OVHCLOUD · TECH
OVHcloud: French hoster with four ISO certifications, SecNumCloud, A100/H100 options
OVHcloud operates data centres in Roubaix, Strasbourg, Frankfurt and London. ISO 27001/27701/27017/27018, SecNumCloud-certified, GPU with A100/H100.
Researched & fact-checked by: DuneDive LLC · As of: 2026-05
What is OVHcloud?
OVHcloud (formerly OVH) is a French cloud provider headquartered in Roubaix, founded in 1999 by Octave Klaba, listed on the Paris stock exchange since 2021 (Euronext Paris). As of May 2026 OVHcloud operates 33 own data centres across four continents, the majority in France (Roubaix, Strasbourg, Gravelines, Limoges) and Germany (Frankfurt), plus Poland, UK, Italy, Spain, Canada, USA, Singapore and Australia. The group is majority-owned by the Klaba family and is therefore one of the few European cloud providers without US parent and without hyperscaler holding.
The product portfolio is broad. Dedicated servers (Rise, Advance, Scale, High Grade) from EUR 36/month for entry models up to over EUR 2000/month for high-spec configurations. Public cloud on OpenStack from EUR 5/month for a small VM. Hosted Private Cloud (managed VMware) as an enterprise offering with dedicated hardware. Web hosting, domain registrar, email hosting, CDN, anti-DDoS, object storage (S3 API). Managed Kubernetes service, managed databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Kafka). GPU instances with NVIDIA A100, H100, and L4 in several European regions.
Four ISO certifications form the regulatory backbone: ISO 27001 (information security management), ISO 27701 (privacy management per GDPR), ISO 27017 (cloud service security), ISO 27018 (personal data protection in the cloud). This combination is rare in the European cloud market and positions OVHcloud as a regulatorily heavily documented provider.
As of May 2026 OVHcloud is also SecNumCloud-certified. SecNumCloud is the French high-security standard (ANSSI) that, among other things, mandates CLOUD Act immunity – data and processing must be entirely under EU law, and the provider must not be subject to a US subpoena. For French authorities, sensitive industrial mandates and EU AI Act compliant high-risk AI applications, that is a clear quality signal.
Why it matters
Three points make OVHcloud interesting for the Swiss and EU market: regulatory depth without hyperscaler prices, broad regional choice with clear EU residency, and GPU availability for AI workloads.
Regulatory depth: four ISO certificates plus SecNumCloud lift OVHcloud above standard EU hoster level. For an EU AI Act high-risk AI application (Art. 6 + Annex III), the compliance posture is unambiguous. For a FINMA outsourcing application, extensive documentation exists. For a standard nFADP mandate, the contract package easily suffices.
No US parent: OVHcloud is a French SAS with French majority. A US subpoena has no direct access path. For mandates under professional secrecy Art. 321 SCC that is relevant – the TIA discussion drops entirely for EU regions. That is a clear advantage over Exoscale (Akamai US parent) for non-CH mandates.
Broad regional choice: 33 data centres, of which over 20 in the EU. Anyone building redundant multi-region setups has real options: primary in Frankfurt, DR in Strasbourg, backup in Roubaix. Egress between OVHcloud regions is free within the same internet zone, which makes multi-region architectures markedly cheaper.
GPU availability: NVIDIA A100-80GB from about EUR 3/hour, H100 from about EUR 4.50/hour, L4 cards for smaller workloads from EUR 0.88/hour. Several regions with GPU capacity (Frankfurt, Roubaix, Strasbourg). In the EU comparison OVHcloud sits at RunPod price level, with clear EU residency and ISO certification.
Price-wise OVHcloud sits between Hetzner and Exoscale. A comparable VM is about 1.5-2x more expensive than Hetzner, but markedly cheaper than Infomaniak or Exoscale. Anyone needing EU residency with managed services and GPU finds the most cost-efficient position at OVHcloud.
How it works
Ordering: through the portal ovhcloud.com or directly in the Manager web interface. Account creation with European VAT logic, payment by credit card or SEPA direct debit. Dedicated server provisioning typically 1-3 hours, public cloud VM in 60-120 seconds, managed Kubernetes in 5-10 minutes.
Sample prices May 2026: Dedicated Rise-1 (Intel Xeon E-2386G, 32 GB RAM, 2x 512 GB NVMe): EUR 79/month. Advance-2 (AMD Epyc, 128 GB RAM, 2x 1.92 TB NVMe): EUR 230/month. Public cloud b3-8 (8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD): EUR 96/month (Frankfurt). GPU L4-90 (1x NVIDIA L4): EUR 638/month. GPU H100-180 (1x H100): EUR 3.10/hour at current list. Managed Kubernetes Service: EUR 0.06/hour for cluster control plane, plus node costs as standard VMs. Managed Postgres from EUR 30/month for Hobbyist tier.
Network: every public cloud instance has a public IPv4 and IPv6. Dedicated servers additionally get a classic IPv4 subnet (/29 included). Anti-DDoS is included free on every server tier (game DDoS filter is offered separately). Bandwidth typically 1 Gbit/s or 10 Gbit/s depending on the server, with no egress surcharge up to 250 TB/month – beyond that EUR 2.50 per TB. In the hyperscaler comparison that is a clear cost advantage.
Storage: local NVMe or SAS HDD depending on the server. Public cloud instances have block storage from EUR 0.04/GB/month. Object storage (standard) from EUR 0.007/GB/month. Cold storage (archive) from EUR 0.002/GB/month. Backup service with automatic snapshot management available.
Contract details: public cloud contracts are billed monthly with month-end cancellation, dedicated servers typically with a one-month minimum, long-term contracts get rebates. DPA per GDPR Art. 28 is generated in the Manager interface. SecNumCloud-certified regions can be selected separately.
