Self-hosted / open sourceDesktop OSHeadquarters: PL

Qubes OS: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Qubes OS is a free and open-source operating system for a single user on a desktop computer, focused on security through compartmentalisation. Built on the Xen hypervisor, each activity runs in its own virtual machine, called a qube, for example for work, private use, the network stack or the firewall. Qubes can run systems such as Fedora, Debian or Windows, carry trust levels shown by coloured window borders, and can be created as disposable instances. Network cards and USB controllers are isolated. The system is aimed at people who are actively targeted, such as journalists, activists and researchers, and at power users. You install Qubes OS on your own hardware.

The software is open source, mainly under GPL v2. It is developed by the Qubes OS Project, with Invisible Things Lab listed as a partner. Because the system runs locally and needs no cloud service, your data and keys stay on your own equipment. The documentation notes that Linux experience can help, and the project itself describes Qubes as a reasonably secure operating system.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Qubes OS 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 July 2, 2026

Headquarters	PL (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty model	Open-source, distributedVerified by hand
Data hosting	EUVerified by hand
Open-source	YesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Compliance documents	1 published, see belowVendor-stated
Hosting signal	FASTLY - Fastly, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
Category	Desktop OS
Type	Product
Website	qubes-os.org ↗

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 Qubes OS

The European alternatives to Qubes OS 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 Desktop OS 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 Qubes OS

Qubes OS is headquartered in PL 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 Qubes OS scores best on data residency.

Qubes OS 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 Qubes OS 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 Qubes OS?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Qubes OS include Alpine Linux, Devuan and /e/OS. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Qubes OS?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Qubes OS include Alpine Linux, Devuan, /e/OS, EndeavourOS, KDE neon, Linux Mint, Mageia and Manjaro. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Qubes OS GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Qubes OS is headquartered in PL (EU) and hosts data in EU. It is also open-source, so you can self-host it. That makes Qubes OS 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: doc.qubes-os.org/en/latest/project-security/security.html

Provenance of the links above:Vendor-stated

Links checked on September 21, 2026.

Cyber Resilience Act

Public signals that relate to the EU Cyber Resilience Act. They do not count towards the score. A missing line means "not found publicly".

Report a vulnerability: doc.qubes-os.org/en/latest/project-security/security.html
security.txt: qubes-os.org/.well-known/security.txt
Supported versions: doc.qubes-os.org/en/latest/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/supported-releases.html

For products in scope of the CRA, CE marking is required from 11 December 2027; this cannot be checked yet.

Checked on October 9, 2026. What is the Cyber Resilience Act?

Digital sovereignty in Desktop OS

Desktop OS: Desktop operating system — daily work platform. 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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