Compare Open Telekom Cloud and UpCloud on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure
Germany· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist when you need a German Telekom/T-Systems OpenStack public cloud with DE/NL/CH regions and a strong BSI C5/ISO/TISAX package for regulated or public-sector workloads. Skip when you need hyperscaler global PaaS breadth or pure self-hosted OpenStack—consider OVHcloud, Scaleway, or AWS/Azure for those cases.
Finland· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist UpCloud when you want Finnish-contracted IaaS with MaxIOPS storage, CNCF Managed Kubernetes, managed open-source databases, and customer-pinned EU regions—plus optional global PoPs. Skip when you need hyperscaler-only PaaS depth or the absolute lowest bare-metal VPS pricing; consider Hetzner, Scaleway, or AWS/Azure/GCP depending on that gap.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Germany | Finland |
| Category | Cloud Computing | Cloud Computing |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Germany | Finland |
| Legal entity | T-Systems International GmbH (Deutsche Telekom group); product marketed as T Cloud Public / Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud Oy (Business ID 2431560-5), Aleksanterinkatu 15 B, 00100 Helsinki |
| Governing law | German / EU law for the cloud service (confirm contract) | Finland (Terms of Service; arbitration Helsinki) |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Low | Medium |
| Hosting / residency | Primary: Telekom/T-Systems twin-core data centers in Germany (Biere/Magdeburg), Netherlands (Amsterdam region), and Switzerland (Bern/Zollikofen). No public indication that AWS, Azure, or GCP is the primary IaaS host. Backups/DR via platform multi-AZ services. Full public subprocessor table not found—request DPA annex. Historical Huawei technology partnership is supply-chain diligence, not US-cloud hosting. | Customer-selected regions across 15 DCs (EU majority: FI, SE, NO, DK, DE, NL, ES, PL, UK; plus US-CHI/NYC/SJO, SG, AU) in colocations (Equinix, Digital Realty, CoreSite, Telia, Verne, Green Mountain, etc.). Customer Data stays in chosen DC. Vendor: EU VMs have no customer-data subprocessors; group subsidiaries only otherwise. Account data in Finland with global support access (incl. US/SG). Payments/hCaptcha are separate third parties. |
| Summary | Deutsche Telekom / T-Systems sovereign European public cloud (now marketed as T Cloud Public): OpenStack-based IaaS and platform services in Germany, Netherlands, and Swiss regions with BSI C5, ISO, and SOC attestations. | Finnish IaaS from UpCloud Oy (Helsinki): MaxIOPS block storage, Cloud Servers, managed Kubernetes and databases across 15 global regions with customer-selected residency. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| HQ / operator | Germany — T-Systems / Deutsche Telekom | Not listed |
| Current brand | T Cloud Public (formerly Open Telekom Cloud) | Not listed |
| Platform | OpenStack-based public cloud | Not listed |
| Regions | Germany (Biere/Magdeburg), Netherlands, Switzerland | 15 DCs / 12 countries (EU-heavy + US/APAC) |
| Commercial model | Pay-as-you-go (+ optional discounts/reservations) | Hourly pay-as-you-go; trial credits; zero-cost egress policy |
| Self-host | No — managed public cloud | Not listed |
| HQ | Not listed | Helsinki, Finland |
| Legal entity | Not listed | UpCloud Oy (2431560-5) |
| Founded | Not listed | 2011 |
| Open source | Not listed | No (platform proprietary) |
| Self-hosted | Not listed | No (public/private cloud IaaS) |
| Key capabilities | Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated (T-Systems) | Yes | Not listed |
| OpenStack public IaaS | Yes | Not listed |
| BSI C5 Type II (claimed) | Yes | Not listed |
| DE / NL / CH regions | Yes | Not listed |
| GPU + ModelArts AI | Yes | Not listed |
| Pay-as-you-go | Yes | Not listed |
| Finnish-operated IaaS | Not listed | Yes |
| MaxIOPS block storage | Not listed | Yes |
| CNCF Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | Yes |
| ISO 27001 (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
| Selectable EU regions | Not listed | Yes |
| Zero-cost egress policy | Not listed | Yes |
OpenStack public cloud with Elastic Cloud Server and GPUs
Self-service IaaS on OpenStack: Elastic Cloud Server flavors from general-purpose to GPU shapes for AI/ML and graphics, plus Dedicated Host and Bare Metal where the region supports them. Provision via console, API, or automation; Auto Scaling for metric-driven capacity. Suited to production VMs and hybrid patterns that need European operator control rather than a thin VPS plan.
Multi-AZ object, block, and file storage in EU regions
Object Storage Service provides S3-compatible multi-AZ object storage; Elastic Volume Service attaches block disks with snapshots; Scalable File Service offers NFS shared filesystems. Cloud Backup and Recovery and related services back up VMs and volumes into platform object storage. Pin workloads to DE, NL, or Swiss regions according to residency policy.
