Exoscale review
Updated September 28, 2026 · DeployCue Editorial Team · Facts checked September 26, 2026
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Our verdict
Exoscale suits developers and small teams that want European cloud infrastructure with billing they can stop at any point. Each instance carries 1,024 GB of outbound traffic before charges start, and it runs on linux and windows in 8 locations across CH, DE and AT for teams that value where data sits.
Key facts
- Best for
- European teams that want hourly and per second billing with a generous outbound allowance.
- Entry plan
- Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD↗
- Bandwidth allowance
- 1.42 GiB outbound free per instance per hour (about 1 TiB per month per instance), then billed per GiB↗
- Billing models
- Per-second, Hourly↗
- Locations
- 8↗
- Regions
- CH, DE, AT, BG, HR↗
- SLA uptime
- 99.95%↗
- Compliance certifications
- ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 2, BSI C5, CSA STAR, GDPR↗
- Server types
- VPS↗
- Operating systems
- Linux, Windows↗
- Legal entity
- Akenes SA↗
- Headquarters
- Switzerland↗
- Founded
- 2011↗
- Support channels
- Email, Phone, Help-centre↗
- Pricing model
- Hourly billing
- Official website
- exoscale.com
Storage
- Price per GB per month
- €0.0184↗
- Egress price per GB
- €0.020↗
- Free egress
- 1.42 GB of output bandwidth free per machine per hour (about 1 TiB/month per instance); inbound and intra-zone traffic free↗
- S3-compatible
- Yes↗
- Minimum storage period
- 0 to 90 days↗
- Regions
- 8↗
- Free egress (GB)
- 1,024↗
- Storage types
- Object, Block↗
GPU cloud
- Billing granularity
- Per second↗
Kubernetes
- Free control plane
- Yes↗
Databases
- Database engines
- PostgreSQL, MySQL, OpenSearch, Valkey, Kafka, ClickHouse↗
Facts checked September 26, 2026, 12 sources
Apps and profiles
- Elsewhere
- LinkedInbsky.appgithub.com
Listed in
Pros and cons
Pros
- Billing is hourly and per second, listed in per second and hourly, so short experiments cost little to stop.
- Each instance includes 1,024 GB of outbound traffic, and inbound plus intra-zone traffic is not charged.
- Support runs on email, phone and help centre, so phone and email are both open when a machine misbehaves.
- The certification list is broad: ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and ISO 27018.
Cons
- Regions are CH, DE and AT across 8 locations, so there is no coverage outside Europe.
- Server types are vps, so there is no bare metal option for dedicated hardware.
- Egress is billed at €0.02 per GB once the 1,024 GB per instance allowance is used.
Who it suits
- Small teams running short experiments, since billing is per second and hourly.
- European workloads that must stay inside CH, DE and AT, the full region list.
- Teams needing managed data services, since the engines list includes PostgreSQL, MySQL and OpenSearch.
Who should look elsewhere
- Buyers who want more memory in the smallest plan: SberCloud lists 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 30 GB NVMe and Aruba lists 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, both with more memory than the Exoscale Micro at Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD.
- Teams that want more memory with a named system disk at the entry tier, where UCloud lists 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB system disk against the Exoscale Micro at Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD.
What it does well
The entry point is the Micro plan at Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD, the smallest configuration in the range. Outbound bandwidth comes with a monthly allowance per instance, and traffic past it is billed per GiB, so light transfer workloads stay predictable. Coverage sits in 8 locations across CH, DE and AT, which keeps traffic inside Europe.
How Exoscale compares
Exoscale vs ScalaHosting9.2 vs 8.3
Exoscale vs Contabo9.2 vs 9.2
Exoscale vs Kamatera9.2 vs 9.5
Exoscale vs Cloudways9.2 vs 9.2
Exoscale vs PlanetHoster9.2 vs 8.7
Exoscale vs Aruba9.2 vs 9.3Aruba lists 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage at the entry tier, so it suits buyers who want more memory in the smallest plan than the Exoscale Micro at Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD.
Exoscale vs Hostinger9.2 vs 9.1
Exoscale vs Easy-Hebergement9.2 vs 8.6
Exoscale vs HostNoc9.2 vs 8.4
Exoscale vs AIS Cloud9.2 vs 8.1- Exoscale vs Miss Hosting FI9.2 vs 8.0
- Exoscale vs Miss Hosting SE9.2 vs 8.0
Frequently asked questions
Does Exoscale bill by the second or only by the hour?+
Billing granularity is per second, and the listed billing models are per second and hourly, so a short test instance can run and stop without paying for a whole day. Steady production servers are charged the same way.
