Alternatives to Google and Microsoft Stuff
Over the last few months, I've been on a tear. Trying to reduce the footprint that Google and Microsoft have in my life and increase my privacy. I haven't completely extricated myself from them (and likely never will), but one should never let perfect be the enemy of good! I've made progress and I'm quite pleased with that.
The purpose of this blog post is to list alternatives that I recommend for various apps and services from big tech companies. If you're looking for an alternative to a particular thing, hopefully I'll have it listed here. If not, feel free to reach out to me on Bluesky and I'll help if I can! This won't be in any particular order. I'll include links where I can. I may or may not update this down the road as I find more alternatives.
And to be clear, this post is not sponsored in any way.
Email, VPN, Password Manager, Cloud Storage, Authenticator, and Calendar
I use Proton. You can set up an email for free. I pay for it, personally. There is a risk to putting so many eggs in one basket. If Proton turns evil or becomes insolvent, I'll have to get back on the hunt. But it's working great for me right now.
Microsoft Office / Google Docs
There are 2 primary alternatives for these, though neither have the collaborative capabilities of Docs. You'll have to look further if you need to be able to share and edit documents live with others online.
LibreOffice is probably the most well-known choice here. It's good and it's free. I prefer OnlyOffice. They'll both work great and can do 95% of what Microsoft Office can (you won't be doing advanced stuff like VBA Programming). I slightly prefer the UI of OnlyOffice, but that's personal preference.
Google Search
There are many other search engines out there. Try some out and see if they meet your needs. I used DuckDuckGo for a couple of years, but I found that sometimes it just couldn't find me stuff that I know is out there on the internet.
I've switched to Kagi. This is a search engine you pay for, which may sound crazy at first. But hear me out! Remember how like 15 years ago, you'd go to Google, type in the information you want, and it would just give it to you? That's what Kagi is like. Since you pay for it, they aren't giving you sponsored links to anything. They aren't prioritizing sites that pay them. You pay them, so they give you what you want! It works super well. I've been thrilled with it.
Also, Kagi doesn't give you AI summaries by default. You can request one by clicking the Quick Answer button. Only then will their AI kick in. The exact opposite of having it shoved in front of you like most other search engines.
Notepad
If you use Windows, go to the windows store and look up Notepads. It's just like Notepad used to be, before they tried to make it all fancy and incorporate AI.
Play Store
If you have an Android device, get yourself F-Droid Basic. There are actually several versions of F-Droid out there, which would all be fine to use. I just like Basic. It's an alternative app store dedicated to Free, Open-Source Software (FOSS). If you're looking for a new app, look here first! If there's a FOSS version of something you need, try it out before getting an app that is riddled with ads, tracks your every move, and/or costs money.
Browser
I've used Firefox for years to get away from Google Chrome and its ilk. But Firefox has also been adding AI in as much as it can, which annoys me. To warn you, some website are designed to only work on Chrome-based browsers. Which annoys the hell out of me. So be prepared to occasionally find a site that straight up does not work on Firefox.
On my laptop, I use LibreWolf. On android, I use Fennec. Both of these are just Firefox, but they've stripped out all telemetry and made it privacy focused.
If on MacOS or IOS, I use Orion Browser. It's based on Opera, not Chrome or Firefox. Totally privacy focused. Furthermore, it lets you install extensions from both Chrome and Firefox, so it's super customizable!
Android TV
My smart TV has an android-based OS. Broadly, it works great. There are apps for everything you could need. The downside is that it's full of ads. Because of course it is. Simple solution, use Projectivy. It replaces the UI on the Android TV. It's clean and simple. It has NO ADS! Amazing stuff.
Windows 11
If you have Windows 11 on your computer, immediately run win11debloat. Takes less than 5 minutes. It gets rid of all their AI, spyware, and bloatware. Makes Windows 11 a totally usable OS. On the downside, some people report that Microsoft will reinstall some of this stuff when your OS updates. I haven't personally noticed this, but there's a simple solution. Whenever my computer does a big update, I re-run win11debloat. Again, takes less than 5 minutes.
One day, I'll likely switch to Linux entirely. On my home theater PC (HTPC), I run Bazzite. It's basically SteamOS. Let's me use that PC like it's a video game console. I got a mini PC off ebay for ~$330 and use that. Much cheaper than a Steam Machine (though not as powerful). Runs most games and is great for emulation as well.
For my laptop, I may switch to Zorin one day. I've fiddle around with it a bit. Super easy to switch to from Windows. Has a robust app store that manages all your apps, so you don't have to touch the terminal if you don't want to. Main reason I haven't switched is that Scrivener doesn't have a Linux version (though at least 1 guy on Reddit is trying to make it work).
Google Maps
This is the hardest thing to replace. Google Maps has so much information! You can see every restaurant in your area. See their menus. Pics of the interior, exterior, and the food. You can see the average wait time and how busy it currently is. There isn't a true alternative here, I'm sorry to say.
That said, I've still decided not to use it. Were I on IOS, I'd probably just use Apple Maps. On my android device, I use tomtom. Now, they're still a big tech company. But they're Dutch. The Netherlands takes privacy way more seriously than the U.S. does. I feel much safer with them having my location data than Google.
OpenStreetMaps is another option. It's like Wikipedia but for maps. There are many apps that use it as their base. I fiddled around with a couple, but I wasn't satisfied with the navigation (or the UI). But it may work for you!
Weather
I use Breezy Weather.
Youtube Music
Vivi is free and has no ads.
Youtube
There is no Youtube alternative. But you can make it much more tolerable to use. Delete the app from your phone and use youtube in your browser. Install ublock, SponsorBlock, and DeArrow extensions. Youtube will feel absolutely wonderful to use from now on. No ads. No sponsorships. Fewer clickbait video titles. Bliss.
Ring Camera
Though not from Google or Microsoft, I'd be remiss to not mention my replacement for Ring. They're literally trying to turn the world into a surveillance state. I ripped that thing off my wall as soon as I grasped that. I've switched over to Reolink. They're the only ones I've found that offer comparable products and are not just as evil as Ring. I don't even have my videos on a cloud, just local storage. So they can't use it to surveil by neighbors. They can't hand my footage for to the gestapo, either.
Podcast Aggregator
Google killed their own Podcast app, because they kill any good thing they make. I've switched entirely to AntennaPod. A FOSS alternative that is super easy to use. Highly, highly recommend if you're on Android.