Compare Easypanel and STACKIT on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: Amazon Web Services (AWS), DigitalOcean
Romania· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist when you want a polished, proprietary self-hosted PaaS panel with Git builders, automatic HTTPS, databases, backups, and a large template catalogue on servers you control. Skip when you need a managed cloud runtime SLA, or when procurement requires an open-source control plane (consider Coolify or CapRover) or pure EU IaaS without a commercial panel (Hetzner or Scaleway alone).
Germany· Cloud Computing
Needs review
Shortlist STACKIT when you want German-entity IaaS/PaaS on Schwarz Group–owned DE/AT infrastructure with managed Kubernetes, scoped BSI C5 Type 2 claims, and optional same-campus colocation. Skip when you need global multi-region hyperscaler breadth or a fully self-hosted control plane—consider OVHcloud or Scaleway for multi-country EU clouds, or AWS/Azure when worldwide services dominate the architecture.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Easypanel | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Romania | Germany |
| Category | Cloud Computing | Cloud Computing |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hosted | Yes | No |
| Headquarters | Romania | Germany |
| Legal entity | Canta Andrei PFA (CUI RO52148795) | Schwarz Digits Cloud GmbH & Co. KG (Am Campus 1, 74177 Bad Friedrichshall; imprint lists STACKIT Beteiligungs-GmbH as general partner vehicle in Neckarsulm) |
| Governing law | Not listed | Germany (imprint also notes ICT infrastructure jurisdiction Germany and Austria) |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Medium | Low |
| EU-hosted status | Partial | Not listed |
| Hosting / residency | Application workloads and panel data on customer-controlled servers. Vendor account/license billing via Lemon Squeezy (US merchant of record). Public website uses Google for sign-in and optional analytics; DNS on Cloudflare. | Vendor claims STACKIT Cloud runs in group-owned ISO 27001 data centers in Germany and Austria (sites publicly named include Neckarsulm DC01, Ellhofen DC08, Ostermiething DC10; additional EU sites claimed). Cloud regions include EU01 (Germany) and EU02 (Austria). No public evidence found that customer data-plane hosting is on AWS/GCP/Azure. A detailed third-party subprocessor list for all support/analytics tooling was not found on marketing pages—confirm in the AVV. |
| Summary | Self-hosted deployment platform for apps, databases, Docker images and Docker Compose projects, with automatic SSL, backups and monitoring. | German sovereign cloud from Schwarz Digits (Schwarz Group): IaaS, managed Kubernetes, databases, and colocation on group-owned data centers in Germany and Austria. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Easypanel | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| HQ / entity | Romania (Canta Andrei PFA) | Not listed |
| Product model | Self-hosted proprietary panel | Not listed |
| Runtime | Docker on your server | Not listed |
| License metering | Per server (free tier available) | Not listed |
| Merchant of record | Lemon Squeezy | Not listed |
| HQ / legal entity | Not listed | Bad Friedrichshall / Neckarsulm area, Germany — Schwarz Digits Cloud GmbH & Co. KG |
| Parent | Not listed | Schwarz Digits (Schwarz Group — Lidl/Kaufland) |
| Hosting | Not listed | Group-owned data centers in Germany & Austria (e.g. EU01/EU02); not marketed as AWS/Azure reseller |
| Model | Not listed | Consumption-based public cloud + quote-based colocation |
| Open source | Not listed | Uses open-source components; platform itself is managed, not self-hosted |
| External market | Not listed | Public offering from 2022 (internal roots from 2018) |
| Workload regions | Customer-chosen server or VPS region | Not listed |
| Compliance certs (vendor) | No public ISO/SOC cert pages found | Not listed |
| Key capabilities | Easypanel | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Not listed |
| Proprietary | Yes | Not listed |
| Docker PaaS panel | Yes | Not listed |
| Git deploy | Yes | Not listed |
| German legal entity | Not listed | Yes |
| Group-owned DE/AT DCs | Not listed | Yes |
| BSI C5 Type 2 (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
| Managed Kubernetes (SKE) | Not listed | Yes |
| EU colocation + hybrid | Not listed | Yes |
Git, image, and Compose deploys with multiple builders
Connect GitHub or generic Git, upload archives, pull Docker images, or run Compose projects. Build with Dockerfile, Cloud Native Buildpacks, Nixpacks, or Railpack. Auto-deploy webhooks are available for GitHub sources. Limit: you still operate the underlying server and must keep ports 80/443 free on a typical install.
