I have updated this article in 2026.
Reasons for Alternatives to Google
Zero trust principles used against you mean Google can lock you out of your account and access to your cloud data and 2-factor-authentication at any time, effectively locking you out of GitHub and online banking as well. Zero trust against Google and any other such provider is a necessary and logical consequence.
Without relinquishing comfort and modern interoperability, that means you have and know and prefer alternatives, back up all essential data, but still use common commodities where it facilitates communication and business without directly compromising your sovereignty.
Alternatives to Google as a search engine π
-
Ecosia π©πͺ
-
DuckDuckGo π¦
- Wolfram Alpha
-
startpage.com (thanks @patricktingen) for suggesting!)
-
MetaGer (German non-profit meta search engine) π©πͺ
-
(Meta)Searx (thanks @vivekkj)
-
Qwant (thanks @dlepenven)
-
Bing by Microsoft
- using site search forms and browsing documentation sites and man pages
Maps and Navigation πΊοΈ
-
Treeday.net π³
- Open Street Map
-
OsmAnd (Open Street Map Android client with offline option)
-
mapy.cz (also based on Open Street Map, with a very useful Android app, especially for hiking in Europe) π¨πΏ
- maps.me ("maps with me")
-
Sygic π¨πΏ
-
bike citizens π²
-
komoot (German) hiking community with navigation option
...
Calendar, Contact Sync, Documents π
-
owncloud βοΈ
-
Nextcloud (thanks @vivekkj) βοΈ
-
WEchange.de π©πͺ
-
cal.com (formerly known as Calendso)
-
Mega.NZ (thanks @webbureaucrat) π³πΏ
- skiff.org
- Disroot.org
- Proton mail / calendar
-
LibreOffice + Thunderbird π¦ (offline *)
Alternatives to Google Hardware
- Fairphone π³π± instead of Google Pixel smartphone
- Shiftphone π©πͺ instead of Google Pixel smartphone
- Tuxedo π©πͺπ§π» Linux laptop instead of Google Chromebook
Alternatives to Google AI Agents π€
- Claude and other Anthropic services πΊπΈ
- OpenAI πΊπΈ
- Perplexity πΊπΈ
- Le Chat by Mistral π«π·
- Ecosia AI π©πͺ
- DuckDuckGo AI π¦
- Deep Seek π¨π³
- Apertus π¨π
- Thaura πͺ
- You locally hosted model
(*) 2026 Update: Last, but not, least, don't forget local software. No, it's not in the cloud, but you can upload and exchange documents. And your data is still there when you don't have a network connection.
P.S. Don't ask yourself why you might need a Google Alternative. It's 2026 and here are 26 Google Alternatives that every developer MUST use in 2026! But if you do, my original post about Google Alternatives has more background and even more alternatives.
In 2026, there are more reasons than ever for not relying on U.S. American software and service providers. Apart from ethical considerations against the so-called broligarchy, political tensions and trade wars between former allies make business owners and managers look for more reliable alternatives to Google and other American companies.