Email & Privacy
What is the Fastmail EU data region?
The Fastmail EU data region, launched on August 3, 2026, moves the primary copy of your mail and files to Fastmail's own servers in Amsterdam at no extra cost. Resilient replicas and emergency backups still live in the US, and Fastmail says it cannot guarantee EU-only storage. Individual plans cost $5 per month billed yearly.
What matters
- The Fastmail EU data region launched August 3, 2026: Amsterdam becomes the primary storage home for mail and files, at no surcharge, on any plan.
- EU region does not mean EU-only: resilient replicas stay on US servers, emergency backups sit in Philadelphia, and system logs are consolidated in the US.
- Verified pricing: Individual is $5 per month billed yearly (60 GB storage), business Standard is $5 per user per month billed yearly; the EU choice costs nothing extra.
- Accounts with European billing addresses were pre-selected for migration; everyone else can switch under Settings, Users and Sharing, Team Settings, Data residency.
- If EU-only storage is a hard compliance requirement, Tuta (German, GDPR-governed) is the direct alternative; Proton Mail is Swiss-based, not in the EU.
What is the Fastmail EU data region?
The Fastmail EU data region is a data residency option, launched on August 3, 2026, that makes the European Union the primary home for a Fastmail account's mail and files. The primary copy sits on Fastmail's own servers in Amsterdam, which the company built with its own hardware and engineers instead of renting from a cloud provider. Before this launch, every Fastmail account was stored entirely in the US, across its Philadelphia and St Louis facilities.
Fastmail is an email and calendar service founded in Australia and in business for more than 25 years. Its CEO Bron Gondwana announced the EU region in a blog post on August 3, 2026, saying the move was driven by customer requests around local law, keeping data close to home, and compliance.
The region applies to the whole account, not individual mailboxes. New signups pick a region at signup, and existing accounts can switch in settings. Fastmail says the choice carries no plan restriction, and data is stored encrypted at rest in locked racks in every location.
Where does your data actually live with the EU region?
The honest version of "EU data region" has several layers, and Fastmail's announcement spells them out. The primary, live copy of mail and files sits on the Amsterdam servers. Incoming mail routes to EU servers by preference when you use your own domain with Fastmail's nameservers or an address on one of Fastmail's EU-region domains. Apps connect to Amsterdam day to day.
Everything else is still in the US:
- Resilient replicas: a geographically separate copy of your data remains on US servers, because Fastmail currently has only one EU location.
- Emergency backups: encrypted backups taken every few hours for every account are stored in Philadelphia.
- Shared metadata: email addresses, customer metadata, website storage, standalone Files data, and third-party service details are replicated to all sites.
- System logs: consolidated in the US for monitoring and support.
If Amsterdam is unavailable, apps fail over to a US location so you keep access. Your IMAP or POP3 client configuration does not change; Fastmail's generic hostnames proxy to your active server, and regional server names are available per protocol if you want more control over where you connect.
The announcement is direct about the limit: "If what you need is a guarantee that your data remains only in the EU, we don't have that." Fastmail is an Australian company subject to Australian law, and it says it responds the same way to lawful requests from relevant authorities no matter where your data is stored.
What does the Fastmail EU data region cost?
Nothing extra. Fastmail's CEO wrote that the company considered a surcharge for choosing the EU and decided against it, calling the choice the customer's to make. Plan prices are identical whether your primary storage is in Amsterdam or the US.
Verified from Fastmail's official pricing page on August 9, 2026:
- Individual: $6 per month month-to-month, or $5 per month billed yearly ($60 for 12 months); 60 GB total storage, split 50 GB for mail, calendar, and contacts plus 10 GB for files.
- Duo: $10 per month, or $8 per month billed yearly; two accounts with 120 GB total.
- Family: $14 per month, or $11 per month billed yearly; up to 360 GB across six people.
- Business Basic: $4 per user per month, or $3 billed yearly; 6 GB per user.
- Business Standard: $6 per user per month, or $5 billed yearly; 60 GB per user.
- Business Professional: $10 per user per month, or $9 billed yearly; 150 GB per user.
