Non-EU vendorCaptcha & Bot DetectionHeadquarters: US

Google Cloud Armor: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Google Cloud Armor is a security service from Google Cloud that protects web applications and services against attacks. According to Google, it includes a web application firewall (WAF), DDoS protection and bot management. For bot management, Cloud Armor works with reCAPTCHA: reCAPTCHA scores the risk of each request and issues an encrypted token, which Cloud Armor decrypts itself, so requests can be allowed, denied, rate-limited or redirected. Selected requests, such as login pages, can also be redirected to a reCAPTCHA challenge. Policies are defined and attached to Google Cloud load balancers.

Google Cloud is part of Alphabet, headquartered in the United States. Customer personal data is covered by the Cloud Data Processing Addendum, in which Google acts as processor and GDPR terms and obligations are included. Google Cloud operates regions in Europe, but no specific data storage location is stated for Cloud Armor itself. As a US company, Google is subject to US legislation such as the CLOUD Act, including when data is processed in European regions.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Google Cloud Armor pre-selected

Mastodon LinkedIn Bluesky X Email

Sovereignty score

27 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-210
Headquartered in the US: CLOUD Act and FISA 702
Data residency SOV-350
Hosting inside and outside Europe (US, EU)
Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-320
Key management with a non-European vendor
Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
Closed source: switching requires data migration
Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-615
Closed source, runtime with the vendor

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 13, 2026

Headquarters	US (US)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision	Only for companies individually certified under the EU-US Data Privacy FrameworkVerified by hand
Sovereignty model	Vendor-hosted (non-EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting	US, EUVerified by hand
Open-source	NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Category	Captcha & Bot Detection
Type	Product
Website	cloud.google.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Google Cloud Armor

The European alternatives to Google Cloud Armor come from our knowledge base of over 8,000 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

16 European Captcha & Bot Detection vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

Is Google Cloud Armor one of many dependencies?

Score your whole stack in about three minutes. Free, no account needed.

Assess your stack →View a sample report (opens in a new tab)

Why digital sovereignty matters with Google Cloud Armor

Google Cloud Armor is headquartered in the United States. US vendors fall under the CLOUD Act and FISA 702: US authorities can compel access to data, even when that data sits in a European data centre. That is the core of the jurisdictional exposure in our model.

Google Cloud Armor hosts data in US, EU. Exactly what stays within the EU — and what does not — is defined by the vendor's data processing agreement and sub-processor list, not by a setting you control yourself; check those documents for the precise scope, including backups, logs and support access.

Google Cloud Armor is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Google Cloud Armor 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 Google Cloud Armor?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Google Cloud Armor include ALTCHA, ALTCHA Sentinel and Atmosvere. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Google Cloud Armor?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Google Cloud Armor include ALTCHA and CaptchaService (Stad München). These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Google Cloud Armor GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Google Cloud Armor is headquartered in US and hosts data in US, 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 13, 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 Captcha & Bot Detection

Captcha & Bot Detection: Services that detect whether a real user or bot is visiting a website. 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

See all →

Open in the alternatives dashboard Missing a vendor? Submit it Are you this vendor? You can also become a sponsor on the Captcha & Bot Detection page — with no effect on your score