5 GDPR-Friendly Object Storage Providers in 2026

Let's get the boring legal caveat out of the way: a storage provider cannot make your whole app GDPR-compliant by magic.

GDPR depends on what data you store, why you store it, where it is processed, who can access it, what contracts you have, how long you retain it, and whether your users gave you a lawful basis to process it.

But provider choice still matters. If you are a European team, picking object storage with European regions, clear data processing terms, and sane access controls can make your life much easier.

Here are five GDPR-friendly object storage providers worth comparing in 2026.

What "GDPR-friendly" means here

For this post, GDPR-friendly does not mean "legal compliance solved."

It means the provider is a better fit for GDPR-conscious European teams because of some combination of:

• European or German regions
• European company or strong EU presence
• S3-compatible API
• Access controls
• Data protection positioning
• DPA or business/legal documentation
• Practical fit for app uploads and backups

Talk to your lawyer for the legal bits. Read this post for the infrastructure shortlist.

Quick comparison

1. Sliplane Object Storage

Sliplane Object Storage is a strong fit for GDPR-conscious app teams because Sliplane is a German company headquartered in Berlin and offers object storage in Germany.

It is S3-compatible, so you can use standard tooling without building custom storage logic. You also get scoped access keys, versioning, and object locking, which are useful for access control and accidental deletion protection.

Pricing is straightforward: 5 EUR per 250 GB per month, excluding tax. The first GB is free. There are no egress fees and no request fees.

Sliplane does not charge per bucket, so splitting uploads, backups, staging assets, and customer files into separate buckets does not change the bill.

Use Sliplane if:

• You want German object storage from a German company.
• You want S3-compatible storage for app data.
• You want simple pricing for uploads, backups, and exports.
• You want a DPA available through your dashboard.

Skip it if:

• You need a hyperscaler compliance catalog.
• You need complex storage classes.
• You need storage regions in many European countries.

2. Hetzner Object Storage

Hetzner Object Storage is one of the most obvious GDPR-friendly object storage options for German developers.

Hetzner positions the product as GDPR-compliant and S3-compatible. The product page lists German and Finnish locations, plus features like object locking, server-side encryption, versioning, and pre-signed URLs.

As of July 2026, Hetzner pricing starts at 6.49 EUR/month, excluding VAT, including 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of egress. Extra storage is listed at 8.70 EUR/TB-month, extra egress at 1 EUR/TB, and Hetzner lists ingress, internal eu-central traffic, and S3 API calls as free.

The caveat in 2026 is availability under load. On July 2, 2026, Hetzner's status page showed degraded Object Storage in multiple locations and an ongoing note that high Object Storage traffic may lead to timeouts. The durability and feature set can still make sense for backups or Hetzner-local workflows, but I would not make it the first choice for availability-sensitive app paths right now.

Use Hetzner if:

• You want a well-known German infrastructure provider.
• You already run workloads on Hetzner.
• You want German/Finnish storage locations.

Skip it if:

• You want storage built into a PaaS dashboard.
• You want a no-egress/no-request-fee product.
• You are not already using Hetzner.

3. IONOS Cloud Object Storage

IONOS Cloud Object Storage is another German provider option.

IONOS is a large company with a broad business cloud and hosting portfolio. That can be useful for teams that care about German contracts, procurement, invoices, and vendor familiarity.

Its pricing page lists free API operations, per-GB storage pricing, and separate traffic rules. So the product can fit GDPR-conscious teams, but you should read the traffic and data processing details carefully.

Use IONOS if:

• You want a large German provider.
• Your company already buys from IONOS.
• Procurement matters as much as developer experience.

Skip it if:

• You want the simplest possible bill.
• You want no egress fees.
• You want a more startup/developer-focused workflow.

4. Scaleway Object Storage

Scaleway Object Storage is a French/EU object storage provider with a strong European positioning.

Scaleway talks about a trusted European foundation and European compliance. Its object storage supports S3-compatible clients, object lock, versioning, encryption options, and multiple storage classes.

Use Scaleway if:

• You want an EU cloud provider.
• You need storage classes.
• You care about European sovereignty positioning.

Skip it if:

• You specifically need German storage.
• You want no egress fees.
• You only need a simple bucket for app uploads.

5. Exoscale Object Storage

Exoscale Object Storage is a European S3-compatible object storage provider with data centers across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

Exoscale is especially interesting when you want European zones outside the usual hyperscaler setup. It is not as famous as AWS or Cloudflare, but it fits the European data residency conversation well.

Use Exoscale if:

• You want European zones, including Germany.
• You care about GDPR positioning.
• You want to avoid hyperscaler lock-in.

Skip it if:

• You want no egress fees.
• You want storage bundled into your app runtime.
• You want the simplest developer onboarding.

Which GDPR-friendly object storage provider should you choose?

Conclusion

GDPR-friendly object storage is not just about where a bucket lives. You still need access controls, retention rules, processing agreements, backups, deletion workflows, and internal discipline.

But choosing the right provider helps.

If you want S3-compatible object storage from a German company, with a German region, scoped access keys, no egress fees, and predictable pricing, Sliplane Object Storage is built for that exact use case.