Video calls
Zoom vs Microsoft Teams: which keeps data in Canada?
Where each stores and processes data, and who owns each company, from the vendors' own pages. Not features or prices.
The short answer
Zoom: yes, if you choose it.
Zoom offers Canadian storage, but you have to choose it, and it may depend on your plan. Where it is processed: Paid accounts can choose Canadian data centres for real-time meeting traffic; traffic may still transit opted-out regions. It is owned by a US company, so the US CLOUD Act can require it to produce data it controls, wherever that data is stored.
Microsoft Teams: yes.
For Canadian customers, Microsoft Teams stores data in Canada. Where it is processed: Real-time media is not covered by the at-rest commitment. It is owned by a US company, so the US CLOUD Act can require it to produce data it controls, wherever that data is stored.
Both are owned by US companies, so the US CLOUD Act can require either to produce data it controls, wherever that data is stored.
Side by side
| Claim | Zoom | Microsoft Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Stored in Canada? | Yes, if you choose it | Yes |
| Where data is stored | Paid accounts can store cloud recordings, transcripts and in-meeting chat files in Canada; account data and operation data stay in the US | Canada, for tenants provisioned in Canada: Teams chat messages at rest (Microsoft Product Terms); meeting recordings are saved to OneDrive/SharePoint, also covered |
| Where it is processed | Paid accounts can choose Canadian data centres for real-time meeting traffic; traffic may still transit opted-out regions | Real-time media is not covered by the at-rest commitment |
| Support and backups | Account and operation data are stored in the US (Zoom) | Not stated on the pages read |
| Owner | Zoom Communications, Inc. (San Jose, CA) · Parent country: United States | Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA) · Parent country: United States |
| Servers run by | Zoom data centres including Canada · US company | Microsoft data centres in Canada · US company |
| Customer-held keys | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Certifications | Not recorded (blank means not checked, not none) | CCCS Medium (Microsoft 365 is in Microsoft's assessed scope) |
| Worth knowing | A large Canadian public-sector user (Alberta Health Services) runs an enterprise instance; that is AHS's configuration, not Zoom's default. | — |
| Caveats | Free accounts are locked to their home region. Phone participants, polling and live streaming have historically run in US data centres. | Schools and universities: for an Office 365 Education tenant without the Advanced Data Residency for Education add-on, Microsoft "may provision Customer's Office 365 Education tenant in, transfer Customer Data to, and store Customer Data at rest anywhere within the European Union or North America" (Product Terms language, checked 2026-10-15). |
| Tier | Tier 4: US-owned, Canadian region | Tier 4: US-owned, Canadian region |
| Checked | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-15 |
Sources
Zoom · checked 2026-10-13
- Where the data is stored: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0066473
- Who owns it: https://investors.zoom.us/resources/investor-faqs
- Supporting page: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0060026
Microsoft Teams · checked 2026-10-15
- Where the data is stored: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/m365-dr-product-terms?view=o365-worldwide
- Who owns it: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement