WhatsApp --------> Signal (5% of the time, some friends are really starting to use that), XMPP (0.5% - seldomly enter for some groups, but no one is using this, sadly), Briar (0% of the time - literally not a single soul there. The concept is nice, since that’s why I’m still having that installed, but that’s the only reason I keep it. Getting people on XMPP seems easier than this imo)

Signal is still american and runs in amazon servers. They also lose money. Sooner or later they’ll start to sell premium features and will bloat the app.

Briar is now in maintenance mode.

https://briarproject.org/news/2026-maintenance-mode/

Yay, another person using the Fediverse! That is always nice, it’s so amazing that people from different services hosted in so many places can communicate almost seamlessly!

As for communication stuff, Signal is quite good. Don’t let perfection become the enemy of good, it’s a hell of a lot better than WhatsApp and has the security audits to show for it. I would encourage more people to use XMPP (and for larger communities, Matrix) since you aren’t reliant on a central server (hosted in the U.S.) and a single client! All are better than being under the thumb of Facebook though.

Yay for the Firefox-based browsers! LibreWolf is awesome, though I personally am currently using Floorp.

Huh, I never knew that DeepL and SoundCloud were German! The more you know. I do prefer doing both translation (“Offline Translator” on F-Droid and the built-in translation feature on Firefox based browsers is very good!) and music (headphone jack forever!) locally though.

If you need other email recommendations, I know mailbox.org and posteo (both German 🇩🇪) are highly regarded, and if you’re fine with us Aussies 🇦🇺, Fastmail is awesome too!

The KeePass ecosystem is truly awesome, as is AntennaPod!

Have not heard of Bolt, will look into it, looks very cool (and Estonian 🇪🇪!)

Linux is the GOAT, and wish you all the best on mobile Linux! It’s so cool that Linux phones actually becoming a feasible alternative for many people (desktop Linux has been amazing for ages, especially with Proton making gaming awesome too)

And yay for supporting local businesses!

Thank you for this writeup!

Next time, please format the post to be more readable, it would be really nice if you did! (unless Frendica’s formatting is different? I dunno, but on Lemmy/Piefed it looks like one big glob of a paragraph EDIT: this appears to be an issue with the Lemmy/Piefed mobile apps, on the website it works fine. Weird!)

You can use " - " to create lists, and new paragraphs need a newline in between (e.g. line 1: paragraph, line 2: empty, line 3: paragraph). Something like this maybe:

Hello, people. I managed to settle on a few alternatives hosted/created in Europe, and I decided to make this post to serve as an inspiration for others into picking European alternatives to American Big Tech. I will also mention how close I am to fully commit using them completely. Here we go:

