Compare / Netlify vs Scaleway Instances
Netlify vs Scaleway Instances
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Netlify checked 2026-08-07, Scaleway checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Netlify wins more of our comparison points, but Scaleway Instances still fits if eU projects that want real cloud ergonomics — hourly billing, CLI, Terraform, managed databases — without a US hyperscaler describes you.
Price Netlify
Netlify is cheaper at every stage we model — about $20/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Netlify
Netlify is easier to get running: connect the Git repo; pushes build and deploy automatically with previews for every pull request.
Control Scaleway Instances
Scaleway Instances gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Free tier Netlify
Netlify has a free tier; Scaleway Instances doesn't.
Features Netlify
Netlify comes out ahead on 7 of the 15 features we track, versus 4.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Netlify | Scaleway Instances | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Static sites and frontend apps that deploy from Git and want a generous, mature workflow. | EU projects that want real cloud ergonomics — hourly billing, CLI, Terraform, managed databases — without a US hyperscaler. |
| How deploys work | Connect the Git repo; pushes build and deploy automatically with previews for every pull request. | Spin up an instance from the console or the scw CLI, then manage it like any VPS; Terraform and cloud-init are first-class. |
| The tradeoff | The credit system makes bills hard to predict — traffic, deploys, and compute all drain one pool. | À la carte pricing makes the real cost higher than the sticker, and account verification can be painful. |
| Free tier | Free: 300 credits per month with a hard stop. Commercial use is allowed; enough for a small site with modest traffic and few production deploys. | None |
What you'd realistically pay
Netlify Scaleway Instances
| Project stage | Netlify | Scaleway Instances | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | Free Free — Watch the credit math: deploys cost 15 credits each out of 300. | ≈€10.42/mo DEV1-S + IPv4 + 10 GB volume — ~€6.55 instance (2 shared vCPU, 2 GB RAM) + €2.92 IPv4 + ~€0.95 block storage. Ex-VAT, ~730h/month. | Netlify |
| Steady traffic | ≈$9/mo Personal — 1,000 credits/month; extra 500-credit packs cost $5. | ≈€24.92/mo PLAY2-NANO + IPv4 + 20 GB volume — ~€20.10 instance (2 shared vCPU, 4 GB RAM) + €2.92 IPv4 + ~€1.90 block storage. | Netlify |
| Growing | ≈$20/mo Pro — 3,000 credits/month; extra 1,500-credit packs cost $10. | ≈€45/mo PLAY2-MICRO + IPv4 + 20 GB volume — ~€40.20 instance (4 shared vCPU, 8 GB RAM) + €2.92 IPv4 + ~€1.90 block storage. | Netlify |
Netlify pricing notes
- Credit rates: 10,000 requests = 2 credits, 1 GB bandwidth = 20 credits, production deploy = 15 credits, 1 GB-hour of function compute = 10 credits.
- Deploy previews and branch deploys are free; only production deploys cost credits.
Scaleway Instances pricing notes
- Hourly billing (~730 h/month), ex-VAT, with no egress fees — bandwidth is an unmetered per-instance speed.
- Flexible IPv4 €0.004/h (~€2.92/month); IPv6 is free. Block Storage 5K is €0.000130/GB/h (~€0.095/GB/month).
- Savings Plans (12/36-month commitment) take up to 25% off compute.
- New Professional accounts with a payment method get €100 in credit.
Our ratings
Ease of use Netlify
Pricing clarity
Free tier Netlify
Scaling Netlify
Control Scaleway Instances
Feature by feature
Netlify wins 7, Scaleway Instances wins 4, with 4 even.
Deploy workflow
| Netlify | Scaleway Instances | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes Connect GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps; pushes deploy. | No Not on Instances — bring your own CI, or use Scaleway’s separate serverless products. |
| Preview deploys | Yes Deploy previews per pull request and branch deploys, free of credit cost. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes The netlify CLI runs local dev, deploys, and manages functions. | Yes The scw CLI covers instances, volumes, IPs, and snapshots. |
| Instant rollbacks | Yes Every deploy is kept; publish any previous one instantly. | Partial Snapshots and images restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Netlify | Scaleway Instances | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with automatic TLS on all plans, including Free. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Yes Global edge CDN serves all sites by default. | Partial Edge Services adds a CDN in front of load balancers and object storage; nothing automatic on a bare instance. |
| Serverless functions | Yes Netlify Functions (AWS Lambda under the hood) plus edge functions. | No Not on Instances — Scaleway sells separate Serverless Containers and Functions products. |
| Docker containers | No No container deploys — builds run in Netlify’s build image. | Yes Docker-ready images or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | No No shell access; logs are the debugging surface. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Partial The CDN is global, but functions default to a US region; region choice needs higher tiers. | Yes Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and Milan — EU-only by design. |
Runtime & operations
| Netlify | Scaleway Instances | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Yes CDN and functions scale automatically with traffic. | No Manual resizing on Instances; autoscaling lives in the serverless products. |
| Scale to zero | Yes Nothing runs (or bills) while the site has no traffic — apart from credits. | Partial A fully powered-off (archived) instance stops compute billing, but IPs and volumes keep billing. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Scheduled functions run on a cron expression. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Partial Netlify DB (Neon Postgres) is in early access; most projects bring an external database. | Yes Managed PostgreSQL/MySQL from ~€11.40/month plus storage; Redis and MongoDB too. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Function and deploy logs included; analytics is a paid add-on. | Partial Cockpit collects instance metrics and logs into managed Grafana; app-level instrumentation is yours. |
Watch out for
Netlify
- Every production deploy costs 15 credits, so the 300-credit free tier covers only about 20 deploys a month even with zero traffic.
- The free tier has a hard stop: when credits run out, the site pauses until the next month.
- Bandwidth burns credits quickly — 1 GB costs 20 credits.
Scaleway
- List prices exclude storage and public IPv4: add ~€2.92/month for a flexible IPv4 and ~€0.095/GB/month for block storage.
- Scaleway raised prices across Stardust, PLAY2, PRO2, BASIC3, and storage on 1 June 2026.
- "Standby" bills as a running instance; only a full power-off (archive) stops compute billing — and IPs and volumes keep billing regardless.
- Automated KYC can freeze accounts (sometimes with servers running) until you re-verify with ID and selfie.
- The famous €0.43/month Stardust instances are chronically out of stock.
Read the full reviews: Netlify and Scaleway. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.