Concentrated power
Search, cloud, messaging, payments, and identity increasingly run through a few US corporations — and the individuals who control them. That is a structural risk for democracy, competition, and resilience.
European digital sovereignty
Internet autonomy,
built in Europe
A hand-picked map of movements, open infrastructure, and EU-backed initiatives that help citizens, companies, and public institutions reclaim control over data, identity, and communication — without relying on a handful of US platforms.
Why this matters
European alternatives exist
From grassroots switch campaigns to sovereign cloud stacks and EU-funded open-source programmes, Europe is building practical paths to independence. Many are production-ready today.
Small steps add up
You do not need to replace everything at once. Monthly switching rituals, federated services, and EU-hosted tools let teams and individuals migrate gradually — with less lock-in each time.
Start here
Practical entry points if you want to act this week, not next decade.
Digital Independence Day
Every first Sunday of the month, a Europe-wide movement to switch away from Big Tech — with step-by-step “digital switch recipes” for mail, chat, maps, cloud, and more. Relaxed rebellion, one app at a time.
Switch recipes →European Alternatives
A long-running catalogue of EU-based products and services — from email and hosting to analytics and AI — with a focus on privacy and local jurisdiction.
Browse alternatives →Next Generation Internet (NGI)
The EU’s umbrella for open, human-centric internet innovation — funding hundreds of projects in privacy, federation, payments, search, and edge networking through programmes like NGI Zero.
Funded solutions →Projects & initiatives
Grouped by what they help you reclaim. Links open in a new tab.
Alliances & policy
EUDISO
European Digital Sovereignty Initiative — a non-profit alliance of 80+ organisations promoting EU-hosted infrastructure, open standards, and user exit rights.
EuroStack
Industrial policy coalition for a full-stack European digital infrastructure — from connectivity and cloud to AI — with broad industry signatories.
Digital Commons (DC-EDIC)
EU Member States’ joint instrument to develop cross-border sovereign digital infrastructure and public-sector commons — launched 2025.
Gaia-X
Federated, standards-based data infrastructure ecosystem — designed for interoperability, transparency, and European rules on data and trust.
Cloud & infrastructure
Sovereign Cloud Stack
Open, certifiable cloud stack (OpenStack, Kubernetes, and more) built collaboratively for vendor-neutral European operators.
Virt8ra
Open virtualisation stack for IPCEI-CIS — Europe’s large-scale push for next-generation cloud and edge, with multi-provider portability.
InnoFabric
Shared software foundations for an operational European cloud fabric — substrate, control plane, and governance building blocks.
SovereignEdge.EU
Open-source edge cloud aligned with EU Digital Decade goals — distributed, climate-neutral nodes across the continent.
HIGHER
Horizon project for open cloud/edge hardware and software designs — ARM, RISC-V, and OCP-oriented European infrastructure research.
Nextcloud
German open-source collaboration hub (files, talk, office) — widely chosen by public sector and Gaia-X for EU-hosted teamwork.
Identity & trust
European Digital Identity (EUDI)
EU-wide digital wallet for secure identification, signing, and selective disclosure — under member-state rollout through 2026.
DC4EU
Large-scale EUDI pilot testing credentials in education and social security across many EU countries and partners.
Search, data & knowledge
OpenWebSearch.EU
Horizon Europe effort for an open, federated European web index — reducing dependence on US-dominated search pipelines.
Prisma
EU-sovereign open information platform on W3C standards — transparent data and AI decision flows without Big Tech lock-in.
Communication & federation
Matrix
Open protocol for federated, end-to-end encrypted chat — run your own homeserver or join EU-hosted providers; no single corporate silo.
Framasoft
French non-profit offering ethical alternatives: PeerTube, Mobilizon, Framadate, and more — plus education on de-google-ification.
NGI Mobifree
EU-funded programme for free and open mobile ecosystems — alternatives to proprietary app stores and tracking-heavy phones.
NGI Fediversity
Supports Fediverse growth — decentralised social networking that anyone can host, without a central billionaire-owned timeline.
Payments & economics
Networks & DNS
DNS4EU
Commission-backed European DNS resolver — GDPR-aligned alternative to US public DNS, with optional filtering and DoH/DoT.
Developer tools & hosting
Codeberg
Non-profit Git hosting in Germany — no tracking, EU servers, powered by Forgejo. A practical GitHub alternative for open source.
Forgejo
Community-driven software forge (fork of Gitea lineage) — self-hostable, privacy-first, maintained under Codeberg e.V.
NGI Zero
Grant coalition (NLnet and partners) backing ~1,000 small open-source internet projects — the R&D engine behind much of this list.
More directories
Community-maintained indexes when you need a specific product category.
- EU Alternatives Directory — GDPR-focused SaaS map with reviews
- EU Alternative — software by category and member state
- EU Alternatives (europealternative.com) — 800+ hand-picked European products
Know a project that belongs here? Suggest it — this page is a living pointer, not an endorsement.