In light of the #buyFromEU movement several databases and websites emerged around the idea of buying European, and local first. Coming from different communities overviews of products and services can (for example) be found at the following websites:
- https://european-alternatives.eu/ : First comer. Dev can be found on mastodon for suggestions.
- Community based database, where you can make your own suggestions:
- https://buy-european.net/ subscribe to !buyeuropean@feddit.uk to talk to the maker.
- https://codeberg.org/Made-in-EU/Made-in-EU
If you are using Firefox or Chrome (derivatives) you can be nudged to do better by using the open-source Go-European-Plugin:
- Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/go-european/
- Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/go-european/klmgadmgadfhjgomffmpamppmkajdloc
If you really want to start and go European in your personal- or business-life, there are already some starting points and infopics circulating.
Coming from a technical perspective and in an ideal world, open-source solutions are preferable over walled gardens. Chosing them would - in the long run- ensure that you can swap services more easily at any time. But we need to be realistic and acknowledge, that some people are just searching for easy drop in replacements and services.
Just as a starting point, this is an selection of alternatives for digital services. It is not exhaustive, neither really opinionated. It shows the highlights and source where to find other solutions.
A selection of digital alternatives (WIP)
This list is a selection of few digital alternatives if you decide to buyFromEU (and friendlies). Links to other lists are appended for further reading.
Browsing
- EU
- vivaldi.com → drop in replacement with mail, calender and feed reader.
- Considered friendly:
- firefox.com (now with data privacy issues, still a drop in replacement).
- librewolf.net (privacy friendly firefox fork).
- Further Infos
- https://european-alternatives.eu/category/web-browser
Searching
- EU
- European Search Index
- ecosia.de → drop in replacement.
- qwant.com → drop in replacement.
- searxng.org
- startpage.com (uses google in the background, still a drop in replacement).
- Considered friendly
- duckduckgo.com (uses bing in the background, still a drop in replacement).
- Further infos
e-Mail/Office suite (gmail/outlook)
- EU
- eclipso.eu
- mailbox.org
- mailo.com
- posteo.de
- runbox.com
- soverin.com
- startmail.com
- tuta.com
- Considered friendly
- Further infos
e-Mail clients
- EU
- vivaldi Browser with, calender and feed reader.
- Considered friendly
- Further infos
Instant Messaging Apps
- EU
- Considered friendly:
- threema.com → drop-in replacement for WhatsApp
- signal.com → drop-in replacement for WhatsApp
- Further infos:
Team-level communications
- EU
- https://www.stackfield.com/
- https://www.stackhero.io/en/services/Mattermost/benefits → Mattermost hosted in Europe
- Considered friendly:
- matrix.org → open source software
- wire.com
- mattermost.com → open source software
- Further infos:
Passwordmanagers
- EU
- https://keepass.info/ → Keepass file can be opened with different Apps
- https://keepassxc.org/ → Keepass frontend
- https://github.com/PhilippC/keepass2android → Keepass frontend Android
- Considered friendly:
- https://strongboxsafe.com/ Keepass frontend macOS/iOS. Be aware, change of ownership in early 2025 might need reassesment.
- https://1password.com/
VPN providers
- EU
- Considered friendly:
Social media (obviously)
- EU
- https://joinmastodon.org/ → X replacement with individual server in EU
- join-lemmy.org → reddit replacement with individual server in EU
- piefed.social → reddit replacement with individual server in EU
- https://friendi.ca/ → facebook replacement with individual server in EU
- https://pixelfed.org/ → instagram replacement with individual server in EU
- https://loops.video/ → TikTok replacement
- https://joinpeertube.org/ → YouTube replacement with individual server in EU
- Considered friendly:
- Further infos:
Maps and navigation
- EU
- https://wego.here.com/
- https://en.mapy.cz/
- https://magicearth.com/
- https://tomtom.com/
- https://organicmaps.app/
- http://comaps.app/ (fork of organicmaps due to project lead differences)
- https://osmand.net/
- Considered friendly:
- Further infos: