EU data residency, ISO 27001 + GDPR

GDPR Compliant Hosting with EU data residency

Keep EU personal data in Europe when you need to. Elestio is multi-cloud, so for GDPR-sensitive workloads you can deploy on EU-owned providers (Hetzner, Netcup, Scaleway) and keep data under EU law, with a signed Data Processing Agreement, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 controls, and encryption.

Deploy in the EU in 3 minutes Sovereign cloud hosting

EU-owned, EU-operated providers

Hetzner Netcup Scaleway T-Mobile
Trustpilot 4.6/5 G2 G2 4.8/5 SOC 2 ISO 27001 GDPR

Definition

What is GDPR compliant hosting?

The four requirements that separate genuinely GDPR compliant hosting from an "EU region" checkbox.

EU data residency

Personal data and backups stay in a chosen EU region, under EU jurisdiction.

Signed DPA

A Data Processing Agreement with Standard Contractual Clauses, on request.

Technical measures

Encryption in transit and at rest, plus strict access control per Article 32.

No uncontrolled transfer

No default replication of personal data outside the EU, ever.

The transfer problem

Under the US CLOUD Act, US-headquartered clouds can be compelled to disclose data even when it sits in an EU region. Elestio is multi-cloud, so you can deploy anywhere in the world, including the US. For GDPR-sensitive workloads, you choose an EU-owned provider (Hetzner, Netcup, Scaleway) and pin your VM and backups to the EU, keeping them under EU jurisdiction.

How Elestio delivers GDPR compliance

The building blocks of GDPR hosting

Data residency, legal agreements, and technical measures, configured for you.

EU data residency

Pin your VM and backups to a specific EU region on Hetzner (DE/FI), Netcup (DE), or Scaleway (FR/NL). Once pinned, your data stays in that EU region.

Encryption everywhere

TLS 1.3 in transit and encryption at rest on dedicated volumes, meeting the "appropriate technical measures" bar of Article 32.

Data Processing Agreement

A signed DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses is available on request, with a designated Data Protection Officer (DPO).

Dedicated, isolated VMs

Single-tenant infrastructure with private encrypted networking, so personal data is not co-mingled on shared hosts.

Backups in the same jurisdiction

Automated encrypted backups are stored in the same EU jurisdiction as your production data, never replicated to the US.

Right to erasure support

Full control of your data and volumes, so you can honour data subject access and erasure requests without provider lock-in.

EU hosting vs sovereign

EU region is not the same as EU jurisdiction

Hosting data in an "EU region" of a US cloud does not remove US legal exposure. After Schrems II invalidated the Privacy Shield, several EU data protection authorities restricted the use of US clouds for personal data. The safest position is to use providers that are legally EU-based, not just physically present in the EU.

Elestio approach: for GDPR-sensitive workloads, deploy on EU-owned providers (Hetzner, Netcup, Scaleway). The operating entity, the data center, and the legal exposure are all in the EU. For a deeper treatment of data sovereignty, see our sovereign cloud hosting page.

Managed GDPR hosting

Fully managed, EU-first infrastructure

You get a dedicated EU VM plus the full managed layer Elestio runs on top.

400+ open-source apps

Deploy Nextcloud, Matomo, Mattermost, PostHog, databases and more on EU VMs, with CI/CD and a private encrypted network.

Managed updates and SSL

Elestio handles OS and app updates, security patches, and SSL renewal, so your compliance posture does not drift over time.

Encrypted backups and monitoring

Daily encrypted backups stored in your EU jurisdiction, 24/7 monitoring, and automated recovery, configured for you.

EU-based expert support

99.95% uptime SLA and 24/7 support from an EU-based team trusted by customers such as Bosch and Atos.

Keep EU personal data in Europe

EU-owned providers, signed DPA, encryption by default. Free trial, no credit card.

Start free trial Security and compliance

Reviews

Trusted by 10,000+ Developers Worldwide

Real reviews from real users on Trustpilot.

“
★★★★★

"I'm in the IT industry for over 25 years and Elestio stands out in many ways. The managed services are top-notch, support is incredibly fast, and the platform just works. Couldn't be better!"

Conflock IT Director, Germany, Verified on Trustpilot
See all reviews on Trustpilot

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What makes hosting GDPR compliant?

    GDPR compliant hosting keeps EU personal data under EU jurisdiction, provides a Data Processing Agreement, applies appropriate technical measures such as encryption and access control, and avoids uncontrolled transfers outside the EU. Elestio delivers all of these on EU-owned providers.

  • Does an AWS or Azure EU region count as GDPR compliant?

    Storing data in an EU region of a US cloud does not remove US legal exposure. Under the CLOUD Act, US-headquartered providers can be compelled to disclose data even from EU regions. For the strongest position, Elestio deploys GDPR-sensitive workloads on EU-owned providers (Hetzner, Netcup, Scaleway).

  • Do you sign a Data Processing Agreement (DPA)?

    Yes. A standard DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses is available on request, and a designated Data Protection Officer is in place. Custom DPAs are negotiable for enterprise contracts.

  • Where is my data physically stored?

    You choose the EU region. Options include Hetzner (Germany, Finland), Netcup (Germany), and Scaleway (France, Netherlands). Backups are stored in the same jurisdiction.

  • Is my data encrypted?

    Yes. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.3 and at rest on dedicated volumes, on single-tenant VMs with private encrypted networking.

  • Can I combine GDPR with HIPAA for healthcare data?

    Yes. Deploy on EU-owned providers for GDPR data residency while using our HIPAA-eligible controls for PHI. See our HIPAA compliant hosting page.

GDPR hosting without the headache

EU data residency from $11/mo. Free trial, no credit card required.

Start free trial