Why We're Breaking Up with Big Tech
Digital sovereignty is not a one-off – it is a process. How we replaced Slack and Google Meet with a fully self-hosted European stack.
Most startups take the path of least resistance: Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft Teams. Convenient? Yes. Sovereign? No. At Klartext AI, we asked ourselves a different question – why not build our own collaboration suite? A few evenings and nights later, our team had assembled a fully self-hosted setup running on Matrix, Jitsi, and European infrastructure. No US servers, end-to-end encryption by default, and our own KlarBot integrated at the core. Here is how we did it – and why it matters.
What We Built
Our entire collaboration suite is now 100% self-hosted on European infrastructure. No US servers. No third-party data processing. Our data, our rules, our security.
The stack:
- Matrix Protocol – the open standard for secure, decentralised communication
- Element / Cinny – Matrix clients for chat and messaging
- Jitsi – self-hosted video conferencing
- Hetzner – European infrastructure hosting
When you call us, be prepared to enter a meeting running entirely on a European stack.
Why This Matters
Most startups take the path of least resistance: Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft Teams. Done. Comfortable, yes. But comfortable is not the same as sovereign.
Real data ownership. Our communication no longer routes through US servers. We host our entire collaboration suite on our own infrastructure. Our data, our rules, our security.
Privacy by Design. While others talk about GDPR, we live it. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is not an optional checkbox here – it is the default.
Open Source Power. With the Matrix protocol, we are investing in the future of decentralised communication. No more walled gardens. We own our tools – we are not just renting them.
Deep Integration. Our own KlarBot is not a surface-level plugin. It is woven deeply into our encrypted infrastructure and helps us automate workflows without a single byte leaving our systems.
Sovereignty Is a Direction, Not a Destination
We know this is one step, not the finish line. There is still much more to do. But every meaningful shift towards digital independence starts with exactly this kind of decision: replacing convenience with conviction.
One thing still missing: GIFs. High priority. We are working on it.
A huge thank you to our team for the enormous amount of time and research they invested to make this stack work – and to ensure our vision of digital sovereignty is implemented with technical precision. Outstanding work.
If you have questions or want to build something similar yourself, get in touch. We are happy to share what we have learned.
Tech stack references: Matrix Protocol · Element · Cinny · Jitsi
