EU Sovereignty Score
Self-hosted / open sourceMaps & NavigationHeadquarters: DE

Photon: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Photon is an open-source geocoder built for OpenStreetMap data. It converts addresses and place names into coordinates and back, with suggestions while typing, tolerance for typing errors and reverse geocoding. The software is built on OpenSearch and released under the Apache License 2.0, so organisations can run it on their own infrastructure. Komoot provides a public instance, where heavy use is throttled.

Photon was started by komoot GmbH, based in Schönefeld, Germany. Bending Spoons completed its acquisition of komoot in March 2025, and Bending Spoons is headquartered in Milan, Italy. Because the software is open source, a European organisation can host Photon itself and keep address queries within its own infrastructure, rather than depending on a public interface the provider may change. The public instance is subject to the provider's terms.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Photon pre-selected
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Sovereignty score
94 / 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-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-6100
    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 10, 2026
HeadquartersDE (EU)Verified by hand
Ultimate parent companyITVerified by hand
Data hostingSelf-hosted, e.g. in EU (your choice)Verified by hand
Open-sourceYesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantYesVendor-stated
CategoryMaps & Navigation
TypeProduct
Websitephoton.komoot.io ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Photon

The European alternatives to Photon 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

37 European Maps & Navigation 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 Photon

Photon is headquartered in DE and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data. The ultimate owner is based in IT, also within Europe.

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

Photon 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 Photon 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 Photon?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Photon include BRouter, calimoto and cartes.gouv.fr. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Photon?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Photon include BRouter and GraphHopper. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

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

Photon is headquartered in DE (EU) and hosts data in EU. It is also open-source, so you can self-host it. That makes Photon 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 10, 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 Maps & Navigation

Maps & Navigation: Maps, route planning and navigation services. 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 Photon — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score