21 KiB
21 KiB
Cutting Google out of your life (Updated: May 2020)
I don't have anything to hide, but I don't have anything to show you either.
Index
- Contributing
- Browser extensions
- Replacements/alternatives
- Useful links, tools, and advice
- The lighter side
- Closing remarks
Contributing
If you want to help out with the project, here are some ideas (submit Issues & Pull Requests on the GitHub page):
- iOS app alternatives! I don't have an iOS device to find alternatives with. I would highly appreciate any help with this.
- Clean up/improve the Markdown.
- Provide more information on services with little info or where help requested! is shown.
- Suggest new services or provide info for removing existing services.
- Host a mirror or clone the repo. If you host a mirror, let me know and I can add it to the mirrors list.
- Anything else relating to any part of this guide, whether it's Google related or not.
When contributing, please try to follow the rules outlined in CONTRIBUTING.md.
Browser extensions
These Firefox extensions can help prevent connections to Google domains and also improve your privacy/security online.
- uBlock Origin
- Privacy Badger
- Decentraleyes
- HTTPS Everywhere
- Cookie AutoDelete
- DDG Privacy Essentials
- I don't care about cookies
- minerBlock
- Terms of Service; Didn't Read
- An expanded list from u/R0B0LUT10N:
- uMatrix (thanks u/rudolf323)
- TrackMeNot
Replacements/alternatives
Disclaimer
- Only privacy/security focused alternatives will be suggested.
- Many replacements are based off this Wikipedia article (List of Google products)
- 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.
- Controversial services will have a disclaimer attached if needed.
- 5-eyes, 9-eyes, and 14-eyes services will be listed, and marked as such. This means the company, not the server IP.
- 5: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, USA
- 9: Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway
- 14: Germany, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Spain
- What are 5-eyes, 9-eyes, and 14-eyes?
Web-based products
Search (web, images)
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 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.me | 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 | Major improvements since 2018's guide. would prefer better info other than an outdated reference |
| 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 | 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. Please see their ELI-5 FAQ for more info. | |
| Infinity Search | 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. |
YouTube
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PeerTube | Decentralized video hosting network. Still quite small, but is growing and has a dedicated community. | |
| 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. | |
| Bit.tube | Appears to be a crypto-powered decentralized video sharing service. (thanks u/rudolf323) | |
| Invidious | 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). |
|
| Hooktube | A slightly better way to use actual YouTube. (Use as a "last resort") | |
| LBRY | 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. | |
| US.TV | PeerTube instance hosted by Epik.com. |
News
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Local newspaper | Support independent and qualitative journalism in your community. | |
| AllSides | Unbiased news source (primarily for US politics). Thanks @jeanofthedead | |
| Feeder | Use good old-fashioned RSS feeds with Feeder (available from F-Droid) |
Groups
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|
Translate
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DeepL | 14-eyes | DeepL is an artifical intelligence translation service. Editor note: The site server seems to be hosted in Finland, yet the company lists itself as a company based in Germany in the Data Protection section. |
Google Ads/AdMob/AdSense
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| CodeFund | 5-eyes | Ethical advertising for technical audience. |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho | Zoho was included in 2018's thread as well, and they've only improved since then. They offer a full enterprise business suite that can easily rival G Suite or MS Office 365. Better description wanted | |
| Nextcloud | Nextcloud 18 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 |
Blogger/Sites
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Joomla | Self-hosted and open-source content management system (CMS). | |
| Write.as | Self-advertised as privacy-focused. | |
| WordPress self-hosted | The open-source version of WordPress. A very popular tool and a recognized name. | |
| concrete5 | 5-eyes | Open-source CMS. |
| Noblogs | 9-eyes | A privacy/security focused blogging platform. |
| Ghost | Open-source modern CMS. Boasts "over 19x faster than WordPress". Thanks @peterge1998 |
Analytics
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Matomo | 9/14-eyes | (Matomo/parent company) - Open-source analytics platform. (thanks u/Newblik) |
| Fathom | 5-eyes | Simple analytics for bloggers & businesses |
| Plausible | 5-eyes | Open-source, privacy-focused web analytics. |
| GoatCounter | 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). |
| Toasted Analytics | 5-eyes | Simple, privacy friendly analytics with event tracking. Paid only (with free trial) |
Photos
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Photoprism | Self-hosted and open-source Personal Photo Management powered by Go and Google TensorFlow. | |
| ownPhotos | Self-hosted and open-source Google Photos alternative. | |
| Piwigo | 9-eyes | (self-hosted) - 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 |
Calendar
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning Calendar (Thunderbird) | Developed by Mozilla Foundation and open-source. Integrates into Thunderbird and SeaMonkey. | |
| 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 | 14-eyes | Open-source calendar using "sabre/dav" (open-source 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. |
| Zoho | I mentioned Zoho above for G Suite, so here they are again. | |
| EteSync | Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars and tasks. |
Docs/Sheets/Slides (cloud)
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| CryptPad | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Open-source offline document suites. | |
| Apache OpenOffice | Open-source offline document suites. | |
| LyX | 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. Thanks @Glitchy-Tozier |
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) |
| Porkbun | 5-eyes | Domain registration with free WHOIS privacy. |
Desktop apps
Chrome
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ungoogled Chromium | 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. | |
| 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 apart of System1. |
| Vivaldi | Privacy-focused browser. Appears to be very customizable and feature-rich. | |
| Tor Browser | Firefox-based browser routed through the onion network. Automatically has a few privacy extensions installed (such as HTTPS Everywhere). Be careful using it in public though, as it can look like a pretty suspicious piece of software. Available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. |
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 | Open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled | |
| Emacs | Another open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled |
Mobile apps
Chrome
| Name | Eyes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ungoogled Chromium | 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. | |
| 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 apart of System1. |
| Vivaldi | Privacy-focused browser. Appears to be very customizable and feature-rich. | |
| Tor Browser | Firefox-based browser routed through the onion network. Automatically has a few privacy extensions installed (such as HTTPS Everywhere). Be careful using it in public though, as it can look like a pretty suspicious piece of software. Available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. |
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 | Open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled | |
| Emacs | Another open-source text editor. Thanks @moon-chilled |