degoogle

Logo

A huge list of alternatives to Google products. Privacy tips, tricks, and links.

View the Project on GitHub tycrek/degoogle

Cutting Google out of your life

I don’t have anything to hide, but I don’t have anything to show you either.

Updated License

GitHub stars GitHub issues GitHub pull requests

Index

  1. Contributing
  2. Browser extensions
  3. Replacements/alternatives
    1. Disclaimer
    2. Web-based products
    3. Operating systems
    4. Desktop applications
    5. Mobile applications
    6. Hardware
  4. Useful links, tools, and advice
    1. Resources
    2. Books
    3. Blog posts
    4. News articles
  5. The lighter side
  6. Closing remarks

Contributing

If you want to help out with the project, here are some ideas:

When contributing, follow the rules outlined in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Browser extensions

Make sure to enable HTTPS-Only mode for your browser.

Name Description
uBlock Origin Mozilla Add-on uBlock Origin is not an “ad blocker”, it’s a wide-spectrum content blocker with CPU and memory efficiency as a primary feature.
Privacy Badger Mozilla Add-on Privacy Badger automatically learns to block invisible trackers. Instead of keeping lists of what to block, Privacy Badger learns by watching which domains appear to be tracking you as you browse the Web.
Cookie AutoDelete Mozilla Add-on Control your cookies! This WebExtension is inspired by Self Destructing Cookies. When a tab closes, any cookies not being used are automatically deleted. Whitelist the ones you trust while deleting the rest. Support for Container Tabs.
DDG Privacy Essentials Mozilla Add-on Privacy, simplified. Our add-on provides the privacy essentials you need to seamlessly take control of your personal information, no matter where the internet takes you: tracker blocking, smarter encryption, DuckDuckGo private search, and more.
Cloud Firewall Mozilla Add-on Block connections to pages and web resources hosted in major cloud services if the user wishes to do so. Supports blocking Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Cloudflare.
CSS Exfil Protection Mozilla Add-on CSS Exfil is a method attackers can use to steal data from web pages using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This plugin sanitizes and blocks any CSS rules which may be designed to steal data.
Firefox Multi-Account Containers Mozilla Add-on Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs that preserve your privacy. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple identities or accounts simultaneously.
Skip Redirect Mozilla Add-on Some web pages use intermediary pages before redirecting to a final page. This add-on tries to extract the final url from the intermediary url and goes there straight away if successful.
Temporary Containers Mozilla Add-on Open tabs, websites, and links in automatically managed disposable containers. Containers isolate data websites store (cookies, storage, and more) from each other, enhancing your privacy and security while you browse.
Redirect AMP to HTML Mozilla Add-on This web extension enables users to choose to opt-out of using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and choose to use the standard web instead.
Port Authority Mozilla Add-on Blocks websites from using javascript to port scan your computer/network and dynamically blocks all LexisNexis endpoints from running their invasive data collection scripts. Website, Source Code
I Still Don’t Care About Cookies Mozilla Add-on A fork of “I Don’t Care About Cookies” created after the original was acquired by Avast. Source code
CanvasBlocker Mozilla Add-on Removes fingerprint tracking from JavaScript APIs and WebGL. It is open-source.
user.js This is not an extension, instead it is a Firefox user.js config file. This file is a template which aims to provide as much privacy and enhanced security as possible, and to reduce tracking and fingerprinting as much as possible - while minimizing any loss of functionality and breakage (but it will happen).

Replacements/alternatives

Disclaimer

  1. Only privacy/security focused alternatives will be suggested.
  2. Many replacements are based off this Wikipedia article (List of Google products)
  3. Products from companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. will not be recommended unless there is a very good reason to. This includes companies/apps/services they own.
  4. Controversial services will have a disclaimer attached if needed.
  5. 5-eyes, 9-eyes, and 14-eyes services will be listed and marked as such. Both the location the company is registered and the server IP are taken into consideration.
Eyes Countries
5 Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, USA
9 Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway
14 Germany, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Spain

Web-based products

Back to top

Search (Web & Images)

Name Eyes Description
Search Engine Party
Repo
  An open-source comparison table of popular search engines. It was made by a former team member at PrivacyGuides, though is not affiliated with the site.
DuckDuckGo 5-eyes One of the best privacy-focused search engines. Domain is hosted in USA which could potentially be problematic for some.
Startpage 9-eyes Another privacy search engine that claims to not track any of your data. They operate servers in both USA and Europe. Note: Startpage was recently acquired. See Issue #12. Thanks @pydo, @ThijsRay, and @DatAres37. Also see this comment in Issue #99 from @danarel on Startpage.
searx
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source (thanks for clarification u/Sheezdudeln) privacy search engine. Domain hosted in Germany.
MetaGer 14-eyes MetaGer is the search engine project from the registered nonprofit organization SUMA E.V. in Germany.
Qwant 9-eyes A privacy-respecting search engine. Note: Qwant may not be available in all countries; see Issue #408 for more information.
Swisscows   A Swiss search engine that offers a unique search experience for the web, images, videos, music, and more. They are currently funding a mail service. Read through their datacenter about page, it’s really interesting.
Mojeek 5-eyes Unlike other privacy search engines which act as a “middle man” between you and Google/Bing/Yahoo, Mojeek has their own crawler and index. The results aren’t as complete as some of the others, but it is still impressive and they are actively building their index to include more results with better accuracy.
Ekoru   Privacy focused search engine that also aims to clean up the oceans. Thanks @mynamesleon
Cyberd
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Decentralized Google. A web 3 alternative for the Google search engine. In Beta testing mode. Uses IPFS and Tendermint consensus for security and economic incentives. Visit their ELI-5 FAQ for more info.
Infinity Search
Repo
5-eyes Infinity Search is a privacy metasearch engine that does not log any information about its users. In terms of privacy, it works the same way as DuckDuckGo. It is free to use and is funded by non-tracking advertisements and affiliate links. It is also completely open-source.
Runnaroo 5-eyes “Runnaroo was built from the ground up to provide an all around better search experience.” Thanks @codingepaduli

