a no-logs VPN product. Security is covered via ISO/SOC programme rather than a public no-logs audit.
ISO 27001	Vendor claimed Vendor compliance pages and chronology claim ISO/IEC 27001; obtain current certificate for verification.	Vendor claimed Vendor compliance pages assert ISO/IEC 27001 (with 27017/27018) for cloud services and datacentres; US pages reference Schellman certificate directory. Confirm current scope per product and region.
ISO 27017 (cloud security)	Vendor claimed Compliance page links a certificate PDF download; treat as vendor-published evidence until auditor validates.	Not listed
ISO 27018 (cloud PII)	Vendor claimed Claimed on compliance/about materials; request current scope.	Not listed
SOC 2 / SOC 3	Not found No public SOC 2 found; vendor promotes ISAE 3402 SOC 1 Type 2 instead (different standard).	Vendor claimed Vendor asserts SSAE 18 Type 2 SOC 1, SOC 2 (+NIST), and SOC 3 attestations; reports available to prospective customers under vendor process.
ISAE 3402 SOC 1 Type 2	Vendor claimed About chronology highlights successful ISAE 3402 SOC 1 Type 2 (incl. January 2025 call-out). Request full report.	Not listed
BSI C5	Vendor claimed Prominently listed on compliance pages; About chronology pairs C5 with January 2025 certification success. Request current attestation.	Not listed
GDPR / EU data protection	Vendor claimed German controller (gridscale GmbH); European location marketing; privacy policy under DS-GVO. Confirm DPA and location selection for your processing.	Vendor claimed EU headquartered; GDPR compliance asserted; DPA documents published for relevant subsidiaries. Residency depends on chosen region.
US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Partial EU entity, no known US parent (OVHcloud France owns group). Customer hosting marketed in EU/CH/AT. Partial because privacy recipient list includes US-group Stripe, Google Analytics/GTM, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn for payments/marketing. Not legal advice.	Partial French group with no known US parent, but operates US datacentres (Vint Hill, Hillsboro) and OVH US LLC. Medium indicative exposure: EU-region workloads on EU contracts differ from US-region workloads. Not legal advice.
Data processing agreement (B2B)	Vendor claimed GTC §14.2 requires a separate order-processing contract when gridscale processes personal data for the customer, finalised at latest on contract conclusion. Execute AV/DPA—do not rely on website privacy alone.	Vendor claimed Published DPAs form part of terms (e.g. OVH SAS Europe paths; separate US DPA for OVH US LLC). Obtain the DPA matching your contracting entity.
EU AI Act	Not applicable Infrastructure cloud; not an AI system product. GPU capacity may host customer AI workloads under shared-responsibility model.	Not applicable Core product is IaaS/bare metal/hosting; AI/ML platforms are optional infrastructure offerings, not a single AI system product under typical procurement framing.
Trusted Cloud (DE)	Vendor claimed Compliance page links Trusted Cloud service listing; verify current entry on trusted-cloud.de.	Not listed
ANSSI SecNumCloud	Not listed	Vendor claimed Hosted Private Cloud (VMware on OVHcloud and related) holds SecNumCloud qualification; hosted in French sites (Roubaix, Gravelines, Strasbourg). Not all products are SecNumCloud-qualified.
HDS (French health data hosting)	Not listed	Vendor claimed Vendor lists HDS certification for healthcare data hosting options; confirm which products and locations are in scope.
PCI DSS	Not listed	Vendor claimed Vendor asserts PCI DSS Level 1 certification for payment data hosting—confirm applicability to your architecture.

Considerations & known limitations: gridscale vs OVHcloud
Considerations & known limitations	gridscale	OVHcloud
Parent-group integration after OVHcloud acquisition	Medium 100% OVHcloud ownership since 2023 may change roadmap, tooling, support model, or cross-entity data flows over time. Confirm entity, subcontractors, and exit terms for your contract generation.	Not listed
Partner-operated Hybrid Core locations	Medium Some sites are operated with partners (hosttech, rhöncloud, BAIONITY, windCORES, etc.). Capability matrices differ (for example object storage not everywhere). Map exact location codes to SLA and subprocessor wording.	Not listed
US-group ancillary processors (account/marketing)	Medium Privacy policy lists Stripe, Google Analytics/GTM, Microsoft Bing Ads, Meta, and LinkedIn. Material for DPIAs even when VM disks stay in EU halls. Ask which tools touch production account identities versus marketing only.	Not listed
Certifications need current attestation packs	Low BSI C5, ISAE 3402, and ISO claims are vendor-published. Production security reviews should obtain dated reports rather than relying on marketing badges alone.	Not listed
Narrower global footprint than hyperscalers	Low Location set is European-weighted. Unsuitable as a drop-in for multi-continent latency or hyperscaler-only services (global CDN marketplaces, specialized managed services).	Not listed
US regions and US subsidiary	Not listed	Medium US East/West datacentres and OVH US LLC mean CLOUD Act and US process risk apply to US-placed data and some contracts. EU-only deployment reduces this but buyers must enforce region and contracting path.
2021 Strasbourg datacentre fire (resilience history)	Not listed	Medium A major fire at SBG caused widespread customer outages. Treat multi-AZ/multi-region backup design as mandatory for critical data; do not rely on single-site assumptions.
Certification scope is product- and region-specific	Not listed	Medium ISO, SOC, HDS, SecNumCloud, and PCI claims do not automatically cover every SKU and location. Procurement should request the exact report for the services ordered.
APAC bandwidth and traffic rules differ	Not listed	Low Vendor documents unmetered traffic exceptions for Asia-Pacific (lower default bandwidth and monthly volume caps vs Europe/North America). Model egress and bandwidth options for APAC workloads.
Broad catalogue complexity	Not listed	Low Bare Metal, Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and Web Cloud under one brand can confuse account structure, IAM, and billing. Define landing-zone standards early.

