this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Buy European

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21
Software alternatives (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by qaz@lemmy.world to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
37 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Credit to https://www.reddit.com/user/lukakopajtic/

There might be some changes that could improve it further:

  • ~~Remove Brave~~
  • ~~Maybe add Signal; It's easier than Element, but it's also centralized~~
  • Stop suggesting Linux Mint specifically
  • Recommend Hosted Nextcloud
  • ~~Add GrapheneOS~~
  • Maybe add Delta chat
  • ~~Maybe remove Bluesky~~
  • ~~Remove Stremio and add Jellfyin (even though it's selfhosted and not a direct equivalent)~~
  • ~~Add ente because Immich is selfhosted~~
  • ~~Add aurora~~
  • ~~Add SearxNG~~
  • Add SimpleX
  • Add lichess
  • Add pCloud

Any other suggestions?

Temporary improved version:

From To Compromise
X, Threads Mastodon Bluesky
Instagram Pixelfed
YouTube PeerTube ReVanced (just blocks adds)
Reddit Lemmy
Netlix, Disney+ ๐Ÿ”จ Jellyfin
Google Meet, Zoom Jitsi Meet
Google Docs Etherpad
Google Search ๐Ÿ”จ SearxNG Kagi, Ecosia
Google Drive Nextcloud pCloud, filen, Proton Drive
Google Photos, iCloud Immich Ente
Google Chrome Librewolf, Firefox Ungoogled-chromium
All messaging apps Element (matrix) Signal
Google Home, Amazon Alexa Home Assistant
Play Store F-droid, Aurora
Google Android, iOS LineageOS, GrapheneOS
Windows, MacOS Linux Mint

๐Ÿ”จ = Self-Hosted only (requires running a server)

all 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[โ€“] m2Lm@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

This is the alternatives that I use:

X - Mastodon | YouTube - PC Youtube with uBlock Origin, android ReVanced | Netlix, Disney+ - Stremio (With VPN!) | Google Search - Qwant ~~Startpage~~ | Google Drive - Proton Drive | Google Chrome - Mullvad, Librewolf and Brave (with crypto stuf disabled) | Messaging apps - Session (<3) | Google Android - LineageOS | Windows, MacOS - Linux Mint or Fedora with KDE | Microsoft Office - LibreOffice | VPN - Mullvad (or proton vpn) | Google Maps - Wego.here.com or en.mapy.cz | Google Maps Navigation (Waze) - Sygic or TomTom AmiGO | Google Translate - DeepL | Google Gmail - Tutanota or Proton Mail | Google Authenticator - Ente Auth or Aegis | Password Manager - Bitwarden or KeePass | ChatGPT - Mistral Le Chat |

[โ€“] qaz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Google Search - Syartpage

Do you mean startpage?

[โ€“] m2Lm@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Yes typing mistake, I fixt it.

[โ€“] m2Lm@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I'm using if for 6 months and I don't miss google search. And the option to open search results in "Visit in Anonymous View" is something that I love.

[โ€“] mrhenry77@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Startpage

thanks, i love startpage!

[โ€“] m2Lm@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I actually changed it, in Reddit Buy European they mention that Startpage was sold in 2019 to US company. So I changed it to Qwant (French) it also respects privacy and it's based in Europe.

[โ€“] mrhenry77@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

damn, but thanks for letting me know

[โ€“] LepaVida@feddit.uk 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I want to see Koofr up there among the clouds.

[โ€“] DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

instead of matrix id say SimpleX-chat it uses tor a lot more

[โ€“] azalty@jlai.lu 2 points 2 months ago

Element is owned by a company and likes to collect a shit load of data... i'll never understand people that vouch for matrix

[โ€“] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Bluesky absolutely belongs in the left column.

It's not Transparent, Decentralized or Open Source.

It is a centralized social media network exactly like Twitter. The only 'open' part is a protocol that lets you interact with their, private, service.

The fact that it is 'open source' is largely a red herring, if Bluesky decides to no longer support their protocol then it is worthless. It cannot simply be forked and remain useful.

