Schrems II got you down? Not to worry, Dasprive offers the perfect solution to international transfers: just don’t transfer.
“Very funny, yet another privacy absolutist, there simply are no alternatives!” Well, we beg to differ. This page is dedicated to providing EU alternatives to the classic Big Tech toolbox.
We are well aware that organizations cannot switch all their tools with the flip of a switch, and there are use cases where switching to an EU alternative may not be an option. But you can mope about the lack of realism of the CJEU, or you can start looking for solutions. This list will put you on your way.
This page is made possible by our partners IN2IT and the Data Protection Institute. Want to support our efforts? We would like nothing better, get in touch!
Overview
- Alternatives to AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc
- Alternatives to Google Analytics
- Alternatives to O365, Google Workplace, etc.
- Alternatives to Slack, Teams, etc.
- Alternatives to Sendgrid, Surveymonkey, LiveChat, etc
- Alternatives to Cloudflare, Akamai(CDN), Gitlab, Sentry
- Alternatives to Microsoft Dynamics365, Salesforce
- Alternatives to Google Adsense
Alternatives to AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc
This category includes cloud & hosting providers. We include small providers aimed at individuals or micro-enterprises, and those players ready for the Big League with features similar to our friends at Big Tech. Included in no particular order.
Upcloud (FIN): Finnish cloudprovider. Been around since 2012, they offer servers in Europe and far beyond. Good ol’ cloud compute, storage, and even software networking are on offer. They also offer some more advanced products such as managed databases, load balancers en Kubernetes.
Combell: Belgian Pride, part of TeamBlue which includes Flexmail, TransIP and many other brands. Cloud compute, managed services, webhosting, everything you would expect of a cloud provider.
OVH: Well known French player and among Europe’s biggest cloud providers. Definitely an option if you’re looking for an AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud alternative.
Hetzner: what OVH is to the French, Hetzner is for Zie Germans. Another well established EU cloud provider with many government clients and parties working with sensitive data. Deutsche Gründligkeit for your EU cloud.
Greenhost: Not a big chum but as the name implies they have a different unique selling point: green hosting, C02 neutral. Aimed at NGO’s.
Scaleway: Perhaps not as familiar a name as OVH or Hetzner, but definitely a serious player from France. Large offering for hosting solutions that rival AWS, Azures and Google Cloud.
Bahnhof: Swedish cloud. Typical services such as Openstack clouds, VPS options, but they also offer fancier solutions such as Kubernetes clusters and Virtual Desktops.
Orange Website: Don’t be misdirected by their website that screams to return to 2005. This Icelandic provider offer decent hosting powered by 100% renewable enery. Classic shared hosting, VPS or dedicated servers available.
Fuga Cloud: Yet another provider, Dutch this time. More than simple hosting including hosted GPU power, Kubernetes, load balancing, DNS, in other words: serious tooling for serious apps.
Stackhero.io: A bit more plug & play: you choose the type of instance you’re looking for, they will make it happen. Less room for customization or management (e.g.: lack of SSH access to servers) but very useful for less tech savvy organizations. They offer things like your own Mattermost or Nextcloud instance. European clients can choose European servers managed by EU companies.
Infomaniak: Can’t forget the Swiss. Infomaniak is on this list twice: they offer the more classic cloud hosting solutions but also a full alternative for Google Workplace of O365. Nicely integrated solution in one account and dashboard for mail, webhosting, managed hosting and Openstack instances. Check out their virtual tour of their data center.
Alternatives to Google Analytics
Piwik Pro: Google Analytics (GA) is the most well-known name when it comes to gaining insight into visitors to your website, webshop or other online applications. However, by using GA you also throw your visitors’ data straight into the collection of a data-guzzling juggernaut. Shame on you! Fortunately there are alternatives, and Piwik Pro is one of them. Not free, but good for privacy. Looking for free: see the next one on the list, Matomo. Addendum: Piwik now also offers a free plan.
Matomo: Google Analytics alternative, and Piwik Pro’s little sibling. Comes from the same litter, but they got separated a couple of years after birth. Does have a free variant though! So what else is the difference between Matomo and Piwik.pro? A question they get asked more times than they care to answer apparently, so they made this overview. Their friends at Piwik Pro did the same by the way.
