Being more selective over the applications and services you use in your daily life will provide the largest overall improvement to online privacy and security.
You should always be wary of private companies offering "free" products or services. If the product does not charge a fee or is not a community-based open-source project, then you are likely paying for it with your personal data.
The following list is an ever-evolving curation of privacy and security-focused services, applications, and open-source projects that are superior alternatives to mainstream applications.
VPNs
- Mullvad VPN. Privacy focussed VPN. Bitcoin/XMR Payments.
- IVPN. Privacy focussed VPN. Bitcoin/XMR Payments.
- Orbot. Encrypt your internet traffic with Tor.
- ProtonVPN. Secure & free VPN service.
- InviZible Pro. Become Invisible on the Internet.
Wallets
- Samourai Wallet. Open-source Android Bitcoin-only wallet.
- Anonero. A black box monero app (onion).
- Mysu. A no-bullshit Monero wallet (onion).
- Stack Duo. Open-source mobile BTC/XMR wallet.
- Monerujo. Open-source Android Monero-only wallet.
- Sentinel Watch Only. Watch only wallet from the Samourai team.
- Sparrow Wallet. Feature-packed desktop Bitcoin wallet.
- Feather Wallet. Open-source desktop Monero wallet.
- Border Wallets. Quickly & reliably memorize Bitcoin seed phrases.
- Zeus. Open-source, non-custodial Lightning wallet.
Web Browsers
- Mullvad Browser. Privacy-focused web browser.
- Tor Browser. Anonymous web browsing.
- Bromite. Privacy browser for Android.
- LibreWolf. Custom version of Firefox focused on privacy & security.
Password Managers
- Bitwarden. Open-source password manager.
- KeePassXC. Open-source password manager.
- Keepass. Offline, Secure, Private password manager.
- KeepassDX. Open-source password manager for KeePass files.
2FA/TOTP
- YubiKey. 2FA hardware devices.
- Aegis. FOSS Android 2FA application.
- andOTP. TOTP from QR codes for Android 2FA.
- Nitrokey. Open-source USB key for encrypting & signing data.
- Protonmail. Private, secure & encrypted email.
- SimpleLogin. Open-source, anonymous email alias.
- Tutanota. End-to-end encrypted email.
Email Clients
- K-9 Mail. FOSS email client for Android.
- Thunderbird. FOSS email client for desktop.
- FairEmail. Fully featured Android email client.
Nodes
- RoninDojo. Privacy first Bitcoin node for Samourai Wallet.
- PiNodeXMR. Plug & play Monero node.
- RaspiBlitz. DIY Lightning node for Raspberry Pi.
- RaspiBolt. DIY Lightning node for Raspberry Pi.
Frontend Applications
- NewPipe. The lightweight YouTube experience for Android.
- FreeTube. The private YouTube client.
- Invidious. Open-source front-end for YouTube.
- Fritter. Privacy-friendly Twitter frontend for Android.
- Twire. FOSS Twitch browser & player.
- Squawker. Fork of Fritter Twitter frontend.
Self-Hosting Platforms
- YunoHost. Simplifying server administration.
- RunTipi. Homeserver management made easy.
- DietPi. Lightweight yet powerful OS for SBCs.
- Proxmox. Powerful open-source server solution.
Self-Hosting Tools
- PrivateBin. Minimalist open-source online paste bin.
- Invidious. Open-source front-end for YouTube.
- Headscale. open-source Tailscale server implementation.
- NextCloud. Online collaboration platform.
- PhotoPrism. Decentralized, AI-powered Photo storage.
- Immich. Self-hosted photo & video backup solution.
- FreshRSS. A free, self-hostable feed aggregator.
- LibRedirect. Redirect links to privacy frontends.
- Teddit. Privacy-focused Reddit frontend.
- Nitter. Alternative Twitter frontend.
- DAVx5. Sync contacts & calendars across devices.
Encryption
- VeraCrypt. FOSS disk encryption software.
- Cryptomator. Free cloud storage encryption.
- Kleopatra. GPG GUI for certificate management.
- OpenKeychain. FOSS PGP app for Android.
- GtkHash. Desktop utility for computing digests & checksums.
- Boxcryptor. Security for Your Cloud.
Operating Systems
- GrapheneOS. Security-focused Android OS.
- CalyxOS. Privacy-focused Android OS.
- Tails. Anti-censorship portable OS.
- Kodachi. Secure Linux OS.
- Fedora Silverblue. Immutable Linux OS.
- Whonix. Anonymous Linux OS.
- Fedora Workstation. FOSS Linux OS.
- Pop! OS. Beginner-friendly Ubuntu-based OS.
- QubesOS. A reasonably secure Linux OS.
P2P Exchanges
- Bisq Network. Decentralized exchange platform.
- AgoraDesk. P2P Bitcoin & Monero exchange.
- HodlHodl. P2P Bitcoin trading platform.
- LocalMonero. P2P Monero exchange.
- Peach Bitcoin. Trade Bitcoin peer-to-peer.
- RoboSats. A simple & private Bitcoin exchange (lightning).
Hardware Wallets
- Sentinel Watch Only. Use an offline, air-gapped Pixel device as a HWW.
- Seedsigner. Air-gapped DIY Bitcoin signing device.
- Foundation Passport. Open-source, air-gapped Bitcoin wallet.
- Blockstream Jade. Powerful hardware wallet for securing Bitcoin.
Messaging
- Signal Messenger. Secure Messenger (phone no. required).
- Simplex Chat. Private P2P messenger without exposing user ID.
- Nekogram X. A third-party Telegram Android app.
- Telegram FOSS. An open-source client for Telegram.
- Briar. Peer-to-peer encrypted messenger.
- Session. End-to-end encrypted messenger.
- Threema. Secure, anonymous message application.
Notes/Writing
- Standard Notes. End-to-end encrypted notes.
- Joplin. Open-source note-taking app.
- Logseq. Privacy-first, open-source notebook.
RSS Readers
- Feeder. Your favorite content, all in one place.
- Read You. Android RSS reader in Material You style.
- Nunti. A smart RSS reader which doesnβt suck your data.
- FreshRSS. Android client for FreshRSS.
App Stores
- F-Droid. FOSS Android app repository.
- Obtainium. Get Android app updates directly from source.
- FossDroid. Free and open-source Android apps.
- Droid-ify. Material-ify with Droid-ify.
- Aurora Store. Open-source Android software.
Hosting/Domains
- 1984. Safe hosting in Iceland.
- Njalla. Anonymous domain names & hosting.
- Namecheap. ICANN-accredited domain & web hosting company.
- OrangeWebsite. Icelandic web hosting with free speech.
Do you know of any FOSS, privacy, or security-focused resources not listed here? Feel free to reach out & contribute with your suggestions.