Sovereign cells vs Rimbra

Name: Aspian Cloud
Brand: Aspian Cloud

Rimbra is a Lagos company whose developer platform runs in the EU. Aspian Cloud keeps Nigerian data in Nigerian cells and adds approvals, signed evidence and an operating service.

Checked on 7 November 2026 against Rimbra’s own pages. Prices and features change; follow each source before relying on a row.

Side by side

Our column describes sovereign cells, the optional hosting add-on. Aspian Cloud’s change control works on Rimbra too; see integrations.

Where apps run: Rimbra
Apps run in the EU only: EU Central (Frankfurt) or EU West, a choice added 7 Nov 2026. Hosting, builds and databases are on Oracle Cloud in Frankfurt, with a Contabo standby in the EU. The DPA says data is held in Germany and France. No Nigeria region.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Cells in Lagos, Abuja, London or the EU, or in your own data centre. Each cell holds apps, databases, logs and backups in one jurisdiction
/security
Deploy from GitHub: Rimbra
Yes. A read-only GitHub App covers the repos you pick. Each push to the production branch builds and goes live, and auto-deploy can be turned off.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Builds a GitHub repository at an exact commit
/docs/deploys
Builds without a Dockerfile: Rimbra
Yes. It detects the framework from package.json, requirements.txt or go.mod. If a Dockerfile is present it uses that, and registry images also work.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Not yet. Today the build needs a Dockerfile at the repository root
/docs/deploys
Preview environments: Rimbra
Yes. Branches other than production build at their own URLs. On by default, and can be restricted to workspace members.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
A preview for every branch
/cells
Managed Postgres: Rimbra
Yes. Managed PostgreSQL 16, with Data, Query and Backups tabs in the dashboard.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Postgres 17 with three instances and synchronous replicas; point-in-time recovery; signed restore drills
/cells
Rollback: Rimbra
Yes. An earlier build can be made live again. Builds kept per plan: 1 on Free, up to 10 on Scale. Also available as an MCP tool.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Release rollback is a reversible action that never waits for an approver. It never reverses a database migration
/docs/plans-and-approvals
Cheapest paid plan: Rimbra
Launch, $8/month (USD). Pro is $20 and Scale $69. Note: an FAQ in llms-full.txt still shows older prices of $5/$15/$49.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Shared cells are billed on usage by the hour, with a spend cap; change control is priced by tier
/cells
Billing currency: Rimbra
Fees are quoted and charged in USD (Terms 5.1). Since 22 Oct 2026, invoices can be paid by bank transfer from a Nigerian bank and show the amount in naira. Card charges are converted by Paystack or the card-issuing bank.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
USD, GBP, EUR or naira through Paystack or Flutterwave. No dollar card needed in Nigeria
/editions
Approval before production changes: Rimbra
Not confirmed. The security page, docs and changelog do not mention multi-person or passkey approval before production. Controls named: 2FA, alerts for sign-ins from new devices, member roles, and scoped revocable keys.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Passkey approval bound to the exact plan hash; two people on Business and above. The requester can never approve
/docs/plans-and-approvals
Audit trail: Rimbra
Not confirmed. The docs cover build, runtime and email logs, but no audit trail of account actions.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Signed, hash-chained audit trail per organisation on every edition, checkpointed outside the database
/security
MCP for AI agents: Rimbra
Yes. MCP server at app.rimbra.app/mcp, using OAuth or a key. Agents can deploy, read logs and manage variables, databases, domains, email and WhatsApp. They cannot pay, buy domains or change billing or team settings, and access follows the user's role.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
MCP server where every tool has a risk class and reading customer content taints the agent key. Not yet offered as a hosted endpoint
/docs/mcp
Published SLA: Rimbra
99.9% monthly uptime on paid plans only. Service credits are 10%, 25% or 50% of the monthly fee, claimed by email within 30 days.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
Proposed per edition, in draft awaiting legal review
/legal/sla
Certifications: Rimbra
No attestations (SOC 2 or ISO) claimed. The DPA cites the NDPA 2023 and, where it applies, the GDPR for transfers. Annual security questionnaires are answered, and on-site audits are possible by agreement at the customer's cost.
rimbra.app
Aspian Cloud
None claimed. Evidence packs map platform records to NDPA 2023, UK GDPR and ISO/IEC 27001
/trust