What does it cost to send data out of Exoscale?+
Each instance includes 1,024 GB of outbound traffic, and inbound plus intra-zone traffic is not charged. Once that allowance is used, egress is billed at €0.02 per GB, so heavy transfer should be measured before scaling up.
Which regions can I run servers in?+
Servers run in 8 locations across CH, DE and AT. Pick the one nearest your users. Traffic inside a zone is not charged, while movement between regions counts as outbound and draws on that per instance allowance.
What is the smallest server I can rent?+
The entry plan is Micro, listed at Micro: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10-200 GB local SSD. Local disk scales across that range, so small agents and larger database hosts both fit inside one plan family. Memory sits at the low end, which tightens the plan for memory hungry services.
Do I pay for the Kubernetes control plane?+
The Kubernetes control plane is free, which removes the recurring cluster management charge. Nodes are billed on the same per second granularity as other compute, so a cluster can be scaled down between bursts without paying for idle control plane time.
How much does object storage cost?+
Object storage runs €0.018 per GB per month, and the API matches the widely used S3 style, so existing object tooling carries over. Minimum retention on classes runs 0 to 90, so pick a class that matches how long data is kept.
Which compliance certifications does Exoscale hold?+
The listed certifications are ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and ISO 27018. Data protection rules named there include GDPR, and the set covers information security management, cloud security and cloud privacy, so regulated buyers can match entries against their own procurement checklist.
How do I reach support?+
Support runs on email, phone and help centre. Email and the help centre cover routine questions while phone suits anything urgent, such as a machine that will not boot. Live chat is not among the listed channels, so expect written replies and a call.
What uptime is promised?+
The published uptime commitment is 99.95%, stated as a formal SLA rather than a per plan figure. Anyone running a service with tight availability targets should read that document, since the number is the headline and the terms hold the detail.
Sources
- community.exoscale.com/platform/billing checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Egress price per GB, Free egress, Support channels
“0.0200 CHF/EUR/USD per GiB of networking out”
- exoscale.com checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Storage types
“Cloud Storage Solutions - S3-compatible object and block storage”
- exoscale.com/kubernetes checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Free control plane
“a Starter Cluster, which includes free hosting of the control plane”
- exoscale.com checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Billing granularity, Compliance certifications
“SSD-backed VMs billed by the second”
- exoscale.com/about-us checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Founded, Headquarters, Legal entity
“Exoscale is a trademark of Akenes SA, a private company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Switzerland.”
- exoscale.com/compute checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Pricing model, Operating systems, Server types
“Simple pay-as-you-go pricing with no surprises: only pay for what you use, calculate your price, and keep resources billed by the second.”
- exoscale.com/datacenters checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Locations, Regions
“Our European Cloud Zones: Frankfurt DE-FRA-1, Munich DE-MUC-1, Vienna AT-VIE-1, Vienna AT-VIE-2, Geneva CH-GVA-2, Zurich CH-DK-2, Sofia BG-SOF-1, Zagreb HR-ZAG-1”
- exoscale.com/dbaas checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Database engines
“PostgreSQL, MySQL, OpenSearch, Valkey, Kafka, ClickHouse, pgvector”
- exoscale.com/object-storage checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Regions, S3-compatible
“Simple Object Storage is available in 8 zones across 5 European countries”
- exoscale.com/object-storage/classes checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Minimum storage period, Price per GB per month
“Minimum duration None None 30 days 90 days”
- exoscale.com/pricing checked September 26, 2026
Backs: Bandwidth allowance, Billing models, Entry plan, Free egress (GB)
“Traffic is billed per GiB with a free tier of up to 1.42 GiB / hr granted per-Instance (equivalent to 1 TiB / mo per-Instance)”
- exoscale.com/sla checked September 26, 2026
Backs: SLA uptime
“Compute Instances SLA 99.95% uptime guarantee”
Compiled from 12 source pages, checked September 26, 2026. We did not open an account.
Not confirmed yet: Entry price.
Exoscale
European teams that want hourly and per second billing with a generous outbound allowance.