Bluesky is simply engaging in a PR campaign to steal customers from Twitter. It is exactly the same as Twitter in all of the ways that matter. It can be purchased by Musk or manipulated by the existing owner in the same way as Twitter.

Making a Bluesky account is simply trusting a new corporation to not act like a corporation in the future... which is a pretty naive position.

Ecosia is not open source, or decentralized. It is a private search engine based in Germany that provides search results from the major search engines and sells advertisements via Yahoo and Microsoft ad networks. These ad networks are part of Surveillance Capitalism and earn their money primarily by spying on you, collating your data and selling it/using it to place ads.

Stremio is largely a piece of software used to funnel people into paying for monthly for pirate streaming services. It's not getting rid of Netflix or Disney+, it's giving you the option of paying Russian or North Korean supported cybergangs instead of Netflix for access to streaming content.

The real open source alternative is Jellyfin. Then using qBittorrent along with Sonarr and Radarr to self-host your own media server.

The other suggestions are mostly okay with minor gripes.

  • They could add GrapheneOS as an Android alternative.
  • Linux Mint is not a bad option but 'What Linux Distro should we recommend to new people' is a contentious topic in the community, Mint is fine but there are other options (EndeavourOS is Arch Linux installed with the Calamares graphical installer and some sane options for a desktop PC, btw)
  • While Signal isn't 'open source'. It is, for the moment, a secure option that doesn't require a lot of user knowledge to setup. It is a vastly superior choice than using social media for messaging without requiring a lot of technical knowledge on the user's part.
[โ€“] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Suggesting linux mint specifically is good. Linux is overwhelming to new users, don't give them choice paralysis too.

[โ€“] Mexigore@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Lichess instead of chess(dot)com.

Thanks to another post in this community I found out about and it is great.

  • Open source
  • No ads
  • unlimited puzzels from real games
  • No constant message to buy premium
  • All the finances are public

You can donate to the project, if you have the means and enjoy the app please do.

[โ€“] CameronDev@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago

Lots of these are still American, and Bluesky isnt any-less of a walled garden, they just haven't reached enshitification-critical-mass yet.

[โ€“] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

OP, quite a few of these are still American, some open source, some not. It's more like a generic list of alternatives to mainstream.

[โ€“] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

When it's FOSS it doesn't matter so much where they're based, fortunately

[โ€“] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 1 points 3 months ago

BlueSky and Brave for sure aren't FOSS.

[โ€“] youngalfred@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Revanced is just a cracked YouTube app isn't it?

[โ€“] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes it is, if you want something different there is Newpipe, Tubular (with sponsor block and returndislike) , or Freetube. Probably others as well.

None of these let you login, if that is something you need.

[โ€“] Mr_fuzzy@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

Don't forget grayjay

[โ€“] Yuriq@feddit.rocks 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Yeet Brave & element. add jabber and irc. Swap mint 4 fedora atomic.

[โ€“] sevenOfKnives@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

signal is a good option for messaging. it is technically american, but i feel like FOSS projects should generally get a pass.

also, as an american who is very not okay with what our (russia's) government (puppet) is doing, wouldn't supporting non-american businesses mean paying the tariffs and supporting the oligarchs? i'm not really sure what us yanks can do besides just trying not to spend ANY money.

[โ€“] amzd@lemmy.world -1 points 3 months ago

Signal is extremely expensive, they pay $15m+ to Google and Amazon because they donโ€™t self-host so around half of their donations go directly to tech oligarchy

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Maybe add Signal; Itโ€™s easier than Element, but itโ€™s also centralized

signal runs on amazon servers. Anything that can't self host and isn't federate isn't worth it. Matrix (and element) fill this requirement. But IMHO, the best is XMPP where you can self-host or use federated servers located in other countries.

Maybe add Delta chat

Delta chat is basically email.

Remove Stremio

Why? Because it's torrents?

Other alternatives would be viaplay or britbox. Unfortunately there's no legal alternative that's available in all europe.

