This article is part of the “The “Switching to European Tech” series – the good, the bad and the ugly” series. More will follow in the upcoming period!
Done with OneDrive & Google Drive? Here’s what Europe offers.In this article, European cloud storage options are compared as replacements of OneDrive and Google Drive for everyday users. It evaluates Proton Drive, Infomaniak kDrive and Strato HiDrive on jurisdiction, security, performance, usability, extra features and pricing, with Google Drive as the reference. Infomaniak is the recommended solution to replace Google for most people while Proton offers the strongest end‑to‑end encrypted and zero‑knowledge security. Strato is decent but only interesting when a strict EU‑only policy dominates heavily.
Introduction – why switch?
Like many Europeans, my digital life ran almost entirely on US Big Tech infrastructure. Google and Microsoft powered everything: e-mail, drive, office suites, photos and much more. But as I explored in previous articles (why there is no European Big Tech and why European tech matters), this dependency is risky. Countries are turning inward, Big Tech-political entanglements are growing and digital services become geopolitical leverage. Europe spends over €300 billion yearly on US Big Tech; redirecting just 10% could transform our digital landscape.
To help consumers prioritize where to start, I created a Digital Consumer Services framework prioritizing tier-one essentials: e-mail, drive, search, office and some others. If I plot my own usage, before I started switching, on that framework only Spotify qualifies as European. And although their music service is great, it’s not really a fundamental service. Time to act.
To select viable European alternatives, I applied three criteria:
- Repeatable for average consumers (no advanced technical skills needed). Typically, this means the solution should be part of a wider ecosystem in order to avoid using many separate services, which introduces too much complexity.
- Fully European – owned, jurisdiction and servers/data centers in Europe. Europe is defined as the EU, EU candidate countries plus the UK, Switzerland and Norway.
- Significant scale – €20M+ annual revenue for continuity
In this series of articles, European solutions for tier 1 digital consumer services will be evaluated. In part 1 of this series, European alternatives for e-mail management were evaluated, where both Proton and Infomaniak proved to be very good.
Drive
The focus of this article is the “Drive” digital consumer service, which is defined as “Secure online file storage, sharing and backup of documents and other files”. For this service, four solutions meet the criteria (European, fit for the average consumer, €20M+ annual revenue):
- Proton Drive
- Infomaniak Drive
- Strato HiDrive
For reference, Google Drive is also included in all of the analysis as the best in class consumer solution, although it is obviously not European.
Company overview
To assess how European a solution really is, it is important to analyze a number of aspects. The most important ones are where the headquarters are located, what jurisdiction is applicable, if there are data centers in Europe and which party manages the data centers. If any of these are not European, then it is fair to state that the solution is not fully European. These aspects are analyzed in the table below:
| Topic |  |  |  |  |
| Owner | Proton | Infomaniak | United Internet | Alphabet |
| Headquarter location | Switzerland | Switzerland | Germany | United States |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland | Switzerland | Germany | United States |
| European datacenter(s) | Yes (Switzerland) | Yes (Switzerland) | Yes (Germany) | Yes (but your data may be elsewhere) |
| Party who manages servers | Proton | Infomaniak | Strato | |
| Revenue/year of the owner | $97.5 million | $73.9 million | € 6,3 billion (United Internet total) | $385 billion (Alphabet total) |
Proton, Infomaniak and Strato can be considered fully European in all aspects and Strato is the only one who is within the EU.
Feature overview
Security
Security is one of the key topics for many consumers. Therefore, it is important to highlight what the differences are between the solutions:
In conclusion, Proton is leading the pack in terms of security implementation and reputation. Strato is a good second option, but only if the add-ons for end-to-end encryption and zero knowledge are purchased, followed at some distance by Infomaniak. But even Infomaniak is considered to be better than Google, particularly because, for Google, user data supports its business model (e.g. for Google Ads and LLM training). Infomaniak also promises that “We are in the business of protecting your data, not selling it”.
Performance
Performance is tested by uploading and downloading a large file of 2.63 gigabyte and a package of 213 separate files, which have a total size of 401 megabytes. The internet connection which was used is 1400 Mbps down and 120 Mbps up, which was verified in speedtest.net before starting. That translates to a theoretical maximum download speed of 175 MB/second and a maximum upload speed of 15 MB/second. Note that the web interface of each service was used for these tests. The speeds shown are average speeds (megabytes/second) and between brackets is the rank of the solution in the test. These are the results:
Looking at these results, Infomaniak scores the best with good download and uploads speeds for both tests. Proton is especially good (very good even) for large files, but lags behind with the package of smaller files. Strato is the weakest of the four due to the terrible upload speed, especially for the large files. Note that for both Infomaniak and Proton, the upload speed has likely been capped because my upload connection is only 120 Mbps (equals 15 MB/s). On a better connection, these speeds will probably increase.
