The BCG recently released a report on the cost of cloud. The findings? Hyperscalers are charging up to 30% more for their sovereign-cloud offerings. It supports an earlier notion that if you want control, compliance, and jurisdictional certainty, you have to pay a premium.

At Civo, we think that is broken. As data volumes grow and AI workloads become central to business strategy, the economics of cloud computing are being re-examined. It’s no longer just about the unit price; it’s about the value leakage, regulatory risk, and long-term national competitiveness. Sovereign cloud isn’t a niche government requirement anymore. It’s the new standard.

The question is no longer whether sovereign cloud makes sense. It is why it has been priced like a luxury, and why that model is starting to break.

Vendor Solution Key features Price change from the regular offering
Civo Civo Sovereign Cloud Delivers full public, private, and AI cloud capabilities with data residency and operational control guaranteed in-country without price premiums, vendor lock-in, or feature trade-offs. No change
AWS AWS European Sovereign Cloud Separate and independent EU cloud, encrypted operations, and EU personnel only 20–30% increase
Microsoft Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty Regional compliance controls, AI-driven security, and localized cloud zones 15–25% increase
Google Cloud Google Distributed Cloud Fully air-gapped, no public cloud dependency, and local governance 10–20% increase
Oracle Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud Physically separated, EU-based key management, and GDPR compliant 15–30% increase

Source: BCG analysis

What differentiates sovereign cloud from regular cloud?

At a technical level, both sovereign cloud and standard public cloud deliver the same core primitives: compute, storage, networking, and managed services. The difference lies in who controls them, where they operate, and which laws apply.

A sovereign cloud is designed to ensure:

  • Data sovereignty: Data, metadata, and backups remain within national borders, governed by local law.
  • Operational sovereignty: Day-to-day administration is performed by staff subject only to local jurisdiction.
  • Technological sovereignty: The cloud stack can be inspected, escrowed, or replicated without dependence on a foreign authority.

Standard public cloud, by contrast, optimizes for global scale. Data may be regionally located, but control, access rights, and legal exposure often extend beyond national boundaries, particularly when providers are subject to extraterritorial legislation such as the US CLOUD Act.

These differences are well understood. What is less well understood is how they change the economics.

The hidden economics of “regular” cloud

Regular public cloud appears cheaper because its costs are deferred or obscured. Studies from BCG, IDC, and CloudZero all found that up to 30% of cloud spend is wasted due to overprovisioning, idle resources, inefficient pricing models, and weak governance. IDC notes that cloud costs now represent up to 17% of total IT budgets, and for most, that number is only going up.

When sovereignty requirements are added later, the cost profile worsens. Data gravity, egress fees, duplicated environments, and fragmented operating models introduce additional inefficiencies that standard cloud pricing does not account for upfront.

The result is a platform that is inexpensive to start with, but expensive to govern.

A different pricing philosophy

The core issue is not whether sovereign cloud costs more. It is whether it has to.

When sovereignty is treated as an exception, it becomes expensive. When it is treated as a default, it becomes part of the normal cost base.

Civo’s approach reflects this distinction. Sovereign cloud is not priced as a premium tier or a specialist service. It follows the same transparent, predictable pricing model as standard cloud, without region-specific markups for sovereignty.

“Businesses are waking up to the fact that without clear, reliable control over where their data resides—and who has access to it—they’re exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. The cloud needs to evolve to meet this new reality, and that means prioritizing transparency, localized control, and trust at the very core of infrastructure.” - Mark Boost, CEO of Civo

Below are some resources to start learning more about the importance of sovereignty and how Civo is helping:

The economics of sovereign cloud are no longer about paying more for less. They are about paying appropriately for what actually matters.

The future won’t be defined by the cheapest list price. It will be defined by platforms that align cost, control, and capability—without forcing organizations to choose between them.

Discover the Civo Sovereign Cloud

Our sovereign cloud offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services, including public, private, and AI solutions, all hosted within the UK or India and designed to ensure the highest levels of data security, compliance, and control.

👉 Find out more about our UK sovereign cloud
👉 Find out more about our India sovereign cloud