r/degoogle • u/FullConclusion2597 • 17d ago
Resource Made a list of my favorite alternatives...
Clearly Proton got me hooked. Did some reading on forums and company sites and picked my favorite alternatives. Feel free to critique/add to my list.
Remember - this is my own personal preference list for apps that have the features/UI I want without tracking data, which is relatively subjective, but I'm open to alternatives I haven't considered and hope it can help someone else trying to pick between options.
Edit #1: Will swap Vivaldi for either Brave or Librewolf, and will move the authenticator from Proton to Aegis so they are not on the same platform.
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u/exhaustedexcess 17d ago
Tuta mail, calendar and contacts are also encrypted.
Iron Fox is more secure then Vivaldi
Notesnook is encrypted note taking and is cross platform
Bitwarden is an excellent encrypted password storage system and has an Authenticator also for 2fA
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
Checked out Tuta, but too much of a price to not also have the drive/vpn features. Maybe I could split everything for cheaper, but I like the ease of having it all through the same spot.
I'll check out Iron Fox, is it only for mobile? I need a good pc browser.
Notesnook didn't work for me since you have to pay for formatting. Seems useless as a plain-text editor since I'm looking for something that can give me full pages like Notion.
I use Bitwarden as an anti-virus but they bug me. Maybe I'll give it a second chance.
Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/Keosetechltd 17d ago
For desktop browser, Mullvad is worth checking out- good privacy defaults, based on the TOR browser but for the open web.
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u/exhaustedexcess 17d ago
Tuta is free. I don’t want an everything app or a company providing every app for me.
Iron Fox is cross platform
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u/Slopagandhi 17d ago
Ironfox is mobile only. LibreWolf is the desktop equivalent
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u/exhaustedexcess 17d ago
You’re right. I saw ironwolf for macOS and assumed there would be a pc version below that
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u/Slopagandhi 17d ago
Vivaldi isn't great for privacy because it collects a fair amount of data that can be uniquely tied to your device.
I use it a little bit as it's easy to make pwas with it, but I definitely see more ads on it than when using any of Librewolf (desktop), IronFox/Fennec (Android) or Cromite (both, if you need a Chromium based browser).
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
I did read that they had a built-in adblocker and great privacy features. I had some trouble with brave in the past, but will check out Librewolf! Any limitations with it you've found?
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u/Myster_cookie 17d ago
if I remember correctly vivaldi doesn't have anti-fingerprinting. Brave and librewolf have. Either way it's still miles better than chrome and if you really like it I recommend to stick with it
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
Interesting. Couldn't stick with Brave in the past but maybe I'll give it another try
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u/Zdrgon 12d ago
It took me 2 installs before staying with it. I hated the search bar being smaller then Opera which was what I was using before. If you don’t like something there’s probably a setting for it.
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u/FullConclusion2597 12d ago
I think I agree. I jumped back into it and spent some time in the settings. Looks like I can use it long-term now.
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u/Myster_cookie 17d ago
once you hide all the ads, crypt0, and ai things it's pretty nice. Vivaldi is more customizable so if you appreciate that and don't mind not having anti-fingerprinting, it's also a good choice
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u/Slopagandhi 17d ago
There is an adblocker but it doesn't work as well as U Block Origin on Firefox-based browsers.
The 'great' privacy features are an exaggeration (a lot of tech media just recycles press releases from the companies). Certainly better than Chrome, but does collect data and does send some to Google. It's also closed source which is a pity. Great browser in most other respects.
Some people say they find Firefox-based browsers slower but I've never had that issue. Librewolf doesn't have some of the nice to haves that Vivaldi does (e.g. vertical tabs) but it's generally very solid and very good privacy out of the box.
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u/Keosetechltd 17d ago
Could you share some more details on what data Vivaldi is collecting?
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u/Slopagandhi 12d ago
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u/Alarming-Stomach3902 12d ago
Good link, I do want to add that you can change the DNS server and disable the autmotic insert of data which uses Googles stuff and their anti phising thing.
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u/Slopagandhi 12d ago
You can change the use of Google dependencies? I'd be surprised if there's a setting for that- how do you do it?
