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Show HN: No More Google, privacy-friendly alternatives to Google products

96 points by pieterhg 8y ago

wimgz 8y ago
Really nice list, I recently switched all my email to Fastmail because I don't want to lose everything if Google decides to. Is there any alternative to Youtube though? I guess it would be video hosting paid by creators, eg Vimeo
- Qwertystop 8y ago
  PeerTube is trying for it - torrent-based decentralized video platform, uses ActivityPub for things like commenting/sharing so you can comment from (for example) Mastodon or Pleroma or Diaspora. The network isn't that big yet but it has potential.
bdz 8y ago
Why 1Password? Why not KeepassXC for example? (or even Keepass or KepassX) https://keepassxc.org/project/ https://keepassxc.org/project/
- pieterhg 8y ago
  You can add any you want yourself by clicking "Add Alternative" in the top right!
graylien 8y ago
great work! google is evil?
dvko 8y ago
If this list were named "alternatives to Google products" then I'd say it is a good list. But privacy friendly? How so exactly? There are several closed-source proprietary services on the list, with better (in terms of nearly everything: user base, maturity, feature completeness, ...) open-source alternatives available. To name just a few per category: - Analytics: Matomo (formerly Piwik), Fathom Analytics, OpenWebAnalytics. - Password managers: passwordstore.org, Keepass - Cloud storage: NextCloud, TresorIt
- TheGrassyKnoll 8y ago
  Encrypted cloud backup: https://spideroak.com https://spideroak.com
  - commoner 8y ago
    SpiderOak's desktop client is closed-source. "The SpiderOak desktop backup client is the product of years of a typical startup scramble, and the codebase itself is tightly interwoven with a lot of other moving parts and sensitive information that we cannot release." https://spideroak.support/hc/en-us/articles/115002665263 https://spideroak.support/hc/en-us/articles/115002665263
- pieterhg 8y ago
  Added those! Thanks :)
faleidel 8y ago
I like the concept. I made something like it for macbooks some time ago at http://nomoremacbook.com/ http://nomoremacbook.com/
- pieterhg 8y ago
  You were the main inspiration for this! Hope it’s okay I used the name! :)
  - faleidel 8y ago
    Use it as you like, I feel like it's a concept worth exploring in all sorts of domains!
dublinben 8y ago
The French organization Framasoft has been maintaining a database of Google alternatives for several years at https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/list/ https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/list/
jansan 8y ago
Not sure how privacy friendly deepl.com is, but it is so much better than Google Translate, at least for the available language pairs. So if it is more privacy friendly than Google Translate, it must be on the list.
asdkhadsj 8y ago
Is Backblaze a Google Drive replacement? I didn't think they had a client/etc. Isn't Google Drive more akin to Dropbox/etc? Which I know Dropbox has potential privacy concerns, but I don't think Backblaze fits these.. to my understanding at least.
Drybones 8y ago
I've been De-Googlfying myself lately as well. I've made a comprehensive list to almost all Google products, which I have screenshotted in the link below: https://my.mixtape.moe/tonyaw.PNG https://my.mixtape.moe/tonyaw.PNG Replacement column is what I personally am using or plan to switch to when I can
- pieterhg 8y ago
  Thanks for the list, added a few of those incl. Zoho and Nextcloud!
marichards 8y ago
I support the motive, but it appears to have been hijacked to include companies that don't protect privacy. Happy to amend this response if creator finds a way to moderate it, but for instance MixPanel stole usernames and passwords earlier this year so definitely shouldn't be on this kind of list https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/05/mixpanel-passwords/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/05/mixpanel-passwords/ An alternative for those interested might be https://prism-break.org/en/all/ https://prism-break.org/en/all/
- pieterhg 8y ago
  Thanks, removed MixPanel. Any others you see that don't respect privacy?
  - lucideer 8y ago
    I haven't done due diligence and checked each one, so maybe I'm been overly pessimistic, but some choice entries that I very seriously doubt don't track you: Dailymotion, Wordpress, Dropbox, Skyscanner, Here.com... I could go on. Mapbox for example definitely track you, but do provide an opt-out in their API, so some would describe that as "more" privacy friendly. Others may do similar. This seems more like a list of alternatives to Google (which is still incredibly valuable), rather than a list of privacy-friendly alternatives. That's still great though: I'm still happier to have some choice in who tracks me even if all alternatives do.
  - commoner 8y ago
    Authy doesn't delete user accounts, despite claiming to do so upon request in their privacy policy. "Why do you refuse to delete accounts? It is my data and I want it to be removed. How can I feel safe about my data if I cannot remove it if I choose not to continue using your service." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9100525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9100525 "Your personal information is generally stored until you advise us to close your Authy account and delete your records, and activity logs may be stored for up to a year for security purposes, or, if there is an ongoing investigation, until that matter is concluded." https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy/authy https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy/authy
quellobiondo 8y ago
Is there any alternative for Google docs?
- pieterhg 8y ago
  Zoho seems to be the one most commonly mentioned
- mackrevinack 8y ago
  something that doesnt get enough love is just using something like libreOffice on whatever desktop platform you are on, and then using resilio (or syncthing which is open source) to sync your documents between computers.
- commoner 8y ago
  LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice Document Server are open-source self-hosted alternatives. https://hub.docker.com/r/libreoffice/online/ https://hub.docker.com/r/libreoffice/online/ https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer
ariwilson 8y ago
These don't seem privacy-friendly at all. Many are closed source, many track users to the same or a larger extent than Google.
- pieterhg 8y ago
  Which one exactly? So I can edit/remove them from the list.
ibudiallo 8y ago
I really want to move away from Google Analytics. But I have not found a viable alternative so far. I had settled for Piwik (Now Matomo) but I had to disable it when the server it was hosted on crashed when I received a burst of traffic. GA gives me some good insights but I can live without it if I have an alternative that can safely handle large traffic on a budget.
- deadcoder0904 8y ago
  There is https://simpleanalytics.io https://simpleanalytics.io which you can check if its feasible for you :)
- dvko 8y ago
  Check out Fathom Analytics. It's open-source, modern, only tracks aggregates and can handle up to 20.000 pageviews per second on a cheap $3/month VPS. http://github.com/usefathom/fathom http://github.com/usefathom/fathom There is a hosted version available if you don't want to take care of managing the installation yourself. You can always move to a self-hosted instance later on too, there is no lock-in there.
Razengan 8y ago
It would be helpful — and more of a blow to Google — to tell people how to best make sure their computer never accesses any "phantom" Google services such as Analytics.
kwhitefoot 8y ago
So the score is just the number of people who voted for it? If so then it probably just means that more people are familiar with DDG than Searx, for instance.

