Provider Comparison

Nebius vs Scaleway

Nebius and Scaleway are both compelling GPU cloud providers for ML/AI workloads, but they cater to distinct needs within the European-centric ecosystem. Nebius, an AI-focused infrastructure company spun out from Yandex, emphasizes managed Kubernetes services for EU/US-compliant workloads, targeting enterprises requiring SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO 27001 certifications. Its public company status offers transparency, while a startup-like agility drives AI-specific innovations like per-second billing and spot instances, ideal for cost-optimized, bursty training jobs. Scaleway, a established French provider, prioritizes data sovereignty and integrated services across compute, storage, and networking, appealing to organizations bound by strict European regulations. Its Nabu AI Supercomputer provides massive-scale GPU clusters, complemented by strong environmental credentials through renewable energy usage. Key differentiators include Nebius's granular billing and broader compliance (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare AI), versus Scaleway's seamless ecosystem integration and sovereignty guarantees. Nebius suits global enterprises with hybrid compliance needs and dynamic workloads, offering better flexibility for experimentation. Scaleway excels for sovereignty-focused teams needing end-to-end European services and large-scale, predictable compute via its Nabu clusters. Overall, Nebius delivers superior value for AI-centric, interruptible jobs with cost savings from spots, while Scaleway provides reliability for production-grade, integrated deployments. ML engineers should evaluate based on compliance, billing flexibility, and scale requirements—Nebius for agility, Scaleway for sovereignty.

Our Recommendation

Choose Nebius for enterprise teams (50+ engineers) running compliant, dynamic AI workloads like LLM fine-tuning or bursty training, where per-second billing and spot instances yield 30-50% savings on irregular usage. Ideal for US/EU hybrid compliance (HIPAA-inclusive) and managed K8s, suiting mid-to-large budgets prioritizing cost-efficiency and transparency as a public company. Opt for Scaleway with smaller-to-medium teams (10-50 engineers) focused on strict European data sovereignty, integrated services (e.g., object storage, VPC), and steady-state production inference. Its per-hour billing favors predictable workloads, while Nabu clusters handle massive training at scale. Budget-conscious for long runs? Nebius wins on granularity; sovereignty or green creds? Scaleway. Technical reqs like multi-region favor Nebius (Finland/US edges), while single-region Paris ops suit Scaleway for latency-sensitive Euro apps.

Live Pricing

Compare real-time GPU offers from Nebius and Scaleway

37 offers available
QuantaCloud
QuantaCloud
Partner
Available
H100 / H200 · B200 / B300
32–1024+ GPUs · InfiniBand
Reserved / cluster
Get a quote in 24h
Scaleway
Scaleway
Paris
Sold Out
NVIDIA L48x
24GB VRAM
64 vCPU
384GB RAM
20000 Mbps ↑
20000 Mbps ↓
$0.90/GPU/hr
$7.20/hr total (8×)
Scaleway
Scaleway
Paris
Available
NVIDIA L42x
24GB VRAM
16 vCPU
96GB RAM
5000 Mbps ↑
5000 Mbps ↓
$0.90/GPU/hr
$1.80/hr total (2×)
Scaleway
Scaleway
Paris
Sold Out
NVIDIA L42x
24GB VRAM
16 vCPU
96GB RAM
5000 Mbps ↑
5000 Mbps ↓
$0.90/GPU/hr
$1.80/hr total (2×)
Scaleway
Scaleway
Warsaw
Available
NVIDIA L42x
24GB VRAM
16 vCPU
96GB RAM
5000 Mbps ↑
5000 Mbps ↓
$0.90/GPU/hr
$1.80/hr total (2×)
Scaleway
Scaleway
Warsaw
Available
NVIDIA L48x
24GB VRAM
64 vCPU
384GB RAM
20000 Mbps ↑
20000 Mbps ↓
$0.90/GPU/hr
$7.20/hr total (8×)

QuantaCloud

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Nebius(Est. 2023)

An AI-centric infrastructure company providing managed services for EU/US compliant workloads.

Best For

Enterprises needing EU/US compliance and managed K8s

Unique Features

  • Public company with transparency
  • Startup-like focus on AI
Scaleway(Est. 1999)

A major European cloud provider emphasizing data sovereignty and integrated services.

