EU Sovereignty Score
Self-hosted / open sourceRemote Desktop & SupportHeadquarters: CH

Parallels Secure Workspace: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Parallels Secure Workspace, formerly Awingu, lets users reach server-based applications and desktops, local desktops, SaaS platforms and file servers from any modern web browser, without installing software on the device. It is deployed as a virtual appliance on hypervisors in private, public or hybrid cloud environments, so the organisation can run it on its own infrastructure. Corel acquired Awingu in 2022, and the product was renamed Parallels Secure Workspace in 2023.

The operating company, Parallels International GmbH, is a Swiss company. Its group is owned by funds managed by KKR, a US investment firm. Because the controlling owner is in the United States, the CLOUD Act is a relevant consideration for a European buyer, even though the company itself is Swiss. Because the product runs on the customer's own virtualisation platform, the customer decides where data resides, within the limits of the licence and any vendor support access. The product is not open source, so contract terms and support access deserve close attention.

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Sovereignty score
80 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-2100
    Headquartered in Switzerland: Swiss law, recognised by the EU as adequate
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    Hosting in Switzerland only (recognised by the EU as adequate)
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-380
    Closed source, but self-hostable: encryption keys and runtime under your own control
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-680
    Closed source, but self-hostable on your own infrastructure

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 11, 2026
Headquarters
CH (EU)Verified by hand
Ultimate parent company
USVerified by hand
Data hosting
Self-hosted, e.g. in CH (your choice)Verified by hand
Open-source
NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant
NoVendor-stated
Category
Remote Desktop & Support
Type
Product
Website
parallels.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace

The European alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace 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

20 European Remote Desktop & Support 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 Parallels Secure Workspace

Parallels Secure Workspace is headquartered in Switzerland and falls under Swiss law, including the revised Swiss data protection act. Switzerland is not an EU member, but the European Commission recognises its level of data protection as adequate. Its Swiss headquarters does not by itself bring it under US legislation such as the CLOUD Act. The ultimate owner is based in US. Foreign control undermines part of the certainty a European headquarters offers.

Parallels Secure Workspace runs on infrastructure you choose and control yourself. You decide where the data lives, including fully within the EU if you want — this is not a fixed hosting choice made by the vendor.

Parallels Secure Workspace is closed source, but you run the software yourself on your own infrastructure. The encryption keys and the runtime therefore stay under your own control, though you cannot audit or modify the source code. Ask about export options and open standards to limit software-level lock-in.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Parallels Secure Workspace 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 Parallels Secure Workspace?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace include AnyDesk, DWService and FastViewer. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace include DWService. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Parallels Secure Workspace GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Parallels Secure Workspace is headquartered in CH (EFTA) and hosts data in CH. That makes Parallels Secure Workspace 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 October 11, 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

Timeline

Dated changes in who controls this vendor or where it is based, newest first. Every line links to the public sources.

  1. · Ownership changeVendor-stated

    Parallels came under KKR (US) ownership when KKR acquired Corel from Vector Capital in July 2019.

All ownership changes

Digital sovereignty in Remote Desktop & Support

Remote Desktop & Support: Remote access, remote support and screen 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.

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8 European alternatives to Parallels Secure Workspace — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score