What should be a simple task was, in reality, many hours of research and testing.
But I did it.
My choices are not universal as they reflect my own needs and desires.
Nor do they reflect any commercial interests.
None of the alternatives listed below paid me or are giving me any commission whatsoever for citing their services.
But first: Why?
I dont hate Google.
In fact, not too long ago, I was a huge fan of Google.
Google was light years ahead of alternatives such as Yahoo, Altavista, or Ask Jeeves.
Google soon moved from just search to providing other services, many of which I embraced.
I was an early adopter of Gmail back in 2005, when you could only joinvia invites.
And Google Docs, launched in 2007, was similarly amazing.
Like many, I was a victim of Google creep.
Google is pervasive in our digital lives in a way no other corporation is or ever has been.
Its relatively easy to quit using the products of other tech giants.
With Apple, youre either in the iWorld, or out.
Google, however, is embedded everywhere.
We all started using Google because it, in many ways, provided better alternatives to existing products.
I embarked on this project late last year.
Some, to my surprise, were even better.
Im not a techie.
For some, though, youll need your own web host or access to a server.
Also,Google Takeoutis your friend.
Together, they take care of everything I was previously using Google search for.
Ask.com is still around.
Its created by a non-profit foundation that actively works to protect privacy.
Theres really no reason at all to use Chrome.
Other Alternatives:Avoid Opera and Vivaldi, as they use Chrome as their base.Braveis my secondary online window.
Hangouts and Google Chat
Jitsi Meet an open source, free alternative to Google Hangouts.
you’ve got the option to use it directly from a surfing app or download the app.
Its fast, secure, and works on nearly every platform.
Avoid Skype, as its both a data hog and has a terrible interface.
Google Maps
On desktop:Here WeGo it loads faster and can find nearly everything that Google Maps can.
For some reason, theyre missing some countries, like Japan.
Other alternatives:OpenStreetMapis a project I wholeheartedly support, but its functionality was severely lacking.
It couldnt even find my home address in Oakland.
Easy but not free
Some of this was self-inflicted.
That meant no Yahoo Mail or Microsoft Outlook as that would not address my privacy concerns.
For alternatives to survive without this level of data monetization, they have to charge us.
Think of it this way: remember when you used to send letters and had to pay for stamps?
Or when you bought weekly planners from the store?
Essentially, this is the cost to use a privacy-focused email or calendar app.
Its not that bad.
The free version only gives you 500MB of storage space.
I opted for a paid 5GB account along with their VPN service.
Other alternatives:Fastmailis not as privacy oriented but also has a great interface.
Theres alsoHushmailandTutanota, both with similar features to ProtonMail.
Calendar
FastmailCalendar this was surprisingly tough, and brings up another issue.
Google products have become so ubiquitous in so many spaces that start-ups dont even bother to create alternatives anymore.
More technical
These require some technical knowledge or access to your web host service.
I do include simpler alternatives that I researched but did not end up choosing.
The catch is that youll need your own host to use Nextcloud.
Youll need a HTTPS certificate, which I got for free fromLets Encrypt.
Not as easy as opening a Google Drive account but not too challenging either.
Other alternatives: There are other open source options such asOwnCloudorOpenstack.
Google Analytics
Matomo formally called Piwic, this is a self-hosted analytics platform.
Android
LineageOS+F-Droid App Store.
Other alternatives:Ummm…Windows 10 Mobile?PureOSlooks promising, as doesUbuntuTouch.
But the toughest thing was email, and it has nothing to do with ProtonMail or Google.
Before I joined Gmail in 2004, I probably switched emails once a year.
I never recall having an issue when I changed email providers.
It used to be necessary to change email addresses regularly remember how spam would take over older inboxes?
In fact, one of Gmails best innovations was its ability to filter out spam.
That meant no longer needing to change emails.
Email is key to using the internet.
So when you switch accounts, you gotta tune up your email address on all these different services.
Several sites no longer let you do it from the backend on your own.
Others forced me to call customer service and request an email account change, meaning time wasted on hold.
This was the main reason this took me six months.
Technology does not always move forward.
So, are these Google Alternatives any good?
Some are actually better!
Jitsi Meet runs smoother, requires less bandwidth, and is more platform friendly than Hangouts.
Firefox is more stable and less of a memory suck than Chrome.
Fastmails Calendar has far better time zone integration.
Others are adequate equivalents.
It also has a lacking Contacts interface, but Im using Nextcloud for that.
But it does not have the rich multi-editing features of Google Docs.
Ive not yet found a workable alternative in my budget.
Some depend on location.
Others require me to sacrifice some features or functionality.
In the end, I dont miss Google at all
In fact, I feel liberated.
Moreover, many of these alternatives are, in fact, better.
And there is real comfort in knowing you are in control of your data.
The internet was a better place because Google gave us the opportunity to have a better search.
Today, few of us even try other products because were just so used to Googling.
We dont change emails cause its hard.
We dont even venture to use a Facebook alternative because all of our friends are on Facebook.
You dont have to quit Google entirely.
But give other alternatives a chance.
You might be surprised, and remember why you loved the web way back when.
