Is Snowflake a European company?

No. Snowflake is headquartered in Menlo Park, United States. As a US company it falls under US law, including the CLOUD Act, wherever it stores your data.

Is there a free European alternative to Snowflake?

Aiven, CrateDB, Hopsworks and DuckDB have a free plan with no time limit.

Which Snowflake alternatives keep your data in Europe?

STACKIT, Scaleway and OVHcloud store customer data in Europe by default. SAP Business Data Cloud and Aiven let you choose a European data region.

Is there an open-source European alternative to Snowflake?

Yes: CrateDB and DuckDB. Open-source tools can also be self-hosted on your own servers in Europe.

Does Snowflake store data in the EU?

Yes, if you choose a European region. Snowflake runs in AWS regions in Frankfurt, Zurich, Stockholm, Ireland, London and Paris, Azure regions in the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, and Google Cloud regions in London, Frankfurt and the Netherlands. The company is American, so US law still applies to it.

Is there a sovereign version of Snowflake for Europe?

Not as a product yet. Snowflake said in July 2025 it would be a launch partner of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, but its region list doesn't include it. In September 2026 it announced an integration with STACKIT, starting with data stored on STACKIT in Apache Iceberg, and says its timelines aren't commitments.

What is the closest European alternative to Snowflake?

For a SQL warehouse you run yourself, Exasol. For a managed service in a European cloud, STACKIT Dremio or Scaleway's Data Warehouse for ClickHouse. SAP Business Data Cloud fits companies whose main data already sits in SAP.

Checked November 2026

9 Best European Alternatives to Snowflake (2026)

Snowflake is a US cloud data platform: a SQL data warehouse that separates storage from compute, with data sharing, data engineering and AI features. It runs only as a service on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. It's also known as Snowflake Data Cloud and Snowflake AI Data Cloud. The same list works if you're replacing Databricks and Google BigQuery. The European alternatives that replace it best are Exasol (Germany) for teams wanting a fast SQL warehouse under their own control, SAP Business Data Cloud (Germany) for large enterprises already running SAP and STACKIT (Germany) for large German companies needing a sovereign hyperscaler-style cloud.

European alternatives: 9; From 6 countries
Keep data in Europe: 3; By default, no setting needed
With a free plan: 4; No time limit
Open source: 2; Can run on your own servers

Snowflake alternatives from Europe, compared

Best first for someone replacing Snowflake. Headcount and founding year come from LeadWave's database; prices, hosting and G2 ratings from each company's own pages and G2, checked in November 2026.

European alternatives to Snowflake
Alternative	Headquarters	Founded	Employees	G2 rating	Free plan	Paid plans from	Your data	Open source
1Exasol	Nuremberg, Germany	2000	244	4.7 (19 reviews)	No	—	Self-hosted	No
2SAP Business Data Cloud	Walldorf, Germany	1972	—	4.2 (1,001 reviews)	No	—	EU region available	No
3STACKIT	Bad Friedrichshall, Germany	—	—	—	No	—	In Europe	No
4Scaleway	Paris, France	2013	357	4.1 (20 reviews)	No	—	In Europe	No
5Aiven	Helsinki, Finland	2016	51–200	4.3 (321 reviews)	Yes	$5/service/month	EU region available	No
6OVHcloud	Roubaix, France	1999	—	3.2 (74 reviews)	No	—	In Europe	No
7CrateDB	Vaduz, Liechtenstein	—	—	4.4 (85 reviews)	Yes	$0.07/cluster/hour	Self-hosted	Yes
8Hopsworks	Stockholm, Sweden	2017	—	—	Yes	Free	Self-hosted	No
9DuckDB	Amsterdam, Netherlands	—	—	—	Yes	Free	Self-hosted	Yes

The 9 alternatives in detail

1. Exasol

Analytics database run in your own cloud or data centre

German analytics database that runs SQL queries in memory across a cluster. Installed on-premises or in your own AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account; a free Personal edition is for individual, non-commercial use.

Compared with Snowflake: SQL analytics database that you run on-premises or in your own AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account. Fast on large data, but no managed SaaS: your team operates it.

Headquarters: Nuremberg, Germany
Founded: 2000
Employees: 244
Your data: Self-hosted
Price: On request
Free plan: No
G2 rating: 4.7 (19 reviews)
Best for: Teams wanting a fast SQL warehouse under their own control

2. SAP Business Data Cloud

Enterprise sales CRM from Germany's SAP

German enterprise software company. SAP Business Data Cloud combines SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP HANA Cloud and SAP Databricks, and in May 2026 SAP agreed to buy lakehouse vendor Dremio.

Compared with Snowflake: Business Data Cloud bundles Datasphere, HANA Cloud and SAP Databricks, and SAP is buying lakehouse vendor Dremio. Best fit for companies already running SAP; prices on request.

Headquarters: Walldorf, Germany
Founded: 1972
Your data: EU region available
Price: On request
Free plan: No
G2 rating: 4.2 (1,001 reviews)
Best for: Large enterprises already running SAP

3. STACKIT

Enterprise cloud from the group behind Lidl and Kaufland

Cloud of the Schwarz Group, the retailer behind Lidl and Kaufland. Its data services include STACKIT Dremio, a managed lakehouse on Apache Iceberg, and STACKIT Intake for loading data.

Compared with Snowflake: STACKIT Dremio is a managed lakehouse on Apache Iceberg, run in STACKIT's European cloud by a German owner. Newer and narrower than Snowflake, with no data marketplace.