YouTube

Name Eyes Description
PeerTube   Decentralized, federated video hosting network. Still quite small, but is growing and has a dedicated community. Although there is no central database/server, all the separate instances can still talk to one another. This allows for data exchange and a way to view anyone’s videos while only associating with one instance. Thanks @kdkasad for clarifying federation.
BitChute 5-eyes Also P2P, but not decentralized. Due to it being proprietary, if BitChute goes down then the whole thing goes down (unlike PeerTube). (thanks u/up-sky-7)
DTube   Looks very similar to YouTube. Advertised as “first crypt-decentralized video-platform”. Built on Steemit and IPFS.
Invidious
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source front-end alternative to YouTube. Seems to work pretty well from my experience so far, and it hasn’t triggered anything on my adblocker/privacy extensions. Also offers downloads in many formats for videos (including .vtt subtitles).
LBRY
Repo
  A decentralized platform for distributing and supporting creators’s work. It aims to be Open, Community driven “digital marketplace”. It can be used in a similar way to YouTube: browsing, subscribing to channels, there is a mechanism to send “tips” to creators. Looks up videos based on a blockchain and is open-source and uncensored. It already has some “larger” creators like Minutephysics, Veritasium, Barnacules and Lunduke.
FreeTube
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source desktop YouTube client that uses the Invidio.us API to serve content.
youtube-local
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source browser-based client for watching Youtube anonymously and with greater page performance. Non-video requests can be routed through Tor. Optionally the videos can be routed through Tor as well. Can be used without Javascript. No server software installation required. Uses self-hosted subscriptions and playlists.
Piped
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source front-end alternative to YouTube. Uses NewPipeExtractor behind the scenes.

News

Name Eyes Description
Local newspaper   Support independent and qualitative journalism in your community.
AllSides   Unbiased news source (primarily for US politics). Thanks @jeanofthedead
Miniflux
Repo
  Miniflux is a minimalist and opinionated feed reader. Completely open-source, along with automatically removing pixel trackers.

Groups

Name Eyes Description
Sympa
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Sympa is an open-source mailing list manager. It provides advanced features with a rich and secure web interface.
GNU Mailman   Mailman is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. Mailman is integrated with the web, making it easy for users to manage their accounts and for list owners to administer their lists. Mailman supports built-in archiving, automatic bounce processing, content filtering, digest delivery, spam filters, and more.
Discourse
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Discourse is the 100% open-source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet. Use it as a mailing list, discussion forum, or long-form chat room.
Groups.io 5-eyes a privacy focused email list system that does not track you, nor your members. It is not open source. Data is hosted on one central server but the server is encrypted. It has modern email group features such as a wiki, integrations, and RSS import support.

Translate

Name Eyes Description
DeepL 14-eyes DeepL is an artifical intelligence translation service. Please keep in mind DeepL tracks the text you translate unless you purchase Pro. See sections 4 & 5 of their privacy policy for more information. Thanks u/TheCy-FiJuggernaut
Apertium
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A free, open-source translation system.
LibreTranslate
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A free and open-source machine-translation API which can be self-hosted.
Lingva Translate
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Alternative front-end for Google Translate. Operates similar to NewPipe or Invidious, Lingva “scrapes through GTranslate and retrieves the translation without using any Google-related service, preventing them from tracking”.

Google Ads/AdMob/AdSense

Name Eyes Description
EthicalAds
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A developer-focused, privacy-obsessed ad network from the fine folks at Read the Docs. Source code can be found on GitHub.

Google Alerts

Name Eyes Description
F5Bot 5-eyes Emails you when your selected keywords are mentioned on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters.

G Suite (enterprise cloud)

Name Eyes Description
Nextcloud   Nextcloud 19 now has Community Document Server and ONLYOFFICE apps integrated which allows self-hosted instances of docs/sheets/slides. Users are able to edit documents in real time. Thanks @k3tan172 and @plutocrat
Open-Xchange   A secure hosted email and productivity platform, designed for providers of all sizes to offer their customers email, calendar, storage, encryption and more.
Sandstorm
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source self-hosted web hosting platform for a wide set of web applications, including Etherpad (collaborative text editing), Radicale (calendar), Lychee (image hosting), Wekan (Kanban)

Google Workflow

Name Eyes Description
Activepieces
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open source no-code business and process automation tool. For example, you can set up a flow to receive Slack messages whenever a new Trello card is added.

Blogger/Sites

Name Eyes Description
Joomla
Repo
  Self-hosted and open-source content management system (CMS).
WriteFreely
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source platform for building a writing space on the web.
Write.as   Free & paid hosting for WriteFreely, which is developed by the folks at Write.as.
WordPress self-hosted
Repo
  The open-source version of WordPress. A very popular tool and a recognized name.
concrete5
Repo
5-eyes Open-source CMS.
Noblogs 9-eyes A privacy/security focused blogging platform.
Ghost
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source modern CMS. Boasts “over 19x faster than WordPress”. Thanks @peterge1998
Bear 5-eyes Free, no-nonsense, super-fast blogging. No javascript, no stylesheets, no trackers. Just your words.
Haven
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  FLOSS private blogging platform. Easy to self-host (standard rails app, ships with AWS and Raspberry Pi deployment scripts. AWS is not required). Access restricted to accounts which you create and hand out. Good for private blogs but not for commercial/public blogging. Built-in feed reader.

Analytics

Name Eyes Description
Matomo
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
9/14-eyes (Matomo/parent company) - Open-source analytics platform. (thanks u/Newblik)
Fathom 5-eyes Simple analytics for bloggers & businesses
Plausible
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Open-source, privacy-focused web analytics.
GoatCounter
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
14-eyes Simple web statistics. No tracking of personal data. open-source and may be self-hosted. Free for non-commercial use; paid plans available.
Simple Analytics 9-eyes Great analytics with privacy and simplicity in mind. Paid plans only (with free trials).
Alpina Web Analytics 5-eyes Simple, privacy-focused analytics with event tracking, real-time dashboard and filters. No cookie or localstorage usage. Servers in EU. Free and paid plans available.
Shynet
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Shynet is a self-hosted analytics tool that doesn’t make use of cookies. It is privacy focused and fully open-source. Thanks @woutfeys
Supabase
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Supabase is an opensource alternative to Firebase. You can host for free on their platform, or you can self host. Thanks @woutfeys
GoAccess
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source web server analysis tool. Installs on your web server (ideally), but works just as well if you download your logs someplace else. Interactive; cursor around in the report and see what’s going on. Can generate HTML reports. Can also generate realtime interactive HTML reports if you run it in server mode. Lightweight, only requires UTF-8 support and ncurses (ncursesw, if you want a UTF-8 enabled console). Available in the default package repositories of multiple Linux distros. Thanks @virtadpt
Offen
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source and self-hosted, Offen is a fair and lightweight web analytics alternative that treats operators and users as equal parties.
Umami
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A simple, easy to use, open-source/self-hosted web analytics solution.
Kindmetrics
Repo
5/14-eyes An open-source analytics tool. Landing page and company is based in Sweden, CDN in EU, Servers on Digitalocean (USA) datacenter in Germany.
UXWizz   Self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics, similar to Matomo but cheaper for premium features. Includes user segments, heatmaps, session recordings and A/B testing.
Piwik PRO 5-eyes An analytics suite with a focus on user privacy and data security.
Panelbear 14-eyes Privacy-focused analytics + web performance monitoring.
HockeyStack 5-eyes Offers cookieless tracking and no PII collected.
Swetrix
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
14-eyes Privacy-focused, cookieless and selfhostable alternative to Google Analytics.