96 points by pieterhg 8y ago

Really nice list, I recently switched all my email to Fastmail because I don't want to lose everything if Google decides to. Is there any alternative to Youtube though? I guess it would be video hosting paid by creators, eg Vimeo

Qwertystop 8y ago
PeerTube is trying for it - torrent-based decentralized video platform, uses ActivityPub for things like commenting/sharing so you can comment from (for example) Mastodon or Pleroma or Diaspora. The network isn't that big yet but it has potential.

bdz 8y ago

Why 1Password? Why not KeepassXC for example? (or even Keepass or KepassX) https://keepassxc.org/project/ https://keepassxc.org/project/

pieterhg 8y ago
You can add any you want yourself by clicking "Add Alternative" in the top right!

graylien 8y ago

great work! google is evil?

dvko 8y ago

If this list were named "alternatives to Google products" then I'd say it is a good list. But privacy friendly? How so exactly? There are several closed-source proprietary services on the list, with better (in terms of nearly everything: user base, maturity, feature completeness, ...) open-source alternatives available. To name just a few per category: - Analytics: Matomo (formerly Piwik), Fathom Analytics, OpenWebAnalytics. - Password managers: passwordstore.org, Keepass - Cloud storage: NextCloud, TresorIt

TheGrassyKnoll 8y ago
Encrypted cloud backup: https://spideroak.com https://spideroak.com
- commoner 8y ago
  SpiderOak's desktop client is closed-source. "The SpiderOak desktop backup client is the product of years of a typical startup scramble, and the codebase itself is tightly interwoven with a lot of other moving parts and sensitive information that we cannot release." https://spideroak.support/hc/en-us/articles/115002665263 https://spideroak.support/hc/en-us/articles/115002665263
pieterhg 8y ago
Added those! Thanks :)

faleidel 8y ago

I like the concept. I made something like it for macbooks some time ago at http://nomoremacbook.com/ http://nomoremacbook.com/

pieterhg 8y ago
You were the main inspiration for this! Hope it’s okay I used the name! :)
- faleidel 8y ago
  Use it as you like, I feel like it's a concept worth exploring in all sorts of domains!

dublinben 8y ago

The French organization Framasoft has been maintaining a database of Google alternatives for several years at https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/list/ https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/list/

jansan 8y ago

Not sure how privacy friendly deepl.com is, but it is so much better than Google Translate, at least for the available language pairs. So if it is more privacy friendly than Google Translate, it must be on the list.

asdkhadsj 8y ago

Is Backblaze a Google Drive replacement? I didn't think they had a client/etc. Isn't Google Drive more akin to Dropbox/etc? Which I know Dropbox has potential privacy concerns, but I don't think Backblaze fits these.. to my understanding at least.

