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Exoscale

European public cloud (IaaS) from Swiss operator Akenes SA (A1 Digital): multi-zone compute, managed Kubernetes (SKS), DBaaS, object and block storage, and GPUs across CH, DE, AT, BG, and HR.

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Exoscale is a European public-cloud IaaS platform operated by Akenes SA, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. The brand has been a member of A1 Digital (A1 Telekom Austria Group) since the late 2010s, so the legal operator is Swiss while group scale sits with an Austrian telecom parent.

It exists for teams that want multi-zone European compute without a US hyperscaler. The stack includes KVM instances, Scalable Kubernetes Service, managed databases, S3-compatible object storage, block storage, and GPUs.

The concrete differentiator is that Swiss operator plus published zones in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Croatia. It is classic IaaS, not a thin VPS shop.

EU/CH zones onlySwiss operator (Akenes SA)Managed Kubernetes (SKS)Managed DBaaSISO 27001/27017/27018 (claimed)Per-second pay-as-you-go

Shortlist Exoscale when you need multi-country European IaaS (CH/DE/AT/BG/HR zones), managed Kubernetes and open-source DBaaS under a Swiss operator in the A1 Telekom Austria group. Skip when you need hyperscaler global PaaS depth or bare-metal-first catalogs—consider OVHcloud or Scaleway instead, or AWS/Azure/GCP for worldwide regions.

Key capabilities

Launch KVM instances in published zones across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Families cover standard, CPU-, memory-, and storage-optimized profiles plus NVIDIA GPU shapes; anti-affinity groups, instance pools, snapshots, custom templates, security groups, and live migration support production patterns. Billed per second with powered-off storage semantics as documented.

Scalable Kubernetes Service deploys a managed control plane quickly (vendor claims under about a minute to two minutes). Starter is free without SLA; Pro adds HA control plane, etcd backups, and SLA language. Node pools use Exoscale instance types including GPUs; NLB, CSI storage, autoscaling/Karpenter (Pro), and vanilla CNCF-conformance positioning keep the stack portable.

Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, OpenSearch, Valkey, Grafana, and related engines run as DBaaS with automated backups, plan scaling, and high-availability options. Orchestration subprocessor is Aiven Oy (Finland); database instances run on Exoscale infrastructure in the zone you choose—confirm geo-replication and plan limits in docs before multi-region designs.

Simple Object Storage provides S3-compatible APIs for backups, media, and app assets integrated with Exoscale IAM and zones. Block storage attaches persistent NVMe-class volumes to instances and Kubernetes via CSI for stateful workloads without tying data solely to local disks.

Fine-grained IAM on API keys, private networks, and network load balancers support multi-tier designs. Portal, CLI, API, and Terraform-friendly workflows match common European DevOps practice without requiring a proprietary control language.

At a glance

HQ
Lausanne, Switzerland
Legal entity
Akenes SA (CHE-423.524.322)
Group
A1 Digital / A1 Telekom Austria Group
Hosting
European zones only (CH, DE, AT, BG, HR)
Model
Public cloud IaaS + managed K8s/DBaaS
Self-host
No (managed public cloud)

Best fit when

  • Teams that must pin VMs, Kubernetes, and object storage to named European zones (including Swiss options)
  • SaaS and product orgs wanting SKS plus managed PostgreSQL/MySQL/Kafka/OpenSearch without running the control planes
  • Buyers who need a published DPA, zone list, and multi-framework compliance pack from a non-US legal entity
  • Workloads that fit IaaS plus managed open-source data services rather than proprietary global PaaS catalogs
  • Organizations evaluating A1 Digital / A1 Telekom Austria group cloud as a European alternative to AWS/Azure/GCP

Poor fit when

  • Products that depend on dozens of proprietary hyperscaler services or multi-continent active-active regions
  • Buyers who require zero US-group SaaS anywhere on the account path (privacy lists AWS archival, Twilio, PayPal for ops)
  • Teams seeking a fully self-hosted OpenStack/Kubernetes distribution rather than a managed public cloud
  • Bare-metal-heavy designs better served by large European bare-metal catalogs (e.g. OVHcloud)

Consider instead when

  • When: You need extensive bare-metal or a different pan-EU hosting footprint

    Consider: OVHcloud

    Often stronger metal catalog and broader hosting packaging; different sovereignty and product mix.

  • When: You want a developer-centric alternative with a different regional product mix

    Consider: Scaleway

    Common EU shortlist peer; compare zones, K8s, and storage packaging side by side.

  • When: You need global regions and deep proprietary PaaS/AI catalogs

    Consider: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform

    Trade European-operator simplicity for worldwide service breadth and US CLOUD Act parent risk.