Photos

Name Eyes Description
Photoprism
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Self-hosted and open-source Personal Photo Management powered by Go and Google TensorFlow.
LibrePhotos
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A self-hosted open source photo management service. A fork of Ownphotos which has been discontinued in favor of LibrePhotos.
Piwigo
Repo
9-eyes Self-hosted and open-source cloud photo manager. You can also sign up for an “as a service” account.
JottaCloud 9-eyes Norway based cloud storage provider with free and paid plans. Thanks @mynamesleon
Cryptee   Encrypted photo storage in a simple solution similar to Google Photos.
PhotoStructure   Self-hosted photo and video manager. Cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux, Docker). Scales to millions of assets, with automatic organization, auto-transcoding, and advanced de-duplication.
Lychee
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source self-hosted photo-management tool that includes built-in support for videos. Thanks @m0yP
ente
Repo
5-eyes A paid, cloud-based, open-source photo storage app with a focus on security and privacy. Apps are available for iOS, Android, web and desktop.
Photoview
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Self-hosted and open-source Personal Photo Management with options for face grouping, albums, sharing, automatic thumbnail generation, and map pins.
Lomorage
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Enables people to backup photos / videos from any devices to their own self-hosted server, and intelligently manages these personal assets via AI. Run the Lomorage server at your home, download mobile client to save the memories, and enjoy the moments.

Calendar

Name Eyes Description
Lightning Calendar (Thunderbird)
Repo
  Developed by Mozilla Foundation and open-source. Integrates into Thunderbird and SeaMonkey.
ProtonCalendar   Developed by ProtonMail. Free plan only supports 1 calendar. Allows importing of other calendar files. Has an Android app.
Tutanota Calendar 14-eyes Developed by Tutanota. Free cross-platform encrypted calendar. Allows importing of other Calendar files. Can’t be synced to other calendar software.
Fruux
Repo
14-eyes Open-source calendar using “sabre/dav” (FOSS WebDAV, CardDAV, and CalDAV). They mention privacy quite a bit on their site. Very large number of features, and supports nearly every device: Windows, iOS, Linux, Android, BlackBerry, SailFish, and also a webapp for browsers.
Baïkal   a lightweight CalDAV+CardDAV server. It offers an extensive web interface with easy management of users, address books and calendars. It is fast and simple to install and only needs a basic php capable server. The data can be stored in a MySQL or a SQLite database. Thanks @mahdi1234
Nextcloud   Nextcloud also offers a calendar solution using CalDAV and CardDAV. Thanks @mahdi1234 for pointing this out.
Radicale   Self-hosted calendar server written in Python. WebUI for desktop, CalDav/CardDav for mobile sync. Can use a reverse proxy with Nginx for HTTPS.
Mailfence Calendar 14-eyes Supports vCal/iCal import, export and can be accessed by using CalDAV. Users can share their calendars with group members and can also create polls.

Docs/Sheets/Slides (cloud)

Name Eyes Description
CryptPad
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
9-eyes Open-source “zero knowledge” collaborative cloud editor. They offer Rich Text, Code, Presentation, Sheet (beta), Poll, Kanban, Whiteboard, and CryptDrive. 100% Client side encryption. Tons of useful features.
Etherpad
Repo
  Self-hosted collaborative editor. Does not use the browser. Not the greatest interface, but it’s open-source and you have full control over who can see your data.
Cryptee
Repo
  Open-source and privacy focused photo and document storage/editing. Based in Estonia, so your files are outside the reach of any 14-eyes country. They don’t even require an email address to sign up.
LibreOffice Online 14-eyes Self-hosted instance of LibreOffice that you can run in your browser. Thanks @flubberding
ONLYOFFICE
Repo
  Open-source private cloud replacement for Google Docs’suite and Office 360. Also available as a self contained rich application.
Arcane Office   A decentralized office suite with high-security and zero-knowledge on your data. With Arcane Office, you have maximum control on your personal stuff. Full-featured online document and spreadsheet editor. Secure storage to save your photos. All free for personal use. Thanks @taraletti

Docs/Sheets/Slides (offline)

Name Eyes Description
LibreOffice
Repo
  Open-source offline document suites.
LyX
Repo
  It’s an open-source (and offline) document processor using TeX/LaTeX. It’s different than Docs or Word but amazing, once you get used to it.
ONLYOFFICE
Repo
  Offline version of ONLYOFFICE, an open-source private cloud replacement for Google Docs suite and Office 360. Also available as a self contained rich application. Thanks @PalmoliveDev
Cryptee   Offline version of Cryptee for web. Runs as a progressive web app. Works most modern phone browsers (Chrome, Opera or Firefox on Android; Safari on iOS). Also works in desktop browsers that support PWA (the website lists that only Chrome works, but others will work too.
Calligra
Repo
  Calligra Suite is an office and graphic art suite by KDE. It is available for desktop PCs, tablet computers, and smartphones. It contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, vector graphics, and editing databases. (Free and open-source Software)

Domains

Name Eyes Description
Njalla 14-eyes Privacy-focused domain registration. Competitive pricing and a large list of available domain extensions. They also offer VPS hosting. Built by people who built The Pirate Bay among others. (thanks u/brais33 and u/HumbleBasis6). Note: some users may have issues with them legally owning your domain.
Orangewebsite   An Iceland-based freedom of speech web hosting provider. They never actually ask for your name, at least when you pay in Bitcoin.

Public DNS

Name Eyes Description
LibreDNS 14-eyes A public encrypted DNS service that people can use to maintain the secrecy of their DNS traffic, but also circumvent censorship. It already supports DNS over HTTPS & DNS over TLS. They also operate a number of open-source projects

Drive

Name Eyes Description
ownCloud
Repo
  Open-source and self-hosted. Provide your own storage.
Nextcloud   Also self-hosted. Spin-off of ownCloud. Also offers Calendar and Contacts (thanks @chribre)
Syncthing
Repo
9-eyes An open-source continuous file synchronization program. It synchronizes files between two or more computers in real time, safely protected from prying eyes. Your data is your data alone and you deserve to choose where it is stored, whether it is shared with some third party, and how it’s transmitted over the internet.
Sia   Fully decentralized cloud storage.
Tresorit   Primarily meant for businesses, but offers a free version for individuals as well. Thanks u/xNick26
Sync 5-eyes End-to-end encrypted Google Drive/Dropbox replacement.
JottaCloud 9-eyes Norway based cloud storage provider with free and paid plans. Thanks @mynamesleon
seafile
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source and self-hosted file sync&share solution.
Cozy Cloud
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
9-eyes French based cloud storage provider with free and paid plans. Can also be self-hosted and is open-source. And it also offers a collaborative notes editor.
Mailfence Documents 14-eyes Documents can be accessed using WebDAV or edited online. Users can drag and drop files in folders and categorize them with tags.
Filecloud Community Edition   Powerful, secure Dropbox-like enterprise class file sharing and sync solution for home or business.
Diode   For individuals and organizations who want to safeguard their digital sovereignty. It is a high security, end-to-end encrypted solution for file sharing, collaboration, and backup that prioritizes security and confidentiality.