Best For

European data sovereigntyIntegrated cloud services

Unique Features

  • Nabu AI Supercomputer
  • Strong environmental credentials

Feature Comparison

Access Methods
FeatureNebiusScaleway
SSH
Jupyter Notebooks
Web Terminal
API
Kubernetes
Containers
Billing Options
FeatureNebiusScaleway
Billing Incrementper-secondper-hour
Spot Instances
Reserved Instances
Prepaid Credits
Compliance
CertificationNebiusScaleway
SOC 2
HIPAA
GDPR
ISO 27001
Support
FeatureNebiusScaleway
SLA
Enterprise Support
Discord Community

Pricing Analysis

Pricing Overview

Nebius employs per-second billing with on-demand and spot instances, enabling precise cost control for variable workloads—spots can discount up to 70% for interruptible jobs, with no long-term commitments. This contrasts Scaleway's per-hour billing, primarily on-demand with limited spot options, better suited to steady usage but risking overpayment for short bursts (e.g., a 45-min job bills a full hour). Nebius lacks reserved instances publicly, focusing on flexibility; Scaleway offers volume discounts for commitments. Implications: For spiky ML experiments or preemptible training, Nebius minimizes waste (e.g., save ~40% on sub-hour jobs). Predictable production favors Scaleway's simplicity, though per-hour granularity penalizes interruptions. Both include GPU egress fees, but Nebius's billing suits DevOps automation, while Scaleway integrates billing across services for holistic costing.

Value Assessment

Nebius offers superior value for small experiments and fine-tuning, where per-second/spot pricing slashes costs for 1-10 GPU runs (e.g., $2-3/hr H100 effective vs $4+ on-demand). Large training runs benefit from spots, potentially halving expenses on 100+ GPU clusters. Scaleway shines for production inference with per-hour stability and Nabu discounts on sustained large-scale (e.g., better ROI for 24/7 fleets). For batch inference, Nebius edges on flexibility, but Scaleway's integration reduces ancillary costs. Budget under $10k/mo? Nebius for bursts. Over $50k/mo steady? Scaleway's sovereignty bundle adds value. Overall, Nebius maximizes savings (20-50%) for variable AI R&D; Scaleway for reliable, integrated prod with lower TCO via ecosystem efficiencies.

Use Case Comparison

LLM Training
Nebius recommended

Nebius

Nebius excels with spot instances and per-second billing, optimizing costs for long, preemptible runs on H100/A100 clusters in Finland. Managed K8s simplifies scaling to 100s of GPUs, with HIPAA/GDPR compliance for sensitive data. Transparency aids enterprise planning, though limited regions may increase latency for non-EU data.

Scaleway

Scaleway's Nabu Supercomputer supports massive-scale training with dense GPU interconnects in Paris, ensuring sovereignty. Per-hour billing suits uninterrupted jobs, but lacks deep spots, raising costs for experiments. Integrated storage accelerates data loading, strong for Euro teams.

Batch Inference
Either works

Nebius

Nebius handles batches efficiently via autoscaling K8s and spots for cost savings on periodic jobs. Per-second granularity fits variable queue depths, with compliant storage options. Multi-GPU support is robust, but integration with external services requires more setup.

Scaleway

Scaleway integrates batch processing with native object storage and VPC, streamlining workflows under GDPR. Nabu enables high-throughput on dense clusters; per-hour billing is predictable for scheduled runs, enhanced by green energy for sustainable ops.

Real-time Inference
Scaleway recommended

Nebius

Nebius supports low-latency inference via dedicated on-demand GPUs and K8s orchestration, with EU/US edges reducing global latency. Compliance aids prod deployments, but spot reliance risks interruptions unsuitable for SLAs; networking perf is solid but not optimized for ultra-low ms.

Scaleway

Scaleway's Paris proximity favors Euro real-time apps with integrated load balancers and sovereignty. Per-hour stability ensures uptime; Nabu fractions provide scalable throughput, though coarser billing may inflate costs for idle capacity.

Fine-tuning & Experimentation
Nebius recommended

Nebius

Ideal for Nebius: per-second/spot pricing minimizes burn on short, iterative jobs (1-8 GPUs). Managed K8s accelerates setups; AI focus yields quick provisioning. Drawback: spot preemption needs fault-tolerant code.

Scaleway

Scaleway works for experiments via flexible GPU instances, but per-hour billing penalizes quick iterations. Nabu suits larger tunes; ecosystem aids data prep, yet less granular for rapid prototyping.

