Wire
✓ Verified by EU AltsSecure end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration — a European alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Overview
Wire is a Zug, Switzerland-based European company building collaboration, messaging, and security software since 2012. Despite its EU base, EU Alts has verified that Wire is owned by Wire Group Holdings GmbH (Berlin, Germany) (Germany), and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in EU, so it may still fall under the reach of the US CLOUD Act — worth weighing against Slack on this specific point.
Why European teams pick Wire
Teams in Europe still consider Wire for its collaboration product and Switzerland presence, operating since 2012, but unlike a fully EU-owned provider, Wire is owned by Wire Group Holdings GmbH (Berlin, Germany) (Germany), and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in EU — so it does not fully avoid US CLOUD Act exposure the way some other alternatives to Slack do.
See more EU collaboration tools or browse other startups from Switzerland.
About
Wire is a Swiss-German end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration platform founded in 2012 by former Skype engineers. It provides encrypted messaging, voice calls, video calls, file sharing, and screen sharing for both consumer and enterprise use. Wire for Enterprise is self-hostable on EU infrastructure and aimed at organisations in government, defence, healthcare, and finance that require classified or sensitive communications. Wire servers store no message content. Wire is used by NATO agencies, European defence ministries, and enterprise organisations that need sovereign messaging.
Details
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- Zug, Switzerland
- Ownership
- Owned by Wire Group Holdings GmbH (Berlin, Germany) (Germany)
- Hosting
- Amazon Web Services (AWS), EU
- CLOUD Act
- Exposed
- Verified
- 2026-09-03
- Last checked
- 2026-10-18
Categories
Compare with the US product you may be replacing
Wire is listed in a category that our US-product comparison pages cover. See every EU option side by side:
Other EU startups like Wire
- Element ✓ Verified by EU AltsUnited Kingdom — Secure, decentralised messaging built on Matrix — a UK alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams.
- Proton Mail ✓ Verified by EU AltsSwitzerland — End-to-end encrypted email and productivity suite — a privacy-first alternative to Gmail.
- Mullvad VPN ✓ Verified by EU AltsSweden — No-logs VPN with anonymous accounts — a Swedish privacy alternative to NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
- Nuclino ✓ Verified by EU AltsGermany — Lightweight team wiki and knowledge base — a German alternative to Notion and Confluence.
- Tresorit ✓ Verified by EU AltsHungary — End-to-end encrypted cloud storage for teams — a secure European alternative to Dropbox.
- IVPN ✓ Verified by EU AltsMalta — Privacy-focused VPN with multi-hop and WireGuard — a European alternative to NordVPN.
Frequently asked questions
What does Wire do?
Wire is secure end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration — a european alternative to slack and microsoft teams. It is listed under collaboration, messaging, and security on EU Alts because its core functionality serves teams looking for a European collaboration tool with EU data residency, typically as a switch away from Slack.
Is Wire GDPR compliant?
Wire is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and processes user data under the GDPR by default. Customer data processing is supervised by Switzerland's data protection authority, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC). However, EU Alts has verified that Wire is owned by Wire Group Holdings GmbH (Berlin, Germany) (Germany), and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in EU, which means — unlike a fully EU-owned provider — it may still be reachable under the US CLOUD Act, similar to Slack in that respect.
How do teams switch from Slack to Wire?
Teams evaluating a move from Slack to Wire should note: Wire is owned by Wire Group Holdings GmbH (Berlin, Germany) (Germany), and hosts customer data with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in EU, so this switch narrows but may not fully close the US CLOUD Act gap. Weigh that against the collaboration workflow fit before treating it as a complete Schrems II fix.
Where is Wire based?
Wire is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. The company was founded in 2012. Its main website is https://wire.com.