Add aurora

Aurora is just a front-end for google playstore. You should add f-droid

[โ€“] adbenitez@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Delta chat is basically email.

and how is that exactly a problem? the protocol is email, but email done right is actually good and fast, as it can be tested if you actually try out the app. The new chatmail servers are optimized for chatting, the main reason classic email providers suck is because they have to deal with spam and arbitrary decisions like gray-listing etc

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Email isn't a good protocol for instant messaging (it wasn't designed for real time communication and it lacks some features like typing indicators or voice/video calls)

[โ€“] adbenitez@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

it is pointless to talk in theory without actually trying things out, besides the app doesn't have to do only email, in fact it already has p2p support for real-time that can be used for now inside the https://webxdc.org/ mini-apps, and might be used for calls in the future, or just use WebRTC for calls, one of the mini-apps in the store "Live Chat" already has typing indicators btw. The app already has Jitsi Meet invitations integration.

Chatting in Delta Chat with chatmail feels just as fast as WhatsApp, Telegram etc. sometimes even faster depending on the chatmail server you use

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The app already has Jitsi Meet invitations integration.

That's cool!

I'm not going to change my IM app, because i'm happy with, but it's nice to know of alternatives.

[โ€“] pathief@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If everything is e2e encrypted do servers actually matter?

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

yes. Metadata. some protocols leak more info than the others.

Also servers in only one place (institution), only makes it easier for the government to go to that place and seize them.

[โ€“] pathief@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And what metadata is Signal leaking? As far as I know even their notifications are not sending the message.

The government seizing an entire batch of amazon servers seems unrealistic, but the data would be encrypted anyway. Do they even store messages on servers, anyway?

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

And what metadata is Signal leaking?

We don't know. We don't have access to what's running on their servers. (yes i know that the source code is available, but there's no way to check if that's the same thing running on the servers). And this is a problem for me: i have to trust a walled garden.

The government seizing an entire batch of amazon servers seems unrealistic

Usually the government goes there a just takes whatever is in the rack they want. Screw the legal business that are there. That's what happened with the pirate bay raid. If the US government wants to shut it down. It just needs to knock on the amazon door.

the data would be encrypted anyway. Do they even store messages on servers, anyway?

The problem is that you have to trust them. You have to trust a chain of organizations based in the US. Signal pays millions (who pays for this? i have my doubts that monthly donations will pay for this forever) to amazon for the servers. So using them and sending them money is the same as giving money to amazon.

If you are fine with these risks, then use it. Better using signal than using messenger and whatsapp.

[โ€“] pathief@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

We donโ€™t know. We donโ€™t have access to whatโ€™s running on their servers.

Aren't they audited, tho?

(yes i know that the source code is available, but thereโ€™s no way to check if thatโ€™s the same thing running on the servers)

But isn't this true for most services, such as Matrix as well? Nothing assures that a Matrix instance is running the exact code on git.

Usually the government goes there a just takes whatever is in the rack they want.

But if your threat model is the goverment, aren't all services affected as well? If they want to take element's servers, they will. If you selfhost and they want to take your server, they will?

The problem is that you have to trust them.

I feel like in communication apps you're always going to have to rely on trust. Even if you self-host in a Swiss server, with the best intentions and security practices... Other people are going to have to trust you. You trust yourself, but others might not.

[โ€“] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf -1 points 3 months ago

But isnโ€™t this true for most services, such as Matrix as well? Nothing assures that a Matrix instance is running the exact code on git.

It's valid for any server. But for signal messaging is even worse than the competitors because it's centralized.

If you selfhost and they want to take your server, they will?

Correct. With signal there's no way to escape the US government, but with matrix (or other federated protocol) you can make it harder, so it won't be worth it the resources spent. You can also host it where the US government don't have any reach.

Even if you self-host in a Swiss server, with the best intentions and security practicesโ€ฆ Other people are going to have to trust you. You trust yourself, but others might not.

But who is more trustworthy? The US government or the swiss government?

Also, the point is to avoid american services. Signal is an american service.