EmpfangoAI Phone Assistant from Germany
Empfango is a GDPR-compliant AI phone assistant by IQONEX GmbH, Erfurt, Germany (Jena commercial register, HRB 520576) – EU data processing, no permanent audio storage by default, DPA included.
Verified Facts
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Operator | IQONEX GmbH |
| Company register | Jena District Court, HRB 520576 |
| VAT ID | DE361885548 |
| Registered office | Eugen-Richter-Straße 45, 99085 Erfurt, Germany |
| Hosting | EU, Frankfurt region (Platform.sh/Upsun) |
| Language model | Azure OpenAI, EU region |
| Call audio | no permanent storage by default |
| DPA (Art. 28 GDPR) | included in contract |
| Support | German-language |
| Pricing | €99–€899/month, transparent EUR pricing, cancel monthly, no automatic minute top-ups |
As of: June 2026
What 'German provider' actually means
German contract law and jurisdiction mean contracts are interpreted under German law and disputes settled in German courts. For businesses in the DACH region, that is a tangible legal advantage over providers headquartered outside the EU.
The Data Processing Agreement (DPA) under Art. 28 GDPR is included in every Empfango contract — no extra fee, no buried Trust Center link. Empfango has already concluded the necessary Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) with the US sub-processors it uses — no additional administrative work for your legal team.
German-language support, mandatory legal notice (Impressum) and liability under German law give your organisation day-to-day legal certainty. Your Data Protection Officer does not need to conduct follow-ups in English.
Important: company headquarters alone tells you nothing about where data is actually processed. That is why we disclose all sub-processors transparently — see our Privacy Policy.
Provider Overview (as of June 2026)
Many providers in the DACH market are themselves German companies — but company headquarters alone is not decisive. What matters is documented EU data processing, publicly disclosed sub-processors, a DPA under Art. 28 GDPR and transparent EUR pricing.
| Provider | Headquarters | Target group | Sub-processors public | Pricing public (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empfango | Erfurt, Germany (IQONEX GmbH) | SMB | Yes (Privacy Policy) | Yes, €99–€899/month flat rate |
| fonio.ai | Vienna, Austria (fonio GmbH) | SMB | Yes | Yes, see website + automatic minute top-ups |
| VITAS | Nuremberg, Germany | Industry verticals, focus on healthcare | No (list as PDF only) | Yes, from €40/month, billed per conversation |
| Parloa | Berlin, Germany | Enterprise contact centre | Partial (Trust Center) | No |
| Aaron.ai (Doctolib) | Berlin, Germany (parent: France) | Medical practices | No | No |
| Synthflow | Berlin, Germany | Developers & Enterprise | Yes | No (prices in USD) |
| Placetel AI | Cologne, Germany (parent: Gamma, UK) | SMB | Yes (transparency PDF) | Yes, from €40/month + setup €290–€990 |
| Retell AI | USA | Developers/agencies | Partial | USD, per minute |
| Vapi | USA | Developer platform | No | USD, per minute |
| Bland AI | USA | Enterprise | No | USD, per minute |
As of: June 2026
Empfango combines a German GmbH (IQONEX GmbH, Erfurt, HRB 520576), EU language model (Azure OpenAI EU region), a publicly accessible sub-processor list, no permanent audio storage by default and EUR flat-rate pricing without automatic minute top-ups — all in a package that is ready to use immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The operator is IQONEX GmbH, registered in Erfurt, Germany, in the Jena District Court commercial register under HRB 520576. All legal documents (terms, privacy policy, DPA) are in German and governed by German law.
Hosting is in Germany (Frankfurt region). The language model (LLM) runs on Azure OpenAI in the EU region. Call audio is not permanently stored by default; transcripts and call summaries are processed to provide the service and made available to you in the dashboard.
Empfango uses services from US providers for telephony, speech recognition and text-to-speech (including Twilio, Deepgram, ElevenLabs). All sub-processors are disclosed in the Privacy Policy and covered by Art. 28 GDPR contracts or EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). The language model itself runs exclusively in the Azure EU region.
Yes. The Data Processing Agreement is automatically included in every contract — at no extra charge and without a separate request. We can provide it directly to your Data Protection Officer on request.
fonio.ai is an Austrian provider (Vienna, fonio GmbH) with automatic minute top-ups: usage above the included allowance is billed in 100-minute blocks at €15 each. Empfango is a German GmbH with monthly flat rates (from €99) and no top-ups, plus no permanent audio storage by default. (As of June 2026; competitor details subject to change.)
Yes, under three conditions: EU data processing, a valid DPA under Art. 28 GDPR, and a transparent AI disclosure to callers. All three conditions are met by Empfango as standard.
