Starting today there is a new option for customers who want more flexibility for where their blog is hosted. When Micro.blog publishes your blog, it runs your blog posts through Hugo, creating static HTML files that are hosted outside of the main Micro.blog platform. Those files can now be served from a data center in Europe.
Here’s a screenshot of the new checkbox on the Design page:
After you enable this setting, there’s one more step: updating the DNS for your custom domain name to use the new servers in Europe. There’s a help page with an overview of DNS settings. If you registered your domain name through Micro.blog, we’ll automatically update the DNS records for you when the checkbox is toggled.
In Europe we’re using Hetzner’s data center in Nuremberg, Germany.
Note that photos continue to be hosted in the United States and made available around the world via our CDN. That way your blog visitors still get photos delivered as quickly as possible whether they are in North America or Europe. Other data on the platform such as draft posts, encrypted notes, and the Micro.blog timeline also remain in the United States.
There is a lot of uncertainty in the United States right now, but Micro.blog is built for the world wide web. Our principles have always included a focus on web identity and permanence, with domain names at the heart of what we do. The distributed nature of the web makes improvements like today’s change possible.
I’d love to hear what you think. We’ll keep exploring how to make the platform as resilient as possible.
Brad Enslen This is a very smart move. Thanks for putting in the extra effort.
I never thought we would ever be having this discussion. I'll add this information about MB on to my original post.
Lou Plummer I definitely appreciate this. I am currently working to move as much of my online life as I can outside of US jurisdiction and away from US based big tech. This fits in well with the spirit of that endeavor.
Francesco Maida Francesco Maida So if Broggie, Holliday, and Retlaw are the names of the US servers, what names did you choose for the European servers?
João Almeida This is really good news, thanks!
73% geek 
skoo.bz Does anything change for the DNS settings for this? I don't see anything different in the help documentation for this.
James Koole Thank you Manton! It's a symbolic addition and as a Canadian, I really appreciate this effort (and likely an additional expense for you as well).
João Almeida Can I enable it without having a custom domain?
Manton Reece @t3mujin Nope, it only works with custom domain names right now. I'll have to think more about whether we can do more here.
Manton Reece @skoobz Yes, there are new DNS instructions here: help.micro.blog/t/custom-... (I'll link these from the other help page too.)
Manton Reece @cesco I'm disappointed in myself, didn't come up with a good European-themed naming system… My first idea was the locomotives at Disneyland Paris, but I already used most of those! First new server is Topeka, for the railroad founded by C.K. Holliday.
Andrea Grandi 
Thomas Schewe 👍🏼 This is an important feature in these days. Thank you.
It would be great, if you find a solution for the rest of our data.
Or you migrate all all the data to Europe to also protect you non-European customers. 😉
Manton Reece @thosch Migrating all data is probably too big a task, but if we focus on photos next I think we can make some more progress.
Notes This is a good move. I saw this just a few hours after I opened an account with an EU hosting company in a first step to move! I don’t know what you’re seeing but I do know that on this side of the Atlantic, lots of individuals and companies are evaluating what services and products they are buying from the US and actively seeking alternatives. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Manton Reece @wfm Thank you. Yes, it is pretty wild and seems unprecedented. I could sense a shift was happening and want to do what we can to meet people where they are.
Phil Bowell Ah, European rivers or mountains would've been good ones!
Ville Saalo I checked the box to use an European server and tried to make a post, but now it has been in a limbo for some two hours already, "still being published"! Could you check what's wrong? I've even tried to rebuild the entire blog. The pending article should be here: zeroone.micro.blog/2025/03/2...
Elizabeth oh thanks for enabling this, good idea, much appreciated 👍🏻🙏🏻
Manton Reece @ZeroOne Oh, I'm sorry, the European server feature only works with using a custom domain name with Micro.blog, not with yourname.micro.blog. We should have hidden the checkbox there, so I've reverted it so your new post now shows up.
Manton Reece @philbowell That is a good idea! I've been going with this railroad theme and looked into some old rail lines in Germany too, but nothing stood out. Might evolve the theme later as I add new servers.
Ville Saalo Oh, alright! Interesting little bug there, then. Thanks!
Tom Loughlin Thanks for doing this. I think everyone in the community is appreciative of the work you're doing.
Thomas Schewe @help I don't understand the instructions for using the EU server.Am I really supposed to change the CNAME record of my domain from $USER.micro.blog to eu.micro.blog?!How will the individual calls for the different domains be differentiated then?
Adrian Schönig :kangaroo: May I suggest “Adler” (German for eagle) for a server naming candidate. It was the name of the locomotive of the first commercial railway route in Germany which ran between Nuremberg and neighbouring Fürth: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adle....
Manton Reece @nighthawk Great idea, I'm going to use that next. Thanks for the pointer!
Micro.blog @thosch Yes, really use eu.micro.blog. Micro.blog will see your custom domain name and still route everything the right way.
Frank Meeuwsen @manton
@roelgroeneveld En in een simpele stap gedaan. Nu draait mijn blog in dezelfde serveromgeving van Hetzner als waar ik DNS en eigen servers heb staan. Fijn gevoel. Thanks @manton !
Roel Groeneveld @manton
@frank Ik ook! Mooie stap van @manton
Ralph Mayer Manton Reece @TabTwo I'll update the help. IPv6 is: 2a01:4f8:1c1d:12e0::1
Cyrill Schneider I am using a custom domain that is connected to Micro.blog via the EU server. However, my default micro.blog page (user.micro.blog) now shows different content than my custom domain. New posts can be seen under my custom domain, user.micro.blog no longer changes anything. What is the error?
Manton Reece @Cyrill Sorry, I’ll fix that to redirect the user.micro.blog one.
Cyrill Schneider 🙏 looks like it's working for now. Thanks a lot. 🍻
prealpinux Migrated to EU server, but on the Log page it shows I'm still on Holliday server... 🙄
Manton Reece @prealpinux This is confusing because we currently use US-based servers to process your posts but not to the serve them, so the old names didn't change in the logs… I'm going to make a diagram that better explains this and updating the logging.
