EU Sovereignty Score
Self-hosted / open sourceVPNHeadquarters: JP

SoftEther VPN: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

SoftEther VPN is an open-source, multi-protocol VPN program that can run as both server and client. The server runs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and macOS. It is installed and operated by the user, on the user's own computers or on cloud servers the user manages; the project itself does not offer a hosted service.

SoftEther VPN began as a research project at the University of Tsukuba in Japan and is maintained by the SoftEther VPN Project. The source code is published under the Apache License 2.0 on GitHub; the project's website notes that it moved from GPLv2 to Apache 2.0. Because the software runs on infrastructure chosen by the user, the organisation decides where its data flows and which hosting provider it uses, but it also carries responsibility for security updates and support.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with SoftEther VPN pre-selected
MastodonLinkedInBlueskyXEmail
Sovereignty score
77 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-250
    Headquartered outside the EU (JP)
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    No hosting in Europe (OTHER)
  • 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-665
    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 11, 2026
Headquarters
JP (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision
Yes — found adequate by the European CommissionVerified by hand
Data hosting
Self-hosted, e.g. in OTHER (your choice)Verified by hand
Open-source
YesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant
NoVendor-stated
Category
VPN
Type
Product
Website
softether.org ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to SoftEther VPN

The European alternatives to SoftEther VPN 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

21 European VPN vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

Is SoftEther VPN one of many dependencies?

Score your whole stack in about three minutes. Free, no account needed.

Assess your stack →View a sample report (opens in a new tab)

Why digital sovereignty matters with SoftEther VPN

SoftEther VPN is headquartered in JP, outside the EU. Contracts and data therefore also fall under non-European law. The GDPR applies through contractual terms, but in a conflict with local legislation you have less certainty than with a European vendor.

SoftEther VPN hosts data outside the EU (OTHER). Personal data therefore leaves the EU, which requires a transfer mechanism under the GDPR and pulls the data residency score down.

SoftEther VPN 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 SoftEther VPN 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 SoftEther VPN?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to SoftEther VPN include AdGuard VPN, AirVPN and Avast SecureLine VPN. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to SoftEther VPN?

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

Is SoftEther VPN GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

SoftEther VPN is headquartered in JP (OTHER) and hosts data in OTHER. Its GDPR compliance is limited or unclear. For full EU data residency the EU alternatives on this page usually offer more certainty.

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

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".

We found none of these signals on the vendor's own site when we checked.

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

Checked on October 11, 2026. What is the Cyber Resilience Act?

Digital sovereignty in VPN

VPN: Virtual private network — privacy protection, encrypted connection. 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

See all →
Open in the alternatives dashboardMissing a vendor? Submit itAre you this vendor? You can also become a sponsor on the VPN page — with no effect on your score
8 European alternatives to SoftEther VPN — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score