Category 02 of 22

File sharing

In short

File sharing and cloud storage services let you store, sync, and share documents across devices and with collaborators. For EU buyers, what to check first is whether files are end-to-end encrypted, where they are stored, and who owns the infrastructure. Leading European options on EU Vetted include Internxt (Spain, EU-owned, EU-hosted, E2EE), Nextcloud (Germany, EU-owned, EU-hosted, open-source), Tresorit (Switzerland, EU-operated, E2EE), and Proton Drive (Switzerland, EU-operated, E2EE).

See file sharing with zero US sub-processors →

About this category

About File sharing

File sharing and cloud storage covers the services that let you store files off-device, sync them across your computers and phones, and share them with colleagues or external collaborators. The category includes encrypted personal cloud storage (Internxt, Filen, Proton Drive, Tresorit), team-oriented collaboration platforms (Nextcloud, leitzcloud), and lightweight file-transfer tools. It does not cover general-purpose productivity suites: only the storage and sharing layer.

What a cloud storage account holds is the reason CLOUD Act exposure draws sharper scrutiny in this category than in most others: contracts, financial records, personnel files, customer data, and source code can all sit inside the same account. If the operator is a US-incorporated company, CLOUD Act jurisdiction applies to the consolidated group regardless of where files are physically stored. This is the reason EU and privacy-conscious buyers look past the storage location field in a product's marketing and look instead at the operating entity's country of incorporation and ownership structure. Services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox are US-owned and US-operated; European alternatives such as Internxt (Spain), Filen (Germany), Nextcloud (Germany), and Tresorit (Switzerland, EU offices) provide a different legal baseline.

The second critical dimension for this category is encryption architecture. A service that encrypts files only in transit (TLS) but stores them in decryptable form on the server means the operator (or any authority that serves the operator with a legal order) can access your file contents. Zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption, where the file is encrypted on your device before upload and decrypted only locally, removes the operator from the trust equation for file confidentiality. Internxt, Filen, Tresorit, and Proton Drive all use E2EE; Nextcloud does not enable E2EE by default but supports it via the End-to-End Encryption app. Whether a service enables E2EE by default is worth checking before ownership signal or compliance status, since it decides whether the operator can technically read file contents at all.

Showing all 18 alternatives in this category updating

		Cert.	Pricing	Signals	Open
Proton Drive Swiss zero-knowledge encrypted cloud (Proton AG, non-profit-foundation-controlled), 11,496 owned servers, ISO 27001 + SOC 2, 5 GB free.	GENEVA · CH Switzerland	ISO/IEC 27001 SOC 2	Freemium €4 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Tresorit Swiss-Post-owned (state-anchored) E2E encrypted enterprise cloud storage (Tresorit AG, Zurich), Swiss + EU DC options, ISO 27001.	DUBLIN · IE Ireland	ISO/IEC 27001	Paid €10 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
kDrive (Infomaniak) Swiss kDrive cloud (Infomaniak, Geneva, since 1994), own Swiss DCs, ISO 27001 + B Corp 2025, district-heating heat recycling.	GENEVA · CH Switzerland	ISO/IEC 27001	Paid €4 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Internxt Valencia-based open-source zero-knowledge encrypted cloud (Internxt, 2020), post-quantum crypto, lifetime plans, 1 GB free, 1M+ users.	— Spain	ISO/IEC 27001	Freemium €10 /mo billed annually	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
pCloud Swiss cloud storage with customer-elected EU (Luxembourg) or US (Texas) data residency; signature lifetime plans, 24M+ users.	LUXEMBOURG · LU Luxembourg	—	Freemium €5 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Nextcloud German open-source content-collaboration platform (Nextcloud GmbH, Stuttgart, 2016); fully self-hostable + managed Nextcloud One hosted in DE.	STUTTGART · DE Germany	—	Freemium €6 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
luckycloud Berlin-based German zero-knowledge cloud (luckycloud GmbH, 2015), own DCs in Berlin/Nuremberg/Frankfurt, ISO 27001 BSI.	BERLIN · DE Germany	ISO/IEC 27001	Paid	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Filen German zero-knowledge E2E cloud (Filen Cloud Dienste UG, Recklinghausen, 2021), Tier IV ISO 27001 DCs, no US data, open source apps.	DE Germany	—	Freemium €2 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Koofr Slovenian cloud storage (Koofr d.o.o., est. 2013), German ISO 27001 data centres, optional client-side encryption via the open-source Koofr Vault, 10 GB free.	DE Germany	—	Freemium €1 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
STRATO HiDrive German cloud storage (STRATO GmbH, United Internet/IONOS group), two German data centres, ISO 27001 + Trusted Cloud, optional zero-knowledge E2E.	DE Germany	ISO/IEC 27001	Paid €6 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Cryptee Estonian-incorporated zero-knowledge encrypted photos / notes / docs PWA (Cryptee, 2018, John Ozbay), bootstrapped, open source.	TALLINN · EE Estonia	—	Freemium €3 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
leitzcloud German-operated (LC by vBoxx GmbH, Frankfurt) Leitz-branded business cloud on its own German data centres (Frankfurt + Mannheim), ISO 27001 (TÜV Nord), AVV available on request.	FRANKFURT · DE Germany	ISO/IEC 27001	Paid €8.8 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Jottacloud Norwegian cloud storage & backup (Jotta Group AS, est. 2008), 100% Norway-hosted on renewable power, server-side AES-256, public DPA, no CLOUD Act reach.	NO Norway	—	Freemium €7 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Icedrive UK/Gibraltar cloud storage (ID Cloud Services Ltd), opt-in Twofish client-side encryption, lifetime plans; UK/DE/US data centres, no region pinning.	GB United Kingdom	—	Freemium €6 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Orbifs Norwegian-run virtual project drive (Archi Systems AS, EEA) for large CAD/BIM/point-cloud files, hosted on EU-owned OVHcloud in France with single-writer file locking and immutable versions.	PARIS · FR France	—	Paid €69 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Oodrive French SecNumCloud-qualified secure file sharing, collaboration and e-signature, hosted entirely in France beyond CLOUD Act reach.	PARIS · FR France	SecNumCloud HDS +1 more	Paid	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Wimi French sovereign teamwork suite with built-in Wimi Drive storage, hosted in France with no data leaving the EU.	FR France	ISO/IEC 27001 HDS	Freemium €3 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→
Leviia French sovereign cloud storage and Nextcloud-based drive, hosted only in France, ISO 27001 and HDS certified.	ROUBAIX · FR France	ISO/IEC 27001 HDS	Paid €2.4 /mo	Public DPA Sub-processors Open source	→