	Rimbra	Aspian Cloud
Where apps run	Apps run in the EU only: EU Central (Frankfurt) or EU West, a choice added 7 Nov 2026. Hosting, builds and databases are on Oracle Cloud in Frankfurt, with a Contabo standby in the EU. The DPA says data is held in Germany and France. No Nigeria region. rimbra.app	Cells in Lagos, Abuja, London or the EU, or in your own data centre. Each cell holds apps, databases, logs and backups in one jurisdiction /security
Deploy from GitHub	Yes. A read-only GitHub App covers the repos you pick. Each push to the production branch builds and goes live, and auto-deploy can be turned off. rimbra.app	Builds a GitHub repository at an exact commit /docs/deploys
Builds without a Dockerfile	Yes. It detects the framework from package.json, requirements.txt or go.mod. If a Dockerfile is present it uses that, and registry images also work. rimbra.app	Not yet. Today the build needs a Dockerfile at the repository root /docs/deploys
Preview environments	Yes. Branches other than production build at their own URLs. On by default, and can be restricted to workspace members. rimbra.app	A preview for every branch /cells
Managed Postgres	Yes. Managed PostgreSQL 16, with Data, Query and Backups tabs in the dashboard. rimbra.app	Postgres 17 with three instances and synchronous replicas; point-in-time recovery; signed restore drills /cells
Rollback	Yes. An earlier build can be made live again. Builds kept per plan: 1 on Free, up to 10 on Scale. Also available as an MCP tool. rimbra.app	Release rollback is a reversible action that never waits for an approver. It never reverses a database migration /docs/plans-and-approvals
Cheapest paid plan	Launch, $8/month (USD). Pro is $20 and Scale $69. Note: an FAQ in llms-full.txt still shows older prices of $5/$15/$49. rimbra.app	Shared cells are billed on usage by the hour, with a spend cap; change control is priced by tier /cells
Billing currency	Fees are quoted and charged in USD (Terms 5.1). Since 22 Oct 2026, invoices can be paid by bank transfer from a Nigerian bank and show the amount in naira. Card charges are converted by Paystack or the card-issuing bank. rimbra.app	USD, GBP, EUR or naira through Paystack or Flutterwave. No dollar card needed in Nigeria /editions
Approval before production changes	Not confirmed. The security page, docs and changelog do not mention multi-person or passkey approval before production. Controls named: 2FA, alerts for sign-ins from new devices, member roles, and scoped revocable keys. rimbra.app	Passkey approval bound to the exact plan hash; two people on Business and above. The requester can never approve /docs/plans-and-approvals
Audit trail	Not confirmed. The docs cover build, runtime and email logs, but no audit trail of account actions. rimbra.app	Signed, hash-chained audit trail per organisation on every edition, checkpointed outside the database /security
MCP for AI agents	Yes. MCP server at app.rimbra.app/mcp, using OAuth or a key. Agents can deploy, read logs and manage variables, databases, domains, email and WhatsApp. They cannot pay, buy domains or change billing or team settings, and access follows the user's role. rimbra.app	MCP server where every tool has a risk class and reading customer content taints the agent key. Not yet offered as a hosted endpoint /docs/mcp
Published SLA	99.9% monthly uptime on paid plans only. Service credits are 10%, 25% or 50% of the monthly fee, claimed by email within 30 days. rimbra.app	Proposed per edition, in draft awaiting legal review /legal/sla
Certifications	No attestations (SOC 2 or ISO) claimed. The DPA cites the NDPA 2023 and, where it applies, the GDPR for transfers. Annual security questionnaires are answered, and on-site audits are possible by agreement at the customer's cost. rimbra.app	None claimed. Evidence packs map platform records to NDPA 2023, UK GDPR and ISO/IEC 27001 /trust

When Rimbra fits better

A small team that wants push-to-deploy, Postgres, email and WhatsApp sending in one dashboard, billed from a Nigerian bank account.
Agent-driven operations: the MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor deploy, roll back and read logs, within the user's role.
A Nigerian contracting party: a Lagos company under Nigerian law, with an NDPA-referencing DPA, even though data sits in the EU.

Moving from Rimbra

Take your things out of Rimbra

Terms allow export of customer content during the subscription and for 30 days after termination. Bulk transfers may carry bandwidth charges, estimated in advance. rimbra.app
Env vars can be imported from a .env file. The docs describe no export, so keep the master .env in your own vault or CI secrets. rimbra.app
The DB docs cover backup and restore in the dashboard only, with no download or pg_dump. External connections are 'not open by default', though llms-full.txt mentions TLS-only access at db.rimbra.app. Confirm pg_dump access with support before relying on it. rimbra.app
Workspace settings include a data export, added 21 Oct 2026. rimbra.app

Bring them to Aspian Cloud

Add a Dockerfile at the repository root if you do not have one, and make the server listen on the port in $PORT. See Deploy with a Dockerfile.
Export your environment variables to a file on your machine. Secret values go into Aspian Cloud as write-only secrets and are never shown again.
Take a pg_dump of each database. We restore it into your cell and run a restore drill, so the first Trust Page fact about the new database is a tested restore.
Deploy to a preview first. Low-risk changes like previews never wait for an approver.
Point your domain at the new app with a domain_change plan. It is an irreversible action, so it needs a passkey approval.

We plan the move with you. Talk to us.