{"id":3299,"date":"2026-10-05T22:26:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eu.klytic.com\/?page_id=3299"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:21:33","slug":"google-workspace-vs-sovereign-solution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eu.klytic.com\/en\/google-workspace-vs-sovereign-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Workspace or a European sovereign solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Home<\/a>\u203a<\/span>Guides<\/a>\u203a<\/span>Comparisons<\/a><\/p>

Comparisons<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Google Workspace or a European sovereign solution<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Google Workspace is the right tool when your teams write together in the browser and find their folders without thinking about it. A European solution is the right tool when the company that holds those folders must be European or Swiss, and you accept a different document editor. The convenience of Docs is the sticking point of the comparison. It is tested on your own files, not in theory.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Updated October 2026<\/b><\/span>8 min<\/b> read<\/span>Official sources cited<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What Google does better than most alternatives<\/h2>

Simultaneous editing in Docs, Sheets and Slides is second nature for many teams. Link sharing is immediate. Search across the document base is good. Administering a small organisation is simple. For an association, a firm or an SME already organised around Drive, leaving Google purely on principle, without a trial, leads to reversals.<\/p>

These qualities are not minor conveniences. They have changed the way people work: you no longer send an attachment as version 3, you share a link and comment in the same place. A team that has adopted this habit loses it badly.<\/p>

Why staying is often rational<\/h3>

Example.<\/strong> A 15-person consulting firm writes its proposals collaboratively in Docs, tracks its sales activity in a shared Sheets file and has no IT staff. For this firm, Google Workspace is both a production tool and an administration tool. Leaving it means another editor, training and someone to administer the new suite. If management has no specific reason to change operator, staying is the consistent decision.<\/p>

What Google does not change<\/h3>

The legal limits lie elsewhere. Google is an American company. Data regions cover listed content, depending on the edition, and do not cover everything (certain logs, for example). Support access from within the Union is configured with an option, not with the entry-level offer. The details are in GDPR and Google Workspace<\/a>.<\/p>

On top of this comes American law: the provision resulting from the CLOUD Act (18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2713) targets data that a provider holds or controls, including outside the United States. A European region therefore does not remove Google from the scope of that law. As for transfers, adequacy decision (EU) 2023\/1795 is in force as of 5 October 2026 and is being challenged: according to commentary by a law firm (WilmerHale), the General Court of the European Union dismissed an action for annulment on 3 September 2025, and an appeal was lodged before the Court of Justice on 31 October 2025. The framework is detailed in protecting a company from the CLOUD Act<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What a European solution changes<\/h2>

From a legal standpoint.<\/strong> Files and emails are with a European operator, or with a Swiss operator such as Infomaniak, or on servers you run yourself. The contract falls under a European or Swiss court. Switzerland is outside the European Union, covered by an adequacy decision: depending on your specifications, that is sufficient or not. A European operator remains subject to the law of its own country. What you gain is a change of jurisdiction, not immunity. Ask for the list of its processors, the location of its support and who holds the encryption keys.<\/p>

From an operational standpoint.<\/strong> The online editor will be OnlyOffice, Collabora or an equivalent. Co-editing exists. It does not behave the same way as Google with comments, suggestions and heavily worked spreadsheets. Native Google files are converted to office formats, with possible losses in formatting, in Sheets-specific formulas and in links between files. External sharing takes a different form: link, password, expiry date, depending on the tool.<\/p>

Email, on the other hand, is easier to replace than Docs. It relies on standard protocols, and users find a mailbox, folders and a calendar. Many organisations could change email service and keep Drive for another year. The reverse is more painful.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mixed scenarios<\/h2>

Change email first, keep Drive for a year.<\/strong> A 30-person services SME moves its email to a European operator and leaves Drive in place. Teams keep their writing habits while the company tests the target editor and sorts through Drive: archives to freeze, active folders to move, files to abandon. Points to watch: Google accounts are still needed to access Drive; Drive links circulate in emails sent from a different email system; calendar invitations and scheduled meetings change tools; third-party applications that people sign into with their Google account must be listed. Set an end date, otherwise the year becomes permanent.<\/p>

Keep Google for one team.<\/strong> The marketing team that produces its presentations in Slides with its agencies stays on Google; the rest of the company moves out. You then need a written rule: which content goes where, and who arbitrates.<\/p>

Move Drive out before Gmail.<\/strong> This is the most costly scenario in terms of change management, for a partial legal benefit: email, which receives everyone\u2019s attachments, stays with the American operator. It is rarely justified, unless a specific matter requires the files to be moved first.<\/p>

The method for leaving is in migrating from Google Workspace<\/a>, and the email cutover in migrating without downtime<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Recommended trial before any decision<\/h2>

For two weeks, have a real team write three types of documents on the target: meeting minutes, a tracking spreadsheet, a sales proposal. Note what breaks. If the minutes work and the spreadsheet does not, you know which line of work can move.<\/p>

For the trial to settle something, note for each document:<\/p>