Okay, look. I know we’re not all techies and experts in the world of self-hosting or privacy. So many guides point people immediately to things like homelabs and repurposing old laptops or mini PCs to things like Linux and even Raspberry Pi devices. If Linux or Rasberry Pi sound new or even intimidating, maybe this will help you dip your toes in cutting the cord to big tech.

My goal here is to help initiate the start of a longer journey into getting some (data) freedoms back. Take baby steps into helping distance yourself from Big Brother(s). The way I see it, cutting ties to big tech hurts their revenue and therefore power in multiple ways. For one, reducing their user base overall impacts the ad revenue generated as well as reduces the amount of user data being sold to brokers. So you gain privacy and additional peace of mind while they slowly lose their stranglehold over political power.

So, what do you want to look for? Is there a secret recipe or a one-size-fits-all approach? Well, that’s hard to answer, so let’s start with some basics:

1. Look for companies not based in the U.S. that offer suites of security-focused applications. For examples:
   • Proton is headquartered out of Switzerland
   • Nord Security is Lithuanian and Netherlands
   • Mullvad is a Sweden-based
   • Surfshark is also from Lithuania
2. Look for FOSS. “What the heck is that?!” Free & Open Source Software. Free, however, can be free use as well as free from telemetry, data collection, etc. Many of these are run by organizations that will be open about their purpose, open about their privacy policy & data collection (if any), and most importantly, open about their code. I know many rely on GitHub, GitLab, Gitea
3. If there’s a cost, look at pricing tiers as they might offer a free self-hosting tier. Don’t worry, I have a few suggestions to help with that self-host aspect IF you want to go down that route.

Back to suggestions and recommendations. I’ll list some services and SOME alternatives, but please understand I cannot capture every great alternative. I would also like to focus on just a handful of common areas that would have the most impact. There are so many niches that it’s hard to cover every app/service/purpose. I am also NOT sponsored for any of these recommendations, and any links included take you to a main webpage, not an affiliate link; nor do I utilize “AI” search elements to try to tell me wut is good. All of these will have been personally used or tested by me (yes, I know, why trust an internet stranger?).

1. Email – (Google’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Outlook or Hotmail, Apple iCloud, Yahoo, etc) Proton Mail is a great free (offers paid) solution to email. You can still keep your Google and or iCloud accounts for the sake of signing into your devices. Backup any emails you want saved and clear the rest to eliminate risks of any data being vulnerable.
2. Authenticator or Password Manager – There are no shortages of data breaches, and with that, even breaches of password managers and authentication apps. Proton offers both an authenticator app as well as password manager, but I’d also like to bring up some FOSS applications as well. Aegis for authenticator and Bitwarden for a password manager are a couple great examples.
3. Cloud Storage – Boy, how do I not swan-dive down this rabbit hole??? Sure, “The Cloud” has its resiliency and is always online… BUT it’s also someone else’s computer. You’re just paying to keep your data on someone else’s storage and hoping it’s not ever compromised-OR worse, went belly up and all your backed up data is GONE. It is nice that Proton and Nord offer E2EE cloud storage (end-2-end-encryption). My personal preference is to host it yourself on your home network. Whether that’s a WD MyCloud backup hard drive, hooking up your devices to some sort of flash drive or external drive, or repurposing an old desktop or laptop (or some old used server) to handle this. Self-hosted includes NextCloud, OwnCloud, Immich, Syncthing, Peergos, Why?
   • YOUR data stays with you no matter what
   • You are in control of how much space to use based on costs
   • If you are savvy enough to host it where it’s accessible anywhere, then it’s no worse off than the big providers, with a much smaller target on your back (if any).
   • IF you wanted offsite capability, talk with a trusted friend or relative to have a password-protected copy stored safely with them in the event of fire, flood, or other disaster.
   • BONUS: sense of accomplishment as you set this up
4. Social Media – I have been “freed” (thank you, Morpheus) from the clutches of social media for over a decade now. And while I know that’s not always easy to just sever ties, it’s doable if you do this in a way you’re not fiending later on. Swap out big names with Federated alternatives. These alternatives are not centralized nor controlled by any single entity (hence, federated), and therefore tend to have better data privacy and protections in place.
   • Facebook & Twitter/X –> Mastodon
   • Instagram –> Pixelfed
   • Youtube –> PeerTube or SmartTube
   • Texting, WhatsApp, or Telegram –> Signal or Session (or even better, an XMPP-based app like Jabber, Snikket, or Prosody)
   • Reddit –> Lemmy
   • The list goes on
5. Web Browser – This is also no easy list and I’ll cut right to the chase: Chromium leads the pack of being the largest current browser platform, which is “free and open-source” BUT is developed by Google… and pretty much any/every alternative has its risks. This list includes Chrome, Edge, DDG, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, etc. DuckDuckGo or Brave for examples prides themselves on privacy, but any normal tinfoil hat-wearing peer will tell you about all the tradeoffs and misdirection being used. Preferably and personally, anything Firefox based (or even Firefox itself) are great trustworthy alternatives. WaterFox, LibreWolf, IronFox, Mullvad and Fennec are all great FireFox-based browsers with limited telemetry, data collection, and even AI (that’s right, many people don’t like to use AI nor do they want/trust AI with their data).

IF by some miracle you made it through to the end of the article, first and foremost, thank you for reading! Second, feel free to leave a comment on any additional alternatives you personally have a great experience with to help any other readers with choices.