Private ChatGPT Alternative, EU Sovereign AI, Model in Intel TDX
Most teams looking for a “private ChatGPT” in Europe end up choosing between a US provider with a stronger DPA and a European provider with a weaker model. Both trade-offs are real, but neither solves the structural problem: contractual confidentiality is not the same as technical confidentiality. This page compares the four serious options and explains what running the model in an Intel TDX enclave changes, and what it does not.
Why a European alternative matters at all
Three structural issues make US-hosted ChatGPT difficult to defend in regulated European contexts, even with ChatGPT Enterprise and a signed DPA in place.
Transfer mechanisms re-opened
After CJEU C-311/18, Standard Contractual Clauses are not sufficient on their own when US authority compulsion under FISA 702 and the CLOUD Act is documented. The Data Privacy Framework helps but does not eliminate the underlying conflict.
DPA is contractual, not technical
A DPA is a promise. It commits the provider not to read or reuse data. It does not remove the operator's technical ability to do so. Strict-reading regulators distinguish between the two.
Third-party concentration risk
For financial entities under the Digital Operational Resilience Act, consolidating generative AI into one US provider triggers Article 28 third-party risk obligations the regulator can audit at any time.
The four serious options compared
Below is the honest comparison of the four products that an European team is most likely to evaluate when looking for a private ChatGPT alternative.
- 1ChatGPT EnterpriseUS controller (OpenAI). Regional hosting option for data-at-rest. Contractual non-disclosure via DPA. No published TEE for inference, operator and US authorities retain technical access. Strongest model quality on most benchmarks. Pricing typically $60+/seat with annual minimums.
- 2Mistral Le Chat ProFrench controller. EU hosting. Contractual non-disclosure. No published TEE on the managed inference path, operator can technically access prompts. Open-weights model can be self-hosted with separate effort. Around $15/seat/month for Pro.
- 3Aleph AlphaGerman controller. EU hosting. Government-grade contractual confidentiality. Partial hardware isolation in dedicated deployments only. Enterprise-only pricing on request, generally aligned with large-account procurement processes.
- 4VoltageGPUFrench controller (VOLTAGE EI, SIREN 943 808 824), EU-hosted customer database, inference at a documented US sub-processor. The model runs in an Intel TDX enclave whose memory that host cannot read; our relay handles prompts in clear while forwarding them. Attestation of the instances serving a model, on your own nonce (GET /v1/attestation). From $20/month for the Plus solo plan.
What Intel TDX actually changes
Standard cloud AI runs on shared virtual machines. The cloud provider, the host operating system, and any party with administrator access can technically read process memory. That is not a flaw, it is how shared infrastructure works. It is also why a DPA is a contractual override, not a technical guarantee.
Intel TDX (Trust Domain Extensions) creates an encrypted trust domain at the CPU level. The model, its weights and the prompts it processes sit in memory that the host's operating system cannot read. Before reaching the enclave, your prompts pass in clear through our relay. GET /v1/attestation returns, on a nonce you choose, a quote signed under Intel's keys for each instance serving a model: it proves they are TDX guests, not that a given reply came from them.
“The enclave protects the model's memory from its host. Our relay, which forwards your prompts, sees them in clear.”, What Intel TDX changes versus a contractual DPA
Pricing and access
VoltageGPU publishes prices transparently for solo users, small teams, and enterprises. The Free plan offers 50 messages a month on the General Assistant chat, 1 seat, no credit card, which is enough to validate the workflow before any commitment.
- Plus (solo), $20/month, Qwen3.5-397B-TEE in Intel TDX
- Starter, $349/month for 3 seats
- Pro, $1,199/month for 10 seats
- Enterprise, $3,499/month, SSO/SCIM, DeepSeek-V3.2-TEE reasoning
- OpenAI-compatible API (Chat Completions, Assistants)
- SDKs for Python, TypeScript, and the Vercel AI SDK
- Managed Telegram bot on the Plus plan
- Web app for direct chat use, no integration required
Try it before you commit
The Free plan gives you 50 messages a month on the General Assistant chat, 1 seat, no credit card, with the model in an Intel TDX enclave. The live demo needs no signup.
Try the demo, free, no card requiredOur relay forwards your prompts to the enclave. No training on your data.
Five questions that come up
Is the AI quality comparable to GPT-4 for everyday work?
On chat, reasoning, and code-generation benchmarks, both Qwen3.5-397B-TEE and DeepSeek-V3.2-TEE are within striking distance of GPT-4-class performance. DeepSeek-V3.2-TEE specifically scores comparably on chain-of-thought tasks. The trade-off is a model in an Intel TDX enclave under a French controller versus marginal capability; for conversations involving client data, internal strategy, or regulated information, that often decides.
Why not just use ChatGPT Enterprise with the EU residency option?
EU residency addresses data-at-rest location. It does not address: (1) Schrems II compulsion under FISA 702 / CLOUD Act, which applies to US-controlled providers regardless of where the data sits; (2) hardware-level access, operator staff and the host OS retain technical capability to read prompts during processing. For a regulated controller in Europe, these two gaps can be the deciding factors.
Can I use this from a Telegram bot, mobile app, or my own client?
Yes. The API is OpenAI-compatible: any client that already speaks the OpenAI Chat Completions or Assistants API works without code changes. A managed Telegram bot is also available on the Plus plan: each message is stored in our database and read by our worker before the model call, so we can read it; the model runs in an Intel TDX enclave. SDKs are available for Python, TypeScript, and via the Vercel AI SDK.
What happens to my data after a session ends?
On the inference API and the web chat, requests go through our API to the model, which runs inside an Intel TDX enclave at our inference provider; we keep billing metadata (model, token counts, cost) and use nothing for training. The Telegram bot is different: each message and its reply are stored in clear in our database.
How does pricing actually compare for a small team?
ChatGPT Plus: $20/month per seat, no DPA, no published TEE. ChatGPT Enterprise: typically $60+/seat with annual minimums, DPA included, no published TEE. Mistral Le Chat Pro: ~$15/month per seat, EU controller. Aleph Alpha: enterprise-only pricing. VoltageGPU: $20/month for solo (Plus, Qwen3.5-397B-TEE in Intel TDX), $349/month for 3 seats (Starter), $1,199/month for 10 seats (Pro), $3,499/month Enterprise with SSO/SCIM and DeepSeek-V3.2-TEE.
- CJEU, judgment of 16 July 2020, Case C-311/18 (Schrems II)
- Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA), Article 28, ICT third-party risk
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (RGPD), Articles 28, 32, and Chapter V on transfers
- US 50 USC § 1881a (FISA 702) and 18 USC § 2713 (CLOUD Act)
- Intel TDX, Trust Domain Extensions, public attestation specification