Modal vs Scaleway: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Modal and Scaleway to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Modal
6.7/10
Modal is a serverless cloud platform that runs Python code on GPUs and CPUs with per-second billing, aimed at teams building and serving AI applications.
Scaleway
6.6/10
French cloud provider offering virtual instances, bare metal, managed Kubernetes, serverless, databases, object storage and GPUs from EU-only data centers for businesses and developers.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.7/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $250/mo Team | €59/mo Silver Support |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $250/mo Team | Free Basic Support |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Dedicated Servers | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Modal vs Scaleway cost by team size
| Team size | Modal | Scaleway |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeStarter | FreeBasic Support |
| 5 users | $250/moTeam | FreeBasic Support |
| 10 users | $250/moTeam | FreeBasic Support |
| 25 users | $250/moTeam | FreeBasic Support |
| 50 users | $250/moTeam | FreeBasic Support |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Modal
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Scalability score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (7/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Scaleway
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Includes Dedicated Servers, which Modal lacks
Pros & Cons
Modal
Pros
- GPUs from the T4 up to the B300 are available without quota requests or reservations, and workloads can burst to thousands of containers.
- Per-second billing and scale-to-zero mean idle bursty inference workloads cost nothing.
- Python developers define infrastructure in code and deploy with a single CLI command, with no Kubernetes or Dockerfiles needed.
- The free Starter plan includes $30 a month of compute, and startup and academic credit programs are available.
- Sandboxes support large numbers of concurrent isolated environments for AI agents and untrusted code.
Cons
- Always-on or steady workloads can cost more than reserved GPU rentals from providers such as RunPod or Lambda.
- Containers stay billable for 60 seconds after the last request by default, and keep-warm settings are a common source of bill surprises.
- Region pinning raises prices by 1.15 to 1.75 times, and non-preemptible execution by 3 times.
- SSO, audit logs, and HIPAA support are limited to the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
- Credits from AWS, GCP, or Azure cannot be applied to Modal usage.
Scaleway
Pros
- All data centers are in the EU, which helps with GDPR and data sovereignty requirements
- Low entry prices with hourly billing, and Instance list prices include egress
- The shared Kubernetes control plane is free
- A full API, CLI and Terraform provider allow infrastructure-as-code workflows
- A wide compute range covering bare metal, Apple silicon and current GPUs
Cons
- No regions outside Europe
- Trustpilot reviews frequently cite unexpected billing and account verification lockouts
- Support is slow on the free tier, and stronger support costs extra
- Block storage and public IPv4 are billed separately, which pushes costs above headline instance prices
- Development instances carry little or no availability SLO
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Modal scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.7/10 against 6.6/10 for Scaleway. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for Modal and 8/10 for Scaleway.
Yes, both Modal and Scaleway have a free plan.
Modal is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 5/10 for Scaleway.
Scaleway has Dedicated Servers, which Modal lacks.
