Filen

Filen is a German-headquartered zero-knowledge end-to-end encrypted cloud-storage product operated by **Filen Cloud Dienste UG (haftungsbeschränkt)**, founded in mid-2021 in **Recklinghausen, Germany** by Jan Lenczyk (CEO + CTO), Jan Kulartz (COO + CMO), and Phil Hedrich (CDO + Customer Care). The product is structurally similar to Mega and Internxt — every file is encrypted on the user's device with AES-256 before it leaves the client, the encryption keys never reach Filen's servers, and the company mathematically cannot read uploaded content — and ships as Filen Drive, Filen Notes, Filen Chats, Filen Sync, and a network-drive client across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and the web. The applications are open source on GitHub for independent audit. For an EU-sovereignty audit Filen is among the cleanest listings in the file-sharing category. **All servers are located in Germany** in **Tier IV ISO 27001-certified high-security data centres** across multiple regions for disaster-recovery redundancy. The vendor states explicitly that **no data is stored in the United States** — an unusually strong commitment for a product at this price point. German data-protection law (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) applies on top of GDPR, and the UG legal structure is a German limited-liability format. The ownership chain is clean: founder-led with no VC/PE investors on record. Customer keys, file content, file names, and metadata are all encrypted client-side — zero-knowledge end-to-end. Among the directory's 5/5 file-sharing entries (Proton Drive, Tresorit, Internxt, Filen, Cryptee), Filen wins on price-to-performance for users who want German jurisdiction specifically. Pricing is the most aggressive in the directory's encrypted-cloud category: free tier available with limited storage; **Pro I starts at €1.99/month for 200 GiB**; Pro II / III / IV scale up with more storage and higher upload caps; unlimited bandwidth, uploads, client-side encryption, syncing, and file sharing across all paid tiers. No lifetime plans (vendor explicitly opts out). Best fit: privacy-conscious individuals and small teams who want German jurisdiction, zero-knowledge encryption by default, open-source apps, and aggressive pricing — particularly relevant for journalists, NGOs, and SMBs in DACH.