Article
125 Privacy-Focused Platforms You Can Use Right Now
If you want to move away from big-tech platforms you can try. I have also indicated which platforms are based in the European Union or Switzerland.
Social, Community & Presence (15)
1. Mastodon 🇪🇺
Decentralized microblogging - join any community server, no ads.
2. Bluesky
Open protocol social network with customizable algorithmic feeds.
3. Pixelfed 🇪🇺
Instagram alternative - photo sharing without tracking.
4. Lemmy 🇪🇺
Reddit-style communities in the Fediverse.
5. Friendica 🇪🇺
Long-form social networking with multi-protocol support.
6. Discourse
Modern forum platform with healthy moderation tools.
7. Matrix 🇪🇺
Decentralized messaging protocol for secure communication.
8. Element 🇪🇺
User-friendly Matrix client for encrypted team chat.
9. Signal
End-to-end encrypted messaging with minimal metadata collection.
10. Threema 🇨🇭
Swiss encrypted messaging - anonymous, no phone number required.
11. Telegram
Fast messaging with large groups and channels.
12. Session
Anonymous messaging - no phone number, decentralized routing.
13. SimpleX Chat
Private messenger without user IDs - maximum privacy.
14. Revolt
Discord alternative - privacy-focused, community-owned.
15. Mobilizon 🇪🇺
Privacy-friendly event organization and group management.
Writing, Blogging & Publishing (12)
16. Mataroa 🇪🇺
Minimalist blogging - no analytics, no likes, just writing.
17. Bear Blog
Extremely simple blogging focused on speed and privacy.
18. Write.as
Anonymous publishing platform with optional federation.
19. WriteFreely
Open-source federated blogging platform.
20. Ghost
Professional publishing platform with newsletter support.
21. Substack
Newsletter platform with built-in audience discovery.
22. Buttondown
Lightweight email newsletters for writers.
23. Standard Notes
Encrypted note-taking with cross-platform sync.
24. Notesnook 🇪🇺
Zero-knowledge encrypted notes with excellent apps.
25. Joplin
Open-source encrypted note-taking with markdown support.
26. Logseq
Local-first knowledge management with graph view.
27. Obsidian
Powerful local markdown notes with linking and plugins.
Docs, Office & Productivity (12)
28. CryptPad 🇪🇺
Zero-knowledge encrypted office suite - docs, sheets, kanban, forms.
29. Proton Docs 🇨🇭
End-to-end encrypted collaborative documents in Proton Drive.
30. LibreOffice
Free desktop office suite - Word, Excel, PowerPoint alternative.
31. ONLYOFFICE 🇪🇺
Collaborative office suite with excellent MS Office compatibility.
32. HedgeDoc 🇪🇺
Collaborative markdown editor with presentation mode.
33. Framadate 🇪🇺
Privacy-friendly meeting scheduling (Doodle alternative).
34. Framaforms 🇪🇺
Create surveys and forms without tracking.
35. Trello
Visual project boards with free tier.
36. Todoist
Simple, reliable to-do lists and task management.
37. TickTick
Tasks, reminders, calendar, and habit tracking.
38. Cal.com
Open-source scheduling and booking platform.
39. Proton Calendar 🇨🇭
End-to-end encrypted calendar with sharing.
Email & Communication (10)
40. Tutanota 🇪🇺
German encrypted email with calendar - free tier available.
41. Proton Mail 🇨🇭
Swiss encrypted email with zero-access encryption.
42. Posteo 🇪🇺
Sustainable, ad-free email from Germany (€1/month).
43. Mailo 🇪🇺
Independent French email with strong data protection.
44. Infomaniak 🇨🇭
Swiss email, drive, and collaboration platform.
45. SimpleLogin
Create email aliases to protect your inbox.
46. AnonAddy
Anonymous email forwarding and aliasing.
47. DuckDuckGo Email Protection
Free email forwarding with tracker removal.
48. Firefox Relay
Email masking from Mozilla.
49. Delta Chat
Chat app that works over email - decentralized.
Cloud Storage & File Sharing (8)
50. pCloud 🇨🇭
Swiss cloud storage with client-side encryption option.
51. Internxt 🇪🇺
Zero-knowledge encrypted cloud storage.
52. Filen 🇪🇺
End-to-end encrypted cloud storage from Germany.
53. Send
Secure file sharing with expiration (Firefox Send fork).
54. FilePizza
Peer-to-peer file sharing directly in browser.
55. WeTransfer
Quick file sharing up to 2GB without account.
56. OnionShare
Anonymous file sharing via Tor network.
57. Cryptgeon 🇪🇺
Self-destructing notes and file sharing.
Media & Content (9)
58. PeerTube 🇪🇺
Decentralized video hosting and streaming platform.