Hangouts (text/video messaging)

Name Eyes Description
Signal
Repo
5-eyes Open-source secure messaging. Whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden recommends Signal.
Tox   Tox is unique as it uses P2P technology to ensure the network never goes down, as long as there are users to keep it alive. They specifically say on the website “Tox has no central servers that can be raided, shut down, or forced to turn over data”.
Wire 5-eyes Uses end-to-end encryption. Looks to be more of a corporate service with tiered plans.
Element
Repo
5-eyes Open-source privacy-focused chat service with end-to-end encryption. They offer webapps, desktop apps, iOS, and Android (Play Store and F-Droid). Uses the “Matrix” protocol for decentralized communication.
Threema   Swiss-based GDPR-compliant instant messenger. Has apps for both iOS and Android. Unlike Signal, no phone number is required (nor is an email) to sign up. End-to-end encrypted. Thanks to @nathanvogel
Keybase 5-eyes Encrypted chat like Signal with features like Slack. Does not require a phone number to sign up. Also has file storage. Note: Keybase was acquired by Zoom, Inc. in May 2020 (Keybase blog, Zoom blog). Thanks @notpushkin & @multimob.
Jitsi
Repo
5-eyes Jitsi is an open-source secure video conferencing platform. No account is needed to use it, simply enter a Room Name to join or host a meeting. The host is able to kick rogue users from the call. Works directly in your browser, with apps available for iOS and Android. It is not necessary to self-host, but self-hosting is an option for those who wish to. Very low latency and easy to set up. A free public server is available at meet.jit.si. (5-eyes server)
Jami 5-eyes Audio / Video Calls, Conferences, Messaging app with peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications.
Mumble
Repo
  A free, open-source, low latency, high quality voice chat application.
Session
Repo
  Open-source. It is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that removes sensitive metadata collection. No phone number required to create an account.

Gmail (mail service)

Name Eyes Description
Forward Email
Repo
  A free and open-source email forwarding service focused on a user’s right to privacy.
Protonmail   One of the top privacy-focused email providers. Servers are in Switzerland in an underground guarded bunker that they claim can “survive a nuclear attack”. Privacy note: Visit Issue #258 for info on ProtonMail privacy & integrity concerns.
Tutanota
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
14-eyes Open-source and one one of the top rated privacy-focused email providers. Located in Germany.
Posteo 14-eyes Completely anonymous mail provider located in Germany.
mailbox.org 14-eyes Paid email provider, also located in Germany.
Disroot 9-eyes Decentralized email service.
StartMail 9-eyes Operated by the same people who run StartPage.
SimpleLogin
Repo
  Open-source, self-hosted, and privacy focused email forwarding service.
Migadu 9-eyes Paid email provider, run from Switzerland with servers in France. Focus on privacy.
Fastmail 5-eyes Paid email provider, located in Australia and US.
Runbox 9-eyes Privacy focusued email provider. Thanks @petertorelli
NextCloud
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Nextcloud provides a webmail interface that can be used to access email from various providers. Thanks @je-vv
Thexyz 5-eyes Thexyz is a Canadian company offering privacy-conscious business email. Premium webmail costs USD $2.95 per month.
Mailfence 14-eyes A secure and private email provider much like Protonmail and Tutanota. There are no google analytics nor hidden cookies. There are options to pay anonymously via cryptocurrency. It features a wide array of collaboration tools, such as groups, calendar, contacts, documents with editing space. Offers free, paid, and freemium plans. Can pay with cryptocurrency and has a warrant canary. Thanks @resto1231
Anonaddy
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
9-eyes Open-source Anonymous forwarding email service. Forwarded email can be encrypted (OpenPGP) to prevent Google from reading it. Accepts cryptocurrencies (including Monero).
Mail-in-a-Box
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source self-hosted easy-to-deploy mail server in a box.

Keep

Name Eyes Description
Joplin
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source notes/todo app. Available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Also offers a terminal version. It can import Evernote .enex files if you use that. It can also sync with Nextcloud (mentioned above).
Standard Notes
F-Droid
  Encrypted note storage with loads of features. Offers a web app as well as downloads for most operating systems. Has a paid plan, but the free tier has many useful features as well.
Turtl   Encrypted collaborative notebook with possibility of running your own server.
QOwnNotes
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source file editor with Markdown support. (thanks u/maqp2)
GitJournal   Your Markdown notes stores in any Git Repo. Available for both Android (Play Store) and iOS.
Nextcloud Notes   A distraction free notes taking app for Nextcloud. It provides categories for better organization and supports formatting using Markdown syntax. Notes are saved as files in your Nextcloud, so you can view and edit them with every Nextcloud client.
TiddlyWiki
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source personal note-taking system that can run in the browser as a single HTML file or as a NodeJS application. It can be stored locally on a hard drive or removable drive, self-hosted on one’s own server, or use various web-based storage options.
Notesnook   A truly zero-knowledge note taking app, encrypted using XChaChaPoly1305-IETF & Argon2. It is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and has browser extensions too. It is not self-hostable and follows a freemium model.

Play Music, Movies, & TV

Name Eyes Description
Jellyfin
Repo
  Open-source alternative to the Play media services. You do need to provide your own content, however. In active development with frequent updates (to the source, that is).
Funkwhale   Self-hosted, decentralized music service. Provide your own audio. (thanks u/DashEquals)
Airsonic
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Self-hosted open-source media streamer. Has features for transcoding audio on-the-fly for “virtually any audio format”. You can also set bandwidth limits if you need to. Looks very powerful.
Music Player Daemon   A “flexible, powerful, server-side application for playing music”.
Popcorn Time
Repo
  Open-source software for desktop and mobile that let you easily stream movie/TV torrents. Be careful if your country or ISP has policies against torrenting, a VPN is recommended. Thanks @je-vv
Nuclear Music Player   Streaming music player that finds music from free sources automatically.
Tribler
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source peer-to-peer file sharing that provides a “Youtube”-like streaming experience. Tribler uses Tor-like onion routing to protect the privacy of its users.
Ampache
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source and self-hosted web based media manager and media server. API available to allow usage on various platforms. On-the-fly transcoding available. Supports both music and video.