Jurisdiction & ownership

Legal entity
Akenes SA, Boulevard de Grancy 19A, 1006 Lausanne, Switzerland (CHE-423.524.322); member of A1 Digital International GmbH & Co KG / A1 Telekom Austria Group
Governing law
Swiss law (DPA: canton of Vaud jurisdiction language)
US parent / control
No known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)
Medium
Hosting / residency
Customer compute/storage/SKS on Exoscale European zones (CH-GVA-2, CH-DK-2, DE-FRA-1, DE-MUC-1, AT-VIE-1/2, BG-SOF-1, HR-ZAG-1); DBaaS orchestrated by Aiven Oy (Finland) on Exoscale compute. Client ops third parties include AWS (US) data archival, Twilio (US) auth, PayPal (US) payments—privacy policy states customer-uploaded service data is not sent to those ops providers.

No known US parent (Austrian telecom group). CLOUD Act exposure rated medium because US-group SaaS appears on the published client/ops path, not because workloads are hosted in US regions. Indicative only — not legal advice.

  • Independent security / control auditPartial
  • ISO 27001Vendor claimed
  • ISO 27017 (cloud security)Vendor claimed
  • ISO 27018 (cloud PII)Vendor claimed
  • +8

Considerations & known limitations

  • MediumUS third parties on client/ops path

    Privacy policy lists AWS (US) data archival, Twilio (US) authentication, and PayPal (US) among client operations providers. Vendor states customer-uploaded service data is not transferred to these providers, but account/ops data paths still matter for CLOUD Act and transfer diligence.

  • LowDBaaS subprocessor (Aiven)

    Managed databases depend on Aiven Oy (Finland) for orchestration while instances run on Exoscale. Confirm contractual chain, access model, and zone placement for sensitive data.

  • LowCert evidence mostly in customer portal / NDA

    ISO/SOC/C5/HDS claims are strong marketing signals, but full certificates and SOC reports typically require Compliance Center access or NDA—not fully public PDFs for all frameworks.

  • MediumNarrower PaaS than hyperscalers

    Expect solid IaaS, SKS, DBaaS, storage, and GPU—not the global proprietary service catalog of AWS/Azure/GCP. Validate feature gaps early for serverless, global edge, and specialized managed services.

  • LowZone catalog evolves

    Public materials discuss further European expansion (e.g. Spain via A1 Digital messaging). Treat the live datacenters page as source of truth for residency commitments.

Open questions for due diligence

  • Download current ISO/SOC/C5/HDS certificates from the Compliance Center and verify auditor, scope, and expiry for your zones.
  • Confirm whether your use case can accept AWS/Twilio/PayPal on the account/ops path even if workload data stays on European Exoscale zones.
  • For DBaaS, document Aiven access boundaries, encryption, backup locations, and multi-zone replication behavior in writing.
  • If Spanish or other new zones are required, get contractual residency language rather than relying on roadmap announcements.
  • Clarify support plan SLAs and enterprise contracting terms beyond self-serve pay-as-you-go.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Published zones are European only: Geneva and Zurich (Switzerland), Frankfurt and Munich (Germany), two Vienna sites (Austria), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Zagreb (Croatia). Choose a zone at deploy time; workloads are intended to remain in that zone’s facility. Confirm any cross-zone replication you enable yourself (object storage replication, multi-zone DBaaS, etc.) so residency matches policy.

For compute, storage, and SKS, Exoscale’s privacy tables currently list no third-party data processor for service data. DBaaS lists Aiven Oy (Finland) for orchestration on Exoscale compute. Separately, Exoscale’s client operations providers include AWS (US) for data archival, Twilio (US) for authentication, and PayPal (US) among payment options—the privacy policy states uploaded customer service data is not transferred to those ops providers. Still review the live subprocessor tables and DPA for your risk model; do not treat EU zones as identical to zero US SaaS on the account path.

Yes—a public Data Processing Addendum is published for Akenes SA as processor (Swiss law; Vaud jurisdiction language in the DPA). The compliance site claims ISO 27001/27017/27018, SOC 2, BSI C5, HDS, CSA STAR, and related frameworks, with certificates available in the customer Compliance Center (some materials under NDA). Treat cert status as vendor-asserted until your reviewer downloads current PDFs.

Core infrastructure is usage-based with per-second billing for compute and related metered resources—no long-term commit required for standard self-serve consumption. Inbound and inter-node/cross-zone traffic rules are productized (confirm current free allowances on the official site). SKS Starter provides a free control plane without SLA; Pro is paid with HA/SLA features. New accounts may receive trial credit. Always use the vendor calculator for figures; EuropeanStack does not republish retail prices.

Prefer OVHcloud when you need extensive bare-metal catalogs or a different multi-country EU footprint. Prefer Scaleway when Paris/Amsterdam-centric developer packaging or that provider’s product mix fits better. Prefer Exoscale when CH/DE/AT (+ BG/HR) zones, SKS + Aiven-orchestrated DBaaS on the same European platform, and A1 Digital group affiliation matter for your shortlist. Hyperscalers remain the default if you need global regions and deep proprietary PaaS.