Head-to-head · Professional Network
LinkedIn vs XING
Which one to pick in 2026 — comparing 🇺🇸 LinkedIn with the European alternative 🇪🇺 XING on the things that actually decide who can read your data.
🇺🇸 LinkedInvs🇪🇺 XING
Verdict
Who has stronger privacy guarantees by law?
XING — GDPR-native and outside the US CLOUD Act / FISA 702 reach.
Which one encrypts your data end-to-end by default?
Neither ships full E2E by default — check the table for nuance.
Which one tracks you for ads?
LinkedIn relies on ad tracking. XING doesn't.
Which one is open source?
XING is not fully open source — check details.
Side-by-side
LinkedIn vs XING — full comparison
Criteria
🇪🇺 XING
🇺🇸 LinkedIn
Headquarters
Hamburg, Germany
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Jurisdiction
Germany (GDPR + BDSG)
USA (CLOUD Act, FISA 702)
Data location
Germany
Global, US-controlled (Azure)
GDPR-native
Yes
No
CLOUD Act / FISA exposed
No
Yes
Ad tracking
No
Yes
End-to-end encryption
No
No
Open source
No
No
Ownership
New Work SE (XETRA:NWRK, publicly traded)
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Founded
2003
2003
Make the switch
Try XING instead of LinkedIn
German professional network with 22M users in DACH — privacy-first LinkedIn alternative.