Fonts

Name Eyes Description
Open Font Library 5-eyes Lots of Serif and Sans-Serif fonts that can be directly embedded into a website.
google webfonts helper
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Hassle-free way for webmasters to self-host open-source fonts from Google Fonts
Fontsource
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Self-host Open Source fonts in neatly bundled NPM packages.

Classroom

Name Eyes Description
Moodle
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Self-hosted open-source Classroom software for schools. Very powerful. Thanks @jankapunkt
ILIAS
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Another self-hosted open-source classroom software. Thanks again to @jankapunkt
Canvas
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Paid service by Instructure. Also available as a self-hosted, open-source option. To ensure privacy, use the self-hosted option.

Maps/Street View

Name Eyes Description
OpenStreetMap 9-eyes Collaborative project to create a free, editable map of the world (from Wikipedia). Completely crowdsourced. Very strong alternative to Maps.
Qwant Maps   Maps from the makers of Qwant search engine. Thanks @mynamesleon
Benmaps   Another maps alternative based on OpenStreetMap. Thanks @dimqua

Transit

Name Eyes Description
Transportr
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source Transit app on Android that takes information from several providers (e.g Deutsche Bahn in Germany) and enables you to use them in the app. Visualises the routes on an online OpenStreetMap map. Works in most of Western-Europe, as well as the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the UAE and Ghana. Beware: most information-providers only have beta or alpha support, it may be a good idea to keep a second app as a fallback option

No known alternatives.

Forms

Name Eyes Description
BlockSurvey   BlockSurvey enables digital rights (identity and data ownership) to users using Blockstack’s blockchain. Users truly own their data with BlockSurvey. All your data is protected using your key and only you can access it. There are no trackers, cookies, or fingerprints on the forms of data providers. Thanks @compressstudio

AppSheet

Name Eyes Description
Budibase
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
9-eyes Budibase is an open-source low-code platform that helps IT professionals create internal apps in minutes. Users can deploy Budibase on their existing infrastructure, using Docker, Kubernetes, and Digital Ocean.

Bulk Services

Name Eyes Description
EteSync
Repo
  For Calendar & Keep. Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.

Operating systems

Back to top

Android/Fuchsia

Name Eyes Description
Ubuntu Touch   Ubuntu, but for phones.
LineageOS
Repo
5-eyes Open-source and based on Android, but without the crap.
SailfishOS
Repo
  Privacy-focused mobile OS by Jolla with a proprietary UI and Android compatibility layer on top of an open-source Mer GNU/Linux base.
CopperheadOS
Repo
5-eyes Secure Android built for encrypted and secure phones by a privacy focused company. Paid product that combines the best-in-class hardening and privacy protections from various projects.
GrapheneOS
Repo
  Open-source Android-based OS with an emphasis on security and privacy. Features advanced hardening and privacy protections throughout the system.
postmarketOS
Repo
  Open-source mobile Linux OS. Can install different user interfaces such as Plasma Mobile. Thanks @okias
Replicant 5-eyes Free Android distribution. Puts the emphasis on “freedom and privacy/security”.
CalyxOS
Repo
  Open-source Android-based OS with an emphasis on security and privacy. Provides good combination of privacy and security together with usability. Optional support for MicroG.
DivestOS
Repo
  DivestOS is an alternative Android ROM with enhanced privacy and security along with support for many older devices. It is an unofficial soft fork of LineageOS. Website also available through Tor.

Chrome OS

Name Eyes Description
GalliumOS   “A fast and lightweight Linux distro for ChromeOS devices”. Based on Xubuntu.
Qubes OS   “A reasonably secure operating system”, at least according to their website. Edward Snowden recommends it.
Subgraph OS   A desktop computing and communications platform that is designed to be resistant to network-borne exploit and malware attacks.
Tails   For the uber-paranoid. Runs live and the entire OS is routed through Tor right from boot. Built on Debian.
Knoppix   Another Live OS, runs from CD/DVD/USB. Can also be installed if desired.
Parrot OS   Debian-based and privacy focused. Fully sandboxed. (thanks u/Safe_Airport)
PureOS 5-eyes The OS of Purism Laptops (mentioned in the Hardware section). Very clean UI. Editor note: I could not get this working on a UEFI Dell laptop. The group behind PureOS does not provide any UEFI support.
GhostBSD
Repo
  This is a secure open-source OS based on FreeBSD, preconfigured to be a sane desktop environment for all users.
Any other form of Linux   Ubuntu; Debian; Mint; Fedora; Arch or Manjaro (Manjaro is objectively much easier to get running than Arch); Trisquel; Gentoo; Alpine (thanks u/privacyfreak555); etc etc etc

Wear OS

Name Eyes Description
AsteroidOS
Repo
14-eyes The cleanest (and only) open-source alternative for Wear OS. Make sure you buy a watch that supports it!

Android Auto

No known alternatives.

Android TV

Name Eyes Description
Kodi   It’s incredibly powerful and backed by one of the strongest communities around. Tons of plugins to do nearly anything you want. Software installs on nearly any platform.
OSMC
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Free, open-source media center OS. Kodi is pre-installed. Thanks to @g4rret and @lgiard for clarifying the difference between Kodi and OSMC!

Desktop apps

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Chrome

Name Eyes Description
Ungoogled Chromium
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Chromium (which Chrome and countless other browsers are built on top of) is one of the cleanest and light-weight browsers available. This version cuts out all the Google crap.
Firefox   Built by Mozilla, “The Privacy Company”. Huge extension library; great for privacy.
Vivaldi   Privacy-focused browser. Appears to be very customizable and feature-rich.
Tor Browser   Firefox-based browser routed through the Tor network. Automatically has a few privacy extensions installed (such as HTTPS Everywhere). Read this article for more info on how it works and the benefits of using Tor. Available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.
Librewolf
Repo
  Librewolf is a fork of Firefox, with improved privacy defaults. Similarly to Waterfox, Librewolf is based on Firefox and intends to improve privacy by default. Many privacy enthusiasts have recommended it as a more effective privacy browser than other Firefox forks.
Waterfox 5-eyes Based on Firefox, but 64-bit only with an emphasis on speed and privacy. Has a “classic” version built off older Firefox for legacy extension support and also an “alpha” version built off Quantum. It doesn’t collect any telemetry and also removes Pocket from the alpha release. Project is run by Alex Kontos and is constantly in active development. Looks very clean and fast. Android versions are in the works too. UPDATE: @Nudin pointed out in Issue #85 that Waterfox is now a part of System1.
Mullvad Browser
Repo
  Firefox-based, a collaboration between Mullvad and The Tor Project. Similar to Tor Browser in privacy and security, without the use of the Tor network.

