Discover privacy friendly alternatives to every Google product. Take small steps to protect your data, reduce tracking, and regain control of your digital life with secure, reliable tools.
The Complete List of Alternatives to Every Google Product
- Thread starter Julio Franco
- Start date
Startpage is also a great Google alternative.
Best cloud: Nextcloud (mentioned above)
ownCloud = Create your own cloud server.
Best cloud: Nextcloud (mentioned above)
ownCloud = Create your own cloud server.
mgwerner
Posts: 429 +811
This past I moved everything from Google to ProtonMail and pCloud; the former the free account, and the latter a 1TB lifetime account on sale for $199 (sale price). I had been paying monthly for Google Drive/Photos, with 40+ years of photos in storage, plus research notes and documentation for 30 years of genealogy research. I had had Gmail since invited in SEP of 2004, and everything electronic was linked to it, so it was a pain in the *** to move it all over, get things setup to backup differently. It's not perfect, but it's better for me than paying Google, and ended up being cheaper in the long run.
Lowhangingfruit
Posts: 109 +233
You left out the Kagi search engine and browser. They are not free because such software is expensive to build, but you get complete privacy and 0 ads.
Kagi is also one of the few building their own search index (though they still supplement with results from the google index)
Kagi is also one of the few building their own search index (though they still supplement with results from the google index)
Please add Obtanium to your Google Play Store alternatives. It's a great way to install F-Droid apps and also it can install directly off of Github, GitLab, and other repositories as well. https://obtainium.imranr.dev They have nearly 13k stars on Github . . . it's written mostly all in Dart and looks real slick! https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium
Thanks for the awesome article. It's a great collection of links!
Tom D.
Thanks for the awesome article. It's a great collection of links!
Tom D.
I highly recommend https://immich.app/ as a google photos altrrnative. It's FOSS, selfhosted with a very good android apl and under active development
Authenticators:
- Proton Authenticator
- Bitwarden Authenticator
Proton has a desktop and an Apple Watch version, too, which is a huge bonus. Oh and it even displays the next code, extremely useful when you know you'll be running out of time by the time you finish typing.
- Proton Authenticator
- Bitwarden Authenticator
Proton has a desktop and an Apple Watch version, too, which is a huge bonus. Oh and it even displays the next code, extremely useful when you know you'll be running out of time by the time you finish typing.
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I've had a Yahoo email account since last century, so old some modern websites refuse to recognise it, and Google hates it as my log-in but since I reckon Google, Microsoft and Amazon think they know me better than I know myself, I do enjoy the odd ten minutes of really confusing what they think they know. I've switched off every opportunity to nominate what interests me, I run the usual anti-advert programs on Opera, and use Thunderbird for emails. The end result? No annoying adverts, no attempts to sell me garbage, though Amazon still occasionally tries, and my contact lists are all the people who spammmed in the last 3 decades, not that many spammers get through these days. If you can't beat them, join them, and attack from the inside. Except Cloudflare is still not sure I am human.
disinfect8280
Posts: 99 +48
1) Brave Search is not a metasearch engine. They have their own infrastructure and results as well as unique features. It's quite good and getting better regularly.
2) Why did you recommend a 2FA TOTP app that is unmaintained and hasn't been updated in 4yrs instead of Aegis?
2) Why did you recommend a 2FA TOTP app that is unmaintained and hasn't been updated in 4yrs instead of Aegis?
Also Aegis is a great authenticator replacement.
Aptoide is a replacement for Play Store? What I remember is that it was full of cracked/malware versions, APK mirror is safer as it checks signatures of apks
It would be good if you could mention where all the given products are from (you've done it for some). Many people around the world aren't keen on using US products in general since the tariffs and others aren't keen on storing data in the US simply due to the privacy issues there.
MiqWalsh
Posts: 61 +57
Uh-uh. It's not a good idea to list Kali Linux as a usable "daily driver". It's NOT a general-purpose distro, it's specifically designed & built for security experts when they carry out "pen testing" (penetration testing) as part of a safety & security audit for large companies & corporations.
Most Linux communities will not have anything to do with those new members who pitch up demanding help with Kali Linux, because its mode of operation is totally unlike a 'normal', 'everyday' distro. It's usually suggested that the user in question try out something like Linux Mint as their first step into the waters of the Linux ecosystem, because Kali assumes that the user is already familiar & comfortable with running everything from the terminal. This is harking back to the "old days", since modern Linux is every bit as usable by noobs as Windows or macOS are.
The user will have far more success with Kali (if they insist on using it) ONCE they've gained some basic Linux experience with a normal distro. At this point, they then won't NEED to ask for help with basic stuff (like connecting to the internet), since they will by then know what they're doing.
Kali is NOT "security-focused". It's for security testing. It's a commonly-made mistake, but there IS a big difference.
"Mr. Robot" has a LOT to answer for.
Miq.
Most Linux communities will not have anything to do with those new members who pitch up demanding help with Kali Linux, because its mode of operation is totally unlike a 'normal', 'everyday' distro. It's usually suggested that the user in question try out something like Linux Mint as their first step into the waters of the Linux ecosystem, because Kali assumes that the user is already familiar & comfortable with running everything from the terminal. This is harking back to the "old days", since modern Linux is every bit as usable by noobs as Windows or macOS are.
The user will have far more success with Kali (if they insist on using it) ONCE they've gained some basic Linux experience with a normal distro. At this point, they then won't NEED to ask for help with basic stuff (like connecting to the internet), since they will by then know what they're doing.
Kali is NOT "security-focused". It's for security testing. It's a commonly-made mistake, but there IS a big difference.
"Mr. Robot" has a LOT to answer for.
Miq.
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AlmightyLoaf
Posts: 11 +7
Agreed that including Kali Linux here doesn't make any sense as a daily-driver OS replacement and seems like a surface-level understanding of what that distro is for. Or maybe this is just the 2025.3 announcement in the newsletter bleeding out elsewhere. 
For tech-savvy folks who are coming at this from a privacy angle, Qubes OS is a really cool way of isolating segments of your computer. That seems more useful in this type of article.
Or if we're just talking mainstream distros, there are good ones outside the Debian tree, like Fedora or an Arch-derivative. CachyOS is approachable.
For tech-savvy folks who are coming at this from a privacy angle, Qubes OS is a really cool way of isolating segments of your computer. That seems more useful in this type of article.
Or if we're just talking mainstream distros, there are good ones outside the Debian tree, like Fedora or an Arch-derivative. CachyOS is approachable.
CapNemo72
Posts: 112 +176
CachyOS is one of the top Linux distros these days
Problem with using another service provider is data migration.
And especially if you have other users (as in family or small business), it is not that easy to decouple.
Also, many login option just show use Google or Microsoft account, and people just do it.
If you start from scratch, then yes, there are many serious propositions. But for migration, that takes time and planning.
Problem with using another service provider is data migration.
And especially if you have other users (as in family or small business), it is not that easy to decouple.
Also, many login option just show use Google or Microsoft account, and people just do it.
If you start from scratch, then yes, there are many serious propositions. But for migration, that takes time and planning.
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