Braze data residency in Australia and New Zealand: what AU-01 means

Key takeaways

• Braze lists AU-01 alongside its US, EU, Indonesian, Japanese and South Korean data centres, with its own dashboard, REST and SDK endpoints.
• You pick a region-specific data centre when you set up your Braze account. Braze's public docs don't describe a simple way to move an existing workspace between data centres.
• Braze's current sub-processor list shows Australian locations for AWS hosting, Snowflake and ClickHouse, but other sub-processors (including AI model providers and monitoring) are listed in the US or EU.
• Under the NZ Privacy Act 2020 and Australia's Privacy Act 1988, you generally stay responsible for personal information held by a provider on your behalf, wherever it's hosted.
• Ask Braze specific questions about AU-01 before you sign, and get the answers in writing.

What is Braze AU-01?

Braze runs its platform across what it calls data centres in different regions around the world, also referred to as clusters or instances. AU-01 is the Australian one. Its endpoints are:

• Dashboard: dashboard.au-01.braze.com
• REST API: rest.au-01.braze.com
• SDK: sdk.au-01.braze.com

Braze announced in December 2024 that it would open a new local data centre in Sydney, confirming the launch in January 2025, and positioned it for brands in both Australia and New Zealand.

Other Braze docs also reference the Sydney region. For example, Braze's Snowflake Data Sharing page lists AP-Southeast-2 (Sydney) as one of the regions where Braze hosts user-level data, and the Cloud Data Ingestion FAQ publishes a separate IP allowlist for AU-01.

Which Braze data centres are available?

Braze's data centres page lists six regions:

For ANZ brands, the realistic choice is usually AU-01 or a US instance.

How is the data centre chosen, and can you change it later?

Braze says that when you set up your Braze account, you can sign up for region-specific data centres, and suggests talking to your account manager about which one fits where your users are. Braze also notes that your onboarding manager will tell you which cluster you're on.

The docs don't describe a switch to move an existing workspace to another data centre. Braze's guide to migrating data between workspaces and instances makes clear that a move is a rebuild, not a toggle: user profiles "don't transfer as a packaged unit", segment definitions stay in the source workspace, message history stays behind, and channel settings such as sending domains and WhatsApp numbers are workspace-scoped. For large or special account moves, it says to contact Braze Support.

The practical lesson: treat the data centre as a contract-time decision. Changing it later is a migration project, with SDK endpoint changes, re-imports and channel set-up to redo.

What data is stored in AU-01, and what isn't?

This is where marketing claims and legal reality can drift apart, so it pays to read the detail.

Braze's current sub-processor list (last modified 1 June 2026, linked from braze.com/subprocessors) shows Australia as a location for:

• Amazon Web Services (third-party hosting, and email delivery via SES)
• Snowflake (hosting data for advanced reporting and business intelligence)
• ClickHouse (hosting analytical data for reporting)

The same list shows a number of sub-processors located only in the United States, or the US and EU, including:

• AI model and infrastructure providers (Anthropic, OpenAI and Google), described as supporting "data processing and advanced platform features"
• DataDog for monitoring, where Braze "may provide End User metadata, such as user identifiers" for troubleshooting
• Rackspace, which hosts and stores End User profiles (listed as US and EU)
• Email and mobile message delivery providers such as SendGrid, Sparkpost and Infobip
• Global content delivery networks (Cloudflare, Fastly)

The list also names Braze group entities in Australia, the US, the UK, Ireland, Singapore and other countries that provide "customer success, business operations and technical and engineering support services".

Braze notes that "not all Sub-processors will be needed" depending on how a customer uses the services, including geographic location. So the list alone doesn't tell you exactly what applies to an AU-01 workspace. That's a question to put to Braze directly.

Braze's Data Processing Addendum sets out how Braze processes personal data, and the sub-processor list says customers can subscribe for notice of new sub-processors.

What does the NZ Privacy Act 2020 say about overseas data?

This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to your privacy officer or lawyer about your own situation.

Information Privacy Principle 12 controls disclosing personal information outside New Zealand. Before disclosing overseas, an agency must be satisfied that the recipient is subject to the Act, has comparable safeguards, is bound by an agreement such as the model contract clauses, or falls under a prescribed scheme or country. Otherwise, the individual must authorise it after being expressly told the information may not be protected to a comparable standard.

Using a cloud provider is often treated differently. Under section 11, a provider that holds information solely on your behalf, and not for its own purposes, isn't treated as holding it, so the transfer isn't a disclosure. The catch is that "your organisation remains fully responsible under the Privacy Act for what happens to that information", and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner asks you to consider your practical ability to control information held by an overseas provider. If the provider uses the information for its own purposes, both parties may hold it and IPP 12 may come into play.