Plausible: Omg, another Google Analytics alternative! They do exist, although we must admit that some features may not be present. On the other hand, most organizations don’t actually use the full GA feature set anyway. Simple, light weight, and open source. No cookies, still data.
Pirsch.io: Similar to Plausible. Open source, no cookies, but analytics. Store data in Germany at Hetzner (known as EU cloud alternative at top of this list). They even have a live demo.
Fathom: Canadian-made but have very specifically set up a service they call “EU Isolation,” and is said to be better than more limited alternatives like Pirsch and Plausible. Have also described their “journey” to compliance in a very detailed article.
Simple Analytics: yep, another alternative to Google Analytics. Actually overkill to include this one too, but we want to make a point: in the majority of cases there are PLENTY of EU alternatives to whichever tool you need.
Edit 22/07/2022: after publishing this list a couple of other players also reached out. Startup Idea Top Tip: I think the market for Google Analytics alternatives is saturated. But I’ll still put them up here, haven’t verified them as well as the ones above: Visitor Analytics, Wide Angle, AT Internet.
Alternatives to O365, Google Workplace, etc.
Cryptpad: online productivity suite. In other words, Google Docs, Drive, etc. But from a French company, and end-to-end encrypted. Lacks the flashy looks of some other apps, but it works fine for the simpler office applications and for collaborating with colleagues.
Filen.io: End-to-end encrypted storage. Alternative to Google Drive, Onedrive and Dropbox. Nothing more, nothing less. Free option that gives 10GB.
Tresorit: Was recommended as successor by Wuala (the OG of E2EE storage services) when they stopped their service. In the mean time they’ve been around for years, based in CH and Hungary. Runs on Azure but since it’s E2EE, no problemo.
Infomaniak: Domain names, email, video conferencing, cloud storage, collaboration. Your Swiss alternative to O365 or Google Workplace, and also a lot cheaper. Dasprive is a happy client.
Cryptshare: securely transfer personal data or files to partners, customers, or patients can be done without being stuck with Sharepoint, Google Drive, or Wetransfer. Cryptshare is an EU based solution with the same functionalities.
Alternatives to Gmail, Teams, Outlook.com, WeTransfer
Protonmail: one of the OGs among secure email providers. Based in Switzerland, Protonmail offers end-to-end encrypted mail storage (i.e. they don’t read your mails), including the ability to send encrypted mails. Their offering is constantly expanding and by next year they may even be a true alternative to O365. For now, just mail and VPN.
Mailfence: email provider with security and privacy focus from Belgium. Nice slogan with “privacy is a right, not a feature”. Has existed for many years and also has satisfied users among the Dasprive community members.
Tutanota: German-made encrypted email provider. Have been running for a very long time too, can also be used with your own domain. Includes calendar function and an encrypted contact form to include on your website.
Mullvad: Another VPN provider, and one where one of the Dasprive hosts has been a satisfied user for years. Same reliability and “no logging” policy, good backend and easy apps for all operating systems. Includes a truly anonymous way of getting the subscription.
Wormhole.app: Wetransfer is a well-known tool for sending files, but it can be done more securely. Wormhole.app is Wetransfer, but then end-to-end encrypted with the crypto component available as open source. Extra advantage: you can upload a large file and while the upload is in progress, the person you send the link to can immediately start downloading.
Matrix.org: A decentralized communications platform. Matrix provides the technology to enable end-to-end encrypted communication.Just find client software to make it work, but with something such as Element this is just as effortless as Slack or any other chat tool out there.
Alternatives to Sendgrid, Chatbots, Surveymonkey, Flickr, etc
Perhaps the most difficult category: Silicon Valley has made everyone completely dependent on their tools over the past few decades, but there are alternatives. Here we list Schrems-II-proof alternatives for all your mailing, analytics, survey, live chat needs and more!
Flexmail: Managing mailing lists for a newsletter or carrying out a direct marketing campaign? Sure thing, but let’s not use Mailchimp for once. Flexmail offers exactly the same functionality, but based in Belgium.
Mailcoach: Yet another tool from Belgium to add to the list of Mailchimp alternatives. Not only that by the way, you can also send transactional emails with Mailcoach. Also available as a self-hosted variant. Bonus: the people behind Mailcoach are also very active in the open source world, always a good sign.
