Training AI models in Europe? You need a provider that respects GDPR and keeps your data within EU borders. I've tested every major European GPU cloud—here's which ones actually deliver on compliance without breaking the bank.
European prices include VAT (typically 19-23%), which explains the premium over US rates. Business customers can usually reclaim VAT. Hetzner consistently undercuts everyone—I honestly don't know how they do it while maintaining quality.
| GPU Model | Lowest Price | Provider | Typical On-Demand Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA H100 | €2.79/hr | Hetzner | €3.49 - €4.80/hr |
| NVIDIA A100 | €2.19/hr | Hetzner | €2.49 - €3.50/hr |
| RTX 4090 | €0.89/hr | Hetzner | €1.10 - €1.80/hr |
| RTX 3090 | €0.59/hr | Hetzner | €0.80 - €1.30/hr |
| A10G | €0.99/hr | AWS EU Spot | €1.20 - €1.80/hr |
💡 Pro tip: Hetzner requires manual account verification (1-2 days), but the savings are worth it. For immediate needs, Lambda Labs or CoreWeave in Amsterdam spin up instantly.
I've run training jobs at each of these providers from Berlin. Some surprised me with their quality, others with their quirks. Here's the unfiltered truth about training AI in Europe.
Hetzner is a German institution. I've been renting servers from them for years, and their GPU offerings are absurdly cheap compared to the competition. The catch? Setup takes 1-2 business days because they manually verify accounts. Worth the wait for the savings—I've cut training costs by 40% switching US workloads to Hetzner.
View Hetzner Prices →Lambda's European expansion has been solid. Their Dutch data center offers the same great experience as their US locations. If you're training foundation models and need reliable, non-stop compute, Lambda is my top pick. Their 1-year reserved pricing can get you A100s for under €2/hr.
View Lambda Labs Prices →CoreWeave's Amsterdam facility is impressive. They own the infrastructure end-to-end, which means no multi-tenant noise issues. I've run multi-node training jobs across 64+ GPUs without a single failure. Prices are premium, but you're paying for that reliability—critical for production training pipelines.
View CoreWeave Prices →OVHcloud is the largest European cloud provider you've never heard of. They're French, fully GDPR compliant, and offer some unique sovereign cloud options for government and sensitive AI work. GPU prices are mid-range, but the compliance story is unmatched for EU-based organizations.
View OVHcloud Prices →Scaleway has been aggressively expanding their GPU offerings. They're great for European startups that need flexibility—hourly billing, no long-term contracts. I've found their support surprisingly responsive compared to the giants. Perfect for experimentation before committing to larger providers.
View Scaleway Prices →Germany dominates the European cloud landscape for good reason—central location, excellent infrastructure, and strong privacy laws. But depending on your use case, other regions might be better suited.
If you're handling personal data—or training models that might be used on personal data—GDPR compliance isn't optional. Here's which providers make compliance easy versus those where you'll need to work harder.
| Compliance Feature | Available With | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data Processing Agreement (DPA) | All major providers | Required for business use |
| EU Data Residency | AWS EU, GCP EU, Azure EU, Hetzner, OVH, Scaleway | Data never leaves EU |
| Right to Erasure Support | AWS, GCP, Azure, OVH, Scaleway | Automated deletion APIs |
| Data Portability | Most providers | Export in standard formats |
| SCCs (Standard Contractual Clauses) | AWS, GCP, Azure | For international transfers |
Training AI models on personal data creates compliance complexity. If your training data includes EU personal data, you need to consider:
My recommendation: If you're training on sensitive personal data, consult a GDPR lawyer. The regulatory landscape for AI training is still evolving, and fines can reach 4% of global revenue.
I run a hybrid setup: train foundation models on Hetzner in Germany (cheap, compliant) and serve inference from US regions (closer to my primary users). The cost savings on training offset the slightly higher inference costs. For EU-only products? Stay entirely in Europe— the compliance peace of mind is worth the small premium.
Most major providers operating in Europe are GDPR compliant, including AWS EU regions, Google Cloud EU, Microsoft Azure EU, Lambda Labs, and CoreWeave. Hetzner and OVHcloud are European companies with full GDPR compliance built-in. Always verify the provider has EU-based data centers and signs a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) for business use.
Generally, GPU rental prices in Europe are 10-20% higher than in the USA due to higher energy costs and data center taxes. However, providers like Hetzner (Germany) and OVHcloud (France) offer competitive pricing—sometimes even beating US rates for certain GPU models. The difference is narrowing as more competition enters the European market.
Frankfurt (Germany) and Ireland have the best GPU availability in Europe. Frankfurt is the region of choice for most AI/ML workloads due to central location and low latency across Europe. Amsterdam is also excellent, particularly for providers like CoreWeave and AWS. Paris and London are growing but have slightly lower availability for the newest GPUs like H100.
Yes, but you need to explicitly choose EU regions. AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure all have EU-specific regions where data never leaves European jurisdiction. European providers like Hetzner, OVHcloud, and Scaleway guarantee EU-only data processing. Avoid US-based providers' US regions if data sovereignty is critical for your use case.
Mostly yes, but availability lags by 1-3 months. When NVIDIA releases a new GPU, US providers typically get it first. European availability follows shortly after. Currently, H100 and A100 are widely available across Europe. RTX 4090 availability is actually better in some European regions due to different demand patterns.
Browse real-time prices from European providers. Filter by region, GPU model, and compliance requirements to find the perfect match for your AI workloads.
Browse European GPU Prices