Migration: a typical migration path from AWS or Azure to OVHcloud takes 2-7 days depending on complexity. Hosted Private Cloud (VMware) allows lift-and-shift for legacy VMs, public cloud migrations run via image import or container redeploy.
OVHcloud setup for an EU AI stack in 5 steps
- 01Create an account at ovhcloud.com, register company details, choose payment method (credit card or SEPA), generate the DPA in the Manager.
- 02Choose region: Frankfurt for DACH proximity, Strasbourg for French mandates, Roubaix for SecNumCloud requirements.
- 03Set server sizing: public cloud b3-8 for test workloads, Dedicated Advance-2 for production with dedicated hardware, GPU L4-90 or H100 as needed.
- 04Initial hardening: SSH on a non-default port, ufw, CrowdSec, cloud-init scripts for automatic setup, anti-DDoS active.
- 05Roll out Docker Compose stack or Helm charts: n8n, Postgres, Qdrant, Ollama for local LLM, LiteLLM as gateway, plus object-storage backup to another region.
When to use OVHcloud
OVHcloud is the right choice when (a) a French or European-aligned contracting party is wanted, (b) broad regional choice with clear EU residency is needed, or (c) GPU workloads in the EU at competitive prices are coming up. Concrete cases: Swiss SME with French-speaking clientele preferring EU hosting. EU mid-sized company with SecNumCloud requirement for authority mandates. AI startup with GPU training need and EU compliance constraints.
For multi-region setups OVHcloud is especially suitable. Egress between OVHcloud regions in the same internet zone is free – a primary-DR configuration over Frankfurt and Strasbourg costs no surcharge. Also for GitLab, Mattermost or Nextcloud self-hosting, OVHcloud is a strong option thanks to broad hardware selection and stable pricing.
For high-risk AI under the EU AI Act the regulatory position is clearly documented. ISO 27001, 27701, 27017, 27018 plus SecNumCloud make the compliance argument resilient – for the audit by a notified body that is a clear plus over an unregulated hoster.
When not to use
Anyone needing strict Swiss residency does not get there with OVHcloud – as of May 2026 OVHcloud operates no region in Switzerland. Frankfurt or Strasbourg are nearby, but legally EU, not CH. For a Swiss fiduciary mandate with cantonal audit requirements, Infomaniak, Exoscale or Safe Swiss Cloud is cleaner.
Anyone seeking strictest budget discipline is better served by Hetzner. OVHcloud is factor 1.5-2 more expensive than Hetzner at comparable configuration. The regulatory depth of OVHcloud justifies the premium only for mandates that actually need that depth.
For extremely large GPU clusters (64+ H100 with InfiniBand) CoreWeave or Lambda Labs is more established. OVHcloud offers GPU instances up to smaller cluster sizes as of May 2026, but not in the league of hyperscaler training.
General caveat: OVHcloud has a historic reputational point on reliability – the 2021 Strasbourg fire destroyed part of a data centre, with data loss for customers without external backups. Since then OVHcloud has heavily expanded fire-protection measures; for mission-critical setups an external backup strategy remains mandatory regardless (this applies to any provider).
Trade-offs
STRENGTHS
- Four ISO certificates (27001, 27701, 27017, 27018) plus SecNumCloud – broad regulatory depth
- French SAS without US parent, clear EU-law position
- 33 data centres, over 20 in the EU, multi-region setups without surcharge
- Competitive GPU prices: A100 from EUR 3/h, H100 from EUR 4.50/h, L4 from EUR 0.88/h
WEAKNESSES
- No CH region – for strict Swiss residency, Infomaniak, Exoscale or Safe Swiss Cloud
- Factor 1.5-2 more expensive than Hetzner at comparable configuration
- Historic reputational point after the 2021 Strasbourg fire – external backup strategy mandatory
- For very large GPU clusters (64+ H100), CoreWeave or Lambda is more established
FAQ
Is OVHcloud nFADP-compliant for Swiss mandates?
Yes, for EU regions. France and Germany are recognised in the nFADP annex as countries with adequate data protection. The OVHcloud DPA per GDPR Art. 28 is also solid by nFADP standard. For mandates with strict Swiss residency requirements (professional secrecy, cantonal rule) OVHcloud does not fit – then Infomaniak or Exoscale Zurich. For standard nFADP mandates, OVHcloud Frankfurt or Strasbourg suffice.
What does SecNumCloud mean concretely?
SecNumCloud is an ANSSI certification (French cyber-security agency) for high-security cloud. Requirements: full submission to EU law, no US parent with CLOUD Act risk, technical and organisational separation from US platforms, strict protection against extraterritorial access. OVHcloud holds the certification for selected platforms. For French public authorities SecNumCloud is mandatory; for EU AI Act high-risk AI the certification is a clear compliance signal.
What does a GPU hour cost at OVHcloud?
May 2026 about EUR 0.88/h for NVIDIA L4 (24 GB VRAM, good for small models and inference), EUR 3/h for A100-80GB, EUR 4.50/h for H100. Reserved contracts grant up to 50% discount on multi-year commitment. In the EU comparison OVHcloud sits at RunPod Sweden level, with the plus of EU legal purity and four ISO certifications. For a 24-hour training on an A100 the cost is around EUR 72.
What happens on hardware failure?
Public cloud instances are automatically migrated to another host on host failure – typically in under 5 minutes. Dedicated server on hardware fault: disk or RAM module swap typically 2-4 hours in 24/7 mode; for complete server failure a replacement server is provisioned, data must be restored from your own backup. SLA options: Standard with 99.95% availability, Premium with higher SLA at a surcharge. Backup strategy to another region is mandatory for mission-critical workloads.