Technical Comparison

Infrastructure

Nebius leans toward bare-metal NVIDIA GPUs (H100/H200) in managed K8s clusters across Finland and US edges, with high-speed InfiniBand networking (400Gbps+), NVMe storage, and autoscaling. Virtualized options exist, emphasizing AI workloads. Scaleway mixes bare-metal/virtual GPUs (A100/H100) in Paris Nabu clusters with 200Gbps Ethernet/InfiniBand, native Kubernetes, block/object storage, and VPC peering. Nebius prioritizes managed services; Scaleway offers broader integration but less AI-specific tuning.

Performance

Nebius delivers strong multi-GPU scaling (NVLink/InfiniBand) for training, with quick H100 availability and low preemption rates on spots; benchmarks show competitive TFLOPS on compliant setups. Scaleway's Nabu excels in dense clusters for all-reduce ops, with reliable perf via renewables, but Paris-central limits global access. Both support MIGs; Nebius edges on provisioning speed, Scaleway on intra-Euro latency. Limited public benchmarks note Nebius ~5-10% faster provisioning for K8s.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which provider offers spot instances for cost savings?
Nebius offers spot/preemptible instances, which can significantly reduce costs (typically 50-80% off on-demand prices) for interruptible workloads like batch processing and training with checkpoints. Scaleway does not currently offer spot instances, so all usage is billed at on-demand rates. If cost optimization through spot instances is important for your workflow, Nebius would be the better choice.
What is the minimum billing increment for each provider?
Nebius bills per-second, while Scaleway bills per-hour. Per-second billing from Nebius offers better cost efficiency for short experiments and iterative development, as you only pay for exactly what you use.
Which provider has better compliance certifications for enterprise use?
Nebius holds SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001 certifications. Scaleway holds SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001 certifications. For organizations with strict compliance requirements, Nebius offers more comprehensive coverage.
Which provider offers better development tools like Jupyter notebooks?
Both Nebius and Scaleway offer built-in Jupyter notebook support, making it easy to start experimenting without additional setup. This is particularly valuable for data scientists and researchers who prefer interactive development environments. Additionally, both providers offer web-based terminal access for quick debugging.
Which provider has better Kubernetes support for orchestration?
Both Nebius and Scaleway support Kubernetes for container orchestration, enabling you to deploy scalable ML pipelines, manage distributed training jobs, and integrate with MLOps tools like Kubeflow. This is essential for teams running production workloads at scale.
What is each provider best suited for?
Nebius is best suited for Enterprises needing EU/US compliance and managed K8s. Scaleway excels at European data sovereignty; Integrated cloud services. Understanding these specializations helps you choose the provider that aligns with your primary use case, though both can handle a variety of GPU computing needs.
Which provider offers reserved instances for long-term savings?
Both Nebius and Scaleway offer reserved instance pricing for committed usage, typically providing 20-40% discounts compared to on-demand rates. Reserved instances are ideal for predictable, steady-state workloads like always-on inference services. For variable workloads, on-demand or spot instances may offer better flexibility.
Which provider offers better enterprise support?
Nebius offers dedicated enterprise support options, while Scaleway may have more limited support tiers. Regarding SLAs: Nebius offers SLA guarantees; Scaleway has no published SLA.
Which provider has better API and automation support?
Neither provider prominently advertises API access for automation. Check their documentation for programmatic instance management options.
Which provider has better container and Docker support?
Container support details are not prominently listed for either provider. Check their documentation for Docker and container runtime compatibility.
What unique features differentiate these providers?
Nebius's standout features include: Public company with transparency; Startup-like focus on AI. Scaleway's standout features include: Nabu AI Supercomputer; Strong environmental credentials. These differentiators may be decisive factors depending on your specific technical requirements and workflow preferences.
How do I get started with each provider?
To get started with Nebius, visit their website at https://nebius.com?utm_source=gpuperhour&utm_medium=referral to create an account and explore available GPU options. For Scaleway, visit https://www.scaleway.com?utm_source=gpuperhour&utm_medium=referral to sign up. Both providers typically offer some form of free credits or trial period for new users. We recommend starting with a small experiment to evaluate the platform's ease of use, instance launch times, and overall fit for your workflow before committing to larger workloads.

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