Is Sourdough Tracker subject to the CLOUD Act?

No. The CLOUD Act compels US-based companies (or US subsidiaries) to hand over data they control, regardless of where it physically lives. Sourdough Tracker has no US entity, no US contracts, and no US-controlled infrastructure in the data plane. Stripe processes payment data and is US-headquartered, but that boundary is well-defined: payment metadata only, never your records.

Where exactly is my data stored?

On dedicated servers we operate ourselves, physically located in Germany. The audit log, attachments, embeddings - everything in the data plane - lives there. Backups stay within the same EU jurisdiction in different physical locations and roll off on a 30-day window. We deliberately do not name the exact data centre - knowing the rack does not buy the customer anything and would make operator changes a public event.

Do you log IPs or session metadata to a US service?

No third-party analytics, no Google Analytics, no Meta pixel, no third-country tag manager. The first-party device + session ledger lives in our own Postgres + Redis - same EU boundary as the rest of the data plane. Logs are operational only and rotate at 30 days.

What happens if I'm a customer outside the EU?

You can use Sourdough Tracker from anywhere. The data still lives in the EU; the request travels from your location to our servers and back. That's a posture choice on our side, not a geo-restriction on yours.

Sourdough Tracker

Compare

Sourdough Tracker: the EU alternative to Loaflo

Same job, hosted in the EU. Sourdough Tracker runs in Germany under German law - your data stays in EU jurisdiction end to end.

EU alternative

Comparison

Apps

Loaflo

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·January 26, 2026·

2 min read

If your reason for moving off Loaflo is data sovereignty, the comparison gets simpler. Sourdough Tracker is hosted in Germany on infrastructure we operate ourselves - no US-headquartered company in the request path. The CLOUD Act does not reach what physically lives here.

At a glance

Loaflo is a polished app with a large community and it deserves credit for popularising sourdough tracking. The friction point that shows up most in user reviews is its paywall: core features like reminders and full history access sit behind a subscription, which rankles bakers who just want a reliable journal. Sourdough Tracker is a direct alternative: free tier covers everything a home baker needs (unlimited feed logs, photo journaling, rise % tracking, per-starter sharing), AI health analysis is available on the free tier with a monthly quota, and the data stays EU-hosted. The honest answer: if you're already in Loaflo and it's working for you, there's no pressing reason to switch. If you hit the paywall and it annoyed you — or if per-starter sharing and EU hosting matter — Sourdough Tracker is worth a look.

EU jurisdiction

What 'EU-hosted' actually means here, end to end

Sourdough Tracker runs on dedicated machines we operate ourselves, physically located in Germany. There is no US-headquartered subprocessor in the request path - the data plane (your records, your files, your audit log) lives entirely in EU jurisdiction. Two third parties exist outside that boundary: Stripe (payment information only, under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) and the mail relay for transactional email. Neither sees your records. Loaflo's setup is the variable - if their primary infra is US-based, the CLOUD Act applies regardless of what their privacy page claims.

Sourdough Tracker vs Loaflo: EU comparison

	Ours Sourdough Tracker	Theirs Loaflo
EU-hosted data
Free tier with full core logging		Limited
Feeding reminders free
AI starter health analysis	Free quota	Paid plan
Per-starter sharing (not whole app)
Photo journaling
Rise % tracking per feed
Large established baking community

When to pick which

Pick Sourdough Tracker when

You hit Loaflo's paywall and decided the features behind it aren't worth the subscription.

You want to share one specific starter with a partner, parent, or friend without giving them access to your whole account.

EU data hosting is a requirement for you.

You want AI analysis included at the free tier.

Pick Loaflo when

You're already invested in Loaflo and the community features (forums, shared recipes) are actively useful to you.

You prefer a large, established user base with a wide range of tutorials and community content.

EU-jurisdiction questions

Specific to where the data lives, who can subpoena it, and what crosses borders.

Start with Sourdough Tracker

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Finn Glas

Co-Founder + Engineering

Finn is one of the Co-Founders. He owns the engineering side, the infrastructure, and most of the late-night fixes that ship before anyone notices.

finn.glas at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn Website