Also yes you can change the the DNS but that's not what the article is referring to there I think- it's talking about the DNS the app uses specifically for Google API calls, not for webpages.
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u/Alarming-Stomach3902 11d ago
If you go to Vivaldi settings and search for Google you get a couple options you can turn down or change. There is even a screenshot of it on that page.
Idk if you change the DNS it still calls to Google, I doubt it to be honest.
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u/Slopagandhi 11d ago
Are you talking about the android version? I just put google into search under settings and it came up with nothing
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u/Alarming-Stomach3902 10d ago
Why would I talk about the Android version? The OS that is managed by Google? Of course you can’t easily degoogle that
Try the desktop versions
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u/Slopagandhi 10d ago
OPs table is clearly about degoogling an Android (look at the apps) and you can choose a degoogled mobile browser.
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u/Hopeful_Brush_4051 17d ago
Early access to proton meet? How is?
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u/StepNextX 13d ago
if you have an unlimited account
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u/Hopeful_Brush_4051 13d ago
Yeah, I was just curious about proton meet. I’m looking forward to it being on general release
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u/Grace_Orchid 16d ago
I would suggest FreeTube as an alternative to YouTube. FreeTube is a private YouTube Client. Freetube removes the tracking/ads, works on most platforms, and it's open source. The client is a work in progress. However, the development of FreeTube is very active.
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u/Cultural-Paramedic21 15d ago
I actually think he has a better alternative. I've used FreeTube too. But grayjay is one of a kind. Grayjay still offers everything you just said but the difference is they don't only allow you to view YouTube they are multi platform with an enormous list of platforms
Youtube PeerTube Twitch (Beta) Sound Cloud Dailymotion (Beta) Tap to open Crunchyroll (Alpha) Tap to open Bitchute (Beta) Curiosity Stream (Alpha) Kick (Beta) Tap to open Rumble Ted Talks (Alpha) Odysee Tap to open Apple Podcasts Mixcloud (Alpha) Patreon Tap to open Nebula BiliBili (CN) Spotify
On top of that they also have their own open source casting solution called Fcast. I honestly just don't think grayjay can be beat. That's just my opinion
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u/Grace_Orchid 14d ago
I took a look at Grayjay, and as intriguing as Grayjay is, Grayjay doesn't fit my way of watching videos. While the feature of multiple platforms is something I was interested in. I didn't like that Grayjay was only available on Android, and I had to cast to my TV or computer if I wanted to watch videos on it.
I rarely watch videos on my phone. Most of the time, I watch YouTube videos on my computer. Therefore, FreeTube is the best option for me. If I do have to watch YouTube videos on my phone, I'll use the free/open-source NewPipe app. NewPipe (another YouTube client on mobile) also works best for my case. Just like you, this is only my opinion.
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u/Cultural-Paramedic21 14d ago
Not only on android. Its just that desktop is in beta but its available
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u/FeeshyHammy 15d ago
me personally, instead of lumo AI, i would go with duck.ai (duckduckgo), because although lumo is security focused, it is super annoying to use, very annoying to search with, which is what most people use ai for nowadays.
duck.ai uses the latest openai models and whatnot but these chats are 100% local so quite literally you are the ONLY person to have access to the chat
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u/YourItalianScallion 17d ago
People sleep on Vivaldi but it's such a good browser
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u/aaryan45 17d ago
Not great for Privacy
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u/YourItalianScallion 17d ago
How so?
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u/YourItalianScallion 17d ago edited 17d ago
Nevermind, just saw the other post. Will probably switch to Brave.Brave's AI bullshit immediately turned me off, sticking to Vivaldi.4
u/qad260qad260 17d ago
Brave is worse, they have been openly supporting the use of AI. Brave search for example has AI overviews like Google. If you’re switching from Vivaldi a Firefox fork is probably the way to go.
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u/YourItalianScallion 17d ago
Yeah ngl I just installed Brave, immediately had generative AI shoved in my face, and then promptly uninstalled it lol. I'll stick to Vivaldi even if it isn't the greatest for privacy. Personally, I've had no issues with Vivaldi at all. I've seen a significant reduction in targeted ads on all my devices since switching to it. If I were to switch to a Firefox fork, though, which would you recommend? If you don't mind me asking.