Earth

Name Eyes Description
KDE Marble   Strong alternative for G Earth. Currently only on Linux, but is being ported to other platforms. Thanks to @PopeRigby

Android Studio (not specifically for Android development, just in general)

Name Eyes Description
VSCodium   VSCodium is Visual Studio Code but without all the Microsoft telemetry and branding.
Vim
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled
Emacs
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Another open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled

Mobile apps

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Play Store

Name Eyes Description
F-Droid   Catalogue of FOSS apps for Android. Easy to install and keeps track of updates. Also has a browser version if you don’t want to install the app.
Aurora Store
F-Droid
Repo
  Aurora Store is simply a fork of the Yalp Store no longer a fork of Yalp, but is now its own project (see their readme). Update: Removed note on using microG as Aurora Store does not use it. Thanks @notpushkin
APKMirror   An online library of user-uploaded APK files. Helpful if you need a specific older version of an app or don’t want to download it through Google Play.
Fossdroid   Uses the same library as F-Droid, but with a modern UI similar to that of the Play Store and the ability to view apps by popularity.
G-Droid
Repo
  Also uses the F-Droid repo but with a different UI.
APKGrabber
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Fork of APKUpdater. Both are great tools for avoiding app stores (on Android).
Aurora Droid   Yet another F-Droid client, potentially has a few bugs (thanks u/OfficialJohnGL4)

Chrome (Android)

Name Eyes Description
Fennec F-Droid
F-Droid
  A privacy-focused version of Firefox Android available on F-Droid. It’s focused on removing any proprietary bits found in official Mozilla’s builds. (thanks u/SupremeLisper)
Bromite
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Privacy-focused/open-source build of Chromium with built-in ad blocking. (thanks u/SupremeLisper)
Privacy Browser
F-Droid
Repo
  An open-source Android web browser focused on user privacy. It is released under the GPLv3+ license.
Mull
F-Droid
Repo
  A Firefox for Android fork compiled from source, with proprietary blobs removed, and many security/privacy changes made using an altered arkenfox/user.js

Calculator

Name Eyes Description
Simple Calculator
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Also part of the SMT project. Available on F-Droid.
Calculator N+ or NCalc+
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source feature-rich calculator. App itself is no longer in development, but the developer does encourage pull requests. I’ve used it frequently and it works great. Not on F-Droid, but a 3rd party play store can probably find it; or the APK’s are available as releases on GitHub. You can also compile from source.
Calculator++
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source calculator packed with features. Thanks @ghost

Calendar

Name Eyes Description
DAVx⁵
F-Droid
Repo
  DAVx⁵ is an open-source CalDAV/CardDAV suite and sync app for Android.
ICSx⁵
F-Droid
  ICSx⁵ is an Android app to subscribe to remote (“Webcal”) or local iCalendar files (like time tables of your school/university or event files of your sports team). Thanks @je-vv
Fruux (mobile app)   Same service from above provides an Android app.
Etar
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source material design Calendar that integrates with the Android Calendar API. Can integrate with CalDAV/CardDAV servers.
Simple Calendar
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source. Part of the Simple Mobile Tools project.

Camera

Name Eyes Description
Open Camera
F-Droid
Repo
  Open-source camera for Android. Thanks @je-vv

Clock

Name Eyes Description
Clock +
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source Alarm clock, timer, and stop watch.
Simple Alarm Clock
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Exactly as it’s name says; simple alarm clock yet adds many improvements over other apps. No dock mode or world clock.
Insane Alarm!
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Developer states that he had “spent a night out with the boys and drank a bit too much but needed to be up in the morning”. So, he made the loudest alarm clock possible based off an emergency alarm from when he was in the military. This app doesn’t mess around, use it wisely.
Alarmio
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source simple alarm clock that implements many useful features while following regular design standards to ensure that it is quick and intuitive to use.

Contacts

Name Eyes Description
Fruux (mobile app)   Fruux also provides a contacts app.
Simple Contacts
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source. Part of the Simple Mobile Tools project.
Open Contacts
F-Droid
Repo
  Open-source contacts. (thanks u/consentio)

Android Messages (specifically SMS/MMS, not IM)

Name Eyes Description
Signal
Repo
  Open-source. Signal possesses SMS/MMS capabilities on Android. Using it as your default SMS app has the advantage of having your SMS and your online-messaging-service integrated within one app. Doing so will also show stats within the app of how many messages you send are encrypted, and offers to send invites to your contacts.

Thanks @Glitchy-Tozier for suggesting it be listing as SMS/MMS alternative.

Gboard (Google Keyboard)

Name Eyes Description
AnySoftKeyboard
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source keyboard. Available on F-Droid.
Hacker’s Keyboard’
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Also open-source. Very useful for developers or sysadmins on the go.
kboard
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source. Has features for phrases, “lenny faces”, macros and more. Note: Project appears to be abandoned.
Simple Keyboard
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source keyboard.
Indic Keyboard
Repo
  Open-source keyboard that supports many languages that other keyboards sometimes don’t support. Not on F-Droid, but can be built from source or possibly through a Play Store alternative.
OpenBoard
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  New 100% FOSS keyboard, based on AOSP. Similar to “Simple Keyboard”.
FlorisBoard
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source keyboard aimed at providing you with an easy way to type while respecting your privacy (this project is currently in alpha stage).
8VIM
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source. A “text editor inside a keyboard, drawing it’s inspiration from 8pen and Vim.”

Drive

Name Eyes Description
ownCloud Android
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  ownCloud Android client. Available on F-Droid.
Nextcloud Android
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Nextcloud Android client. Available on F-Droid.
Syncthing Android
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Wrapper of Syncthing for Android. Available on F-Droid. Also consider Syncthing-Fork which uses a native Android UI rather than the default web UI.