Longer prepaid terms cut the monthly rate further: Individual drops to $4.75 per month on a 24-month term and $4.67 per month on 36 months.
How to switch your Fastmail account to the EU region
Fastmail pre-selected the rollout: accounts with billing addresses in or near Europe were moved to the EU region in advance, with an encrypted copy of their data transferred to Amsterdam before the announcement. Those accounts become Amsterdam-primary shortly after launch.
Everyone else can request the move in settings: Settings, then Users and Sharing, then Team Settings, then the Data residency section below the GDPR section. Pick the location and Fastmail moves the primary copy in the background, with a status that goes from queued to transferring to done. The account keeps working through the migration.
Moving to the EU from the US takes longer, because no copy of your data exists in the region yet and every email must sync across the ocean. Moving back to the US is faster, since a US replica already exists. You can switch back, though Fastmail says it may place reasonable limits on how frequently you can change region.
Who should use the Fastmail EU data region (and who should not)
The EU region fits a specific buyer: someone who wants the primary copy of their mail in Europe for GDPR comfort, local-law reasons, or connection latency, and who also wants a full-featured paid email service with custom domains, calendars, masked email, and human support. Fastmail's $5-per-month Individual tier is the entry point, and the region adds nothing to the bill.
It does not fit organizations with a hard requirement that no email data ever touch the US. Replicas, emergency backups, metadata, and logs all stay US-based for now, and Fastmail says plainly that it offers no EU-only guarantee. If "all data stays in the EU" is a compliance line, an EU-native provider is the safer pick.
Fastmail's own framing is a trade-off, not a promise: primary copy in Europe, US safety copies, availability-first failover, and the same response to lawful requests regardless of region.
Fastmail EU region vs Tuta vs Proton Mail
Two alternatives dominate the "EU email" search space, and they take different approaches to residency. Tuta is a German company that stores mail end-to-end encrypted on servers in Germany under strict GDPR; its homepage describes zero-knowledge architecture, quantum-resistant cryptography, and a free tier plus paid plans. Proton Mail is Swiss-based with more than 100 million users, end-to-end encrypted and headquartered in Switzerland, which is not an EU member state.
Fastmail's EU region is a middle path: Amsterdam-primary storage on Fastmail's own hardware at no surcharge, with US fallbacks for resilience. Tuta is the stronger pick when EU-only residency plus default end-to-end encryption is the requirement. Proton is the stronger pick when Swiss jurisdiction and end-to-end encryption matter more than EU membership.
None of the three publishes a per-plan EU surcharge, and all three store data in at least one facility inside the European Economic Area's wider privacy regime, though only Tuta and Fastmail's EU region put the primary copy inside the EU.
At a glance
| Fastmail (EU region) | Tuta | Proton Mail | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company jurisdiction | Australia | Germany (EU) | Switzerland (not EU) |
| Primary storage location | Amsterdam, EU | Germany | Switzerland |
| EU-only storage guarantee | No: US replicas and backups remain | Stored in Germany, end-to-end encrypted | Stored in Switzerland, end-to-end encrypted |
| Encryption stance | Encrypted at rest on Fastmail's servers | End-to-end encrypted by default | End-to-end encrypted by default |
| Entry pricing | Individual $5/mo billed yearly (60 GB) | Free tier plus paid plans | Free tier plus paid plans |
FAQ
Is the Fastmail EU data region free?
Yes. Fastmail's CEO wrote that the company considered a surcharge for the EU region and decided against it. Choosing Amsterdam as your primary storage location costs nothing extra on any plan; standard plan prices apply, verified on the official pricing page August 9, 2026.
Does the Fastmail EU region keep all your data in the EU?
No. The primary copy of mail and files lives in Amsterdam, but resilient replicas stay on US servers, emergency backups are stored in Philadelphia, metadata is replicated to all sites, and system logs are consolidated in the US. Fastmail states it does not offer a guarantee that data remains only in the EU.
How do I switch my Fastmail account to the EU data region?
Go to Settings, then Users and Sharing, then Team Settings, then the Data residency section below the GDPR section, and pick your location. The migration runs in the background and your account keeps working. You can switch back later, subject to reasonable limits on how often you can change region.