Online Databases

Both Airtable and Firebase (Google) are US-based services that store data on US infrastructure. If your database contains personal data of EU residents, such as customer records, employee details, or user profiles, you face GDPR transfer risks. Firebase in particular integrates with Google's broader infrastructure and analytics ecosystem. An EU-based database provider ensures that queryable personal data, which is often your most sensitive and structured dataset, remains under EU jurisdiction with no cross-border transfer concerns.

European database platforms are built with GDPR data subject rights in mind. For the right to erasure, they typically offer features like cascading deletes, audit logs of deletion requests, and backup purging to ensure personal data is truly removed. For data portability, they provide standard export formats (CSV, JSON, SQL dumps) and API access so you can extract any individual's data on request. Some no-code database tools even include built-in workflows for handling data subject access requests.

Self-hosting gives you maximum control but comes with operational burden: patching, backups, encryption configuration, access control, and monitoring all fall on your team. A managed EU database provider handles these operational concerns while still guaranteeing EU data residency. For GDPR compliance, both options can work. The key factors are: where is the data physically stored, who has access (including the provider's staff), and is there a clear data processing agreement. Managed EU providers typically cover all three by default.