Scaleway vs SiteGround

Elastic Metal Bare Metal Servers

Elastic Metal provides on-demand bare metal instances like Aluminium, Iridium, and GPU-equipped Titanium models. Deployment takes minutes via API, with models tailored for general compute, storage-intensive tasks, or AI. Users avoid virtualization overhead for better performance in databases or gaming servers. Models start around €0.02 per hour, with full root access and custom images.

GPU Instances and AI Tools

High-end GPUs such as NVIDIA L40S, H100, and B300-SXM support AI training and inference. Custom GPU clusters scale for large models. Additional AI services include generative APIs and managed inference. These integrate with Kubernetes for orchestration, serving needs from startups to research labs without vendor lock-in.

Managed Kubernetes, Databases, and Storage

Kapsule offers managed Kubernetes clusters, while Kosmos enables multi-cloud setups. Databases cover PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, and ClickHouse as managed services. Storage options include object (S3-compatible), block, and Glacier for archiving. Serverless Functions, Containers, and Jobs handle event-driven workloads. All scale automatically.

Renewable Data Centers and Networking

Nine data centers consume renewable energy, hitting a 1.15 PUE. Locations ensure low latency in Paris (multi-AZ), Amsterdam, and Warsaw. Networking features private VPCs, load balancers, WAF, and global anycast IPs. Tools like CLI and Terraform simplify management.

Customer-chosen Google Cloud data center

You pick a SiteGround location at signup and can relocate later from the Client Area (per site on shared plans, per plan on Cloud). Documented European data-center cities include Madrid, Eemshaven, Frankfurt, Paris, and London. US and APAC locations exist on the same map. The fleet runs on Google Cloud. This is not an EU-only host.

SuperCacher (NGINX, Dynamic Cache, Memcached)

SiteGround's own caching stack: NGINX Direct Delivery for static files, Dynamic Cache in RAM for generated pages, and Memcached for database and API objects. All clients manage it in Site Tools > Speed > Caching. It is a host-level accelerator, not a substitute for application-level cache plugins when you need custom rules.

Site Tools instead of cPanel

The company replaced cPanel with its in-house Site Tools panel for DNS, email, PHP, SSL, Git, backups, and caching. Useful if you want a single vendor UI. Poor fit if your runbooks assume WHM/cPanel, standard cPanel plugin hooks, or reseller WHM.

WordPress staging on mid-tier and Cloud plans

A one-click staging copy, edit, and push-to-live flow is documented for GrowBig, GoGeek, and Cloud. The company says it takes an automatic backup before a staging push. StartUp is not listed as including this tool. Pair with the SiteGround Security plugin if you want the vendor's WP hardening pack.

Daily backups with self-serve restore

Site Tools > Security > Backups lists automatic daily copies: up to 30 on shared plans, up to 7 on Cloud. Restores can be full or files/database only. Academy copy says shared backups are stored in a geographically separate location. Premium Backup is a paid add-on. Destination cloud for those copies is not published as a separate provider list.

Server-level WAF and AI anti-bot

The company describes a custom WAF with rules written by its security team for common CMS exploits, plus an AI anti-bot layer that it says blocks large volumes of brute-force traffic before it hits customer sites. These are vendor-operated controls, not a customer-auditable WAF appliance you can export rules from.