VPC networking, Direct Connect, and security services
Virtual Private Cloud isolation, Elastic Load Balancer, VPN, NAT, Enterprise Router, and Direct Connect for high-bandwidth hybrid links. Security stack includes Anti-DDoS, WAF, Cloud Firewall, Host Security Service, and Key Management Service with bring-your-own-key options—useful for regulated network architectures without leaving Telekom-operated regions.
Cloud Container Engine and managed data services
Cloud Container Engine runs Kubernetes-managed clusters and images; companion services cover container instances and registries. Relational Database Service supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL with HA and backup patterns; document, cache (Redis-class), MapReduce, and search services extend the data plane. Service availability differs between DE and NL—check the regional matrix before design freezes.
ModelArts and sovereign AI positioning
ModelArts provides an end-to-end AI development path (data prep, training, deployment) on European infrastructure, with GPU-backed instances for training and inference. Aimed at teams that want model and training-data residency under the same European operator as their IaaS—confirm which AI services exist in your chosen region (several AI offerings are DE-focused).
Twin-core European data centers (DE, NL, CH)
Published regions: twin-core Germany (Biere/Magdeburg), Netherlands (Amsterdam area), and Switzerland (Bern/Zollikofen) for Swiss data residency. Vendor claims geo-redundant twin-core design, high availability targets, and renewable-powered German facilities. Not a global multi-continent footprint—by design for European sovereignty shortlists.
MaxIOPS clustered block storage
In-house all-flash block tier rated up to ~100,000 read IOPS at 4K, separate from compute hosts, with Standard and Archive tiers for capacity. Attach up to 16 devices per server (up to 64 TB total); encryption at rest optional. Suits databases and I/O-heavy apps that outgrow commodity cloud disks.
Cloud Servers on AMD EPYC with automation
Linux/Windows VMs with Starter, Premium, and Cloud Native plan families, hot resize options, firewall, utility and SDN private networking. Full lifecycle via control panel, REST API, CLI, Terraform/OpenTofu, Pulumi, and Crossplane—for teams automating fleets rather than clicking one-off VPS.
CNCF Managed Kubernetes (UKS)
Managed control planes with CNCF-certified Kubernetes versions, autoscaler integration, CSI block volumes, load-balancer integration, and private-only clusters. Worker nodes use ordinary Cloud Server plans including Private Cloud hosts—good fit when you want K8s without running etcd yourself.
Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, OpenSearch
Turnkey databases with automated backups, multi-node HA options, private utility/SDN connectivity, and point-in-time recovery on relational plans. Reduces ops load for product teams that still want open engines rather than proprietary hyperscaler databases.
Customer-selected global regions (EU-first footprint)
Fifteen data centers across twelve countries: dense Northern/Central Europe (Helsinki x2, Stockholm, Stavanger, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Warsaw, London) plus US, Singapore, and Sydney. Customer Data stays in the chosen zone unless you request a move—use EU zones for residency programmes.
Zero-cost egress packaging and 99.999% SLA line
Public pricing emphasises no per-GB internet egress charges under a Fair Transfer Policy, plus Premium-class 99.999% SLA with service credits for unscheduled downtime. Simplifies bills for chatty APIs and multi-service architectures compared with classic egress meters—confirm fair-use limits for extreme transfer cases.
| Assurance & compliance | Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not applicable IaaS platform—not a no-logs consumer VPN. Independent assurance is via ISO/SOC/C5-style audits rather than a no-logs report. | Vendor claimed Vendor states cloud services audited against Finnish PiTuKri criteria by an independent firm; ISO 27001 ISMS regularly audited. Public PiTuKri report not fully reproduced on marketing pages—request artefacts. |
| ISO 27001 | Vendor claimed Vendor certifications page links ISO/IEC 27001 umbrella certificate PDF for download; re-verify serial/date in procurement. | Vendor claimed Vendor asserts ISO 27001 certified ISMS and publishes certificate PDF; independent registry re-check not completed in this draft. |
| ISO/IEC 27017 (cloud security) | Vendor claimed Claimed with downloadable attestation PDF on certifications page. | Not listed |
| ISO/IEC 27018 (cloud PII) | Vendor claimed Claimed with downloadable attestation PDF on certifications page. | Not listed |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Vendor claimed SOC 2 Type II (request report); SOC 3 public PDF linked on certifications page. SOC 1 Type II also claimed. | Not found Facility providers list SOC reports; no clear first-party UpCloud SOC 2 Type II product claim found on compliance pages reviewed. |
| BSI C5 Type II | Vendor claimed Vendor claims BSI C5:2020 Type II (ISAE 3000); detailed report typically on request via audit-reports download flow. | Not listed |
