How to delete your Clever Cloud account

About deleting your Clever Cloud account

Clever Cloud is a European PaaS (Platform as a Service) provider that enables developers to deploy, scale, and manage applications across various languages and frameworks, including Java, Node.js, PHP, and Python. By automating infrastructure management, Clever Cloud allows users to focus purely on code while it handles complex environments like Cellar (S3-compatible storage), Pulsar, and various SQL/NoSQL database clusters.

Users often decide to delete their Clever Cloud account for reasons specific to the lifecycle of their development projects:

• Project Termination: Discontinuing a SaaS product or a startup initiative where Clever Cloud was the hosting backbone.
• Infrastructure Migration: Moving application workloads to self-hosted environments or alternative providers like AWS or Google Cloud for cost-efficiency.
• Data Privacy: Reducing the surface area of potential data exposure by removing source code, environment variables, and deployment secrets from cloud-based infrastructure.
• Simplification: Consolidating developer workflows to eliminate the overhead of managing a dedicated PaaS billing account.

What happens to your data

When you initiate account deletion with Clever Cloud, the platform adheres to strict data protection regulations, particularly the GDPR given their French headquarters. However, closing an account triggers a cascade of automated deletions:

• Application Artifacts: Your code repositories, builds, and deployed containers are removed from their infrastructure.
• Database Clusters: Any active instances of MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Redis provisioned through Clever Cloud will be decommissioned.
• Storage Buckets: Data stored in Cellar S3 buckets will be purged permanently.
• Identity Information: Your user profile, billing history, and linked email address are marked for deletion or anonymization to comply with financial reporting requirements.
• Retention: Clever Cloud may retain minimal billing logs for legal audit purposes for a period defined by French tax law, even after your main account is purged.

Privacy considerations

Clever Cloud operates on a 'Privacy by Design' philosophy, but utilizing any cloud platform involves inherent risks regarding how your sensitive configuration data is handled. Because Clever Cloud requires access to your source code to perform automated builds, the platform technically stores a version of your repository and your application’s environment variables (including API keys and DB credentials).

Key privacy tips before closing your account:

• Rotate Secrets: Before deleting your account, rotate any API keys, database passwords, or third-party service tokens that were stored as environment variables within the Clever Cloud dashboard.
• Backup Everything: Once the account is deleted, the recovery of application logs, database dumps, and historical metrics is impossible.
• Revoke Access: Ensure you remove any GitHub or GitLab OAuth integrations that were linked to your Clever Cloud account settings.
• Verify Purge: If you are a business user, request a confirmation email from their support team stating that your PII has been processed for deletion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my deployed application remain online after I delete my account?

No, deleting your account initiates the immediate shutdown of all running instances, containers, and database clusters associated with your profile.

Can I recover my data after the account is deleted?

No, Clever Cloud does not provide a restoration period for closed accounts. Once the command is processed, all associated data is permanently purged from their production systems.

How long does the deletion process take?

While the interface allows for a quick request, the total removal of data from backups and distributed logs can take up to 30 days depending on the company’s internal data retention cycles.

Is it possible to delete my organization account while keeping my personal user account?

Yes, you can leave or delete specific organizations from your personal profile dashboard without closing your primary user account if you wish to retain access to the platform.

Why am I required to contact support to delete my account?

If you have active billing cycles or pending invoices, the automated deletion button may be disabled to ensure that all financial obligations are cleared before the account is purged.

Does Clever Cloud keep my build logs after I delete my project?

No, build logs are treated as part of your project data and are deleted during the account closure process.