EU Sovereignty Score
Self-hosted / open sourceDNS Privacy & FilteringHeadquarters: GB

Stubby: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Stubby is a local DNS privacy stub resolver. It runs as a background service on the loopback address of a computer or server, accepts the DNS queries of local applications and forwards them over an encrypted DNS-over-TLS connection to DNS privacy resolvers, by default in strict privacy mode. It is built on the getdns library and configured through a YAML file. Stubby is distributed as source code, as packages for several systems, as a Windows installer and with a Dockerfile, and it is aimed at technically experienced users.

Stubby is open-source software under the BSD-3-Clause licence and is developed under the getdns project, which NLnet Labs, Sinodun and No Mountain Software maintain together. It runs on your own device or network, so no vendor operates a service that sees your queries. The jurisdiction that applies to your DNS traffic therefore depends mainly on the upstream resolvers you configure, not on Stubby itself. A European organisation can select resolvers located in the EU.

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Sovereignty score
77 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-250
    Headquartered outside the EU (GB)
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    No hosting in Europe (self-hosted)
  • 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 6, 2026
HeadquartersGB (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decisionYes — found adequate by the European CommissionVerified by hand
Data hostingSelf-hosted, e.g. in self-hosted (your choice)Verified by hand
Open-sourceYesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantYesVendor-stated
CategoryDNS Privacy & Filtering
TypeProduct
Websitegithub.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Stubby

The European alternatives to Stubby 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

24 European DNS Privacy & Filtering 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 Stubby

Stubby is headquartered in GB, 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.

Stubby hosts data outside the EU (self-hosted). Personal data therefore leaves the EU, which requires a transfer mechanism under the GDPR and pulls the data residency score down.

Stubby 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 Stubby 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 Stubby?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Stubby include AdGuard DNS, AdGuard Home and Blocky. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Stubby?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Stubby include AdGuard Home and Blocky. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

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

Stubby is headquartered in GB (OTHER) and hosts data in self-hosted. The vendor states it is GDPR-compliant, but the data falls under non-EU jurisdiction. 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 6, 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 DNS Privacy & Filtering

DNS Privacy & Filtering: Privacy-friendly DNS services, ad blocking and DNS filtering. 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 Stubby — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score