Essentials

Password Managers

AliasVault

AliasVault

End-to-end encrypted open source password and alias manager with built-in email server. AliasVault protects your privacy by creating alternative identities, passwords and email addresses for every website you use. Use the cloud version, or self-host and deploy within minutes via Docker.

Bitwarden

Bitwarden

Fully-featured, open source password manager with cloud-sync. Bitwarden is easy-to-use with a clean UI and client apps for desktop, web and mobile. See also [Vaultwarden](https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden), a self-hosted, Rust implementation of the Bitwarden server and compatible with [upstream Bitwarden clients](https://bitwarden.com/download/).

KeePass

Hardened, secure and offline password manager. Does not have cloud-sync baked in, deemed to be [gold standard](https://keepass.info/ratings.html) for secure password managers. KeePass clients: [Strongbox](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/strongbox-keepass-pwsafe/id897283731) *(Mac & iOS)*, [KeePassDX](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kunzisoft.keepass.free) *(Android)*, [KeeWeb](https://keeweb.info) *(Web-based/ self-hosted)*, [KeePassXC](https://keepassxc.org) *(Windows, Mac & Linux)*, see more KeePass clients and extensions at [awesome-keepass](https://github.com/lgg/awesome-keepass) by @lgg.

LessPass

LessPass

LessPass is a little different, since it generates your passwords using a hash of the website name, your username and a single main-passphrase that you reuse. It omits the need for you to ever need to store or sync your passwords. They have apps for all the common platforms and a CLI, but you can also self-host it.

ProtonPass

From the creators of ProtonMail, ProtonPass is a new addition to their suite of services. They have a full collection of user-friendly native mobile and desktop apps. ProtonPass is one of the few "trustworthy" providers that also offers a free plan.

2-Factor Authentication

2FAS

2FAS

Free, secure and open source authenticator app for both iOS and Android. Supports creating encrypted backups and syncing between devices without the need for an account.

Aegis

Aegis

Free, secure and open source authenticator app for Android. Has a backup/ restore feature and a customisable UI with dark mode

Authenticator

Simple, native, open source 2-FA Client for iOS, which never connects to the internet - built by @mattrubin.me

Authenticator CC

Authenticator CC

Authenticator Extension is an in-browser One-Time Password (OTP) client, supports both Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP, specified in [RFC 6238](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6238)) and HMAC-Based One-Time Password (HOTP, specified in [RFC 4226](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4226)).

Authenticator GNOME

Rust-based OTP authenticator. Has native With GNOME Shell integration. Also available through [flathub](https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.belmoussaoui.Authenticator).

Bitwarden Authenticator

Bitwarden Authenticator is a free and open-source app which stores and generates time-based codes for multi-factor authentication. It can be used with an online account to backup and sync your tokens across your devices (and access them via a web interface) in a secure, end-to-end encrypted fashion. It can also be used offline on a single device with no account necessary.

Chronos Authenticator

Chronos Authenticator is a free, open-source two-factor authentication app for iOS, designed to provide robust security and reliable backup options.

Ente Auth

Ente Auth is a free and open-source app which stores and generates TOTP tokens. It can be used with an online account to backup and sync your tokens across your devices (and access them via a web interface) in a secure, end-to-end encrypted fashion. It can also be used offline on a single device with no account necessary.

Proton Authenticator

Proton Authenticator is free, open source, and available for both iOS and Android. A Proton account is required to use Proton Authenticator. Existing 2FA codes can be imported from other popular apps such as Google Authenticator and LastPass.

Stratum

Stratum

Free and open-source two factor authentication app for Android. It features encrypted backups, icons, categories and a high level of customisation. It also has a Wear OS companion app

Tofu

Tofu

An easy-to-use, open-source two-factor authentication app designed specifically for iOS

File Encryption

age

`age` is a simple, modern and secure CLI file encryption tool and Go library. It features small explicit keys, no config options, and UNIX-style composability

Cryptomator

Open source client-side encryption for cloud files - Cryptomator is geared towards using alongside cloud-backup solutions, and hence preserves individual file structure, so that they can be uploaded. It too is easy to use, but has fewer technical customizations for how the data is encrypted, compared with VeraCrypt. Cryptomator works on Windows, Linux and Mac - but also has excellent mobile apps.

VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is open source cross-platform disk encryption software. You can use it to either encrypt a specific file or directory, or an entire disk or partition. VeraCrypt is incredibly feature-rich, with comprehensive encryption options, yet the GUI makes it easy to use. It has a CLI version, and a portable edition. VeraCrypt is the successor of (the now deprecated) TrueCrypt.

Browsers

Brave Browser

Chromium-based browser with strong built-in ad, tracker and fingerprint blocking, and timely Chromium security updates. Note that Brave does bundle potentially unwanted features, like crypto, rewards and AI which add bloat and increase attack surface

Firefox

The main independent browser, on Mozilla's own Gecko engine rather than Chromium. Reliable, long-standing, with frequent security updates, broad extension support and strong customization. However telemetry is on by default, and many other preferences need to be tweaked for optimum privacy. Consider using a user.js similar to [arkenfox's user.js](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/) or follow [12Bytes's guide](https://codeberg.org/12bytes/firefox-config-guide) to harden your settings

LibreWolf

An independent fork of Firefox hardened for privacy by default. No telemetry, uBlock Origin bundled, anti-fingerprinting, strict settings

Mullvad Browser

A Firefox-based browser maintained in collaboration between the Tor Project and Mullvad. With strong anti-fingerprinting (so users look alike), no telemetry and uBlock Origin bundled

Tor Browser

Tor provides an extra layer of anonymity, by encrypting each of your requests, then routing it through several nodes, making it near-impossible for you to be tracked by your ISP. While excellent for anonymity, Tor is less suited for daily browsing; it's slower and some sites will be blocked or broken, among other [trade-offs](https://github.com/Lissy93/personal-security-checklist/issues/19)

Search Engines

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a very user-friendly, fast and secure search engine. It's totally private, with no trackers, cookies or ads. It's also highly customisable, with dark-mode, many languages and features. They even have a [.onion](https://3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion) URL, for use with Tor and a [no Javascript version](https://duckduckgo.com/html/)

Mojeek

British search engine providing independent and unbiased search results using its own crawler. Has a zero tracking policy (it is not open source)

Qwant

French service that aggregates Bings results, with its own results. Qwant doesn't plant any cookies, nor have any trackers or third-party advertising. It returns non-biased search results, with no promotions. Qwant has a unique, but nice UI.

Startpage

Dutch search engine that searches on Google and shows the results (slightly rearranged). It has several configurations that improve privacy during use (it is not open source)

Uruky

Uruky is an ad-free, private search engine focused on personalization. It uses, among other providers, Mojeek and Marginalia. It is EU-based and does not keep or track any personal data (it is not 100% open source, but after 12 months as a paying customer, you get a copy of the source code).

Communication

Encrypted Messaging

Matrix

Matrix is a decentralized open network for secure communications, with E2E encryption with Olm and Megolm. Along with the [Element](https://element.io/) client, it supports VOIP + video calling and IM + group chats. Since Matrix has an open specification and Simple pragmatic RESTful HTTP/JSON API it makes it easy to integrates with existing 3rd party IDs to authenticate and discover users, as well as to build apps on top of it.

Signal

Probably one of the most popular, secure private messaging apps that combines strong encryption (see [Signal Protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol)) with a simple UI and plenty of features. It's widely used across the world, and easy-to-use, functioning similar to WhatsApp - with instant messaging, read-receipts, support for media attachments and allows for high-quality voice and video calls. It's cross-platform, open-source and totally free. Signal is [recommended](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/661313394906161152) by Edward Snowden, and is a perfect solution for most users.

SimpleX

Simplex is gaining popularity as a secure and private messaging app renowned for its robust encryption protocol without user IDs or phone numbers and this improves your privacy. Simplex offers instant messaging, supports media attachments and voice and video calls. Additionally, it is cross-platform, open-source, and completely free, aligning with the modern user's preferences for convenience, security, and accessibility. Learn more about the [Security Policy](https://simplex.chat/security/).