Gmail (smartphone app)

Name Eyes Description
Protonmail   Can be downloaded from the Play Store, but may work with one of the store replacements above (such as Yalp).
Tutanota
F-Droid
14-eyes Client available from F-Droid.
Disroot
F-Droid
  Available from F-Droid.
K-9 Mail
F-Droid
  Available on F-Droid.
FairEmail
F-Droid
  Available on F-Droid. You can (optionally) pay a 1-time fee to unlock some premium features (and support the developer).
DeltaChat
F-Droid
  An email app with a chat-based UI and privacy support with autocrypt.
Mailbox.org 14-eyes Mailbox.org provides IMAP settings for Android/iOS and an iOS profile. Thanks @avasts Issue #45

Keep (or any stock note-taking app)

Name Eyes Description
Notepad
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source. Supports Markdown and HTML. Very clean and feature-rich. Offline only.
Joplin
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Scroll down on the GitHub page until you reach the Android download links. No F-Droid repo, but you can download the APK directly instead of using the Play Store.
Standard Notes   Encrypted note storage with loads of features.
Omni Notes
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Very feature rich, open-source, material design notes app. Very active development. Available on F-Droid.
Carnet
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  I had some trouble finding info on this one. Looks like it has pretty seamless/painless ownCloud and NextCloud integration. Also available on F-Droid.
Markor
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source notes/to-do app for Android. Supports Markdown editing. Available on F-Droid. App is 100% offline, as stated on the GitHub README.
Orgzly
F-Droid
Repo
  Open-source. Notes are stored in the plain-text Org mode format. Supports searching, metadata, and manual sync with Dropbox or local directory, which can be synced using e.g. Syncthing.
Notally
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A beautiful, light and minimalistic notes app with no trackers, ads or analytics of any kind.
Nextcloud Notes for Android
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An android client for Nextcloud Notes App.
Notesnook (mobile)   A truly zero-knowledge note taking app, encrypted using XChaChaPoly1305-IETF & Argon2. It is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and has browser extensions too. It is not self-hostable and follows a freemium model. Downloads are available on Google Play and the iOS App Store.

Maps/Waze

Name Eyes Description
Maps
F-Droid
Repo
  Open-source navigation app based on MAPS.ME. Searching for addresses doesn’t always work and finding businesses can be a slight hassle, but overall one of the better apps I’ve used.
OsmAnd
F-Droid
  OpenStreetMap for Android. (thanks u/masao77). As OsmAnd is primarily crowdsourced, many regions may not be totally accurate. If you would like to help improve OpenStreetMap and OsmAnd, check out StreetComplete (available from F-Droid.
Transportr
Repo
  Primarily European, this is an open-source public transport app. Thanks to @lgiard
Öffi (Offi)
F-Droid
  Öffi is a public transport Android app (also shows delays and replacement bus service for more and more transport authorities in Europe and beyond) - similar to Transportr
Organic Maps
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An Android & iOS offline maps app for travelers, tourists, hikers, and cyclists based on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data.

News

Name Eyes Description
Flym
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source Material Design RSS reader.
Feeder
F-Droid
Repo
  Use good old-fashioned RSS feeds with Feeder

Photos

Name Eyes Description
Piwigo Android
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  You need to have Piwigo set up first.
Stingle Photos 5-eyes A convenient, easy to use Gallery/Camera application with Backup and Sync functionality for your photos and videos which seamlessly provides strong security, privacy and encryption. All photos and videos are encrypted prior to being stored and backed up, so they are secure at rest, in transit and on cloud storage.
ente
Repo
5-eyes A simple, end-to-end encrypted, open-source photo storage service with a focus on security and privacy. Apps are available for iOS, Android, web and desktop.

Pay

No known alternatives.

YouTube

Name Eyes Description
NewPipe
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Powerful open-source YouTube alternative. Supports audio only; background playback; picture-in-picture; no ads.
ReVanced
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  ReVanced started when Vanced was forced to shut down. Their Patcher tool is able to create patches for many apps with very little maintenance.

Authenticator

Name Eyes Description
andOTP
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source 2FA app.
FreeOTP+
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  FreeOTP is no longer in development so this fork should be used instead as it is currently in development.
Aegis
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source 2FA for Android. Available on F-Droid.
Authenticator
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  iOS - Open-source 2FA for iOS. (thanks u/SomeoneWannaBe)
Tofu
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  iOS - Open-source 2FA for iOS.
Raivo OTP
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  (iOS) A native, lightweight and secure one-time-password (OTP) client built for iOS.

Play Music/Play Movies & TV

Name Eyes Description
Audinaut
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  An open-source Airsonic client for Android.
MALP
F-Droid
Repo
  An open-source Android client for MPD. Available on F-Droid.
Shuttle+
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source local music player for Android. Available on F-Droid or by direct download.
Pulse Music
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A music player app to complement your offline music collection with playlist support, theme options, multiple now playing screen, quick play shortcuts, QS tiles, sleep timer and lot of useful customisations.

Hangouts

Name Eyes Description
Keybase 5-eyes Encrypted chat like Signal with features like Slack. Does not require a phone number to sign up. Also has file storage. Note: Keybase was acquired by Zoom, Inc. in May 2020 (Keybase blog, Zoom blog). Thanks @notpushkin & @multimob.
Conversations
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
14-eyes An open-source Android Jabber/XMPP client. It’s a paid app on Google Play, but you can also build it from source for free if you want to.
Element
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
5-eyes Android app - The open-source Android client for Element.
Jitsi Meet (F-Droid)
F-Droid
Repo
  Jitsi is an open-source secure video conferencing platform. No account is needed to use it, simply enter a Room Name to join or host a meeting. The host is able to kick rogue users from the call. Works directly in your browser, with apps available for iOS and Android. It is not necessary to self-host, but self-hosting is an option for those who wish to. Very low latency and easy to set up. A free public server is available at meet.jit.si. (5-eyes server)
Jami
F-Droid
5-eyes Audio / Video Calls, Conferences, Messaging app with peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications.
Mumla (client for Mumble)
F-Droid
  Third-party Android client for Mumble.
Briar
Repo
  An open-source app which supports Peer-to-Peer encrypted messaging. No phone number required for signing up. If the internet’s down, Briar can sync via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, keeping the information flowing in a crisis. If the internet’s up, Briar can sync via the Tor network, protecting users and their relationships from surveillance. Can install through a third-party F-Droid repo.
Session
Repo
  Open-source. It is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that removes sensitive metadata collection. No phone number required to create an account. Can be downloaded from the Play Store or as an APK file from GitHub. Also has apps for iOS and Desktop.

Duo (video calls)

Name Eyes Description
Jitsi Meet (F-Droid)
F-Droid
Repo
  Jitsi is an open-source secure video conferencing platform. No account is needed to use it, simply enter a Room Name to join or host a meeting. The host is able to kick rogue users from the call. Works directly in your browser, with apps available for iOS and Android. It is not necessary to self-host, but self-hosting is an option for those who wish to. Very low latency and easy to set up. A free public server is available at meet.jit.si. (5-eyes server)
Jami
F-Droid
5-eyes Audio / Video Calls, Conferences, Messaging app with peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications.