59. Owncast
Self-hosted live streaming for communities.
60. Castopod 🇪🇺
Open-source podcast hosting platform.
61. AntennaPod
Privacy-friendly podcast player for Android.
62. BookWyrm
Social reading and book tracking in Fediverse.
63. Spotube
Free Spotify client using YouTube as audio source.
64. Nuclear Music Player
Multi-source music streaming - YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp.
65. ViMusic
YouTube Music client for Android.
https://github.com/vfsfitvnm/ViMusic
66. InnerTune
Material Design YouTube Music client.
https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune
Maps, Search & Discovery (8)
67. OpenStreetMap
Community-built maps - Google Maps alternative.
68. Organic Maps
Offline maps based on OpenStreetMap data.
69. Qwant 🇪🇺
Privacy-first European search engine.
70. Ecosia 🇪🇺
Search engine that plants trees with ad revenue.
71. MetaGer 🇪🇺
Open-source metasearch engine from Germany.
72. SearXNG
Privacy metasearch aggregating results from many engines.
73. Brave Search
Independent search index with privacy focus.
74. Startpage
Privacy search using Google results.
Analytics & Privacy Tools (9)
75. Plausible 🇪🇺
Simple, GDPR-friendly website analytics.
76. Matomo
Privacy-respecting analytics platform.
77. Bitwarden
Open-source password manager with free tier.
78. Proton Pass 🇨🇭
Encrypted password manager from Proton.
79. Aegis Authenticator
Open-source 2FA app for Android.
80. ente Auth
Cross-platform encrypted 2FA authenticator.
81. Raivo OTP
Open-source 2FA app for iOS.
82. Tor Browser
Anonymous browsing through Tor network.
83. Brave Browser
Privacy browser with built-in ad blocking.
Video Calls & Meetings (5)
84. Jitsi Meet
Free browser-based encrypted video conferencing.
85. Whereby
Simple video meetings - no download required.
86. BigBlueButton
Open-source web conferencing for education.
87. Galène
Lightweight videoconferencing server.
88. Jami
Distributed peer-to-peer video calls.
Creator Support & Commerce (6)
89. Ko-fi
Simple donations and memberships for creators.
90. Liberapay 🇪🇺
Recurring donations without platform fees.
91. Buy Me a Coffee
Creator support with one-time and recurring donations.
92. itch.io
Indie marketplace for digital creators.
93. Gumroad
Sell digital products directly to customers.
94. Open Collective
Transparent funding for open-source projects.
News & RSS (7)
95. Miniflux
Minimalist RSS reader with clean interface.
96. Inoreader
Powerful RSS reader with advanced features.
97. Feedly
Popular RSS reader with AI-powered discovery.
98. NetNewsWire
Free RSS reader for Mac and iOS.
99. Ground News
News aggregator showing media bias across sources.
100. AllSides
Balanced news from left, center, and right perspectives.
101. Newsblur
Social RSS reader with training features.
Games & Puzzles (5)
102. Lichess
Free, open-source chess platform - no ads ever.
103. Chess.com
Popular chess platform with free tier.
104. Semantle
Daily word similarity guessing game.
105. Crossword Nexus
Free crossword puzzles and constructor tools.
106. Worldle
Daily geography guessing game.
Fitness & Health (4)
107. OpenTracks
Privacy-focused GPS tracking for workouts.
108. FitoTrack
Privacy-oriented fitness tracker for Android.
https://codeberg.org/jannis/FitoTrack
109. Gadgetbridge
Use fitness trackers without vendor cloud services.
110. Waistline
Calorie counter - no account, no tracking.
https://github.com/davidhealey/waistline
Design & Creative (5)
111. Penpot 🇪🇺
Open-source design and prototyping platform.
112. Excalidraw
Virtual whiteboard for sketching diagrams.
113. draw.io
Free diagram and flowchart editor.
114. Canva
Simple graphic design tool with free tier.
115. PrivateBin 🇪🇺
Encrypted pastebin for secure text sharing.
AT Protocol & Emerging (10)
116. Frontpage
Hacker News-style link aggregator on AT Protocol.
117. Skylight
Short-form video platform on AT Protocol.
118. Leaflet
Long-form blogging on AT Protocol.
119. Primal
User-friendly Nostr client for decentralized social.
120. Damus
Nostr client for iOS - censorship-resistant social.
121. Disroot 🇪🇺
Privacy collective - email, cloud, pad, and more.
122. Riseup
Activist-focused secure email and services.
123. Codeberg 🇪🇺
Non-profit Git hosting for free software.
124. Grist
Spreadsheet-database hybrid with privacy focus.
125. Anytype
Local-first knowledge management - offline capable.
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