Dust

French AI platform for deploying AI assistants across your company's knowledge and tools

Nscale

European AI hyperscaler with sovereign GPU cloud infrastructure in Norway and UK

Dust

Excellent

23/25

Nscale

Strong

17/25

Score Breakdown

DimensionDustNscale

Data Residency

Where is your data stored and processed?

Dust: Data hosted exclusively in EU (France). French SAS incorporation means EU law governs by default. Internal company data connected to Dust stays in EU infrastructure.

Nscale: Norwegian data centres offer EEA data residency with renewable hydropower. UK facilities planned. Customer workloads stay on Nscale infrastructure. Norway option provides strong EU data residency.

5/5

Data hosted exclusively in EU (France). French SAS incorporation means EU law governs by default. Internal company data connected to Dust stays in EU infrastructure.

4/5

Norwegian data centres offer EEA data residency with renewable hydropower. UK facilities planned. Customer workloads stay on Nscale infrastructure. Norway option provides strong EU data residency.

Legal Jurisdiction

Which laws govern the company and your data?

Dust: French SAS under French and EU law. GDPR applies as corporate law. CNIL oversight. No US parent company, no CLOUD Act exposure. Founded by ex-OpenAI researchers building for EU sovereignty.

Nscale: UK incorporation provides GDPR adequacy but UK CLOUD Act equivalent (Investigatory Powers Act) applies. Norwegian data centres under EEA law offer stronger protection for EU workloads.

5/5

French SAS under French and EU law. GDPR applies as corporate law. CNIL oversight. No US parent company, no CLOUD Act exposure. Founded by ex-OpenAI researchers building for EU sovereignty.

3/5

UK incorporation provides GDPR adequacy but UK CLOUD Act equivalent (Investigatory Powers Act) applies. Norwegian data centres under EEA law offer stronger protection for EU workloads.

Data Retention & Training

Is your data used for model training?

Dust: Company data indexed by Dust is not used to train shared models. Data remains within the organisation's workspace. GDPR-compliant DPA available. Configurable data access controls per assistant.

Nscale: Infrastructure provider only—Nscale does not access, process, or retain customer workload data. Customers have full control over their compute environments.

5/5

Company data indexed by Dust is not used to train shared models. Data remains within the organisation's workspace. GDPR-compliant DPA available. Configurable data access controls per assistant.

5/5

Infrastructure provider only—Nscale does not access, process, or retain customer workload data. Customers have full control over their compute environments.

Certifications

ISO 27001, SOC 2, Cyber Essentials, etc.

Dust: ISO 27001 certification. As a fast-growing startup, the certification portfolio is expanding. SOC 2 Type II would further strengthen enterprise procurement credibility.

Nscale: No publicly listed certifications yet. Expected for a fast-growing infrastructure company at this stage. Data centre certifications likely in progress.

3/5

ISO 27001 certification. As a fast-growing startup, the certification portfolio is expanding. SOC 2 Type II would further strengthen enterprise procurement credibility.

2/5

No publicly listed certifications yet. Expected for a fast-growing infrastructure company at this stage. Data centre certifications likely in progress.

Regulatory Fit

Suitability for regulated industries and professional services

Dust: Excellent regulatory fit for European enterprises building internal AI agent infrastructure. French incorporation, EU hosting, GDPR-native design, and support for EU-sovereign LLM providers (Mistral) make Dust a top choice for sovereignty-conscious EU organisations.

Nscale: Strong for organisations needing European GPU compute sovereignty. Norwegian facilities particularly suitable for EU regulated workloads. UK incorporation is adequate but not optimal for strict EU sovereignty requirements.

5/5

Excellent regulatory fit for European enterprises building internal AI agent infrastructure. French incorporation, EU hosting, GDPR-native design, and support for EU-sovereign LLM providers (Mistral) make Dust a top choice for sovereignty-conscious EU organisations.

3/5

Strong for organisations needing European GPU compute sovereignty. Norwegian facilities particularly suitable for EU regulated workloads. UK incorporation is adequate but not optimal for strict EU sovereignty requirements.

