EU sovereignCloud PaaSHeadquarters: AT

next layer: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

next layer is an Austrian internet service provider that designs customised cloud, network and server infrastructure for business customers. Its cloud portfolio includes a managed Kubernetes cluster, Virtual Data Center, S3 object storage, cloud backup, database as a service, disaster recovery as a service, Hosted Exchange and Nextcloud. The Kubernetes cluster runs across three data centres; customers add nodes or clusters through a self-service portal and reach them via the Kubernetes API. next layer also provides network services and colocation in Vienna.

The company describes itself as owner-operated and is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. According to next layer, the Kubernetes clusters are located exclusively in data centres in Austria, so inside the EU. The website lists an ISO/IEC 27001 certification and the ISPA code of conduct, without stating the certification's scope. No foreign parent company is mentioned. The cloud platform itself is not offered as open source, although Kubernetes is. For organisations that want data to stay in Austria, this is a local provider with its own network.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with next layer pre-selected

Mastodon LinkedIn Bluesky X Email

Sovereignty score

71 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-2100
Headquartered in the EU: European law applies
Data residency SOV-3100
EU-only hosting
Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-360
Key management with a European vendor
Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
Closed source: switching requires data migration
Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-655
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 September 8, 2026

Headquarters	AT (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty model	Vendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting	EUVerified by hand
Open-source	NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Compliance documents	1 published, see belowVendor-stated
Hosting signal	NEXTLAYER-AS - Next Layer Telekommunikationsdienstleistungs- und Beratungs GmbH, AT (AT)Technically measured
Category	Cloud PaaS
Type	Product
Website	nextlayer.at ↗

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 next layer

The European alternatives to next layer come from our knowledge base of over 6,800 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

31 European Cloud PaaS vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

Is next layer 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 next layer

next layer is headquartered in AT and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data.

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

next layer 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 next layer 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 next layer?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to next layer include alwaysdata, amazee.io and anynines (a9s). On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to next layer?

Our list of EU alternatives to next layer is mostly commercial options. Browse the category on the map for open-source choices.

Is next layer GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

next layer is headquartered in AT (EU) and hosts data in EU. That makes next layer an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

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 September 8, 2026.

Sources

This record was checked via the vendor's website and legal notice when it was added on September 8, 2026. Source links have been recorded per record since 20 September 2026.

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".

Security page / trust center: nextlayer.at/en/products/cloud/certificates-ssl/

Provenance of the links above:Vendor-stated

Links checked on September 21, 2026.

Digital sovereignty in Cloud PaaS

Cloud PaaS: Platform as a Service — managed runtimes, container orchestration, serverless. 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 Cloud PaaS page — with no effect on your score