UpCloud

UpCloud is a Finnish cloud infrastructure provider founded in 2011 in Helsinki, quickly establishing itself as one of the fastest cloud platforms in the world. What sets UpCloud apart from competitors is its proprietary MaxIOPS storage technology, which consistently delivers exceptional performance that rivals or exceeds much larger providers. The company has grown from a Nordic startup to a global player with data centers across Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific, while maintaining its Finnish roots and strong commitment to European values.

MaxIOPS Storage Technology

The cornerstone of UpCloud's offering is MaxIOPS, a proprietary storage solution that delivers up to 100,000 IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) for all cloud servers. Unlike competitors who often use shared storage that can suffer from noisy neighbor problems, MaxIOPS provides consistent, predictable performance regardless of what other users are doing on the platform. This makes UpCloud particularly attractive for I/O-intensive applications like databases, e-commerce platforms, and content management systems.

MaxIOPS storage uses a distributed architecture with multiple redundancy layers, ensuring both high availability and exceptional speed. Independent benchmarks consistently rank UpCloud among the fastest cloud providers globally, often outperforming providers many times its size. For applications where performance matters, this technology provides a significant advantage over standard SSD offerings from other providers.

European Data Centers and Compliance

UpCloud operates multiple data centers across Europe, including facilities in Helsinki (Finland), Frankfurt and Dusseldorf (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands), London (UK), Warsaw (Poland), and Madrid (Spain). This extensive European presence allows customers to deploy infrastructure close to their users while maintaining full GDPR compliance. For organizations that require data to remain within the EU, UpCloud provides multiple options without compromising on performance.

As a Finnish company, UpCloud is subject to Finnish and EU data protection laws, which are among the strongest in the world. The company is fully GDPR compliant and provides data processing agreements for enterprise customers. Unlike US-based providers, data stored with UpCloud in European data centers is not subject to the US CLOUD Act, providing an additional layer of legal protection for sensitive information.

Cloud Services and Features

UpCloud offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services beyond basic virtual machines. The platform includes managed databases for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Redis, allowing developers to offload database administration to UpCloud's team. Managed Kubernetes provides container orchestration for organizations adopting cloud-native architectures. Additional services include object storage, private networking, load balancers, and firewalls.

The UpCloud control panel is clean and intuitive, making it easy to deploy and manage infrastructure. A powerful API and CLI tool enable automation and integration with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform and Ansible. The platform supports hourly billing with no minimum commitment, making it suitable for both long-running production workloads and short-term development environments.

Pricing and Value

UpCloud's pricing is competitive with other premium cloud providers, starting from 5 euros per month for basic cloud servers. While not the cheapest option available, the performance delivered by MaxIOPS storage provides exceptional value for I/O-intensive workloads. Traffic is billed separately, with generous allowances and competitive rates. The company offers a straightforward pricing model without the complexity often associated with hyperscalers.

For organizations migrating from AWS or other US providers, UpCloud often provides better price-performance ratios, especially for workloads that benefit from fast storage. The 100% uptime SLA and responsive support add additional value for production deployments. UpCloud also offers credits for new customers to test the platform before committing to production workloads.