EU Sovereignty Score
EU sovereignCloud Storage (Personal)Headquarters: CH

pCloud: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

pCloud is a cloud storage service for individuals and businesses. It offers file versioning, offline access, a virtual drive that appears on the computer without using local storage, file sharing, backup of social media accounts, migration from other cloud services and built-in audio and video players. Apps exist for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, plus a web interface and browser extensions. Files are encrypted on the server side; the optional paid add-on pCloud Crypto adds client-side zero-knowledge encryption for a dedicated folder. In October 2024, researchers from ETH Zurich reported attacks on this optional encryption.

The legal entity pCloud AG is registered in Baar, Switzerland (EFTA, not EU); according to Wikipedia, operations run from Sofia, Bulgaria. No foreign parent company is named. Users choose between two data centres, one in the EU (Luxembourg) and one in the United States (Texas). Choosing the EU region keeps files in Luxembourg.

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Sovereignty score
59 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-2100
    Headquartered in Switzerland: Swiss law, recognised by the EU as adequate
  • Data residency SOV-350
    Hosting inside and outside Europe (EU, US)
  • 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-645
    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 July 2, 2026
HeadquartersCH (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty modelVendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hostingEU, USVerified by hand
Open-sourceNoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantYesVendor-stated
Compliance documents1 published, see belowVendor-stated
Hosting signalpCloud - pCloud AG, CH (CH)Technically measured
CategoryCloud Storage (Personal)
TypeProduct
Websitepcloud.com ↗

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 pCloud

The European alternatives to pCloud 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

22 European Cloud Storage (Personal) 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 pCloud

pCloud 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.

pCloud hosts data in EU, US. 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.

pCloud 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 pCloud 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 pCloud?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to pCloud include CloudMe, Cozy Cloud and Cryptee. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to pCloud?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to pCloud include Cozy Cloud, Cryptee, Filen and Internxt. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

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

pCloud is headquartered in CH (EFTA) and hosts data in EU, US. That makes pCloud 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 July 2, 2026.

Sources

This record was checked via the vendor's website and legal notice during the full audit of June and July 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
pcloud.com/features/security

Provenance of the links above:Vendor-stated

Links checked on September 21, 2026.

Digital sovereignty in Cloud Storage (Personal)

Cloud Storage (Personal): Personal cloud storage — sync and share files. 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 pCloud — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score