The OPC's guidance on sending information overseas says that in most circumstances you'll remain responsible for personal information you put in cloud servers.

For NZ brands, AU-01 is still offshore. It's closer and in a jurisdiction with comparable privacy law, but it doesn't remove your obligations.

What does Australia's APP 8 require?

Again, this is general information, not legal advice.

Australian Privacy Principle 8 requires an APP entity to take reasonable steps to ensure an overseas recipient doesn't breach the APPs before disclosing personal information overseas, usually through an enforceable contract. Under section 16C, the Australian entity can be accountable for the overseas recipient's acts.

The OAIC guidelines say that providing information to an overseas contractor is usually a disclosure, but storing it with an overseas cloud provider may be a "use" if you keep effective control, for example through a binding contract limiting the provider's handling, and the ability to access, change, retrieve and delete the data. Even then, you still hold the information and remain responsible for it.

AU-01 can reduce how much personal information crosses the border for Australian brands, which may simplify your APP 8 analysis. The offshore sub-processors and support access noted above are what you'll still need to assess.

How does this compare with platforms that only offer US and EU regions?

Not every customer engagement platform offers ANZ hosting. Customer.io, for example, offers two data centre regions: the US and the EU, and doesn't support data centre migrations except in extenuating circumstances. That doesn't make it a worse choice, as US or EU hosting can work well with the right contracts in place. But if local hosting is a firm requirement from your board or privacy team, AU-01 is one way to meet it.

What questions should you ask Braze about AU-01?

• Which data, exactly, is stored in AU-01: profiles, event data, message content, media assets, exports, backups?
• Which sub-processors on the list apply to an AU-01 workspace, and from which locations?
• Which BrazeAI features send data to US-based AI providers, and can they be switched off?
• Where are support and engineering staff who can access our workspace located, and how is that access controlled?
• How are Currents exports and Snowflake Data Sharing hosted for AU-01?
• What's the process and cost if we ever need to move data centres?
• How will we be notified of sub-processor changes?

How Stitch can help

Stitch is an independent Auckland consultancy and a Braze Alloys Solutions Partner (Orbit tier), named ANZ Rising Star of the Year at Braze's inaugural ANZ Partner Awards in 2026. We work across media, martech, data and AI for New Zealand and Australian brands.

We help teams make the data centre decision before contracts are signed, map what data goes where, and set up the integration so your privacy team has clear answers. Typical Braze implementations take 8 to 12 weeks. If you're weighing up Braze or reviewing an existing set-up, get in touch.

FAQ

Does Braze have an Australian data centre? Yes. Braze lists AU-01 as its Australian data centre, launched in Sydney in January 2025, with its own dashboard, REST and SDK endpoints.

Can New Zealand brands use AU-01? Yes. Braze positioned the Sydney data centre for brands in Australia and New Zealand. For NZ brands, it's still an overseas location, so Privacy Act 2020 obligations still apply.

Can I move my Braze workspace from a US instance to AU-01? Braze's public docs don't describe a simple switch. Moving between instances is a migration project: profiles, segments, channel settings and history don't transfer as a package. Ask Braze about options before signing.

Does AU-01 mean no data leaves Australia? No. Braze's sub-processor list includes US and EU locations for some services, such as AI models, monitoring and message delivery, and support teams are spread across several countries. Confirm the details for your workspace with Braze.

Is this legal advice? No. This is general information about IPP 12 and APP 8. Get advice from your privacy officer or lawyer for your specific situation.

Sources

• https://www.braze.com/docs/user_guide/data/infrastructure/data_centers/
• https://www.braze.com/docs/user_guide/administrative/access_braze/sdk_endpoints
• https://braze.com/resources/articles/braze-expands-investments-in-australia-and-new-zealand
• https://www.braze.com/docs/partners/data_and_analytics/data_warehouses/snowflake/data_sharing
• https://www.braze.com/docs/user_guide/data/unification/cloud_ingestion/faqs/
• https://www.braze.com/docs/user_guide/administer/global/create_and_manage_workspaces/migrate_workspace_data
• https://www.braze.com/subprocessors
• https://cdn.sanity.io/files/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/56073d92ae50195865f0258019982d5c3263bb0a.pdf
• https://braze.com/company/legal/dpa
• https://www.privacy.org.nz/privacy-principles/12/
• https://www.privacy.org.nz/resources-and-learning/a-z-topics/working-with-third-party-providers/
• https://www.privacy.org.nz/responsibilities/disclosing-personal-information-outside-new-zealand/
• https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-8-app-8-cross-border-disclosure-of-personal-information
• https://docs.customer.io/accounts/settings/data-centers/