STRATO HiDrive is the cloud-storage and online-backup product of STRATO GmbH, one of Germany's oldest and largest web-hosting companies, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Berlin. STRATO was owned by Deutsche Telekom until 2017, when it was acquired by United Internet AG (the publicly listed German internet group behind 1&1 and IONOS), so the ownership chain is entirely German and EU: no US parent, no US private equity, no US VC.
The sovereignty posture is among the strongest in the file-sharing category. STRATO operates two high-security data centres physically located in Germany, is ISO 27001 certified, carries the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs "Trusted Cloud" seal, and holds TÜV Nord certification. Default encryption is server-side AES-128 with secure TLS transport; for sensitive use cases STRATO offers an optional zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption add-on for around €2/month, which moves key control to the customer. As a German company with German hosting and a German listed parent, CLOUD Act exposure is none.
Documentation is more complete than it first looks. STRATO publishes its DPA (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) at strato.de/agb/avv/, and that same document, version 3.5 dated 18 March 2024 and readable without a login, is also the sub-processor list. It names fourteen sub-processors across STRATO's whole product range, of which one is US (SiteLock, LLC, for website security) and one Singaporean (Dropsuite, for backup), neither of them on the HiDrive storage path. The AVV also grants customers a 14-day objection right when a sub-processor is added or replaced. The product UI is German-first with English available.
Pricing is paid-only (free trial months, but no permanent free tier): Starter 500 GB at €6/month, Basic 1 TB at €7.50/month, Plus 2 TB at €12.50/month, Family 2 TB / 5 users at €17.50/month, and Business 1-10 TB from €20/month, with meaningful annual discounts. HiDrive supports a REST API and WebDAV access, making it usable for automated backup workflows. Best fit: German and EU SMBs and individuals who want a large, established German vendor with in-country data centres, recognised certifications, and an optional zero-knowledge layer, and who do not need a free tier.