The Best European Sovereign Cloud Providers

More customers, businesses, and consumers are beginning to care more about where their data is stored, who can access it, and how to keep the cloud private.

With more alternatives to traditional cloud providers such as AWS, Google Drive, and others becoming available, we offer the best sovereign cloud providers in Europe to meet your data sovereignty needs, and explain why choosing a sovereign cloud can help increase data security, privacy, ensure compliance, and give you greater control over data stored in the cloud.

Table of contents

What are sovereign cloud providers?

Sovereign cloud providers offer cloud computing services designed to ensure that an organisation's data, applications, and digital infrastructure remain subject to the laws and regulations of a specific country or region.

Unlike traditional cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, which operate across multiple countries and fall under different legal jurisdictions, sovereign cloud providers focus on maintaining control over where data is stored, how it is processed, who can access it, and who manages the underlying infrastructure.

This means that data is generally stored within the required geographical boundaries, access is restricted to authorised personnel, and the provider operates under the relevant national or regional legal framework.

Sovereign cloud providers are particularly important for governments, public institutions, financial organisations and businesses handling sensitive or confidential information, where data protection, regulatory compliance, security and independence from foreign jurisdictions are essential.

For personal cloud storage, you may want to choose a sovereign personal cloud or cloud storage from the UK to have greater control over your personal information, such as photos, documents, emails, financial records, and other sensitive data.

Knowing your information is stored within your own country or region and is subject to local data protection laws, rather than being governed by foreign legislation, offers greater peace of mind that your files remain accessible only to you.

Data sovereignty terms explained

Data sovereignty means data is subject to the laws and regulations of the country where it is stored or processed.

Understanding the following terms is important when choosing from sovereign cloud providers because they help you establish whether your data is genuinely protected and remains under your organisation's control.

When talking about European sovereign cloud providers, you may see the following terms:

• Data residency: Where data is physically stored.
• Data sovereignty: Which country's laws govern the data.
• Data localization: Legal requirements to keep data within a specific country.
• Data jurisdiction: The legal authority a country has over data.
• Cross-border data transfer: Moving data between countries, potentially subject to legal restrictions.
• Data compliance: Following applicable data protection laws and regulations; GDPR compliance is what European cloud storage providers must follow.
• European ownership: means an EU sovereign cloud is incorporated in and governed by European law and is not subject to extraterritorial data access laws.
• Sovereign cloud: Combines data residency with European ownership and reduced exposure to foreign jurisdiction.

For more information about data sovereignty and sovereign cloud providers, we also cover this topic in our What is a Sovereign Cloud article.

Why companies choose sovereign cloud providers

Choosing sovereign cloud providers goes beyond the cloud infrastructure and includes legal frameworks, who can access the data, and the overall cloud platform and cloud storage pricing.

Common reasons for choosing an EU sovereign cloud provider are explained in more detail below.

GDPR compliance and data protection

European cloud providers operate within the European regulatory environment, where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes strict requirements for collecting, storing, processing, and protecting personal data, and reducing the risk of data protection violations.

Data sovereignty and legal control

When dealing with confidential business information, customer records, financial documents or intellectual property, companies may want their data to remain under European legal jurisdiction rather than being subject to foreign legislation.

European cloud providers can offer greater clarity about which laws govern the data, which authorities may legally request access and what protections apply.

Data security and privacy

Protecting business information against cyberattacks, data breaches and unauthorised access is a major concern for organisations, especially important when protecting against healthcare data breaches, as healthcare is often the most targeted industry and most affected by data breaches.

European cloud providers use encryption, identity and access management, continuous monitoring, and security certifications such as ISO 27001 compliance or SOC 2 standards.

Providers that can demonstrate strong security practices and clear privacy policies are the best sovereign cloud providers for businesses.

European digital independence

Many companies want to reduce their dependence on large technology providers headquartered outside Europe, particularly when critical business operations rely on their infrastructure.

European sovereign cloud providers and tech companies offer an alternative that allows organisations to support the development of Europe's own digital infrastructure while gaining more independence and less exposure to decisions, commercial policies or geopolitical developments outside European control.

Alignment with business values and customer expectations

Using a European cloud provider can demonstrate a commitment to European data protection standards, privacy and responsible data management, which is becoming more important for business partners and consumers.

This may strengthen customer confidence, support business relationships and help organisations meet the expectations of customers who prefer their information to be handled within a European legal framework.

How to choose from sovereign cloud providers

Data sovereignty

European cloud storage doesn’t automatically mean it has full data sovereignty, so review who owns the provider, where it operates, and what local laws it falls under.

Compliance and certifications

Aside from GDPR compliance, check if the provider also provides additional security certificates or compliance that are relevant to your particular industry. Other important features to check are data encryption methods, access controls, identity management, and security monitoring.

Also consider whether the provider can meet any additional regulatory requirements specific to your industry.

Features and performance

Check what features are included, from object storage plans, API access, file versioning, immutable backups, and automation features.

Check the provider's Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to understand its availability commitments, support response times, and responsibilities during service disruptions.

Pricing and scalability

Compare the costs of pay-as-you-go models or other S3 storage costs, and whether plans offer a fixed price or if they charge you for ingress and egress fees.

Check the current costs for your future storage needs, and whether the costs increase as you store more data.

Understand your organisation's requirements

Consider the type of data you handle, how sensitive it is, how much storage and computing capacity you require, and which applications need to run in the cloud.

You should also identify any legal or industry-specific requirements that apply to your organisation.

What are the best sovereign cloud providers?

Internxt S3

Internxt S3 is the best sovereign cloud provider based in Valencia, Spain, that offers S3-compatible cloud object storage for businesses and enterprises.

It offers fixed pricing per TB, which you can scale to meet your business's current and future needs, at a cost of €7/TB/month, with no fees for moving data in or out of the cloud.

It offers total data redundancy, as files are stored across multiple data centers across Europe, which meet compliance needs depending on the local laws of that country. Internxt S3 is fully GDPR, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and HIPAA compliant, meeting data protection standards across all industries.

Object storage plans with Internxt protect from loss or corruption with technology that guarantees 99.999999999% (11 9s) of data durability for each object. It includes security controls, backups, object locking, and file versioning, and advanced encryption for data security and privacy.

To get started with Internxt EU sovereign cloud service, visit our website to contact a member of our sales team, and we will be happy to get you started.

Get Internxt S3

Internxt Drive

If you’re looking for sovereign cloud providers in Europe for small business or personal use, Internxt Drive is an encrypted cloud storage service that protects your files and data with end-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption.

It offers full compliance and security certifications, backed up by open-source software and security audits from Securitum. All data is stored in multiple European cloud data centers, and paid monthly or lifetime cloud storage plans include backups, VPN, and antivirus for full online privacy and data and device security.

You can get started with Internxt for 85% off using the link below, and choose between Essential, Premium, or Ultimate plans to gain access to Internxt Mail, Internxt Photos, and much more.

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