European-only alternative to Google Workspace.
Google Workspace puts your business email, calendar and files with Google LLC, a US company. A data region in Europe decides where the data is stored, not which law Google answers to. Binadit Workspace replaces it from the Netherlands, as a Dutch company with no foreign parent: mail, calendar, contacts, files, documents, meetings and scheduling under one login. Your people keep the mail program they already use.
- Provider
- Google Workspace
- Headquarters
- Mountain View, CA
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Legal regime
- CLOUD Act, FISA 702
"EU region" is not sovereignty. Four questions decide it.
Data residency tells you where the bits sit. Sovereignty tells you which legal system can compel access. The answer must hold on all four - or the stack is not sovereign.
- Residency
-
Where is the data physically stored?
Not "in the cloud" - which datacenter, in which country, under which jurisdiction.
- Subprocessors
-
Who else is in your data path?
Every vendor that touches the data: the CDN, the email relay, the error tracker, the analytics pipe.
- Jurisdiction
-
Whose laws can compel disclosure?
A US-headquartered provider falls under FISA 702 and the CLOUD Act - even when the bits sit in Frankfurt.
- Key custody
-
Who actually holds the encryption keys?
If the cloud provider holds both the data and the keys, the data is readable by them - regardless of any DPA.
Fails on jurisdiction and key custody.
EU bits, US-headquartered parent, US subprocessors in the default path, provider-managed keys.
Passes on all four.
EU-hosted on EU-headquartered infrastructure. Zero US subprocessors in the default path. Customer-held or EU-KMS keys. Listed by name in your Article 28 DPA.
Why teams are exiting Google Workspace
The transfer of your mailbox to Google is lawful today because of one instrument, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and an appeal against it is pending before the court that struck down its two predecessors. Separately, the US CLOUD Act obliges a US provider to produce data under its control wherever it is stored. And Google is building AI assistants directly into the mailbox and the files, which adds a second set of questions about purpose limitation that you, as the controller, have to be able to answer. With a Dutch host there is no transfer to a third country, and nobody learns from your data.
Google Workspace services and their EU-only equivalents
Gmail is a mailbox with a web interface. Both exist outside Google.
Gmail on your own domain
- What we run instead
- A Binadit Workspace mailbox with calendar and contacts, and the Binadit webmail in the browser.
- Engineering note
- Works with Apple Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird and phones through standard protocols. Your addresses stay the same; only the MX records change.
Gmail, for teams that live in Outlook
- What we run instead
- Exchange mailbox hosted in the Netherlands, on a shared server or on a dedicated server of your own.
- Engineering note
- For companies that came to Google from Exchange and would rather have Outlook, ActiveSync and shared mailboxes back.
Google Calendar
- What we run instead
- Shared calendars across your organisation, in the same clients as your mail.
- Engineering note
- Calendars move together with the mailboxes.
Google Contacts
- What we run instead
- Shared and personal contacts, synchronised to desktop and phone.
- Engineering note
- Moved together with mail and calendar.
Google Drive and shared drives
- What we run instead
- Binadit Drive: file storage and sharing with sharing links, versioning and desktop sync.
- Engineering note
- Files move with their folder structure.
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
- What we run instead
- Binadit Office: documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the browser, edited together, on files that stay on Drive.
- Engineering note
- A Google document only exists inside Google. When it leaves, Google exports it as docx, xlsx or pptx. From then on it is a file you own, and it opens in Binadit Office.
Google Meet
- What we run instead
- Binadit Meet: video meetings from your calendar, with guests joining in the browser.
- Engineering note
- Part of Binadit Workspace, with the same login as your mail.
Appointment schedules in Google Calendar
- What we run instead
- Binadit Book: a booking page for every mailbox. The appointment lands in your calendar with a Meet link.
- Engineering note
- Off by default. Every user switches it on themselves.
Google Admin console
- What we run instead
- The Binadit portal: you create and remove mailboxes, aliases, users and domains yourself.
- Engineering note
- On a dedicated server the number of mailboxes is yours to decide. The limit is disk space, not a licence count.
Gemini in Gmail and Docs
- What we run instead
- Not replaced, on purpose. We do not train on your data and we do not put a model inside your mailbox.