Automatic HTTPS domains and Traefik routing
Attach hostnames to services, terminate TLS, and apply proxy middlewares from the dashboard. Useful for teams that want certificate renewal and routing without hand-editing reverse-proxy files. Limit: DNS and server firewall remain your responsibility.
Managed databases plus scheduled backups
Run Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, and Redis as services beside apps. Schedule database and volume backups to local disk, FTP/SFTP, S3-compatible storage, Dropbox, or Google Drive, then restore from the UI. Limit: a local-only backup destination does not protect against full server loss.
Large one-click application template catalogue
Install maintained templates for hundreds of open-source apps (vendor states 750+) such as n8n, Supabase, WordPress, Immich, and Nextcloud, with service wiring handled by the panel. Limit: each upstream app still needs its own hardening, upgrades, and credential hygiene.
In-browser operations: metrics, logs, and shell
Monitor CPU, memory, disk, and network, stream logs, and open a container shell or saved scripts without separate SSH tooling for routine tasks. Limit: deep incident response still needs host-level access and your own observability stack for production SLAs.
Compute Engine VMs and GPUs in group-owned EU regions
Provision Linux and Windows virtual machines, GPU-backed instances, automated server backup and OS update management from the STACKIT portal, CLI, API, or Terraform. Workloads land in European cloud regions such as EU01 (Germany) and EU02 (Austria) on Schwarz Group–operated infrastructure rather than rented hyperscaler bare metal. Best for teams that need predictable EU residency for general compute and AI/ML training or inference on GPU shapes—confirm available instance families per region before migration.
STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)
Managed, CNCF-compliant Kubernetes with a highly available control plane, automated Kubernetes/OS upgrades, repair functions, pod and node autoscaling, optional temporary cluster shutdown, and automation via Terraform, SKE API, and CLI. Suited to cloud-native apps, stateful workloads on block storage, and ML pipelines that must stay in European regions. Not a self-hosted kubeadm replacement—you consume a managed service with STACKIT-controlled plane components.
Managed databases, messaging, and observability
Fully managed PostgreSQL Flex, MongoDB Flex, SQL Server Flex, MariaDB, Redis, OpenSearch, and RabbitMQ plus LogMe, Logs, and Observability stacks reduce ops load for application teams. Flex models emphasize automated maintenance, backups, and scaling inside the STACKIT cloud. Ideal when you want PaaS data services under the same German operator as your VMs/K8s—validate HA topology, backup retention, and region pairing for each service.
Confidential computing and key/secrets control
Confidential Server and Confidential Kubernetes options aim to protect data in use with hardware-backed isolation; Secrets Manager and Key Management Service handle secret storage/rotation and cryptographic operations. Useful for regulated or multi-tenant sensitive workloads beyond disk encryption alone. Confirm attestation models, supported node types, and which compliance reports cover these products.
EU colocation with hybrid path to public cloud
Racks, cages, and private rooms in Neckarsulm, Ellhofen, and Ostermiething facilities—with remote hands, carrier connectivity, and hybrid designs that keep non-migratable hardware next to STACKIT public cloud. Positions STACKIT for gradual cloud adoption without a pure forklift. Colocation is quote-driven and site certifications can vary by facility; request site data sheets early.
Object, block, file, backup, and archiving storage
S3-compatible object storage, high-performance block volumes, NFS file storage, backup storage, and audit-oriented archiving for retention workloads. Supports application data, VM disks, and compliance archives inside the same European footprint as compute. Check durability/replication claims and cross-region options against your RPO/RTO rather than assuming hyperscaler multi-region defaults.
