Back to directory
Infrastructure Clouds

IONOS Cloud

European cloud infrastructure with bare metal, Kubernetes, and GPU servers.

What makes IONOS Cloud different

IONOS Cloud emphasizes European data residency and transparency, appealing to organizations subject to GDPR and data sovereignty requirements. The platform combines public cloud, bare metal, and managed Kubernetes in a single control plane, avoiding the complexity of multi-provider orchestration. IONOS differentiates through its Data Center Designer tool—a visual planning interface for infrastructure layout—and integrated GPU server offerings for AI/ML workloads. Their approach targets mid-market enterprises and developers who need flexibility between fully managed and bare metal deployments without vendor lock-in complexity.

Pricing model

IONOS Cloud operates a transparent, consumption-based pricing model with hourly billing and monthly settlement. Compute resources (vCPU, RAM, storage) are billed separately from managed services. The platform offers Cloud Savings Plans for committed capacity discounts. Bare metal servers and GPU instances have fixed monthly rates. Managed Kubernetes and database services follow per-resource consumption patterns. This granular, pay-as-you-go approach avoids the bundled tier lock-in of hyperscalers, making it well-suited for variable workloads and cost optimization through right-sizing.

When it fits

  • EU/GDPR-regulated workloads: Data centers in Germany, UK, and France with transparent residency controls
  • Hybrid bare metal + cloud: Organizations requiring both managed instances and dedicated hardware in one platform
  • AI/ML development: GPU servers and AI Model Hub for training and inference at accessible price points
  • Kubernetes-native applications: Managed Kubernetes with integrated storage, networking, and monitoring
  • SME and mid-market scale: Self-service control without enterprise-only pricing or sales cycles

When it doesn’t

IONOS Cloud has a smaller global footprint than AWS/Azure/GCP (5 primary regions vs 30+), making it suboptimal for applications requiring multi-continent low-latency distribution. Workloads heavily dependent on proprietary AWS services (e.g., Bedrock, SageMaker) or mature enterprise integration ecosystems may find limited parity.

Inclusion criteria

IONOS Cloud meets all three inclusion criteria: