How I am Moving Away From Google's Ecosystem

Google's ecosystem includes several products and services. It is one of the prominent ecosystems on the internet with a dominating market share.

While I believe their products require no introduction, as a formality, I should mention some of them as Gmail, YouTube, Google Chrome, Google Drive, Google Search, Google Photos, and Google Gemini.

Considering I am an Android user, and prioritize my convenience, I have been using Google services for a long time now.

However, I have decided to move away from Google's ecosystem to try out other options. Sure, it is tough to eliminate their presence without affecting my convenience, so the aim is to minimize it.

Before I tell you my strategy to make the move to alternative options, let me tell you why.

Why The Move Away From Google's Ecosystem?

Without a surprise, the first reason for the switch is privacy.

While I can never be anonymous on the internet, I can share fewer details about me and my data with the services I use.

And, Google is the least preferred privacy-friendly choice out there. They get to know a lot of about from the data you store with them. And, it is not illegal, but it is something that I no longer would like to do.

I should mention that I'm not mixing security with privacy here. Google has been good enough to keep my accounts secure, or else I would not have been safely using my Gmail account for such a long time.

Next, I want to give a chance to innovative players in the market. The options may not be necessarily better than Google services, but they have their unique selling points, which could unlock a benefit for me that I never realized.

And, finally, giving open source a better chance.

Now, let me highlight how I exactly plan to move from Google's ecosystem.

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First Step: Finding Out The Areas With Alternatives

If you know there are options, it is easy to switch. So, first, I set out to find the type of services which provide me with options.

Some easy ones include:

Search engine
Email + Calendar
Cloud storage
AI chatbot
Video conference
Website analytics
Browser

And, here are the ones that are a bit tricky to move away from:

Document Suite
Photo collection
Video sharing platform
Maps

I will tackle all of them, but let us focus on the easy ones first.

The Best Google Alternatives For My Use-Case (And Hopefully For You!)

Now that we know what kind of alternatives we need, I just need to narrow down the options that are capable enough.

Type	Service	Alternative(s)
Email	Gmail	ProtonMail, Tuta
Search Engine	Google	DuckDuckGo
Calendar	Google Calendar	Proton
Cloud Storage	Google Drive	pCloud, Proton
AI Chatbot	Gemini	Llama with Ollama
Video Meetings	Google Meet	Jitsi Meet
Website Analytics	Google Analytics	Umami, Fathom
Web Browser	Chrome	Firefox
Documents	Google Docs	Proton Docs, Nextcloud
Password Manager	Chrome's Built In	Bitwarden, Proton Pass
Phone photo Backup	Google Photos	Ente

Yes, I can list countless alternatives, but it is useless if it cannot do half of the things Google services let me do.

The goal is not to aimlessly move away from Google, but pick meaningful alternatives. So, with the above-mentioned categories in mind, I tell you about the best options that I use along with some suggestions for you.

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Please note that the alternatives I am using or suggesting may not be an exact replacement of a Google service. They might be good enough for me but perhaps they won't suffice your need or preference. Try them on your own and see if you are comfortable with the alternatives.

Search Engine: DuckDuckGo

In my opinion, DuckDuckGo is a great alternative to Google search engine that promises to keep your personal activity private while offering additional privacy-focused services.

For instance, I use DuckDuckGo's Privacy Essentials browser extension to get rid of trackers, and to generate free email aliases. I can also integrate the email aliases with Bitwarden. Not to forget, they also have a privacy-friendly AI chatbot providing access to AI models like Gpt-4o mini, and a browser for Windows/macOS.

So, DuckDuckGo's ecosystem makes it an interesting choice for what I need.

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You can also try some privacy-focused search engines like Ecosia, Startpage, and searx.

Email + Calendar: Proton Mail

Proton Mail is an obvious choice here because of its Google-like ecosystem offering. You can also try Tuta for privacy-focused email.

For me, I have been using Proton Mail since its early days. So, it makes sense to stick with it, along with the potential of using Proton's other services (which we will also touch upon as you read on).

Here, the relevant service to use with the email is Proton Calendar:

I use it for free (personally), and if I want to scale up my requirements, I can upgrade it to a paid plan for more storage, and features like custom email domains.

And, for my work at It's FOSS, we have a visionary (paid) account, so we get more storage, and all the perks of premium Proton services available.

I would say both free and premium options justify their use-cases to replace Gmail and Google Calendar for me.

Cloud Storage

Considering I already use Proton Mail (and its calendar), it is a no-brainer choice to go with Proton Drive, being an end-to-end encrypted (E2E) option.

You only get 5 GB of space, which is lower than what you get with Google. But, it should be decent if you want to store a couple of important documents.

And, if you want more, and aren't concerned about E2E, you can opt for pCloud, which offers more storage space, and explore other privacy-focused cloud storage services.

AI Chatbot

A replacement to Google Gemini? That's easy.

I just set up Ollama to use one of the best open source LLMs and a web UI to easily access it without the terminal.

Everything runs locally, I do not have to worry about anything here. Of course, you need a decent system with a mid-range GPU like the RTX 3060 to run the AI models efficiently.

Video Conference

Google Meet is a dominantly used option for all kinds of meetings/interviews, but it is not open source, nor end-to-end encrypted.

You can opt for Jitsi Meet if you want enhanced security and privacy. It is open source, and end-to-end encrypted. If needed, you can self-host it to meet your custom requirements.

For more options, you can refer to our article as well:

Website Analytics

Google Analytics is a popular choice among web administrators because it is free, and provides a lot of information about your audience to take better decisions regarding your content, product, and more.

However, there are better (and lighter) Google Analytics alternatives out there that respect the privacy of your visitors/customers, and still give you plenty of useful insights.

The catch is most of them are paid. I understand not everyone can afford to switch to a paid alternative, but you can start with the free ones (or self-host them), and choose to invest in paid options later. Explore all the alternatives here:

Web Browser

Google Chrome holds more than 65% of the market share as per Statista.

Sure, it is one of the most convenient options. However, it does not offer good privacy protection features.

If you want to switch away to get better privacy, you can try Brave, Mullvad, or LibreWolf (a hardened version of Firefox).

Documents, Photos, Videos, and Map

Honestly, there are no easy replacements to this. So, you will have to decide if you would like to adjust, and willing to pay a lot more (in some cases).

Nextcloud Office (a self-hosted replacement to Google Docs)

For instance, you will not get a Google Docs like experience with Nextcloud Office (self-hosted) or CryptPad or Proton Docs, but they are manageable to some extent. So, you need to try them out and see if it fits your requirements.

Next up is tough, a replacement for Google Photos.

Yes, Ente is an excellent open source privacy-focused option. However, it is way pricier than what Google Photos costs for extra storage, as you get only 5 GB for free. Therefore, if you have numerous photos and videos, it will be an expensive switch.

You can choose to self-host it, and explore other self-hosted Google Photos alternatives. But, of course, you will need to spend some time and money there as well.

Finally, we need a replacement for Google Maps?

As much as we could hate Google, I can never object to its usefulness and integration capabilities with every car out there.

You can try open source alternatives like Organic Maps (for Android phones), and OpenStreetMap (web-based). However, it may not give you the same details and experience.

So, choosing a document suite, map, and photo/video platform to replace Google services will be an inconvenient endeavor.

In my case, I have tried to use CryptPad as much as possible. But, other alternatives haven't worked out well for me.