Fit

gridscale

Best fit when

DACH mid-market teams wanting German contracting plus managed PaaS (Kubernetes, databases, load balancers)
MSPs and hosters needing white-label branding, multi-tenant accounts, and optional Hybrid Core hardware
Workloads that must pick DE/NL/CH/AT regions with Tier 3 marketing claims and green-energy positioning
AI/ML or data-science jobs that need GPU bare-metal with per-minute metering
Buyers who value panel + API/Terraform over hyperscaler IAM sprawl

Poor fit when

Global multi-region applications that need hyperscaler edge, marketplace services, or non-European regions
Teams optimising only for lowest bare VM or dedicated-server unit cost (evaluate Hetzner first)
Buyers requiring public SOC 2 Type II specifically rather than ISAE 3402 SOC 1 Type 2 / BSI C5 packs
Organisations that forbid any US-group ancillary processors (Stripe/Google marketing tools appear in the privacy recipient list)

Consider instead when

When: You need the broader European hyperscale portfolio and more regions under one group brand
Consider: OVHcloud
OVHcloud is the parent group; gridscale stays the HCI/panel-focused product line
When: Cost-sensitive VMs or dedicated servers dominate and you do not need Hybrid Core white-label
Consider: Hetzner
Hetzner typically wins raw price/performance for simple compute
When: France-centric developer cloud with different location and product skew
Consider: Scaleway
Compare ARM options and FR footprint versus gridscale DACH Hybrid Core
When: Swiss-rooted EU cloud positioning is the primary evaluation criterion
Consider: Exoscale
Still compare DE/CH site maps and managed service depth side by side
When: You need worldwide regions, marketplace depth, or US-public-sector cloud programmes
Consider: Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure
Trade EU-entity simplicity for hyperscaler breadth and US ownership path

OVHcloud

Best fit when

Teams wanting European ownership with optional global regions (EU, US, Canada, APAC) under one operator
Workloads that need exclusive Bare Metal performance or hybrid bare metal + OpenStack/vRack designs
French public sector or sensitive estates needing ANSSI SecNumCloud-qualified Hosted Private Cloud paths
Organisations standardising on OpenStack APIs and S3-compatible object storage for reversibility
Sites that benefit from network-integrated anti-DDoS and private multi-site networking as defaults

Poor fit when

Buyers who require the deepest managed AI/marketplace/IAM ecosystems of AWS, Azure, or GCP
Policies that forbid any provider with US legal entities or US datacentre options regardless of region selection
Teams seeking the simplest low-SKU VPS experience—Hetzner or similar may fit better
Anyone assuming EU-only residency without selecting and enforcing EU regions in architecture

Consider instead when

When: You want a leaner French public cloud with a strong developer product surface and less enterprise sovereign packaging
Consider: Scaleway
Often simpler for cloud-native teams; confirm region and compliance fit.
When: You primarily need price-performance VPS or dedicated servers with a smaller catalogue
Consider: Hetzner
Strong for lean estates; different sovereign/cert posture and global region set.
When: You need maximum managed-service breadth, global account tooling, and partner marketplace density
Consider: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
Hyperscalers win platform depth; accept US ownership and CLOUD Act parent exposure.
When: You want German SMB hosting plus cloud IaaS with EU and some non-EU options
Consider: IONOS
Different product mix and compliance packaging than OVHcloud's bare-metal industrial model.

Open questions for due diligence

gridscale

Will gridscale execute your template AV/DPA and attach a location-specific subprocessor list for the regions you enable?
What is the current scope and report date for BSI C5 and ISAE 3402 SOC 1 Type 2 covering the services you will buy?
Which privacy-policy third parties process production account/identity data versus website marketing only?
How are OVHcloud group affiliates involved in support, billing, or platform operations for gridscale customers post-acquisition?
For Hybrid Core partner sites, who is the data-center operator of record and what audit rights apply?

OVHcloud

Which contracting entity and DPA (EU OVH SAS path vs OVH US LLC) will apply to our account?
Which exact products/regions are in scope for the ISO/SOC/HDS/SecNumCloud certificates we need?
What is our multi-region DR design given historical single-site fire risk?
Are any non-OVH subprocessors used for our specific managed services (support, monitoring, payments) beyond OVH-operated infrastructure?
Do APAC or Local Zone bandwidth/SLA terms meet our traffic profile?