The most visible cloud hosting platforms in Europe, October 2026

October 2026 · 105 questions asked from 7 countries · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 420 answers read

Leader

AWS

54Heralded Score, range 46–68

Most cited source

youtube.com

76citations

From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

Microsoft Azure

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on ChatGPT, not on Google AI Mode, Gemini and Google AI Overviews

Brands

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Search Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
41 Elementor Hosting IL New entry 1 , range 1–26 2#35 1= #64
1
  • : score 1 · #41
1% 0% None First reading
= 42 Hypernode NL New entry 1 , range 1–26 2#37 1= #64
1
  • : score 1 · #42
1% 0% None First reading
= 42 MassiveGRID US New entry 1 , range 1–25 2#36 1= #64
1
  • : score 1 · #42
1% 0% None First reading
44 netcup DE New entry 1 , range 1–24 1#40 0= #99
1
  • : score 1 · #44
1% 0% None First reading
45 123 Reg New entry 1 , range 1–24 1#43 0= #99
1
  • : score 1 · #45
0% 0% None First reading
– 20i GB Unranked Too few answers Not measured 0= #99
–
  • : Unranked
0% 0% None First reading
– 34SP.com GB Unranked Too few answers Not measured 0= #99
–
  • : Unranked
0% 0% None First reading
– Alfahosting DE Unranked Too few answers Not measured 0= #99
–
  • : Unranked
0% 0% None First reading
– Alibaba Cloud CN Unranked Too few answers Not measured 3#35
–
  • : Unranked
0% 0% None First reading
– alwaysdata FR Unranked Too few answers Not measured 0= #99
–
  • : Unranked
0% 0% None First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. AI and Search give each brand’s score and rank on that side alone. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.

Most cited sources

Rank Source Type Cited in Engines Pages cited Brands its pages mention
1 youtube.com Social 10.7% 2 of 4 55 Not read
2 shopify.com Vendor site 6.2% 4 of 4 33 20
3 reddit.com Community 7.1% 3 of 4 27 Not read
4 woocommerce.com Vendor site 2.9% 1 of 4 11 2
5 medium.com Community 3.8% 3 of 4 10 Not read
6 searcheye.io Vendor site 3.1% 2 of 4 1 10
7 linkedin.com Social 2.6% 2 of 4 7 Not read
8 freecodecamp.org Reference 2.4% 3 of 4 1 8
9 hostadvice.com Review site 2.4% 1 of 4 8 Not read
10 instawp.com Vendor site 2.4% 3 of 4 1 14

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
best cloud hosting platform for independent developers English Hetzner
cloud hosting for small software teams English Hetzner
how can a developer host an app without managing servers English Render and Vercel, tied
how to keep a startup website online as traffic grows English AWS
managed cloud hosting vs self-managed servers for startups English No brand recommended
¿Cuál es la mejor plataforma de alojamiento en la nube para startups? Spanish AWS and DigitalOcean, tied
Alojamiento en la nube para pequeñas tiendas online Spanish Cloudways and Hostinger, tied
¿Cómo puede una startup mantener su app online sin interrupciones? Spanish No brand recommended
¿Cómo puedo alojar una tienda online que cada vez recibe más visitas? Spanish AWS and Google Cloud, tied
¿Servidor propio o alojamiento en la nube para startups? Spanish Hetzner, OVHcloud, Railway and Render, tied

Each engine's top three

Method

Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.

For the AI side, each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.

How the leaderboards are measured