Feature comparison

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

Feature	Proton Drive	Tresorit	kDrive (Infomaniak)	Internxt	pCloud	Nextcloud	luckycloud	Filen	Koofr	STRATO HiDrive	Cryptee	leitzcloud	Jottacloud	Icedrive	Orbifs	Oodrive	Wimi	Leviia
Free storage	5 GB		35 GB	1 GB	10 GB			10 GB	10 GB		0.1 GB	0 GB	5 GB	10 GB	0 GB		10 GB
Paid storage (from)	200 GB	50 GB	3 TB	1 TB	500 GB		10 GB	200 GB	25 GB	500 GB	10 GB	250 GB	Unlimited	150 GB	1 TB		25 GB	1 TB
Max file size	Unlimited	2 GB		1 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	8 GB		Unlimited	Unlimited				Unlimited	Unlimited		2 GB
Photo sync	Yes	No	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
File versioning	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Link sharing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Platforms	iOS macOS Windows Android Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS Android Web	iOS Android Web	iOS macOS Windows Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	iOS macOS Windows Android Linux Web	Windows macOS	iOS Android Web Windows macOS	iOS Android Web Windows macOS	iOS Android Web Windows macOS

SWITCHING GUIDES

Switching from US file sharing?

Side-by-side European alternatives (same hosting, ownership and CLOUD Act checks) for the US tools most often replaced in this category.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the best EU-hosted file sharing and cloud storage service?

Nextcloud (Germany), luckycloud (Germany), and leitzcloud/vBoxxCloud (Germany) are EU-owned, EU-hosted, and sit outside CLOUD Act jurisdiction; Internxt (Spain) and Filen (Germany) are also EU-owned and EU-hosted, keeping data at rest in the EU but carrying a minor CLOUD Act flag from a transient sub-processor. The best pick depends on your use case: Nextcloud is the most flexible for self-hosted team environments; Internxt and Filen offer zero-knowledge encrypted cloud storage for individuals and teams; luckycloud provides a DSGVO-certified hosted cloud option for German and DACH buyers.

Is there a GDPR-compliant file sharing service?

Yes. Services operated by EU-incorporated companies with EU-only infrastructure and published DPAs are GDPR-compliant in their processing role. Nextcloud (Germany) and luckycloud (Germany) publish detailed DPAs and sub-processor lists; leitzcloud (Germany) provides its AVV (DPA and sub-processor list) on request rather than at a public URL. Here, 'GDPR-compliant' describes documented practice, not a certification stamp; check each vendor's DPA against the specific data categories you plan to store before adopting it.

Does cloud storage data fall under the US CLOUD Act?

If the cloud storage service is operated or ultimately owned by a US-incorporated company, the CLOUD Act can in principle compel it to produce data it controls regardless of where that data is stored. Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are examples where this applies. EU-owned services such as Internxt (Spain), Filen (Germany), and Nextcloud (Germany) are not subject to that direct exposure, provided they do not use US sub-processors for the primary data path.

What is end-to-end encryption in file storage, and why does it matter?

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) means files are encrypted on your device before they leave it, and decrypted only by you or explicitly chosen recipients. The storage operator cannot read your file contents even if compelled by a legal order. Services with genuine E2EE on all stored files include Internxt, Filen, Tresorit, and Proton Drive. Services without it (including most business-grade hosted Nextcloud instances) can technically access your files if the server is seized or court-ordered.

Can I use a European file sharing service to collaborate with teams?

Yes. Nextcloud is the strongest EU option for team collaboration. It includes document editing, calendar, contacts, video calls, and shared drives in a single self-hosted or managed deployment. leitzcloud and luckycloud offer managed hosted alternatives suited to DACH business teams without self-hosting overhead. Tresorit and Proton Drive support real-time collaboration features alongside E2EE. For most business teams, Nextcloud (self-hosted or via a managed provider) or leitzcloud is the starting point.

What is the difference between self-hosted and managed cloud storage?

Self-hosted storage (Nextcloud, Vaultwarden-style) runs on servers you control, giving you full data sovereignty but requiring IT overhead for updates, backups, and security hardening. Managed cloud storage (Internxt, Filen, Tresorit, luckycloud) runs on the vendor's servers; you trust the vendor but avoid the operational burden. The right choice depends on your organisation's technical capacity and risk tolerance. Nextcloud bridges both: you can self-host or use any of hundreds of managed hosting providers.

How do I migrate from Google Drive or Dropbox to a European alternative?

Most EU cloud storage services accept file import via their desktop sync client or a one-time migration tool. For Nextcloud, the built-in external storage connector or the Nextcloud migration wizard handles Google Drive imports. For Internxt or Proton Drive, download your existing files and re-upload via the desktop client. Shared links and collaborative permissions do not transfer automatically; plan to recreate share settings after migration. Business-critical shared folders should be migrated in a parallel-running period before cutting over.