| TISAX Level 3 | Vendor claimed Vendor states TISAX Level 3 for Germany and Netherlands regions. | Not listed |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed EU operator, EU/CH regions, ISO 27018/27701 claims, DPA language on marketing pages—confirm signed DPA for your entity. | Vendor claimed Finnish controller/processor under GDPR; customer chooses region; DPA in ToS; CISPE Code of Conduct adherence claimed. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Partial German Telekom/T-Systems operator, no known US parent of the cloud business, primary hosting on Telekom EU/CH data centers (not AWS/GCP/Azure). Not a legal clearance of zero extraterritorial risk. Historical Huawei tech partnership is separate supply-chain diligence. Not legal advice. | Partial Finnish entity / no known US parent; EU-region VMs can avoid US storage. Material exceptions: optional US DCs, US/SG support affiliates for account ops, US colocations if selected. Assessment not a vendor safety claim. Not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Vendor claimed Vendor GDPR pages state DPA, TOMs, and audit reports available for B2B; obtain current signed pack—not fully self-serve public template verified here. | Vendor claimed DPA incorporated into Terms of Service; binding on acceptance without separate signature per vendor. |
| EU AI Act | Partial Platform offers AI services (ModelArts) that may fall under customer AI Act obligations; OTC itself is infrastructure—not an automated high-risk AI system assessment by EuropeanStack. | Not applicable General-purpose IaaS/platform; not an AI system provider by primary product. |
| CISPE Code of Conduct | Not listed | Vendor claimed Vendor states adherence to CISPE data protection code for cloud infrastructure providers. |
| Considerations & known limitations | Open Telekom Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Huawei technology partnership | Medium Platform launched with Huawei hardware/software partnership; residual stack components may still matter for sensitive public-sector RFPs. T-Systems states independent operation. Review supply-chain docs under NDA. | Not listed |
| Service catalog differs by region | Medium Several services (e.g. ModelArts, bare metal, some database/analytics SKUs) are unavailable in NL or limited to DE. Design against the live regional matrix, not the full marketing list. | Not listed |
| Limited public subprocessor table | Low Unlike some SaaS vendors, a complete public subprocessor inventory was not found on marketing pages. Request DPA annex and subcontractor list before high-assurance processing. | Not listed |
| Smaller global ecosystem than AWS/Azure/GCP | Low Expect fewer regions, fewer proprietary PaaS services, and a smaller marketplace than US hyperscalers. Migration tools and partner ecosystem exist but differ in depth. | Not listed |
| Brand transition OTC → T Cloud Public | Low Documentation, console URLs, and community still mix Open Telekom Cloud and T Cloud Public names. Factor rebrand into runbooks and vendor risk registers. | Not listed |
| Optional non-EU regions and support access | Not listed | Medium US, Singapore, and Sydney zones are first-class options. Mis-pinned workloads or defaults can place Customer Data outside the EU. Account information is accessible to non-EEA support staff even when VMs stay in Europe. |
| Narrower catalogue than hyperscalers | Not listed | Low Strong IaaS and focused managed services; missing many proprietary AWS/Azure/GCP PaaS and AI products. Multi-cloud or dual-vendor designs may still be required. |
| Limited public SOC 2 for UpCloud entity | Not listed | Medium ISO 27001 and PiTuKri claims are published; a customer-facing SOC 2 Type II for UpCloud itself was not found. Enterprise questionnaires may need NDA artefacts or reliance on ISO plus facility reports. |
| Colocation facility dependency | Not listed | Low Platform runs in third-party data centres. Facility certifications differ by site; treat them as complementary to UpCloud’s own ISMS, not a substitute for vendor due diligence. |
| Fair Transfer Policy on zero egress | Not listed | Low Zero-cost egress is a commercial differentiator but is governed by a Fair Transfer Policy—extreme or abusive transfer patterns may fall outside the marketing promise. Validate for CDN-scale or bulk egress designs. |
When: You need extensive bare-metal catalogs and a very large multi-country EU footprint
Consider: OVHcloud
Different operator (France) and product packaging; compare bare-metal and region maps.
When: You prefer developer-centric European cloud packaging outside the Telekom stack
Consider: Scaleway or Exoscale
Scaleway for FR/NL-oriented developer UX; Exoscale for Swiss multi-zone IaaS + managed K8s.
When: You need global regions, marketplace depth, or proprietary PaaS only hyperscalers provide
Consider: AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
Accept US-parent CLOUD Act exposure and multi-region complexity in exchange for breadth.
When: You want German-market hosting adjacency with a different commercial/product mix
Consider: IONOS
Often compared for German buyers; validate IaaS depth vs OTC enterprise cloud features.
When: You need cheaper raw compute or dedicated servers more than managed K8s packaging
Consider: Hetzner
Often stronger on price for VPS/dedicated; compare managed service depth separately.
When: You want a broader French/EU public-cloud portfolio or different regional SKUs
Consider: OVHcloud or Scaleway
Different product breadth and commercial culture; still European-operated peers.
When: You need hyperscaler-managed platforms, global enterprise contracts, or deep marketplace ecosystems
Consider: AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure
Trade European HQ simplicity for catalogue depth and global account teams.
When: You want a compact European cloud with Swiss roots and a tighter region set
Consider: Exoscale
Compare region map and managed feature parity to UpCloud’s 15-DC footprint.