| Assurance & compliance | Easypanel | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not found No public third-party audit PDF located on primary site. | Vendor claimed Vendor claims BSI C5 Type 2 for a listed IaaS/storage product set; reports available on request (iso@digits.schwarz). Not a VPN-style no-logs audit. |
| ISO 27001 | Not found | Vendor claimed Certificates page claims ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS (with downloadable cert links) plus ISO 27017 and ISO 27018; also ISO 27001 based on IT baseline protection for named IaaS components. |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found | Vendor claimed Vendor states ISAE 3000 (SOC 2) and ISAE 3402 in addition to C5 Type 2; obtain current reports under NDA/request. |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed Romanian (EU) PFA entity and public Privacy Policy; confirm processing roles for your account data. | Vendor claimed EU legal entity; vendor claims GDPR-aligned operation with processing in own DE/AT data centers and ISO 27018 claims for PII in the cloud. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Partial EU operator with no known US parent, but Lemon Squeezy (billing) and Google (website sign-in/analytics) are US-linked. Customer app data stays on the customer server unless backups are sent to US-group storage. Not legal advice. | Partial German operator under Schwarz Digits / Schwarz Group; no known US parent; customer cloud claimed on group-owned EU DCs without named AWS/GCP/Azure data-plane hosts. Partial (not a clean bill): confirm AVV subprocessors and any non-EU support tools. Indicative only—not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Not found No public DPA download found on marketing/docs pages during research. | Not found No self-serve public AVV/DPA URL confirmed during research; expect contract packaging—request AVV, TOMs, and subprocessor list in procurement. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Deployment panel, not an AI system product. | Not applicable Primary offering is IaaS/PaaS infrastructure; optional AI Model Serving and related data/AI products may need separate AI Act analysis if you deploy high-risk AI systems. |
| BSI C5 Type 2 | Not listed | Vendor claimed C5 Type 2 claimed for Compute Engine (incl. GPU), Windows/RHEL, server backup/update management, block/object/backup/file storage, archiving—not automatically every PaaS product. |
| TISAX Level 3 | Not listed | Vendor claimed Vendor claims TISAX Level 3; verification via ENX portal (assessment ID ATA163-1 / scope ID SH938N per certificates page). |
| Considerations & known limitations | Easypanel | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| Proprietary control plane | Medium You cannot fork the panel under an OSI license. Budget for license renewals and an exit plan (Compose/export) if requirements change. | Not listed |
| You operate the server | Medium Availability, OS patching, capacity, and firewall rules remain yours. This is not a managed PaaS SLA. | Not listed |
| US-linked account subprocessors | Medium Lemon Squeezy handles checkout/licenses; Google appears on the website for sign-in/analytics. App data can stay local, but identity and billing metadata do not. | Not listed |
| Backup targets can leave your host | Low Optional backup providers include S3-compatible services, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Choose EU-controlled destinations if residency of backups matters. | Not listed |
| No public independent audit package | Medium No ISO/SOC or public penetration-test report was found. Enterprise procurement may need questionnaires and contractual security exhibits. | Not listed |
| Narrower service map than US hyperscalers | Not listed | Medium STACKIT covers core compute, K8s, databases, and storage, but global specialty services and third-party marketplace depth lag AWS/Azure/GCP. Practical impact: multi-cloud or lift-and-shift of complex hyperscaler architectures may need redesign. |
| C5 Type 2 is product-scoped | Not listed | Medium Attestation tables list specific IaaS/storage products. Teams assuming every managed database or PaaS SKU is C5 Type 2 covered without reading the scope can mis-state compliance. Practical impact: map each in-scope service before audits. |
| Limited public subprocessor inventory | Not listed | Low Marketing asserts own data centers and EU processing; a complete public subprocessor/support-tool list was not found on the pages reviewed. Practical impact: force AVV + subprocessor exhibits before production personal data. |
| Retail-group operator concentration | Not listed | Low Economic stability is a stated strength of Schwarz Group ownership, but roadmap and commercial leverage differ from pure-play clouds. Practical impact: negotiate exit, data export, and roadmap commitments explicitly. |
When: You want an open-source self-hosted PaaS panel you can fork
Consider: Coolify or CapRover
Not currently separate EuropeanStack entries; evaluate licenses and multi-server features directly.
When: You want managed cloud app hosting instead of operating a VPS
Consider: DigitalOcean App Platform or AWS application hosting
Less server ops, less direct control of the host.
When: You only need EU IaaS and will run raw Docker or Kubernetes yourself
Consider: Hetzner or Scaleway
Complementary as places to install Easypanel, or alternatives if you reject a commercial panel.
When: You need a wider multi-country European region map and a large independent cloud portfolio
Consider: OVHcloud or Scaleway
Different ownership and product cultures; still not US hyperscaler breadth
When: Your workload is mainly simple German VMs/web hosting without managed K8s/PaaS depth
Consider: IONOS (or similar DE hosts)
Often simpler packaging for commodity compute
When: You require global regions, the largest third-party marketplace, or existing multi-cloud tooling locked to hyperscaler APIs
Consider: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
Trade EU ownership of the operator for ecosystem scale; apply your own CLOUD Act / transfer analysis
When: Swiss or other non-DE sovereignty framing matters more than Schwarz Group scale
Consider: Exoscale
Smaller portfolio; different jurisdiction story