User interfaces and basic functions
The table below provides an overview of the rating of each of the basic functions in the digital consumer service, on a scale of 1-5.
Using Google Drive as a reference point, the only one which comes really close is Infomaniak. This is mainly because it has very good apps and mostly feature parity with Google. Proton is slightly behind, since some users are reporting issues with using the Proton Drive apps. Strato is yet another step behind and although its basic functionality is quite good, the general experience is not on the level of Proton or Infomaniak.
Advanced/extra functions
The table below provides an overview of the rating of each of the more advanced functions in the digital consumer service, on a scale of 1-5.
On extra functions, it really depends on the user. I believe that the most important functions for the average user are covered in the previous section, but it’s still important to understand what extra functions each of the solutions offers. Overall, Infomaniak comes closest to Google, particularly due to a strong Mail and office suite solution. Proton follows behind due to a very limited office suite, although it does have a strong ecosystem. Strato is a distant last, since the ecosystem is limited (just a quite decent office suite).
Pricing & storage overview
| | | |
| Free 5 GB Some functionality limitations (but very usable) | Free 15 GB Some functionality limitations (but very usable) | No free tier | Free 15 GB |
| Drive Plus 200 GB €4.99/month Some functionality limitations | my kSuite 1 TB €1.60/month Only limitation is no NAS sync | HiDrive 100GB/500GB 100GB/500GB €1, €3.50/month Basic Strato HiDrive, add-ons unlock features | Premium 2 TB 2 TB€ 8.25/month (annual payment only) Full features, some AI limitations |
| Unlimited 500 GB €12.99/month Full features, including VPN and Pass for one user | my kSuite 6 TB€ 9.98/month Only limitation is no NAS sync | HiDrive 1TB, 2TB 1 TB/2 TB €5, €10/month Basic Strato HiDrive, add-ons unlock features | Premium 2 TB AI 2 TB €18.33/month(annual payment only) No limitations |
| Duo 2 TB €19.99/month Full features, including VPN and Pass for two users | kSuite Business 3 TB €6.58/month No functionality limitations (NAS sync included) | HiDrive 2TB Family 2 TB €15/month Includes office and mobile device backup, rest unlocked through add-ons | Premium 5TB 5 TB €20.83/month(annual payment only) No limitations |
Both the Proton as well as Infomaniak free plans are very usable and may have sufficient functions for the average user. It’s recommended to try these first before buying one of these packages. However, a package will be needed if more than 15 GB of storage space is needed. Note that often, there are discounts available, so usually a better price can be found than the ones displayed here. For Strato, discounts usually only exist for the basic package, unfortunately not for all the add-ons that are needed.
The bottom line
Switching from Google Drive or OneDrive to a European alternative is not only realistic, but even good for your wallet and peace of mind. Infomaniak kDrive is the best choice for most users, offering close to a Google Drive level of features, excellent pricing and a strong ecosystem. For those who prioritize privacy and security above everything, Proton Drive is the clear leader, thanks to its end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge architecture. Strato HiDrive is only worth considering if EU jurisdiction is a non-negotiable requirement, though it comes with some functional trade-offs.
Trying the free tiers of Infomaniak (15 GB) and Proton (5 GB) is a practical first step and a great way to find out what fits best before committing. The bottom line: European cloud storage has matured, and for most, there’s no need to compromise on user experience or pay a premium. This is the second part of the “Switching to European Tech” series; stay tuned for more practical guides on building a sovereign digital life.
My recommendation: who should choose what?
🏆 For most people: Infomaniak kDrive
Why? It’s the closest European alternative to Google Drive. You get feature parity for what matters, excellent apps, strong pricing, and a solid ecosystem (e-mail, office suite, etc.).
My choice: I went with the kSuite Business plan (€6.58/month) because NAS sync is important to me.
🔐 For privacy maximalists: Proton Drive
Why? Industry-leading end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge architecture. Your data is yours alone—even Proton can’t access it.
Trade-offs: Higher cost, weaker office tools, no NAS sync.
For EU-only requirement: Strato HiDrive
Why? Only larger provider entirely within the EU (Germany). Good fundamentals, but Infomaniak and Proton are simply better solutions unless EU-only is non-negotiable.
Summary of all results
The table below summarizes the analysis which has been done in the previous sections.