XMPP

XMPP, also known as Jabber, is an open standard for decentralized messaging that has been widely used for decades. It has actually been the basis upon which WhatsApp, Facebook's Chat and Google's Talk were built, but these companies (eventually) chose to remove the interoperability with other servers. Prominent XMPP clients support [OMEMO end-to-end encryption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEMO), which is based on the [Double Ratchet Algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ratchet_Algorithm) that is used in Signal. For more hands-on information and to register an account you can visit [JoinJabber](https://joinjabber.org).

P2P Messaging

Briar

Tor-based Android app for P2P encrypted messaging and forums. Where content is stored securely on your device (not in the cloud). It also allows you to connect directly with nearby contacts, without internet access (using Bluetooth or WiFi).

Jami

P2P encrypted chat network with cross-platform GNU client apps. Jami supports audio and video calls, screen sharing, conference hosting and instant messaging.

Ricochet Refresh

Desktop instant messenger, that uses the Tor network to rendezvous with your contacts without revealing your identity, location/ IP or meta data. There are no servers to monitor, censor, or hack so Ricochet is secure, automatic and easy to use.

Tox & qTox client

Open source, encrypted, distributed chat network, with clients for desktop and mobile - see [supported clients](https://tox.chat/clients.html). Clearly documented code and multiple language bindings make it easy for developers to integrate with Tox.

Encrypted Email

Forward Email

A 100% open-source, privacy-focused email service with quantum-safe encrypted SQLite mailboxes (sandboxed and portable). Supports IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV (calendars), and CardDAV (contacts). Features include [OpenPGP/MIME and E2EE](https://forwardemail.net/en/faq#do-you-support-openpgpmime-end-to-end-encryption-e2ee-and-web-key-directory-wkd), [Web Key Directory (WKD)](https://forwardemail.net/en/faq#do-you-support-openpgpmime-end-to-end-encryption-e2ee-and-web-key-directory-wkd), and [quantum-resistant encryption](https://forwardemail.net/blog/docs/best-quantum-safe-encrypted-email-service) using ChaCha20-Poly1305. Offers a free plan (forwarding only), Enhanced Protection at $3/month (10 GB storage, unlimited domains/aliases), Team at $9/month, and Enterprise at $250/month. Additional storage available. Can be [self-hosted via Docker](https://forwardemail.net/en/faq#do-you-support-self-hosting). All code is available on [GitHub](https://github.com/forwardemail).

MailBox.org

A Berlin-based, eco-friendly secure mail provider. There is no free plan, the standard service costs €12/year. You can use your own domain, with the option of a [catch-all alias](https://kb.mailbox.org/display/MBOKBEN/Using+catch-all+alias+with+own+domain). They provide good account security and email encryption, with OpenPGP, as well as encrypted storage. There is no dedicated app, but it works well with any standard mail client with SSL. There's also currently no anonymous payment option.

Mailfence

Mailfence supports OpenPGP so that you can manually exchange encryption keys independently from the Mailfence servers, putting you in full control. Mailfence has a simple UI, similar to that of Outlook, and it comes with bundled with calendar, address book, and files. All mail settings are highly customizable, yet still clear and easy to use. Sign up is not anonymous, since your name, and prior email address is required. There is a fully-featured free plan, or you can pay for premium, and use a custom domain ($2.50/ month, or $7.50/ month for 5 domains), where Bitcoin, LiteCoin or credit card is accepted.

ProtonMail

An end-to-end encrypted anonymous email service. ProtonMail has a modern easy-to-use and customizable UI, as well as fast, secure native mobile apps. ProtonMail has all the features that you'd expect from a modern email service and is based on simplicity without sacrificing security. It has a free plan or a premium option for using custom domains (starting at $5/month). ProtonMail requires no personally identifiable information for signup, they have a [.onion](https://protonirockerxow.onion) server, for access via Tor, and they accept anonymous payment: BTC and cash (as well as the normal credit card and PayPal).

Tuta

Free and open source email service based in Germany. It has a basic intuitive UI, secure native mobile apps and desktop email clients, anonymous signup, and an encrypted calendar. Tuta has a full-featured free plan and premium subscription plans allowing for custom domains (starting at $3/month). Tuta [does not use OpenPGP](https://tuta.com/blog/posts/differences-email-encryption/) like other encrypted mail providers, instead they use a standardized, hybrid method consisting of symmetrical and asymmetrical algorithms (with AES256, and RSA 2048 or ECC (x25519) and Kyber-1024). This causes compatibility issues when communicating with contacts using PGP. But it does allow them to encrypt much more of the header data (body, attachments, subject lines, and sender names etc) which PGP mail providers cannot do. The recent upgrades to Tuta's encryption algorithm makes data stored and sent with their service safe against attacks posed by quantum computers.

