Head-to-head · Cloud Storage
Dropbox vs Filen
Which one to pick in 2026 — comparing 🇺🇸 Dropbox with the European alternative 🇪🇺 Filen on the things that actually decide who can read your data.
🇺🇸 Dropboxvs🇪🇺 Filen
Verdict
Who has stronger privacy guarantees by law?
Filen — GDPR-native and outside the US CLOUD Act / FISA 702 reach.
Which one encrypts your data end-to-end by default?
Filen ships E2E encryption by default. Dropbox does not.
Which one tracks you for ads?
Filen also tracks for ads — verify in the table.
Which one is open source?
Filen is open source. Dropbox is proprietary.
Side-by-side
Dropbox vs Filen — full comparison
Criteria
🇪🇺 Filen
🇺🇸 Dropbox
Headquarters
Lengerich, Germany
San Francisco, USA
Jurisdiction
Germany (GDPR)
USA
Data location
Germany
US (some EU regions paid)
GDPR-native
Yes
No
CLOUD Act / FISA exposed
No
Yes
Ad tracking
Yes
No
End-to-end encryption
Yes
No
Open source
Yes
No
Ownership
Filen.io UG
Dropbox Inc.
Founded
2020
2007
Make the switch
Try Filen instead of Dropbox
Zero-knowledge encrypted cloud, German made.
Other European alternatives to Dropbox