Assistant

Name Eyes Description
Mycroft Android
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Android client for Mycroft. Must be built in IDE; no pre-built binaries are available.
Ara
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source virtual assistant for Android. Can replace Google Assistant (home button functionality) on most devices. Either uses the author’s server by default, or you can run your own server. Thanks @FultonBrowne (author of Ara)

Play Services Framework

Name Eyes Description
microG   A re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries. It allows to use more precise navigation (which is proprietary in standard Android ROMs) and optionally receive push messages (requires connection to Google’s servers, but also supports routing this connection through Tor). Thanks @notpushkin

Android home screen launchers

Name Eyes Description
Shade Launcher
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source Android launcher styled after the Google Pixel launcher. Available to download from an alternative F-Droid, APK Mirror, or GitHub Releases.
Omega
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Open-source launcher. Active development with lots of nice features. Downloads available from GitHub. Previously known as ZimLX which has since been replaced by Omega.
Lawnchair
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Another open-source launcher, also built to look similar to Google’s launcher (it is built off AOSP Launcher3). Available from F-Droid and also APKMirror. (thanks u/droidonomy)
KISS Launcher
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  Fast, open-source and small launcher. KISS mainly relies on an app-search-bar, which makes it very easy to open up apps quickly.
Unlauncher
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  A clean, simple Android launcher with a very minimalist design. Forked from Slim Launcher.

Other

Name Eyes Description
Nebulo
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  From GitHub README: “Nebulo is a free, open-source, no-root, light-weight dns-over-https, dns-over-tls, and dns-over-http-over-quic client for Android with emphasis on privacy and security. Nebulo is fast, highly-customizable, ad-free, efficient on the battery, contains zero analytics / tracking.
RethinkDNS + Firewall
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  From the website: “Rethink DNS + Firewall is the easiest way to monitor app activity, circumvent Internet censorship, block ads and trackers on your Android device.”
TrackerControl
F-Droid
Repo
GitHub Repo stars
  From the GitHub README: Allows users to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour (“tracking”). To detect tracking, TrackerControl checks all network traffic against the Disconnect blocklist, used and trusted by the Mozilla Firefox browser. Thanks @E5dZEUpc3BKaJrHnQVZd5zE

Bulk apps

Name Eyes Description
EteSync
F-Droid
Repo
  For Calendar & Contacts. Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.
EteSync (Notes)
F-Droid
Repo
  For Keep. Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.

Hardware

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Nexus/Pixel

Name Eyes Description
Purism Librem 5 5-eyes From the company that makes Purism laptops. Runs PureOS. Thanks @brandonnodnarb
PinePhone 5-eyes From the company that makes the Pine A64 Single Board Computer. Runs a variety of mainline Linux OSs with UIs adapted for mobile.

Chromebook

Name Eyes Description
TUXEDO 14-eyes Privacy-focused laptop maker out of Germany. Tech specs are very competent and can easily compete with other modern systems. Fully Linux compatible. They also offer desktops. (thanks u/itsec_ho)
Purism Laptops 5-eyes Privacy-focused laptop running PureOS. Good designs and decent hardware.
Pinebook Pro   Mid-range Linux/FreeBSD alternative to Chromebook.
Slimbook   A Spanish laptop manufacturer which makes Linux native laptops.

Chromecast

Name Eyes Description
Microsoft Wireless HDMI adapter 5-eyes The only reason I’m recommending this Microsoft product is because there is no possible way for it to extract any data and ship it off to Microsoft. If anyone is able to find proof that it can, I will remove it.

Google Home

Name Eyes Description
Mycroft
Repo
5-eyes Open-source virtual personal assistant. Can be run on a Raspberry Pi. (thanks u/Kentto7)
Home Assistant
Repo
  Open-source home automation. (thanks u/bilange)

FitBit

No known alternatives.

Useful links, tools, and advice

Resources

Everything you need to become a privacy wizard. This section has two subsections: The first has links with self-explanatory titles, the second has more detailed descriptions.

Subsection 1

Subsection 2

Books

Back to top

Title Published Author
Permanent Record Published Edward Snowden
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now Published Jaron Lanier
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Published Shoshana Zuboff
The Attention Merchants Published Tim Wu
Zucked Published Roger McNamee
Privacy Is Power Published Carissa Véliz
Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy Published George Gilder

Blog posts

Back to top

Title Published Author
Google Chrome’s users take a back seat to its bottom line Published Bennett Cyphers and Mitch Stoltz - EFF
Quitting Facebook & Google Published J. Nathan Matias
How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer Published Marko Saric

News articles

Back to top

Title Published Author
Google Can Survive Too Much Innovation. You Can’t. Published Robert Sher - Forbes
The truth about Google’s famous ‘20% time’ policy Published Jillian D’Onfro - Business Insider
The Binge Breaker Published Bianca Bosker - The Atlantic
How Malware Keeps Sneaking Past Google Play’s Defenses Published Lily Hay Newman - WIRED
Forget Killer Robots — Bias Is the Real AI Danger Published Will Knight - MIT Technology Review
Google managers kept blacklists of conservative employees and one manager considered holding ‘trials,’ a new lawsuit alleges Published Julie Bort - Business Insider
A longtime Google engineer quits, saying the company is ’100% competitor-focused’ and ‘can no longer innovate’ Published Jillian D’Onfro - CNBC
Facebook and Google are doomed, George Soros says Published Hamza Shaban - Washington Post
Google Isn’t Listening, So Its Employees Are Suing Published Kate Conger - Gizmodo
Google sees major claims of harassment and discrimination as lawsuits proceed Published Sam Levin - The Guardian
How to stop Google from tracking everything you do online Published Todd Haselton - CNBC
Google will always do evil Published Jessica Conditt - Engadget
Google’s new ‘AI principles’ forbid its use in weapons and human rights violations Published Devin Coldewey - TechCrunch
Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China, Leaked Documents Reveal Published Ryan Gallagher - The Intercept
Google’s China plan isn’t just evil — it’s bad for business Published Josh Rogin - Washington Post
How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’ Published Daisuke Wakabayashi and Katie Benner - New York Times
A New Google+ Blunder Exposed Data From 52.5 Million Users Published Lily Hay Newman - WIRED
Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech Published Nitasha Tiku - WIRED
Google’s latest user-hostile design change makes ads and search results look identical Published Natasha Lomas - TechCrunch
You Are Now Remotely Controlled Published Shoshana Zuboff - New York Times

The lighter side

Closing remarks

It’s a shame that Google, with their immense resources, power, and influence, don’t see the benefits of helping people secure themselves online. Instead, they force people like us to scour the web for alternatives and convince our friends and family to do the same, while they sell off our data to the highest bidder.

Hopefully this guide can serve as a starting point for those new to privacy, or be a good refresher for the experts.

Good luck and stay safe!

Stargazers over time

Stargazers over time

License

This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

For a full legal text of the license, visit Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.