EU Sovereignty Score
Non-EU vendorMaps & NavigationHeadquarters: RU

Yandex Maps: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Yandex Maps is the map and route service of Russia's Yandex group. It shows maps, searches for places such as restaurants, hotels and pharmacies, and calculates routes. Users can access it through the Yandex website. Place search works through categories such as hotels, pharmacies and restaurants, shown on the map.

Yandex is headquartered in Russia. In 2024 its Russian business was separated from the Dutch parent Yandex N.V., which sold its Russian operations to a consortium led by Russian management, with Russian shareholders involved. For a European organisation this means a Russia-based provider with Russian owners, subject to Russian law. The pages reviewed for this profile do not state where map data and user data are stored. According to press reports, the sale was completed in two closings in May and July 2024.

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Sovereignty score
32 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-250
    Headquartered outside the EU (RU)
  • Data residency SOV-30
    No hosting in Europe (OTHER)
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-340
    Key management with a non-European vendor
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-630
    Closed source, runtime with the vendor

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 10, 2026
Headquarters
RU (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision
No — no adequacy decisionVerified by hand
Sovereignty model
Vendor-hosted (non-EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting
OTHERVerified by hand
Open-source
NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant
NoVendor-stated
Category
Maps & Navigation
Type
Product
Website
yandex.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Yandex Maps

The European alternatives to Yandex Maps 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

37 European Maps & Navigation 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 Yandex Maps

Yandex Maps is headquartered in RU, 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.

Yandex Maps 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.

Yandex Maps is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Yandex Maps 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 Yandex Maps?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Yandex Maps include BRouter, calimoto and cartes.gouv.fr. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Yandex Maps?

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

Is Yandex Maps GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Yandex Maps is headquartered in RU (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 10, 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 Maps & Navigation

Maps & Navigation: Maps, route planning and navigation services. 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

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8 European alternatives to Yandex Maps — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score