Email Clients

eM Client

Productivity-based email client, for Windows and MacOS. eM Client has a clean user interface, snappy performance and good compatibility. There is a paid version, with some handy features, including snoozing incoming emails, watching for replies for a specific thread, message translation, send later, and built-in Calendar, Tasks, Contacts and Notes. Note, eM Client is proprietary, and not open source.

FairEmail

Open source, fully-featured and easy mail client for Android. Supports unlimited accounts and email addresses with the option for a unified inbox. Clean user interface, with a dark mode option, it is also very lightweight and consumes minimal data usage.

K-9 Mail

K-9 (or Thunderbird for Android) is open source, very well supported and trusted - k9 has been around for nearly as long as Android itself! It supports multiple accounts, search, IMAP push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, filing, signatures, BCC-self, PGP/MIME & more. Install OpenKeychain along side it, in order to encrypt/ decrypt emails using OpenPGP.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Free and open source email application developed and backed by Mozilla -it's secure, private easy and customizable. As of V 78.2.1 encryption is built in, and the [TorBirdy](https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/torbirdy) extension routes all traffic through the Tor network. Forks, such as [Betterbird](https://github.com/Betterbird/thunderbird-patches) may add additional features.

RoundCube

Browser-based multilingual IMAP client with an application-like user interface. It provides full functionality you expect from an email client, including MIME support, address book, folder manipulation, message searching and spell checking.

SnappyMail

Simple, modern, fast web-based mail client. This is an IMAP-only fork of [RainLoop](http://www.rainloop.net) that mitigates a severe [RainLoop vulnerability](https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/unpatched-bug-in-rainloop-webmail-could.html) and adds several new [features](https://snappymail.eu/comparison).

Mail Forwarding

33Mail

A long-standing aliasing service. As well as receiving, 33Mail also lets you reply to forwarded addresses anonymously. Free plan, as well as Premium plan ($1/ month) if you'd like to use a custom domain. Note that 33Mail usese Google Analytics.

Addy

An open source anonymous email forwarding service, allowing you to create unlimited email aliases. Has a free plan.

Firefox Private Relay

Developed and managed by Mozilla, Relay is a Firefox addon, that lets you make an email alias with 1 click, and have all messages forwarded onto your personal email. Relay is totally free to use, and very accessible to less experienced users, but also [open source](https://github.com/mozilla/fx-private-relay), and able to me self-hosted for advanced usage.

ForwardEmail

Simple open source catch-all email forwarding service. Easy to self-host (see on [GitHub](https://github.com/forwardemail/free-email-forwarding)), or the hosted version has a free plan as well as a ($3/month) premium plan.

ProtonMail

ProtonMail

If you already have ProtonMail's Professional (€8/month) or Visionary (€30/month) package, then an implementation of this feature is available via the Catch-All Email feature.

SimpleLogin

Fully open source (view on [GitHub](https://github.com/simple-login)) alias service with many additional features. Can be self-hosted, or the managed version has a free plan, as well as hosted premium option ($2.99/ month) for using custom domains.

Email Security Tools

DKIM Verifier

Verifies DKIM signatures and shows the result in the e-mail header, in order to help spot spoofed emails (which do not come from the domain that they claim to).

Email Privacy Tester

Quick tool, that enables you to test whether your mail client "reads" your emails before you've opened them, and also checks what analytics, read-receipts or other tracking data your mail client allows to be sent back to the sender. The system is open source ([on GitLab](https://gitlab.com/mikecardwell/ept3)), developed by [Mike Cardwell](https://www.grepular.com/) and trusted, but if you do not want to use your real email, creating a second account with the same provider, should yield identical results.

VOIP Clients

Linphone

Open source audio, video and IM groups with E2E encryption and built-in media server. [SIP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_Initiation_Protocol)-based evolving to [RCS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services). Native apps for Android, iOS, Windows, GNU/Linux and MacOS.