Total Score

23/25

17/25

Best For

Dust

Best for EU-headquartered organisations needing maximum data sovereignty; regulated industries (CNIL, BaFin); privacy-conscious teams who need strong data retention controls; organisations that need self-hosted or on-premise deployment.

Nscale

Best for privacy-conscious teams who need strong data retention controls.

Detailed Comparison

Dust vs Nscale: Trust & Compliance Comparison

Dust (Dust, FR) scores 23/25 overall with a Gold (Excellent) trust badge. French AI platform for deploying AI assistants across your company's knowledge and tools. Nscale (Nscale, GB) scores 17/25 with a Silver (Strong) trust badge. European AI hyperscaler with sovereign GPU cloud infrastructure in Norway and UK.

Dimension-by-Dimension Breakdown

#### Data Residency

Dust leads with 5/5 vs 4/5.

●Dust (5/5): Data hosted exclusively in EU (France). French SAS incorporation means EU law governs by default. Internal company data connected to Dust stays in EU infrastructure.

●Nscale (4/5): Norwegian data centres offer EEA data residency with renewable hydropower. UK facilities planned. Customer workloads stay on Nscale infrastructure. Norway option provides strong EU data residency.

#### Legal Jurisdiction

Dust leads with 5/5 vs 3/5.

●Dust (5/5): French SAS under French and EU law. GDPR applies as corporate law. CNIL oversight. No US parent company, no CLOUD Act exposure. Founded by ex-OpenAI researchers building for EU sovereignty.

●Nscale (3/5): UK incorporation provides GDPR adequacy but UK CLOUD Act equivalent (Investigatory Powers Act) applies. Norwegian data centres under EEA law offer stronger protection for EU workloads.

#### Data Retention & Training

Both score equally at 5/5.

●Dust (5/5): Company data indexed by Dust is not used to train shared models. Data remains within the organisation's workspace. GDPR-compliant DPA available. Configurable data access controls per assistant.

●Nscale (5/5): Infrastructure provider only—Nscale does not access, process, or retain customer workload data. Customers have full control over their compute environments.

#### Certifications

Dust leads with 3/5 vs 2/5.

●Dust (3/5): ISO 27001 certification. As a fast-growing startup, the certification portfolio is expanding. SOC 2 Type II would further strengthen enterprise procurement credibility.

●Nscale (2/5): No publicly listed certifications yet. Expected for a fast-growing infrastructure company at this stage. Data centre certifications likely in progress.

#### Regulatory Fit

Dust leads with 5/5 vs 3/5.

●Dust (5/5): Excellent regulatory fit for European enterprises building internal AI agent infrastructure. French incorporation, EU hosting, GDPR-native design, and support for EU-sovereign LLM providers (Mistral) make Dust a top choice for sovereignty-conscious EU organisations.

●Nscale (3/5): Strong for organisations needing European GPU compute sovereignty. Norwegian facilities particularly suitable for EU regulated workloads. UK incorporation is adequate but not optimal for strict EU sovereignty requirements.

Certifications at a Glance

Certification	Dust	Nscale
ISO 27001	Yes	No

Overall Verdict

Dust has a clear trust advantage, scoring 23/25 compared to Nscale's 17/25. Dust particularly excels in data residency, legal jurisdiction, certifications, regulatory fit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better for EU compliance, Dust or Nscale?

Dust has a TrustKit score of 23/25 while Nscale scores 17/25. Dust currently rates higher across data residency, legal jurisdiction, data retention, certifications, and regulatory fit.

How do Dust and Nscale compare on data residency?

Dust scores 5/5 for data residency (Data hosted exclusively in EU (France). French SAS incorporation means EU law governs by default. Internal company data connected to Dust stays in EU infrastructure.), while Nscale scores 4/5 (Norwegian data centres offer EEA data residency with renewable hydropower. UK facilities planned. Customer workloads stay on Nscale infrastructure. Norway option provides strong EU data residency.).

Are Dust and Nscale GDPR compliant?

Both tools are assessed across five compliance dimensions. Dust has a regulatory fit score of 5/5 and Nscale scores 3/5. Check the full comparison above for a detailed breakdown.

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