European alternatives to Apple iCloud.

Hundreds of millions of Apple users rely on iCloud by default: file storage in iCloud Drive, photo backup, device backup, and the glue that syncs an iPhone, iPad, and Mac together. Apple Inc., publicly listed on NASDAQ as AAPL, owns it and hosts it on infrastructure under US jurisdiction. Advanced Data Protection can end-to-end-encrypt most iCloud categories, a genuine privacy improvement, but it is opt-in, off by default, and it does not change the fact that a US company controls the account.

Ownership is what actually drives the search for an alternative here: a user who wants files under European jurisdiction by default, or an organisation writing a Schrems II transfer impact assessment, ends up checking who legally owns the company, where the data physically sits, whether files are end-to-end encrypted, and whether the platform holds a recognised European compliance framework (ISO 27001, BSI C5, EUCS, SecNumCloud), each row sourced to the vendor's public DPA, across the eleven alternatives verified against iCloud here. It focuses on the iCloud Drive / general storage-and-backup use case; iCloud Mail and the iCloud Photos library are covered on their own pages, linked below.

Three names cover most cases: Proton Drive has the strongest privacy posture (Switzerland, Geneva, zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption, ISO 27001 + SOC 2, Foundation-owned), Tresorit is the enterprise standard with state-anchored Swiss-Post ownership (Zurich, zero-knowledge E2E, CLOUD Act exposure: Material via its sub-processor chain, while file contents stay end-to-end encrypted), and kDrive by Infomaniak is the best-value all-rounder for households and SMBs (Geneva, own Swiss data centres, ISO 27001 + B Corp, CLOUD Act exposure: None).

• File sync across Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. Every alternative ships native apps.
• A folder you drop files into that syncs everywhere, exactly like iCloud Drive.
• Shared links and shared folders for collaboration.
• Older file versions stay recoverable on most providers.
• Photo and video upload from your phone (a manual or app-based backup, rather than the silent system-level one).
• On the encrypted providers, a stronger confidentiality guarantee than default iCloud: zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption from a non-US company.

Left behind:

• Full iOS device backup. Apple does not let third parties back up a complete iPhone/iPad image, so the device backup itself stays with Apple (or a local Finder backup). A storage provider replaces iCloud Drive, not iCloud Backup.
• The Photos experience: on-device AI, Memories, People & Pets, and the deeply integrated library. Encrypted photo storage exists, but it is storage, not Apple's photo intelligence.
• iCloud+ extras: Hide My Email, iCloud Private Relay, and custom-domain mail.
• Smooth OS-level handoff: the way iCloud is invisible inside Files, Photos, and Settings. A third-party app is one layer less integrated.

Three separate jobs hide inside "moving off iCloud": files, photos, and device backup. Six steps get the file layer done:

1. Separate the three iCloud jobs. iCloud does file storage (iCloud Drive), photo library, and device backup. Decide upfront which you are moving. This page is about file storage; treat photos and device backup as separate tracks so the project does not stall.
2. Export your data from Apple. Download iCloud Drive from icloud.com or the Files app, or, for a complete archive, request a full export from Apple's Data and Privacy portal (privacy.apple.com), which delivers your Drive (and Photos, if selected) as a download. For large libraries the export can take a day or two to prepare.
3. Install the new provider and sync down. Install the desktop and mobile apps for your chosen provider (Proton Drive, kDrive, pCloud, or another) and move your downloaded files into its sync folder. The folder tree uploads as-is.
4. Verify on every device. Confirm the files appear on your Mac, your phone, and the web before you trust the new setup. On the zero-knowledge providers, the first sync can be slower because files are encrypted client-side.
5. Re-point your phone's photo backup. If you also want phone photos off iCloud, set the new provider's mobile app to auto-upload your camera roll, and confirm a few weeks of photos have landed before turning off iCloud Photos.
6. Reduce iCloud last. Keep your iCloud+ plan active until the new provider is trusted and your device backup question is settled. Then downgrade iCloud to the free 5 GB tier (rather than fully disabling it, since iOS still uses iCloud for some system functions) and cancel the paid storage.