Mumble

Open source, low-latency, high quality voice chat software. You can host your own server, or use a hosted instance, there are client applications for Windows, MacOS and Linux as well as third-party apps for Android and iOS.

Virtual Phone Numbers

Crypton.sh

Physical SIM card in the cloud, for sending + receiving SMS messages. Messages are encrypted using your chosen private key. Includes a web interface, as well as an API for interacting with it from any device. Pricing is around €7.00/month, and payment is accepted in BTC, XMR or credit card.

Jmp.chat

Phone number for incoming + outgoing calls and messages, provided by Soprani. Works with Jabber, Matrix, Snikket, XMPP or any SIP client. Pricing starts at $4.99 / month. Only available in the US and Canada (as of 2024). See alternate instances at [soprani.ca](https://soprani.ca/)

MoneroSMS

Anonymous SMS service able to activate accounts. Accessible over web, CLI, or email. Pricing starts at $3.60 / month. The service is in beta as of 2022.

nadanada

Disposable (20-min) and extendable rental (3-month) phone numbers for anonymous SMS verification, plus anonymous eSIM data plans for 200+ countries. No account, no email, no KYC. Pay with Bitcoin, Monero, stablecoins, other crypto, or credit card via Stripe.

Narayana

Anonymous physical SIMs, eSIMs, VoIP phone numbers, and other advanced features. Inbound/outbound calls, SMS and roaming internet. Very private, has a Tor mirror, accepts crypto, doesn't KYC and you can delete your logs.

PikaSim

Privacy-focused eSIM provider for 170+ countries, with instant eSIM delivery. No account, ID, email needed, and accepts crypto via a self-hosted BTCPay Server.

SMSPool

Don't feel comfortable giving out your phone number? Protect your online identity by using our one-time-use non-VoIP phone numbers. We support over 50+ countries and support over 300+ services.

Team Collaboration

Element

Privacy-focused messenger using the Matrix protocol. The Element client allows for group chat rooms, media sharing voice and video group calls.

Internet Relay Chat

An IRC-based solution is another option, being decentralized there is no point of failure, and it's easy to self-host. However it's important to keep security in mind while configuring your IRC instance and ensure that channels are properly encrypted - IRC tends to be better for open communications. There's a variety of clients to choose from - popular options include: The Longe (Web-based), HexChat (Linux), Pidgin (Linux), WeeChat (Linux, terminal-based), IceChat (Windows), XChat Aqua (MacOS), Palaver (iOS) and Revolution (Android).

Mattermost

Mattermost has an open source edition, which can be self-hosted. It makes a good Slack alternative, with native desktop, mobile and web apps and a wide variety of integrations.

RetroShare

Secure group communications, with the option to be used over Tor or I2P. Fast intuitive group and 1-to-1 chats with text and rich media using decentralized chat rooms, with a mail feature for delivering messages to offline contacts. A channels feature makes it possible for members of different teams to stay up-to-date with each other, and to share files. Also includes built-in forums, link aggregations, file sharing and voice and video calling. RetroShare is a bit more complex to use than some alternatives, and the UI is quite *retro*, so may not be appropriate for a non-technical team.

Rocket.Chat

Easy-to-deploy, self-hosted team collaboration platform with stable, feature-rich cross-platform client apps. The UI is fast, good looking and intuitive, so very little technical experience is needed for users of the platform. Rocket.Chat's feature set is similar to Slack's, making it a good replacement for any team looking to have greater control over their data.

Security Tools

Browser Extensions

AmIUnique Timeline

Enables you to better understand the evolution of browser fingerprints (which is what websites use to uniquely identify and track you). **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/amiunique/pigjfndpomdldkmoaiiigpbncemhjeca) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/amiunique)

Canvas Fingerprint Blocker

Block fingerprint without removing access to HTML5 Canvas element. Canvas fingerprinting is commonly used for tracking, this extension helps to mitigate this through disallowing the browser to generate a true unique key **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/canvas-blocker-fingerprin/nomnklagbgmgghhjidfhnoelnjfndfpd) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/canvas-blocker-no-fingerprint/) - [Edge](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/ahiddppepedlomdleppkbljnmkchlmdc)