- Engineering note
- Every AI feature inside a US suite is another data flow you answer for under Article 24 GDPR. If you want an assistant, choose one deliberately and know where it runs.
What it costs
Google Workspace entry plans cost roughly €6 to €8 per user per month depending on the commitment you sign, and the plans most companies end up on cost well over €10 (list prices excluding VAT, September 2026). Hosted in the Netherlands:
- Binadit Workspace mailbox from €2.95 per mailbox per month
- Teams that want email, calendar and files without running anything themselves. Calendar, contacts, webmail, Northmail, Meet and Book are included; sizes run from 2 GB to 100 GB and can be changed at any time. Files go in a Drive pool for the whole company, from €9 per month.
- Exchange mailbox, hosted in the Netherlands from €4.95 per mailbox per month
- Companies that want to keep Outlook, Exchange ActiveSync and shared mailboxes exactly as they are. The same software, hosted and controlled by a Dutch company on Dutch hardware.
- Managed dedicated mail server from €149 per month, unlimited mailboxes
- Organisations from roughly 25 mailboxes upward, or anyone who wants a fully isolated environment. The limit is disk space, not the number of users. You create mailboxes and domains yourself in the Binadit portal; we manage the server, updates, backups and monitoring.
- Managed dedicated Exchange server from €299 per month, unlimited mailboxes
- Larger Exchange environments that want their own isolated server with full Outlook compatibility, managed by us, with mailboxes and domains under your own control in the Binadit portal.
How we migrate off Google Workspace
We migrate your existing mailboxes, calendars and files from Google Workspace, historic mail included, and we run both environments side by side until you switch DNS.
-
Before the move
We map what you have
Mailboxes, aliases, shared mailboxes, calendars, contact lists, shared folders and who has access to what. You get a fixed migration price and a date.
-
Side by side
Both environments run at the same time
We copy mail, calendars, contacts and files to the new environment, historic mail included, while everybody keeps working in the old one. Nothing is switched off and nothing is lost if we need another pass.
-
Switch day
DNS moves, and with it the mail
We change the MX records, new mail arrives in the Netherlands from that moment, and a final sync picks up whatever came in during the switch. No downtime, no lost mail.
Run the numbers for a 30-person company. On a Google or Microsoft entry plan you pay around €2,500 a year. The same 30 people cost €1,062 a year on Binadit Workspace mailboxes, €1,782 a year on hosted Exchange, or a flat €1,788 a year on a dedicated server that is still the same price at 60 or 100 mailboxes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Workspace GDPR-compliant?
Do our email addresses change?
What happens to our Google Docs?
Will people miss the Gmail web interface?
Binadit Workspace or hosted Exchange?
Is Binadit Workspace only this one product?
Is Binadit ISO 27001 or NEN 7510 certified?
The rest of the suite
Email, calendar and files usually move together. These are the other pieces.
- Alternative to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, Outlook, shared mailboxes and calendars. Including Exchange itself, hosted in the Netherlands.
- Alternative to Google Drive Shared folders, sharing links and desktop sync in Binadit Drive.
- Alternative to OneDrive Personal and team files out of Microsoft 365, into Binadit Drive.
- Alternative to Dropbox Team folders, links and version history in Binadit Drive.
- Receive A page on your own address where clients hand you confidential files without an account. Encrypted in their browser, deleted after the retention period. Part of Drive.
- Office Documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the browser, edited together, on files that stay on Drive.
- Meet Video meetings from your calendar. Guests join in the browser, without an account and without installing anything.
- Book A booking page for every mailbox. Customers pick a time, and the appointment lands in your calendar with a Meet link.
- Northmail Our own free mail program for macOS and Windows, laid out like classic Outlook. Works with Workspace, Exchange and Gmail.
- Why this matters now The article: your email is GDPR-compliant today. Will it still be next year?
- binadit.work Binadit Workspace itself: what is included, all prices with a cost calculator, the comparison with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Proton, and the downloads.
Plan your exit from Google Workspace.
30-minute scoping call. We map your stack against EU-only alternatives, estimate the migration effort, and tell you whether it is the right call.