The alternatives
| Solution | Country | Origin | Open source | Pricing model | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infomaniak Public Cloud | Switzerland | Switzerland | Yes (OpenStack) | Pay as you go | |
| Exoscale | Switzerland | Switzerland | No | Pay as you go | Subsidiary of the Austrian A1 group |
| OVHcloud | France | EU | No | Pay as you go | SecNumCloud-qualified offer available |
| Scaleway | France | EU | No | Pay as you go | GPUs available |
| Hetzner | Germany | EU | No | Pay as you go | Very good price/performance |
| IONOS Cloud | Germany | EU | No | Pay as you go |
Infomaniak Public Cloud is built on OpenStack, an open base: what you build there moves to another OpenStack. Exoscale is the Swiss cloud most used by developers, with a catalogue close to the big players. OVHcloud offers a SecNumCloud-qualified offer for the most sensitive data. Scaleway provides GPUs, useful for AI. Hetzner is the most economical for simple servers.
What migrates well, what migrates badly
- Migrates well: virtual machines, containers, S3-compatible object storage, PostgreSQL or MySQL databases, backups, DNS. All the clouds above offer them.
- Takes work: managed Kubernetes, message queues, serverless functions. Equivalents exist but the tooling changes.
- Needs re-architecting: AWS-specific services (DynamoDB, Lambda with its triggers, Cognito, Step Functions). That is the real cost of a dependency: the more the architecture hugs a provider, the more expensive it is to move.
Design so you can leave
In the solutions I put in place, I separate what is differentiating (the business core, written in portable code) from what is not (database, storage, compute), and for the second block I choose building blocks available at several providers: PostgreSQL rather than a proprietary database, S3-compatible rather than exotic storage, containers rather than functions tied to a home-made trigger. Migration then becomes an operation, not a project.
Where to start
- Backups: copy them now to Swiss or European object storage. It is reversible and it protects immediately.
- New projects: start them on a European cloud, with portable building blocks.
- The existing estate: migrate service by service, starting with those that only use standard blocks.
I put this kind of migration in place with your teams: inventory, choices by data sensitivity, staged switch-over, operations. A first conversation is enough to know where to start.
Frequently asked questions
Which Swiss cloud should I choose?
Infomaniak Public Cloud if you want an open OpenStack base and an independent Swiss player; Exoscale if you want a catalogue close to the big clouds with mature developer tools.
Is a migration from AWS always possible?
Yes, but its cost depends on the architecture. Machines, containers, standard databases and S3 storage migrate well; AWS-specific services need a partial rewrite.
Do we have to migrate everything at once?
No. Backups first, new projects next, then the existing estate service by service. A period with two providers is normal.