Vaultwarden
A single roll-up of ownership and CLOUD Act exposure.
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EU-Sovereign This listing EU/EEA/Switzerland-owned and -operated, with no identified CLOUD Act exposure.
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EU-Based EU-operated, with at most minor or transient US exposure.
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EU-Hosted EU hosting available, but a US parent or hyperscaler sub-processor creates material exposure.
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US-Linked Operated by a US-incorporated entity, directly subject to US jurisdiction.
AGPLv3 Rust Bitwarden-compatible server by Daniel García (Spain), self-host-only, no company, no telemetry; EU-maintained, no CLOUD Act exposure when run on EU infrastructure.
Vaultwarden is an EU-owned service hosted in Spain, with no identified CLOUD Act exposure. It is listed under Password managers.
Assessment notes
Vaultwarden is an AGPLv3 open-source, Rust-written, Bitwarden-compatible server maintained by Daniel García (dani-garcia), a Spanish developer, with a community of contributors, formerly 'bitwarden_rs', renamed to avoid trademark confusion; it is self-host-only with no hosted/cloud product and no company entity, so it has no DPA, no sub-processors, no telemetry and no business model. Run on EU infrastructure (Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway) it is EU-maintained, self-hosted, with no CLOUD Act exposure and zero vendor-counterparty risk: structurally the cleanest possible posture in the password-manager category.
Findings
- CLOUD Act
- CLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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None This listing EU operator, no US parent, no US sub-processors of note.
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Minor A transient US sub-processor (CDN, maps); data at rest stays in the EU.
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Material US parent, or a core sub-processor is a US-owned hyperscaler.
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Direct The operator itself is US-incorporated.
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- Ownership
- Ownership
Where ultimate control over the operating company sits.
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EU-owned This listing EU-incorporated and EU-controlled; no significant US ownership.
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EU HQ, US-funded EU-headquartered but US venture- or PE-controlled.
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EU subsidiary, US parent European operating company owned by a US parent company.
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US-owned The operating company itself is US-headquartered.
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Other A non-EU jurisdiction. Swiss/EEA-owned vendors count as European here; the UK and others do not.
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- Sub-processors
- — not disclosed
Verified signals
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EU / adequacy hosting: Yes
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EU / adequacy operator: Yes
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No US CLOUD Act exposure: Yes
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Public DPA: Not assessed
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Sub-processors disclosed: No
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Open-source clients: Yes
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Third-party certification: No
Jump to
About Vaultwarden
Vaultwarden is an unofficial, open-source server implementation of the Bitwarden client API, written in Rust and maintained by Daniel García (GitHub: dani-garcia), a developer based in Spain, together with a community of contributors. It was formerly known as "bitwarden_rs" and was renamed to Vaultwarden to separate itself from the official Bitwarden server and avoid trademark and branding confusion. It is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 licence, relicensed from GPLv3 specifically to close the loophole that would have allowed commercial SaaS use without contributing back.
The reason Vaultwarden belongs in an EU-sovereignty directory is structural: it is self-host-only. There is no Vaultwarden cloud product, no Vaultwarden company, no commercial entity, no funding, no DPA, no sub-processors, and no telemetry, because there is nothing hosted to process. It is server software that a user or organisation runs themselves, fully compatible with the official Bitwarden desktop, mobile and browser clients, and deliberately lightweight so it can run on a small VPS or Raspberry Pi where the official resource-heavy Bitwarden server would be impractical. Run on EU infrastructure (Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, IONOS, STACKIT) it is EU-maintained, self-hosted, with no CLOUD Act exposure and zero vendor-counterparty risk: there is no vendor that could be acquired, change posture, or be served a US warrant.
The trade-offs are the usual self-hosting ones, plus a couple specific to Vaultwarden. There is no enterprise SSO / SCIM support (a deliberate scope decision; that is where official Bitwarden's paid tiers differentiate), the operator is responsible for backups, TLS, and updates, and one of the active maintainers is employed by Bitwarden and contributes on their own time independently (reviewed by other maintainers). Vaultwarden is completely free; funding is via donations. Best fit: technically capable EU individuals, homelab users, and SMBs with IT capacity who want a Bitwarden-compatible vault under their own full control on EU infrastructure, and any procurement-grade buyer for whom "no vendor at all" is the strongest possible sovereignty answer.
Sub-processor map · not disclosed
Frameworks & certifications · none listed
Capability matrix
Table 1Capabilities of Vaultwarden
Integration & access
Compliance & governance
Public documents
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n/aData Processing Addendum (DPA)— not assessed
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n/aSub-processors list— not applicable
Alternatives in this category
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Germany · €4/moEU-SovereignCLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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None This listing EU operator, no US parent, no US sub-processors of note.
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Minor A transient US sub-processor (CDN, maps); data at rest stays in the EU.
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Material US parent, or a core sub-processor is a US-owned hyperscaler.
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Direct The operator itself is US-incorporated.
Public DPA: Yes Sub-processors: Yes Open source: No -
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GermanyEU-SovereignCLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
-
None This listing EU operator, no US parent, no US sub-processors of note.
-
Minor A transient US sub-processor (CDN, maps); data at rest stays in the EU.
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Material US parent, or a core sub-processor is a US-owned hyperscaler.
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Direct The operator itself is US-incorporated.
Public DPA: Not assessed Sub-processors: No Open source: Yes -
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Germany · €3.99/moEU-SovereignCLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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None This listing EU operator, no US parent, no US sub-processors of note.
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Minor A transient US sub-processor (CDN, maps); data at rest stays in the EU.
-
Material US parent, or a core sub-processor is a US-owned hyperscaler.
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Direct The operator itself is US-incorporated.
Public DPA: Not assessed Sub-processors: No Open source: No -
| Product | Sovereignty | CLOUD Act | Signals | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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EU-Sovereign | CLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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Public DPA: Yes
Sub-processors: Yes
Open source: No
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€4/mo |
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EU-Sovereign | CLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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Public DPA: Not assessed
Sub-processors: No
Open source: Yes
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EU-Sovereign | CLOUD Act exposure
How exposed customer data is to US authorities under the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act).
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Public DPA: Not assessed
Sub-processors: No
Open source: No
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€3.99/mo |