[Updated 2025-05] Where to start? (feddit.org)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by a887dcd7a@feddit.org to c/buyfromeu@feddit.org

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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://goeuropean.org/
- https://buy-european.net/ subscribe to !buyeuropean@feddit.uk to talk to the maker.
- https://github.com/uscneps/Awesome-European-Tech
- 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:

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
- https://european-alternatives.eu/category/search-engines
- For those capable self-hosted search engines on awesome-selfhosted

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
- proton.me
Further infos
- https://european-alternatives.eu/category/email-providers

e-Mail clients

EU
- vivaldi Browser with, calender and feed reader.
Considered friendly
- Thunderbird
- K9
Further infos

Instant Messaging Apps

EU
- https://simplex.chat/
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
- mullvad.net
Considered friendly:
- proton.me

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:
- https://european-alternatives.eu/category/navigation-apps
- https://buy-european.net/category/navigation-apps

Shopping

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[-] buyeuropean@feddit.org 5 points 7 months ago

Maybe we could switch the link to the frontpage instead of the "categories" subpage? We added a 'Search' button on the front page as the main 'entrance' in order for people to more quickly find what they are looking for. Thanks for all your work for the movement!

[-] a887dcd7a@feddit.org 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Mm. I did that on purpose, so a newcomer sees all the categories and possibilites eventhough he is not yet searchig for something specific.

After all it is “Where to start?“ and not about a specific search.

[-] buyeuropean@feddit.org 3 points 7 months ago

Exactly, as it is not a specific search it still instantly shows the European products/companies. If you use the search instead you can also search for the Non-European equivalent you want to see the alternatives for. :) So you could search for "YouTube" and get to the page where the YouTube alternatives are shown. But I mean it doesn't really matter that much - whatever you prefer.