Last updated: July 18, 2026
The server location decision most SaaS tools outsource
Most SaaS companies do not choose where their servers run. They deploy to AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure and accept whatever region is cheapest or most convenient. If asked where customer data lives, they check a dropdown in a cloud console and say “us-east-1” or “eu-west-1” as if that were a decision they made rather than a default they accepted.
We chose Hetzner in Germany deliberately. Not because AWS rejected us. Not because we got free credits somewhere else. Because we believe where your monitoring data lives should be a feature, not an afterthought.
This post explains why we made that choice, what it means for your data, and why it matters more than most people realize.
What “hosted in Germany” actually means
When we say PingWatchdog runs on German servers, we mean the entire stack. Not just the database. Not just the frontend. Every component:
The API server that receives check results from probes runs on a Hetzner dedicated server in a German data center.
The PostgreSQL database storing your monitor configurations, check history, incident logs, and alert records lives on the same physical infrastructure.
The probe workers that check your endpoints run from European locations. Our probes are in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and London. When a probe checks your Berlin server, the data never leaves Europe.
The status pages your users visit to check if you are online. Those pages are served from the same German infrastructure. Every visitor to your status page connects to a server in Germany.
The alert pipeline that sends notifications to your Slack, Discord, email, or webhook. All alert processing, templating, and delivery logic runs in Germany.
The SSL monitoring that checks your certificates before they expire. Certificate data, expiry dates, and alert thresholds all stay on German servers.
This is not a marketing claim about “European data centers” that really means “one server in Ireland and everything else in Virginia.” It means every byte of PingWatchdog data stays in the EU.
Why Hetzner and not AWS Frankfurt
AWS has a Frankfurt region. Google Cloud has Frankfurt. So why not just deploy there?
Three reasons:
Cost predictability. Hetzner charges fixed monthly prices for dedicated servers. AWS charges by the hour, by the gigabyte transferred, by the number of requests. A Hetzner server costs the same in February as it does in December. This matters because it lets us offer straight-forward pricing without usage-based surprises.
No US parent company. AWS and Google Cloud are American companies subject to US law, including the Cloud Act. Even if your data sits in Frankfurt, the company controlling the infrastructure answers to US courts. Hetzner is a German company subject to German and EU law exclusively.
Simplicity. Hetzner gives us bare metal servers. We install what we need. There is no shared responsibility model to negotiate, no IAM policies to audit, no VPC configurations to verify. For a small team, this simplicity is worth more than the managed services AWS offers.
The trade-off is that we manage our own infrastructure. We handle backups, monitoring, failover, and updates. For a company whose product is monitoring, this is not a burden. It is the job.
What this means for GDPR compliance
If you use PingWatchdog, here is what changes versus using a US-based monitoring tool:
No cross-border data transfers. Your monitoring data is collected in Europe, stored in Europe, and processed in Europe. Article 44 of GDPR, which governs international data transfers, does not apply because there is no transfer.
No SCCs to negotiate. Standard Contractual Clauses are the legal mechanism that makes US-hosted SaaS tools GDPR-compliant for European customers. With PingWatchdog, you do not need them. The data never leaves the jurisdiction, so the transfer mechanism is irrelevant.
No Data Privacy Framework dependency. The EU-US Data Privacy Framework replaced Privacy Shield, but it remains controversial and faces legal challenges. Relying on it means your compliance depends on a political agreement between two governments. European-hosted tools remove this dependency entirely.
Simpler DPAs. Our Data Processing Agreement is shorter and simpler than what you would get from a US-based provider because it does not need to cover international transfer mechanisms, sub-processors in multiple jurisdictions, or conflicting legal requirements between the EU and the US.
This is not to say US-based monitoring tools cannot be GDPR compliant. They can, with enough legal work. But the work falls on you, the customer. European hosting moves that work from your desk to ours.
The payment processor matters too
Most SaaS tools use Stripe for payments. Stripe is an excellent product. It is also an American company, which means your billing data (name, address, payment method, invoice history) goes through US infrastructure.
We use Creem, a European payment provider. Your payment data stays in Europe. Invoices comply with EU VAT rules by default. No US payment processor means one less third-party data transfer in your compliance documentation.
This is a small detail that most people never think about. But if you have ever filled out a vendor security assessment, you know that every third party matters. A European payment processor is one less row in your vendor spreadsheet.
The trade-offs we accept
European hosting is not free of trade-offs. Here is what we give up:
Fewer global probe locations. We have probes in Europe and are adding more. But we do not have 20+ global locations like some US competitors. If you need to verify uptime from Sydney or Sao Paulo, we are not the best choice today.
No managed cloud services. Running on bare metal means we manage our own databases, load balancers, and failover. This is more engineering work than clicking “create RDS instance” in the AWS console. For us, this is a feature (we control the stack). For a less technical team, it would be overhead.
Smaller team, slower feature development. Running our own infrastructure means our engineers spend time on operations that could go to features. A team our size on AWS could ship faster by offloading ops to managed services. We think the trade-off is worth it for the data sovereignty benefit, but it is real.
We are transparent about these trade-offs because pretending they do not exist helps no one. If you need global probe coverage today, compare our features to competitors and make an informed choice.
Why this matters more over time
The regulatory direction in Europe is clear: data should stay in Europe. GDPR was the first major signal. The Schrems II ruling invalidated Privacy Shield. The European Data Protection Board continues to tighten guidance on international transfers. National regulators in Germany, France, and the Netherlands are increasingly active.
Choosing European-hosted tools is not about today’s compliance checklist. It is about where the regulatory environment is heading. Every US-hosted SaaS tool in your stack is a future compliance question waiting to be asked. European-hosted alternatives close that question before it opens.
We built PingWatchdog on German infrastructure because we think this matters. Not as a marketing angle. Not as a temporary differentiator. As a permanent design choice that aligns with where data regulation is going.
Frequently asked questions
Can US authorities access data stored on Hetzner servers in Germany?
No. Hetzner is a German company subject to German and EU law. US subpoenas and warrants have no jurisdiction over data stored on German servers by a European company. The US Cloud Act cannot compel a company with no US presence to hand over data.
What happens if Hetzner has an outage?
Hetzner has a strong track record but no hosting provider has 100% uptime. We run on dedicated servers with automated failover. Our probes are distributed across multiple European locations. If one data center has issues, monitoring continues from other probe locations. Check our own status page for current uptime.
How do you back up data?
Database backups run daily and are stored encrypted within the EU. We do not use US-based cloud storage for backups. Backup retention follows our data retention policy, which is documented in our terms of service.
Can I request data deletion?
Yes. You can delete your account and all associated data from the dashboard at any time. Deletion is permanent and covers all data: monitor configurations, check history, incident logs, alert records, and status pages.
Does PingWatchdog have a DPA?
Yes. Our Data Processing Agreement is available to all customers. It covers the data we process as part of providing the monitoring service. Because all processing happens in the EU, the DPA is simpler than what you would see from a provider that transfers data internationally.
Try European-hosted monitoring
PingWatchdog keeps your data on German servers. 15 monitors free. Full features. No credit card.
Read our GDPR compliance guide for a deeper look at the legal implications. Also see our guide to European monitoring tools for a full market comparison.