Userlike: Ever ran into those annoying popups with live chat options that usually don’t offer any “live” chat anyway? Well, you can keep annoying your visitors with an EU alternative! Made and hosted in Germany.
Emaillabs.io: Polish alternative to Sendgrid, data is also stored in Polish data centers. For all your mail needs without American servers. (small caveat: there is some unclarity on their backups that are hosted on AWS. As long as those are encrypted, shouldn’t be a problem).
Listmonk: Want Mailchimp functionality but not comfortable using a cloudbased service? Listmonk is an open source, self hosted Mailchimp alternative.
FriendlyCaptcha: Ah yes, identifying traffic lights to prove you’re not a robot. Unfortunately Google has found a way to violate GDPR even when looking at pictures, so our German friends once again save the day with an EU alternative.
Crowdtech: Alternative to Surveymonkey by the Dutchies. You do have to contact them first to set up an environment, no self service. Hosting in Dutch datacenters though.
EUsurvey: with a questionnaire you are quickly going to collect data from people, so let’s not use Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. In this case the European Commission decided to take matters into their own hands and offer a free tool. Just register, go through the cumbersome 2FA, and then you have a nice, free survey tool.
Limesurvey: Another alternative to Surveymonkey or Google Forms is the German Limesurvey. You can get a hosted version from them, but the tool is also available as open source to install yourself. Some hosting companies even offer ready-made installations of Limesurvey on your own domain (e.g. Infomaniak, see higher in this list).
Piwigo: A French alternative for Flickr, servers hosted at OVH in France. It’s open source, so self hosting is also an option!
Alternatives to Cloudflare, Akamai(CDN), Gitlab, Sentry, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, etc
The tech tools like CDN, error logging, code versioning, web application hosting etc., much of the things a tech startup would need. Innovation and GDPR compliance can easily co-exist but you need to know what’s out there.
Below are European alternatives on European infrastructure.
KeyCDN: Made in CH, which is a privacy seal in itself. Offer all services you can expect from a CDN.
Bunny.net: A CDN made in Slovenia. Yes, that is also in the EU and they responded very quickly to our questions too. Everything through EU companies, with technology that ensures no personal data is processed outside the EU.
Scalingo: DevOps tools for continuous deployment, databases, using open source buildpacks and all of this on EU infrastructure by an EU company, from France to be exact.
Errordeck: alternative to e.g. Sentry for error logging services. Swedish based using French infrastructure, so fully Schrems II proof.
Gitea: an open source alternative to Gitlab & Github to self-host your codebase.
Codeberg: Implementation of the open source code repository Forejo (Gitea fork), alternative to Github with a caveat: it’s only meant for open source project. For other projects you may set up your own repository using Forejo. Codeberg is also an NGO aimed at supporting open source projects.
GitlabHost: More ways to keep your code outside the US. GitLabHost is a Dutch company offering, as the name aptly implies, GitLabHosting to customers. They offer a full EU centric package with hosting at multiple different EU datacenters.
Alternatives to Microsoft Dynamics365, Salesforce
Accounting software is perhaps one of the few types of software that is not dominated by American players. Not surprising perhaps, given the big differences in accounting requirements per country. If you go next-level with an ERP system or CRM, you quickly end up with Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Salesforce. Have a look at some alternatives.
Odoo: open source ERP of Belgian origin, so indispensable on this list. Accounting, inventory, production, sales: as befits an ERP, it’s all in there. In addition to American clouds, they also have European hosting (OVH). Unfortunately they informed us that customers cannot choose which hosting provider is used so there is a risk your data ends up on Google Cloud. Hosting via Odoo may therefore not be the solution, but it is open source so other parties can also host Odoo for you.
Alternatives for Google Adsense
Adhese: programmatic advertising based on content, not by tracking people all over the internet. Still paying for your content with ads, not violating the privacy of your visitors. It’s possible, and already being used by the big chums: the biggest Dutch tech site Tweakers.net switched to tracker-free advertising via these guys.
Opt Out advertising: another option for the cookieless era. Again, proven technology and like Adhese this software offers you the possibility to show ads without depending on brokers from Big Tech.