Drybones 8y ago

I've been De-Googlfying myself lately as well. I've made a comprehensive list to almost all Google products, which I have screenshotted in the link below: https://my.mixtape.moe/tonyaw.PNG https://my.mixtape.moe/tonyaw.PNG Replacement column is what I personally am using or plan to switch to when I can

pieterhg 8y ago
Thanks for the list, added a few of those incl. Zoho and Nextcloud!

marichards 8y ago

I support the motive, but it appears to have been hijacked to include companies that don't protect privacy. Happy to amend this response if creator finds a way to moderate it, but for instance MixPanel stole usernames and passwords earlier this year so definitely shouldn't be on this kind of list https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/05/mixpanel-passwords/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/05/mixpanel-passwords/ An alternative for those interested might be https://prism-break.org/en/all/ https://prism-break.org/en/all/

pieterhg 8y ago
Thanks, removed MixPanel. Any others you see that don't respect privacy?
- lucideer 8y ago
  I haven't done due diligence and checked each one, so maybe I'm been overly pessimistic, but some choice entries that I very seriously doubt don't track you: Dailymotion, Wordpress, Dropbox, Skyscanner, Here.com... I could go on. Mapbox for example definitely track you, but do provide an opt-out in their API, so some would describe that as "more" privacy friendly. Others may do similar. This seems more like a list of alternatives to Google (which is still incredibly valuable), rather than a list of privacy-friendly alternatives. That's still great though: I'm still happier to have some choice in who tracks me even if all alternatives do.
- commoner 8y ago
  Authy doesn't delete user accounts, despite claiming to do so upon request in their privacy policy. "Why do you refuse to delete accounts? It is my data and I want it to be removed. How can I feel safe about my data if I cannot remove it if I choose not to continue using your service." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9100525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9100525 "Your personal information is generally stored until you advise us to close your Authy account and delete your records, and activity logs may be stored for up to a year for security purposes, or, if there is an ongoing investigation, until that matter is concluded." https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy/authy https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy/authy

quellobiondo 8y ago

Is there any alternative for Google docs?

pieterhg 8y ago
Zoho seems to be the one most commonly mentioned
mackrevinack 8y ago
something that doesnt get enough love is just using something like libreOffice on whatever desktop platform you are on, and then using resilio (or syncthing which is open source) to sync your documents between computers.
commoner 8y ago
LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice Document Server are open-source self-hosted alternatives. https://hub.docker.com/r/libreoffice/online/ https://hub.docker.com/r/libreoffice/online/ https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer

ariwilson 8y ago

These don't seem privacy-friendly at all. Many are closed source, many track users to the same or a larger extent than Google.

pieterhg 8y ago
Which one exactly? So I can edit/remove them from the list.

ibudiallo 8y ago

I really want to move away from Google Analytics. But I have not found a viable alternative so far. I had settled for Piwik (Now Matomo) but I had to disable it when the server it was hosted on crashed when I received a burst of traffic. GA gives me some good insights but I can live without it if I have an alternative that can safely handle large traffic on a budget.

deadcoder0904 8y ago
There is https://simpleanalytics.io https://simpleanalytics.io which you can check if its feasible for you :)
dvko 8y ago
Check out Fathom Analytics. It's open-source, modern, only tracks aggregates and can handle up to 20.000 pageviews per second on a cheap $3/month VPS. http://github.com/usefathom/fathom http://github.com/usefathom/fathom There is a hosted version available if you don't want to take care of managing the installation yourself. You can always move to a self-hosted instance later on too, there is no lock-in there.

Razengan 8y ago

It would be helpful — and more of a blow to Google — to tell people how to best make sure their computer never accesses any "phantom" Google services such as Analytics.

kwhitefoot 8y ago

So the score is just the number of people who voted for it? If so then it probably just means that more people are familiar with DDG than Searx, for instance.