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Independently verified · Quarterly re-audit
EU VETTED
Alternatives to

European alternatives to Google Photos.

Google's consumer photo storage and search. Direct CLOUD Act exposure.

ALTERNATIVES
4
CLOUD-ACT · NONE
1
WITH BSI C5
0
FREE TIER
4

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TOP PICKS

Which are the closest Google Photos alternatives?

Ordered by feature parity and migration friction, which is weighted higher than feature breadth.

Proton Drive
Switzerland · Founded 2014
EU-SOVEREIGN
★ #1 PICK

Swiss zero-knowledge encrypted cloud (Proton AG, non-profit-foundation-controlled), 11,496 owned servers, ISO 27001 + SOC 2, 5 GB free.

Public DPA Sub-processors Open source
FROM
€4/mo
CLOUD ACT
NONE
View profile →
pCloud
Switzerland · Founded 2013
EU-BASED
★ #2 PICK

Swiss cloud storage with customer-elected EU (Luxembourg) or US (Texas) data residency; signature lifetime plans, 24M+ users.

Public DPA Sub-processors Open source
FROM
€5/mo
CLOUD ACT
MINOR
View profile →
Filen
Germany · Founded 2021
EU-BASED
★ #3 PICK

German zero-knowledge E2E cloud (Filen Cloud Dienste UG, Recklinghausen, 2021), Tier IV ISO 27001 DCs, no US data, open source apps.

Public DPA Sub-processors Open source
FROM
€2/mo
CLOUD ACT
MINOR
View profile →
SIDE-BY-SIDE

How do the 4 European alternatives to Google Photos compare?

All 4 alternatives, benchmarked against Google Photos.

Feature comparison

Beyond compliance: how these alternatives compare on the capabilities you actually use day to day.

Feature Proton Drive pCloud Filen Cryptee
Free storage 5 GB 10 GB 10 GB 0.1 GB
Paid storage (from) 200 GB 500 GB 200 GB 10 GB
Max file size Unlimited Unlimited
Photo sync Yes Yes Yes No
File versioning Yes Yes Yes
Link sharing Yes Yes Yes Yes
Platforms iOS macOS Windows Android Web iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web iOS Android Web
WHAT YOU'RE LEAVING
What are you leaving behind with Google Photos?

Listed for transparency. Every product on this page is benchmarked against this baseline.

Google Photos US-incorporated

Google's consumer photo storage and search. Direct CLOUD Act exposure.

US-based
OWNERSHIP
US-OWNED
CLOUD ACT
DIRECT
HOSTING
Likely AWS · US
SCHREMS II
Default SCC + supp.
METHODOLOGY

How we verified each row above.

For every product we read the public DPA, sub-processors document, hosting region declaration, and corporate ownership records. Each is timestamped. Signals are editorial, re-verified quarterly. We never accept self-attestation.

Reviewed by the EU Vetted editorial team · Editorial guidelines

Read methodology →