EU Sovereignty Score
Self-hosted / open sourceMessagingHeadquarters: GB

Briar: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Briar is a free, open-source messaging app with no central servers. Messages travel directly from device to device over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or the Tor network, so nearby contacts can be reached even without an internet connection. All communication is end-to-end encrypted, and stored content is encrypted on the device itself. Briar supports private messaging and forums, and it can only communicate with other Briar users. It is available for Android and as a desktop version for Windows, macOS and Linux; there are no plans for an iOS app.

The project is governed by a voluntary board and has been funded by grants, including from NLnet and the Next Generation Internet programme. Its website names no legal entity or location. The Android app is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later and the desktop version under the AGPL. Because there is no central server, no provider holds your message data. Since July 2026 Briar has been in maintenance mode: only essential security updates and bug fixes are being made.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Briar pre-selected
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Sovereignty score
79 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-250
    Headquartered outside the EU (GB)
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    EU-only hosting
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-390
    Self-hostable: encryption keys under your own control
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-680
    Open source: low switching costs
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-675
    Source code auditable, forkable and self-hostable

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked October 9, 2026
HeadquartersGB (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decisionYes — found adequate by the European CommissionVerified by hand
Sovereignty modelOpen-source, distributedVerified by hand
Data hostingEUVerified by hand
Open-sourceYesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantYesVendor-stated
Hosting signalHETZNER-AS - Hetzner Online GmbH, DE (DE)Technically measured
CategoryMessaging
TypeProduct
Websitebriarproject.org ↗

The hosting signal shows the network that serves the vendor's website, often a CDN, and not necessarily where the service or your data is hosted. How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Briar

The European alternatives to Briar come from our knowledge base of over 6,200 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

21 European Messaging vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with Briar

Briar is headquartered in GB, outside the EU. Contracts and data therefore also fall under non-European law. The GDPR applies through contractual terms, but in a conflict with local legislation you have less certainty than with a European vendor.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so Briar scores best on data residency.

Briar is open source. You can audit the source code, self-host the software and keep the encryption keys under your own control. Switching is easier because data and software are not tied to a single party.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Briar together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to Briar?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Briar include Conversations (XMPP), Delta Chat and Dino. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Briar?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Briar include Conversations (XMPP), Delta Chat, Dino, Olvid, Quicksy, Tox and Wire. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Briar GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Briar is headquartered in GB (OTHER) and hosts data in EU. The vendor states it is GDPR-compliant, but the data falls under non-EU jurisdiction. For full EU data residency the EU alternatives on this page usually offer more certainty.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on October 9, 2026.

Sources

Public sources used in the latest check of this record.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in Messaging

Messaging: Personal messaging — chat, group conversations, media sharing. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

Also in this category

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8 European alternatives to Briar — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score