• Facebook ------> Friendica (99% of the time - I noticed it’s been weeks since I last accessed Facebook. Down from pretty much all the time at its peak)
• Instagram -------> Friendica and the Fediverse, via Friendica (75% of the time - I still have friends sending me reels and stuff, and nowadays, it looks like new people are more likely to connect with you on Instagram. However, I am aware of who owns that thing and how addicting it is, so I am trying to limit its usage as best as I can. I did create a pictures-only circle to compensate)
• Reddit -------> The Fediverse, via Friendica (70% of the time - Reddit still has native content for my own language and the old Reddit interface which makes it sane enough to use - even though the content gets more and more garbage. I created a circle called “Frontpage” on Friendica that I seldomly visit)
• YouTube -------> PeerTube, via Friendica (5% of the time I guess - YouTube has this talent of getting you through rabbit holes, and the content creators are paid, unlike on the Fediverse, where some PeerTube instances actually charge you to put their videos there, so probably not that enticing for them. Shout-out to some of the YouTubers I do follow who moved here though).
• WhatsApp --------> Signal (5% of the time, some friends are really starting to use that), XMPP (0.5% - seldomly enter for some groups, but no one is using this, sadly), Briar (0% of the time - literally not a single soul there. The concept is nice, since that’s why I’m still having that installed, but that’s the only reason I keep it. Getting people on XMPP seems easier than this imo)
• Goodreads --------> Bookwyrm (100% - fuck that shithole Bezos who owns Amazon and doesn’t give a crap on this platform)
• IMDB ----------> Moviebuff (100% - yes, that is a federated alternative to IMDB and Letterboxd; also fuck that shithole Bezos who owns Amazon and doesn’t give a crap on this platform)
• Last.fm --------> Libre.fm (40-50% I guess - great platform. Not so good when it comes to certain features, but shout-out to Matt Lee for keeping the lights on for so long, and for continuing to do so)
• Geocaching.com -------> opencaching.ro (0% of the time - sadly had no time to look for caches anymore. Bummer. I’d love to log something)
• Google Maps ---------> Organic Maps (60% of the time - in process of changing for CoMaps - the clanker-free version of Organic Maps, sorry), InfoTB (40% of the time - this is the local transit app. It is proprietary as fuck but since it is made by my local transit agency I can be 100% sure it’s gonna work properly and be more up-to-date than even Google Maps. And there are plenty of missing features from Google Maps itself compared to this afaik)
• Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box ---------> Nextcloud (99.9% of the time - I still have data there, but I seldomly use these. Also there’s no Linux client, so eff them), pCloud and Filen (whenever I want to transfer something larger - haven’t committed to storing all the stuff there. Will need to do some cleanup through my cloud storage accounts too), Mega (50% of the time - larger stuff goes there; got my account when they offered 50 GB for free)
• Google Contacts, also on Microsoft and Yahoo -------> Nextcloud contacts (65% let’s say - new contacts go there. Need to do some purge on the others whenever I have the time)
• Google Calendar ---------> Nextcloud calendar (10% of the time - have to move some recurring events there, which are 90% of how I use that service tbh; also need to do some cleanup)
• Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo -------> Eclipso mail (0% of the time - feature-wise seems good enough for me, but just like in the other cases, I need to do some cleanup - need some time to spare; I am thinking of leaving yahoo for good out of the other 3; I may leave the other two as well if I find a good aliasing service. IDK, thinking how to move things forward)
• Keepass (100% of the time - never used another password manager; used one of my cloud providers for syncing)
• Google Photos -------> My own laptop, backed up to an external hard drive (100% of the time - cannot get any more European than that) - I use Shotwell for organizing stuff
• Google Keep ---------> Nextcloud Notes (100% of the time); in the past I used Zettel Notes on Android, now I am only keeping it to read articles offline
• Microsoft OneNote --------> Nextcloud Notes (0% of the time - I need to move out some of the notes from there)
• Google Translate --------> DeepL Translate (100% of the time - never seen another product that was literally on par with the American product - even better); also I am looking for some dictionaries to use locally with Goldendict; I do have some, but not enough
• Chrome --------> Librewolf (100% of the time)
• Microsoft Office ---------> LibreOffice (100% of the time when I’m opening any document)
• AntennaPod (100% of the time - never used anything else for podcasting; currently syncing my podcasts with Nextcloud)
• Spotify --------> SoundCloud (0% of the time currently, have used it extensively in the past; this is pretty much the only service that I accept as streaming), I also currently mostly buy music, so most of the time I am listening offline (let’s say 100% of the time); there’s also Nextcloud music installed on one of the servers I’m on.
• Netflix ---------> local cinema (100% of the time - yes, I do have such a thing. Better to support your local business).
• Uber ---------> Bolt (100% of the time), I’m also using the public transport, and I’ve started riding my bike more.
• Windows --------> Linux (100% of the time - switched since almost 10 years ago; that shit belongs to the dumpster).
• Android ----------> Sailfish OS (90% of the time - wow, that’s such a fantastic system if you manage to around some of its shortcomings; can’t wait for the 5.3 version, that will have broader support for Android banking apps such as Revolut. Can’t wait for it!). Of course, I am using the new Jolla Phone, so another point for a European smartphone.
• Mastercard, Visa ---------> RoPay (0% of the time - it’s a recently launched thing in my country. How the hell does that shit even work?!? I tried to use it twice at a self-checkout in Auchan, and it was just not working), Wero, other European solutions (???% - the idea behind them is good, but those are not even available in my country, what the hell?!?).
• Amazon -------> eMag (30% of the time - Amazon is not even present in my country. But we fortunately have the same shitty version of it that tries to sell everything called eMag), brick&mortar stores (70% of the time I guess), I’m aware that I’m privileged to live in a big city, so I have plenty of options available, but if you do have the opportunity as well, why not go take a breath of fresh air on your way there.
• McDonald’s, KFC, other fast food chains -----> Hesburger (10% of the time - meh food but at more affordable prices), shawarma places (5% of the time - yes, there’s plenty of them here, but don’t want to spoil myself too much), pastry shops (are they called like this in English) such as Luca or the local mom&pop ones (10% of the time, Luca expanded into Poland too, that shit is good for a snack), regular restaurants (50% of the time).

And that’s pretty much it, I guess? If there’s anything missing it means I have found no alternative to it or haven’t thought of it. By any chance, did I miss something though? And how do you fare with your usage on European alternatives? Did you find your own Euro-Stack? Do you miss something yourself from it?

Signal (5% of the time, some friends are really starting to use that

Not a European provider, it’s hosted in the US and run by a US-American organisation.

Linux

Is it truly European if it has contributors all around the world? :p

XMPP (0.5% - seldomly enter for some groups, but no one is using this, sadly),

It’s used a lot, you just have to find the people using it. Consider putting your ID somewhere other people can see it, like your profile or website. You’ll be suprised who contacts you that you never thought might be an XMPP user.

There’s so much going on, I can barely keep up with all the group chats and I also do have a lot of contacts. It takes a while for the contact list to grow. Signal finds contacts automatically, but as that’s not really a thing with XMPP, you just have to find out who has an XMPP ID. ;)