Headquarters: Bad Friedrichshall, Germany
Owned by: Schwarz Group (Germany)
Your data: In Europe
Price: On request
Free plan: No
Best for: Large German companies needing a sovereign hyperscaler-style cloud

4. Scaleway

French cloud with VMs, Kubernetes, serverless and GPUs

French cloud from the iliad group. Its Data Warehouse for ClickHouse is a managed analytics database billed on vCPU and object storage.

Compared with Snowflake: Data Warehouse for ClickHouse is a managed ClickHouse service in a French cloud, billed on vCPU and storage. Quick for analytics queries; fewer governance and data-sharing features.

Headquarters: Paris, France
Founded: 2013
Employees: 357
Owned by: iliad Group (France)
Your data: In Europe
Price: On request
Free plan: No
G2 rating: 4.1 (20 reviews)
Best for: Developer teams wanting a hyperscaler-style catalogue in the EU

5. Aiven

Managed open-source databases on the cloud you choose

Finnish company that runs open-source data services for you: PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, Kafka, OpenSearch, MySQL and Valkey, on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, UpCloud, OVHcloud or DigitalOcean in the region you pick.

Compared with Snowflake: Managed ClickHouse, PostgreSQL and Kafka on the cloud and region you pick, including European UpCloud and OVHcloud. A set of open-source databases rather than one warehouse.

Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland
Founded: 2016
Employees: 51–200
Your data: EU region available
Price: From $5/service/month
Free plan: Yes
G2 rating: 4.3 (321 reviews)
Best for: Developer teams that want managed open-source data services

6. OVHcloud

French public cloud, VPS and bare-metal servers

French cloud provider with its own data centres. Beyond servers it sells managed ClickHouse, Kafka and PostgreSQL, and a Data Platform built on Apache Iceberg, Spark and Trino.

Compared with Snowflake: Managed ClickHouse and Kafka plus a Data Platform built on Iceberg, Spark and Trino, in OVHcloud's own data centres. Data Platform prices aren't published yet.

Headquarters: Roubaix, France
Founded: 1999
Your data: In Europe
Price: On request
Free plan: No
G2 rating: 3.2 (74 reviews)
Best for: Teams moving whole workloads off a hyperscaler

7. CrateDB

Open-source SQL database for real-time analytics

Distributed SQL database for real-time analytics, full-text search and time-series data. Open source under Apache 2.0 to run yourself, or managed on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. Offices in Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Compared with Snowflake: Distributed SQL database for real-time analytics and time-series data, open source or managed. Aimed at live sensor and app data rather than a company-wide warehouse.

Headquarters: Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Your data: Self-hosted
Price: From $0.07/cluster/hour
Free plan: Yes
G2 rating: 4.4 (85 reviews)
Best for: IoT and sensor data that needs live queries

8. Hopsworks

Feature store and AI lakehouse for machine learning

Swedish platform for machine-learning data: feature store, model registry and model serving on a lakehouse. Hosted, or on Kubernetes in your own AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or OVHcloud account, or on-premises.

Compared with Snowflake: Closer to Databricks than Snowflake: a feature store and AI lakehouse for machine-learning teams, run in your own cloud or data centre. Not a general SQL warehouse.

Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Founded: 2017
Your data: Self-hosted
Price: Free
Free plan: Yes
Best for: Machine-learning teams that need a feature store

9. DuckDB

Free open-source analytics database that runs in-process

Open-source SQL database for analytics that runs inside an application, notebook or laptop and reads Parquet, CSV and Iceberg files directly. MIT licensed; its IP is held by the non-profit DuckDB Foundation in Amsterdam.

Compared with Snowflake: Free, open-source analytics database that runs inside your app or notebook and queries Parquet and Iceberg files. Single machine only; no managed service or user management.

Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Your data: Self-hosted
Price: Free
Free plan: Yes
Best for: Analysts and engineers working with data on one machine

Why look for a European alternative to Snowflake?

Snowflake is headquartered in Menlo Park, United States. These are the reasons buyers in Europe most often give for looking elsewhere:

Snowflake is a US company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, so US laws such as the CLOUD Act can reach data it holds, including data in its European regions.
It does keep data in Europe if you pick a European region: it runs on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, the UK, France and the Netherlands.
Those regions sit on US hyperscalers. In September 2026 Snowflake announced an integration with Germany's STACKIT that starts with keeping data on STACKIT in Apache Iceberg format, with a sovereign deployment as a later aim and no committed date.
There is no version to install in your own data centre, so data can't be kept on premises.

How this list was made

A company counts as European if it's headquartered in Europe: the EU, the EEA, Switzerland, the UK, or elsewhere in geographic Europe, never Russia or Belarus. Headquarters means where it's run from, not a registered office. Companies founded in Europe but headquartered elsewhere today are listed separately, and a non-European owner is always named.

Each company was checked against its own legal notice, pricing page and data-processing terms, and its G2 page. Headcount, funding and founding year come from LeadWave's database of SaaS companies. No company paid to be listed or ranked.

More European alternatives

Frequently asked questions

It depends on what you use Snowflake for. Exasol (Germany) for teams wanting a fast SQL warehouse under their own control, SAP Business Data Cloud (Germany) for large enterprises already running SAP and STACKIT (Germany) for large German companies needing a sovereign hyperscaler-style cloud. All 9 on this page are headquartered in Europe; the table compares their hosting, prices and G2 ratings.