Yesterday, a German government report dropped that confirmed what many EU developers suspected but couldn't prove: US authorities have broad legal access to data stored in EU datacenters if a US company controls the infrastructure.
The report, commissioned by the German Interior Ministry and written by University of Cologne law professors, clarifies something critical: physical server location doesn't matter. What matters is who controls it.
AWS Frankfurt? Still subject to the CLOUD Act.
Azure Europe? FISA 702 applies.
Google Cloud EU regions? Same problem.
Even if your data sits in a German datacenter, if the parent company is US-based, US law can compel them to hand it over. The "EU data residency" marketing from big tech is misleading at best.
Why This Matters Now
I've been watching EU startups default to AWS RDS or DigitalOcean managed databases without thinking about jurisdiction. When compliance officers find out months later, everyone scrambles.
This isn't theoretical anymore. The German government just put it in writing.
The EU knows this too. They just announced the Cloud and AI Development Act with a goal to triple EU datacenter capacity by 2030. US companies currently control 70%+ of EU cloud infrastructure. Digital sovereignty is moving from "nice to have" to official policy.
What I Built
I'm Muhi, solo dev from Germany. Over the last few months I built akcache.io - managed Redis and PostgreSQL on Hetzner infrastructure.
The setup is straightforward:
- Hetzner CX23 servers (€2.99/month)
- Multi-tenant architecture (6 Redis instances per server)
- Automated provisioning via Hetzner Cloud API
- Takes 1-2 minutes to spin up a new database
The economics work because Hetzner's hardware is affordable and Redis is memory-bound, not CPU-bound. One €2.99 server runs 6 isolated instances at €7.99 each. That's €47.94 revenue vs €2.99 cost per server.
PostgreSQL is even better - one server handles 10+ databases with proper isolation.
The Architecture
Backend: ASP.NET Core (C#)
- Fast, stable, good tooling
- Entity Framework for my own PostgreSQL data store
- Hangfire for background jobs (health checks, billing)
Provisioning:
- Customer clicks "Create Instance"
- API calls Hetzner Cloud API
- SSH.NET configures Redis/PostgreSQL
- Customer gets connection string
- Whole process: 1-2 minutes
The sovereignty piece goes deeper than just databases. My customer database runs on my own PostgreSQL instances across multiple German locations. Authentication, billing, monitoring - everything avoids US dependencies. I even use Mollie instead of Stripe for payments.
If Hetzner got acquired tomorrow, I can migrate to OVHcloud or Scaleway. The architecture assumes providers might change. What matters is avoiding vendor lock-in at every layer.
The Solo Dev Reality
No VC funding. No team. Just me and Hetzner's API.
Started with "one server per customer" before realizing the economics were impossible. Multi-tenant from day one would have saved weeks.
Current costs:
- Servers: €0 until first customer, then pay-as-you-grow
- Domain: €15/year
- SSL: Free (Let's Encrypt)
- Everything else: self-hosted
50 customers = 8-10 servers = €25-30/month infrastructure for €400-500 revenue.
What I'd Do Differently
Better monitoring upfront. Added Sentry in week six. Should have been day one.
Public pricing from the start. Had to add this after feedback. Transparency matters when you're competing on values, not features.
Simpler frontend initially. Started with complex Next.js state management. Should have launched with basic React first.
Multi-tenant architecture from day one. Rewrote this after realizing single-tenant economics don't work at scale.
The Market Gap
I'm not trying to build Aurora or compete with AWS's 200+ services. Just solid managed databases that legally stay in the EU.
For Aurora-level stuff, check Aiven or Crunchy Data's EU offerings. They're more mature but 3-5x more expensive.
I'm targeting the gap between DIY Hetzner and enterprise solutions. Developers who want Hetzner's sovereignty without dealing with Redis configuration, backups, monitoring, failover.
Current Status
Launching publicly next week. Already got some early signups from a Reddit post about the government report. Planning to expand the server range - not just multi-tenant CX23, but dedicated CCX and CAX instances for customers who need guaranteed resources.
Roadmap is focused:
- Redis Sentinel for high availability
- Automated backups with self-service downloads
- Better monitoring dashboards
- Support for Hetzner's full server lineup
Solo dev means slower feature rollout but no pressure to compromise on the core principle. Building what I'd actually trust to use.
Why Share This
The EU needs infrastructure that's actually European, not just EU regions of US companies. The economics work if you're willing to use affordable providers like Hetzner, build multi-tenant from the start, and keep overhead low.
We don't need to replicate AWS's complexity. We need solid, sovereign basics that developers can trust.
Tech stack:
- Backend: ASP.NET Core 9.0, Entity Framework, PostgreSQL
- Infrastructure: Hetzner Cloud API, SSH.NET
- Payments: Mollie (SEPA, iDEAL, cards, PayPal)
- Monitoring: Sentry
- Frontend: Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind
Check it out at akcache.io.
Questions about the architecture, economics, or the sovereignty angle? Ask below.
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