Azure -> Scaleway

Migrating from Azure to Scaleway

Scaleway is a French provider (Iliad group) with three EU regions and S3- and CNCF-compatible building blocks. AKS, PostgreSQL and Redis have close Scaleway equivalents. But the Azure-specific edge matters: Blob Storage is NOT S3-compatible, so SDK code is rewritten rather than repointed, and there is no managed identity service to replace Azure AD B2C.

Which Azure services have a true Scaleway equivalent?

Graded conservatively. The catch for Azure shops is that "S3-compatible" means "not Azure Blob-compatible": a code change, not a config change.

Azure services and their Scaleway equivalents, each with a migration verdict.
AzureScalewayVerdict
Azure Blob StorageScaleway Object Storage S3-compatible, which means NOT Azure Blob-compatible. Every SDK call, SAS-token flow and container operation is rewritten against the S3 API, not repointed.Partial
Azure Managed DisksScaleway Block Storage Network block volumes with snapshots. Direct equivalent.Equivalent
Azure Virtual MachinesScaleway Instances General-purpose, GPU and dedicated instances across the three regions.Equivalent
Azure AKSScaleway Kapsule CNCF-conformant managed control plane; portable manifests move with little friction.Equivalent
Azure Database for PostgreSQLScaleway Managed Database (PostgreSQL) Standard PostgreSQL is well served; Azure SQL Hyperscale has no twin.Partial
Azure Cache for RedisScaleway Managed Database for Redis Managed Redis/Valkey; in-memory caching is well covered.Equivalent
Azure Service BusScaleway Messaging & Queuing NATS and SQS-compatible endpoints, but Service Bus topics, sessions and dead-letter do not map one-to-one.Partial
Azure FunctionsScaleway Serverless Functions HTTP and cron are fine; Azure Functions' deep native event-source catalogue is not matched.Partial
Azure Cosmos DBNo managed twin (self-host ScyllaDB) No managed globally-distributed NoSQL; you run ScyllaDB/Cassandra.No managed twin
Azure AD B2CNo managed twin (self-host Keycloak) No managed customer-identity service; CIAM moves to self-hosted Keycloak.No managed twin
Azure SynapseNo managed twin (self-host ClickHouse) No sovereign serverless warehouse; ClickHouse is a different operating model.No managed twin

Where do the Azure APIs actually diverge?

These are Azure-specific, not the generic AWS edges: the things a team leaving Azure underestimates.

  • Blob Storage is S3-compatible on the Scaleway side, so it is NOT Azure Blob-compatible: the Azure Storage SDK, SAS tokens and container semantics are all rewritten against S3.
  • There is no managed identity service to replace Azure AD B2C. Customer identity moves to self-hosted Keycloak or an EU CIAM.
  • Service Bus topics, sessions and dead-letter do not map cleanly to NATS/SQS; messaging is re-modelled.
  • No serverless functions parity, no Cosmos DB and no Synapse twin.

Which of your services move cleanly?

Scoped to the rows Scaleway covers as managed services. Search or filter by verdict.

14 capabilities

  • Object storage

    Hyperscaler Amazon S3 Azure Blob Storage Google Cloud Storage
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Object StorageOVHcloud Object Storage
    Verdict Mature

    S3-compatible API. A drop-in target for most SDKs, backups and static assets.

  • Block storage

    Hyperscaler Amazon EBS Azure Managed Disks Persistent Disk / Hyperdisk
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Block StorageOVHcloud Block Storage
    Verdict Mature

    Network block volumes with snapshots. Standard building block, well covered.

  • Virtual machines

    Hyperscaler Amazon EC2 Azure Virtual Machines Google Compute Engine
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway InstancesOVHcloud Public CloudHetzner Cloud
    Verdict Mature

    General-purpose and dedicated instances are a solved problem in the EU.

  • Managed Kubernetes

    Hyperscaler Amazon EKS Azure AKS Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway KapsuleOVHcloud Managed Kubernetes
    Verdict Mature

    CNCF-conformant managed control planes. Portable workloads move with little friction.

  • Container registry

    Hyperscaler Amazon ECR Azure Container Registry Google Artifact Registry
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Container RegistryOVHcloud Managed Private RegistryHarbor (self-hosted)
    Verdict Mature

    OCI registries are commodity. Self-hosted Harbor is a fully sovereign fallback.

  • Managed PostgreSQL

    Hyperscaler Amazon RDS / Aurora Azure Database for PostgreSQL Cloud SQL / AlloyDB for PostgreSQL
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Managed DatabaseOVHcloud Managed DatabasesAiven for PostgreSQL
    Verdict Viable

    Standard PostgreSQL is well served. Aurora-specific features (e.g. global database, serverless v2 autoscaling) have no exact twin, so plan around them.