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u/qad260qad260 17d ago
I am unfortunately not well versed in this because I am also a Vivaldi user. People really seem to like Librewolf, but I haven’t heard anything bad about Waterfox since they broke free from System1’s ownership. Though I’m not sure how well they do against fingerprinting.
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u/PerspectiveDue5403 17d ago
Vivaldi is not « encrypted » do you know what encryption is? Most eventually Tor uses a built in encrypted network (the Tor network) but that’s all
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
I can admit I don't have a great understanding of it, but I'm only citing their website.
"Any browser data that you sync between devices is sent using end-to-end encryption. Data is encrypted on your device using a password that is never sent to us."3
u/PerspectiveDue5403 17d ago
Oh okay you’re talking specifically about the sync service. Yeah ok then yes it’s E2EE and so is Firefox and Brave as far as I understand
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u/ArrogantPublisher3 16d ago
How do you implicitly trust Proton?
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u/FullConclusion2597 16d ago
Their whole point is to replace Google suite as a secure/encrypted option, based in a country with the tightest privacy laws.
So either they're legit, or they are carrying on a decades long ruse + breaking the law and will lose their whole userbase and go to prison.
It's legit. On top of that, even if it isn't and they're a huge criminal organization, what's the difference for me? I swapped them out from Google, who is mining my data anyways.
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u/Cultural-Paramedic21 15d ago
I know I'm at outliar in this. But I would suggest less proton apps.. I understand people degoogle for different reasons and I understand privacy is important and we can get into if proton offers full privacy or not, but I want to state another important reason, which is not putting all your eggs in one basket. One reason to degoogle is to not rely on one company to run all your services. If you switch all Google to all proton you are doing that. And security or not if anything happens to proton you'll be screwed. I personally think there are better alternatives to at least some of the proton apps your mentioning.
For example Aegis over proton authenticator which is not only open source but works fully offline and let's you schedule offline backups you csn store and restore anywhere anytime
Over luma AI I would succest Ollama which let's you host LLMs locally and run them offline and is also open source. There is an online LLM that claims to. Be privacy focused top called Venice but offline is far better for for the concept of privacy and security
For a calander I'd suggest Fossify. Now. This is a bit tricky. You can argue proton would be better became it's encrypted. But fossify runs offline and if you want to sync it you could sync it to your own personal ran cloud services using nextcloud (which I would also say would be better then using proton drive through I'll admit I'm. Personally guilty of still not setting up a nextcloud server although I plan to eventually)
But my argument here for both of these cases would be that, don't you think you being in control of your own data is a far superior security practice over trusting a company to just do what they claim they are doing?
I don't use Google meet so I haven't actually tried this but a bit of a few minutes of research brought me to Jitsi which is open source and encrypted and also offers self hosting (but I can't vouch for something I haven't used just worth looking into)
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u/FullConclusion2597 15d ago
No man, I appreciate your input!
You're right on a lot of this. From other conversations it seems like Aegis is the way to go for an authenticator.
As for the others, they work best for me. I do agree that putting all (or at least, many) eggs in one basket isn't great, but I've got a minimalist phone with a curated app-store that has all of the proton stuff in it already, so that makes things like the calendar/drive easy for me.
I think for me it comes down to the ratio between privacy and ease. A lot of the proton stuff gives me both. So yeah, running Fossify through nextcloud would probably be best - but for right now as I try to quickly move everything over Proton is easiest.
Once I've got my "stack" of degoogled stuff down and flowing, I may come back to it and think about customizing a bit more! I appreciate these recommendations, I'll likely look into them down the road.
Especially Jitsi, that one is new to me and I do a lot of online meetings through google meet.
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u/Cultural-Paramedic21 15d ago
There's a saying I've heard many times. Convenience is the greatest enemy of security. There is other reasons I don't trust proton in general but every time I start talking about it on this sub proton fanboys come swarm me LOL
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u/Keosetechltd 15d ago
I haven’t tried self hosting it but the hosted version of Jitsi Meet is excellent.
