Scaleway VPS Review (2025): The French Cloud Underdog That's SHAKING UP AWS & Google?
Scaleway is a European cloud provider with a massive ecosystem of products and a focus on developer-friendly, high-performance infrastructure. We tested their famous "Instances" to see if they can compete with the global giants.
Overall Rating
Scaleway: The Unfiltered Pros & Cons
The Winning Features
- Excellent Price-to-Performance: Especially their ARM-based instances offer incredible value.
- Complete Cloud Ecosystem: More than just a VPS; includes object storage, databases, Kubernetes, etc.
- Simple, Predictable Pricing: Easy-to-understand billing with no surprise fees.
- Strong European Presence: Multiple datacenters in France, Netherlands, and Poland.
- Modern, Developer-Focused Panel: A beautiful and powerful custom control panel.
The Drawbacks
- Strictly Unmanaged: Requires command-line knowledge; not for beginners.
- Support is Technical, Not Managed: Support is available, but they won't manage your server for you.
- Fewer US Locations: Less ideal for a primarily North American audience.
- Can be Complex: The vast ecosystem of products can be overwhelming for simple projects.
Performance Test: The ARM Revolution?
We tested their "DEV1-M" ARM-based instance, and the results were fantastic. For a very low price, you get a powerful multi-core server that is incredibly energy-efficient. It's perfect for modern, containerized workloads like Docker and Kubernetes. The performance-per-watt is off the charts, and the NVMe storage ensures everything is snappy. For modern development, Scaleway is a top performer.
Dashboard & Control Panel
Scaleway's custom Cloud Console is one of the best in the industry. It's beautifully designed, fast, and provides a unified interface for managing all their products, from Instances and Storage to Kubernetes and Databases. It's built for developers and makes managing complex infrastructure surprisingly simple.
Instance (VPS) Pricing
| Plan (Series) | vCPU | RAM | NVMe Storage | Price/Month (Approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardust | 1 x86 Core | 1 GB | 10 GB | ~€1.99 |
| DEV1-S (ARM - Best Value) | 2 ARM Cores | 2 GB | 20 GB | ~€3.99 |
| DEV1-M (ARM) | 3 ARM Cores | 4 GB | 40 GB | ~€7.99 |
| GP1-XS (General Purpose) | 3 x86 Cores | 12 GB | 100 GB | ~€42.00 |
Scaleway vs. The Competition
| Feature | Scaleway | Hetzner | Linode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Cloud Ecosystem | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ |
| ARM Instances | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Price/Performance | Excellent | Excellent | Very Good |
| Interface Design | Excellent | Good | Excellent |
| Starting Price | ~€1.99 | ~€4.51 | $5.00 |
Final Verdict: Is Scaleway Shaking Things Up?
Yes, it's a major contender. Choose Scaleway if...
You are a developer, startup, or business looking for a powerful and affordable all-in-one cloud ecosystem, especially if you are based in Europe. If you're interested in the future of computing with ARM instances and want a beautiful, modern platform to manage your infrastructure, Scaleway is an innovative and outstanding choice.
