Founder ditches AWS for Euro stack, finds sovereignty isn't plug-and-play
The Register
February 20, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
A founder’s journey of migrating from AWS to a European cloud infrastructure highlights the complexities and trade-offs involved in achieving digital sovereignty. By constructing a "Made in EU" stack for their cross-border car parts marketplace, hank.parts, the entrepreneur aimed to reduce reliance on U.S.-based hyperscalers like AWS, seeking cost savings and greater control over data. However, this transition came with significant hurdles, including the need for extensive self-hosting, managing diverse tools, and navigating a less mature ecosystem.
The founder leveraged Hetzner for compute, Scaleway for email and container registries, Bunny.net for CDN services, Nebius for GPU capacity, and Hanko for authentication. While these European providers demonstrated capability, the process demanded more hands-on effort compared to SaaS solutions. Self-hosting tools like Kubernetes with Rancher as the control tower provided flexibility but added responsibility, such as troubleshooting and diving deep into documentation when issues arose.
Despite these challenges, the experiment underscores Europe’s growing tech capabilities. The founder found that while a European stack can match performance and often offer lower costs, it’s not yet as seamless or plug-and-play as U.S. offerings. Key areas like app distribution still rely on global giants like Apple and Google, and social logins frequently involve U.S.-based systems due to user expectations.
This matters because the shift toward a European tech ecosystem reflects broader trends in digital sovereignty and data control. While the journey is more labor-intensive today, it offers long-term benefits like reduced dependency on U.S. tech giants, lower bills,
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Originally published on The Register on 2/20/2026