  • Managed cache (Redis/Valkey)

    Hyperscaler Amazon ElastiCache Azure Cache for Redis Memorystore for Redis
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Managed Database for RedisAiven for Valkey/Redis
    Verdict Viable

    In-memory caching is well covered; Valkey is the emerging open successor to Redis.

  • Message queue / pub-sub

    Hyperscaler Amazon SQS / SNS Azure Service Bus Google Cloud Pub/Sub
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Messaging & QueuingSelf-hosted NATS / RabbitMQ
    Verdict Viable

    Scaleway offers SQS/SNS-compatible endpoints; self-hosted NATS covers the rest.

  • Authoritative DNS

    Hyperscaler Amazon Route 53 Azure DNS Google Cloud DNS
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Domains & DNSOVHcloud DNSBunny DNS
    Verdict Viable

    Managed authoritative DNS is well covered. Route 53's routing policies need a manual rebuild.

  • Transactional email

    Hyperscaler Amazon SES Azure Communication Services No first-party service (SendGrid via Marketplace)
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Transactional EmailBrevo (FR)
    Verdict Viable

    Scaleway TEM and Brevo (French) cover sending, reputation and analytics from the EU.

  • Secrets & key management

    Hyperscaler AWS Secrets Manager / KMS Azure Key Vault Secret Manager / Cloud KMS
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Secret ManagerHashiCorp Vault (self-hosted)
    Verdict Viable

    Managed secret storage exists; self-hosted Vault gives full control including HSM-backed keys.

  • Serverless containers

    Hyperscaler AWS Fargate Azure Container Instances Google Cloud Run
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Serverless Containers
    Verdict Viable

    Scale-to-zero container hosting exists and is production-ready for request-driven workloads.

  • Serverless functions (FaaS)

    Hyperscaler AWS Lambda Azure Functions Cloud Run functions (Cloud Functions)
    EU-sovereign path Scaleway Serverless FunctionsOVHcloud Functions
    Verdict Partial

    The runtimes exist, but Lambda's breadth of native event sources and mature cold-start tuning is not matched. Fine for HTTP and cron; harder for deep event-driven fan-out.

  • Managed ML platform

    Hyperscaler Amazon SageMaker Azure Machine Learning Vertex AI
    EU-sovereign path OVHcloud AI Endpoints / AI TrainingScaleway GPU Instances + Managed Inference
    Verdict Gap

    GPU compute, training and inference endpoints exist, but nothing matches SageMaker's end-to-end breadth (pipelines, feature store, model registry, tuning) as one managed platform. You assemble it.

Verdicts are conservative and reflect managed, EU-jurisdiction offerings as of 2026. Provider feature sets move quickly, so we re-check on every engagement.

How many engineer-days does this take?

45-100 engineer-days

Higher at the low end than an AWS->Scaleway move, because Blob->S3 and identity are almost always on the critical path.

  • A mid-sized Azure estate: VMs, AKS, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Blob storage, Key Vault and an AD B2C identity tier.
  • The low end assumes AKS-, PostgreSQL- and disk-shaped workloads that map to Scaleway managed services.
  • The high end assumes a heavy Blob-SDK footprint to rewrite plus an Azure AD B2C tier to rebuild on Keycloak.
  • Excludes application rewrites, data egress from Azure and staff ramp-up on Scaleway tooling.

Where does Scaleway actually run?

Three European regions, each with three availability zones, enough for in-region HA and cross-region DR.

  • Paris (fr-par)Three availability zones (fr-par-1/2/3) for in-region HA.
  • Amsterdam (nl-ams)Three availability zones; a second EU jurisdiction for DR.
  • Warsaw (pl-waw)Three availability zones in central Europe.

What are the honest limitations?

  • Blob->S3 is a rewrite Unlike AWS S3 exits, leaving Azure means rewriting every Blob SDK call against the S3 API. This is Azure-specific migration tax.
  • No Cosmos DB or Azure AD B2C twin The two services most likely to anchor an Azure estate have no managed Scaleway equivalent.
  • Three-region footprint Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw. No southern-EU or intercontinental regions.

What else does a CTO ask before committing?

Do AKS and PostgreSQL move without code changes?
Largely yes. Kapsule is CNCF-conformant and PostgreSQL is standard. The rework concentrates on Blob->S3, identity, and deep event wiring.
Is Scaleway sovereign enough for our compliance posture?
Scaleway is French (Iliad group) with EU-only regions and no US parent, which clears most GDPR and data-residency requirements.