Self-hosted / open sourceE-learning AuthoringHeadquarters: GB

Xerte: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Xerte is a suite of browser-based tools that lets teachers and trainers build interactive learning materials. Authors without programming skills work with form-based templates, while developers can use JavaScript and CSS. The output is responsive HTML5 content. For tracking there are basic playback statistics, extended through SCORM or xAPI. Projects can be exported as standalone zip files for any web server or as SCORM packages for a learning environment. Xerte Online Toolkits runs as server software on your own web server with PHP and a database such as MySQL.

Xerte is free and open source software under the Apache-2.0 licence. The project began at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and continues as a community project overseen by the Apereo Foundation. There is therefore no commercial vendor to depend on and no foreign parent company. Whoever installs Xerte themselves decides where the data is stored and can host it within the EU. The project's website does not describe a hosted service with a fixed data location.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Xerte pre-selected

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Sovereignty score

79 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-250
Headquartered outside the EU (GB)
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-675
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	GB (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision	Yes — found adequate by the European CommissionVerified 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	KPN - KPN B.V., NL (NL)Technically measured
Category	E-learning Authoring
Type	Product
Website	xerte.org.uk ↗

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 Xerte

The European alternatives to Xerte 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

34 European E-learning Authoring 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 Xerte

Xerte 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.

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

Xerte 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 Xerte 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 Xerte?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Xerte include 360Learning, Easygenerator and Genially. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Xerte?

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

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

Xerte is headquartered in GB (OTHER) and hosts data in EU. 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 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 E-learning Authoring

E-learning Authoring: E-learning authoring software, interactive content and presentation tools. 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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