Self-hosted / open sourceCloud Storage (Personal)Headquarters: DE

Seafile (self-host): sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Seafile is file synchronisation and sharing software for teams and organisations. Files are kept in libraries that can be synced selectively to desktop and mobile devices, shared with users or groups, or made available through password-protected links. A library can be encrypted with a password. Seafile also offers version control, online editing through OnlyOffice or Collabora, the built-in SeaDoc document editor, a wiki, and file properties with table, gallery and kanban views. It is mainly installed on your own servers as Seafile On-Premise; a hosted service, SeafilePlus Cloud, has also been available since 2025.

The server core is open source under AGPLv3, and a Professional edition exists for paying customers. Seafile is developed by Seafile Ltd., founded in 2012, which lists offices in Beijing and Singapore. If you host Seafile yourself, you decide where the data resides, for example in your own data centre in the EU. For SeafilePlus Cloud the vendor does not name a hosting location, so ask about this before using the hosted service.

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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 9, 2026

Headquarters	DE (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
Hosting signal	AMAZON-AES - Amazon.com, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
Category	Cloud Storage (Personal)
Type	Product
Website	seafile.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 Seafile (self-host)

The European alternatives to Seafile (self-host) 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 Seafile (self-host)

Seafile (self-host) 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.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so Seafile (self-host) scores best on data residency.

Seafile (self-host) 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 Seafile (self-host) 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 Seafile (self-host)?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Seafile (self-host) 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 Seafile (self-host)?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Seafile (self-host) 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 Seafile (self-host) GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Seafile (self-host) is headquartered in DE (EU) and hosts data in EU. It is also open-source, so you can self-host it. That makes Seafile (self-host) 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 9, 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 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.

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