Shadow vs Amazon Luna
Shadow is a European alternative to Amazon Luna: same content & media use case, headquartered in France and governed by EU GDPR, while Amazon Luna is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Access a complete Windows gaming PC from any device - Mac, smartphone, tablet, or browser. Play Steam, Epic, and all PC games with RTX graphics in the cloud.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
Cloud gaming bundled with Prime: a rotating library including Fortnite streams to almost any screen, with a Premium tier at 9.99 dollars a month for more titles. In April 2026, though, Amazon removed game purchases and third-party subscriptions outright, giving buyers until 10 June to say goodbye. The catalogue exists at the discretion of Amazon in Seattle, under US law, and so does your access.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Shadow vs Amazon Luna at a glance
| Shadow | Amazon Luna | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | France | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need content & media built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Amazon Luna ecosystem |
Choose Shadow if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Amazon Luna if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Amazon Luna ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
Why choose Shadow over Amazon Luna?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Amazon Luna is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Shadow removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.