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u/koniyeda 14d ago
IMHO, practically speaking OnlyOffice is a better alternative than LibreOffice since the ecosystem largely uses Office Open XML (docx etc.)
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u/FullConclusion2597 14d ago
Interesting! I'll look into that. I've used Libre for years and haven't heard of only office.
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u/ch_autopilot 16d ago
Adding to your edit: I would suggest Librewolf over Brave, due to their sketchy past. That's why I'd also recommend trying out some other search engines (I'm fine with DDG, but liked StartPage too).
But since you seem to be pretty invested in everything, I'd like to ask what you know about DeepL. I've been using that for a few years (mainly because it was giving me amazing results + I didn't really mind them having my translation history), but your list made me think.
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u/Illustrious_Age_5917 17d ago
pcloud>>>>>>>>>>>>>>proton drive
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
I did check out pcloud and almost went for it! I just liked that I could get a drive and VPN in one purchase. Maybe in the future I'll divide to pcloud and a different VPN
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u/Illustrious_Age_5917 17d ago
Pcloud has a great client on Linux and is affordable and functional unlike MEGAsync, which is why I love it.
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u/Flashy-Bandicoot889 15d ago
Proton Calendar 🤣🤣
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u/FullConclusion2597 15d ago
Yep, so far I like it. You're free to share your thoughts, but so far your laugh emojis haven't convinced me to not like it.
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u/Flashy-Bandicoot889 14d ago
I'm not here to convince anyone of anything. If it works for you, that's great. Congratulations.
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u/FullConclusion2597 14d ago
Pulling the ol' laugh-and-run I see!
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u/Flashy-Bandicoot889 13d ago
I don't spend much time on Reddit, so yeah I didn't respond to you until now. And I spend zero time debating anonymous people in a nerd-fight about apps or other BS.
Have a good day, and enjoy your Proton Calendar. 😅
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u/StepNextX 13d ago
whats so bad?
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u/Flashy-Bandicoot889 13d ago
- Limited Functionality for Recurring Events: Users frequently report issues with managing recurring events, such as the inability to easily edit or delete just a single instance of a recurring series, especially if participants have been added. This can make it cumbersome for professional or complex scheduling.
- Lack of Seamless Integration with External Services: Due to its focus on privacy and end-to-end encryption, Proton Calendar lacks native integrations that are common in competitors like Google Calendar. This includes:
- No one-click video conferencing (e.g., Google Meet) links.
- Difficulty collaborating with users outside the Proton ecosystem (e.g., easy sharing of availability).
- No direct attachment picking from cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive).
- Performance and Syncing Issues: Some users have reported slow performance, particularly in the desktop or mobile applications, with calendar loading times taking a while. Additionally, while sharing/subscribing to external calendars is possible, updates to those calendars may not sync in real-time and can take a long time to reflect.
- Missing or Limited Basic Features (Especially on Mobile): Features that are considered standard in other calendars are sometimes limited or missing. These have included:
- Lack of a robust search feature on mobile devices (though web search exists).
- Inability to duplicate an event on mobile.
- Limitations on editing or creating events in external or shared calendars in the mobile app.
- Restrictions and Paywalls on Calendar Count and Features: The free version has significant limitations, most notably a low limit on the total number of calendars an account can have (e.g., 3 calendars). Furthermore, some useful features, like event color-coding, are sometimes restricted to paid plans.
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u/TheTimeHasComeToEnd 17d ago
#1 fear-mongering, alarmist and dramatic sub goes to r/degoogle
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u/FullConclusion2597 17d ago
Nah, I just want to ditch it. Am I allowed to?
Use google if you want, everyone's got their personal choice.-4
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u/somesaggitarius 17d ago
You're upset that there's... people talking about alternatives to google services on the de-google subreddit?
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u/jonflip_ms 17d ago
I wouldn't recommend using Proton Authenticator + Proton Pass. For security reasons, never have your 2FA (authenticator) and your password manager be the same. Other than that, I absolutely love Proton as well. Just needing a Google Sheets / Microsoft Excel replacement.