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I tried building my startup entirely on European infrastructure (coinerella.com)

751 points by willy__ · 147 days ago · 376 comments on HN

Article summary

The author attempted to build their startup entirely on European infrastructure, motivated by data sovereignty, GDPR simplicity, and a desire to support EU companies. They chose a stack including Hetzner, Scaleway, Bunny.net, and Nebius, and self-hosted several services. The author encountered challenges, such as finding a suitable transactional email provider and dealing with domain TLD pricing disparities. Despite these difficulties, they consider the effort worthwhile for the benefits of lower infrastructure costs and a clean data residency story.

Main themes

  • European infrastructure
  • Data sovereignty
  • GDPR compliance
  • Self-hosting
  • Cloud providers
  • Domain TLD pricing

What commenters say

  • Some commenters have had positive experiences with Scaleway, citing its simplicity, reliability, and competitive pricing.
  • Others have reported negative experiences with OVH, including poor customer service and technical issues.
  • The choice of email service provider is crucial, with some arguing that EU-based providers like MailerSend and Mailjet are preferable due to data protection laws.
  • There is disagreement over the suitability of Codeberg and Forgejo as alternatives to GitHub, with some citing their limitations and others praising their open-source ethos.
  • Some commenters believe that using EU-based infrastructure is a way to avoid US surveillance and protect against potential disruptions to US-based services.
  • Others argue that the goal of using EU-based infrastructure is not just about avoiding US influence, but also about supporting European companies and promoting digital sovereignty.
  • The issue of domain TLD pricing disparities between EU and US registrars is seen as a significant problem, with some calling for greater transparency and regulation.
  • The use of self-hosted solutions like Gitea and Forgejo is seen as a way to maintain control over data and avoid vendor lock-in, but may require more effort and expertise.