ClearURLs

This extension will automatically remove tracking elements from the GET parameters of URLs to help protect some privacy **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clearurls/lckanjgmijmafbedllaakclkaicjfmnk) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls/) / [Source](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls)

Decentraleyes

Similar to LocalCDN, Serves up local versions of common scripts instead of calling to 3rd-party CDN. Improves privacy and load times. Works out-of-the-box and plays nicely with regular content blockers. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/decentraleyes/ldpochfccmkkmhdbclfhpagapcfdljkj) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes) - [Opera](https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/decentraleyes) - [Pale Moon](https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/decentraleyes) - [Source](https://git.synz.io/Synzvato/decentraleyes)

Firefox Multi-Account Containers

Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs that preserve your privacy. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple identities or accounts simultaneously. **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/)

Flagfox

Displays a country flag depicting the location of the current website's server, which can be useful to know at a glance. Click icon for more tools such as site safety checks, whois, validation etc **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flagfox/)

LibRedirect

A browser extension that redirects popular sites to alternative privacy friendly frontends **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/libredirect/) - [Chrome](https://libredirect.github.io/download_chromium.html)

Linguist

Linguist is a privacy‑focused translation solution in-browser that has an embedded offline translator and lets users create [custom translators](https://linguister.io/docs/CustomTranslator) to use any translation API, even if it's locally deployed. Full-page translation, selected text translation, dictionary, history, and other features you may expect of a full-featured translation solution in-browser. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbefmodhlophhakmoecijeppjblibmie) / [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/linguist-translator/)

LocalCDN

Emulates remote frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Bootstrap, Angular) and delivers them as local resource. Prevents unnecessary 3rd party requests to tracking CDNs **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/localcdn-fork-of-decentraleyes/)

Netcraft Extension

Notifies you when visiting a known or potential phishing site, and detects suspicious JavaScript (including skimmers and miners). Also provides a simple rating for a given site's legitimacy and security. Great for less technical users. Netcraft also has a handy online tool: [Site Report](https://sitereport.netcraft.com/) for checking what any given website is running. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/netcraft-anti-phishing-ex/bmejphbfclcpmpohkggcjeibfilpamia) \ [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/netcraft-toolbar?src=external-apps-hero) \ [Opera](https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/netcraft-anti-phishing-extension/) \ [Edge](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/netcraft-extension/ngjhgbnmdjjnmejmpamalgnlnmopllkm)

Privacy Badger

Blocks invisible trackers, in order to stop advertisers and other third-parties from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/)

Privacy Essentials

Simple extension by DuckDuckGo, which grades the security of each site. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/duckduckgo-privacy-essent/bkdgflcldnnnapblkhphbgpggdiikppg?hl=en-GB) \ [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/)

Privacy-Oriented Origin Policy

Prevent Firefox from sending Origin headers when they are least likely to be necessary, to protect your privacy **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-oriented-origin-policy/) - [Source](https://github.com/claustromaniac/poop)

PrivacySpy

The companion extension for PrivacySpy.org - an open project that rates, annotates, and archives privacy policies. The extension shows a score for the privacy policy of the current website. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacyspy/ppembnadnhiknioggbglgiciihgmkmnd) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacyspy/)

Skip Redirect

Some web pages use intermediary pages before redirecting to a final page. This add-on tries to extract the final url from the intermediary url and goes there straight away if successful **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/skip-redirect/) - [Source](https://github.com/sblask/webextension-skip-redirect)

uBlock Origin

Block ads, trackers and malware sites. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en-GB) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/)

User Agent Switcher

Spoofs browser's User-Agent string, making it appear that you are on a different device, browser and version to what you are actually using. This alone does very little for privacy, but combined with other tools, can allow you to keep your fingerprint changing, and feed fake info to sites tracking you. Some websites show different content, depending on your user agent. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher/bhchdcejhohfmigjafbampogmaanbfkg) - [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/user-agent-string-switcher/) - [Edge](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/cnjkedgepfdpdbnepgmajmmjdjkjnifa) - [Opera](https://addons.opera.com/extensions/details/user-agent-switcher-8/) - [Source](https://github.com/ray-lothian/UserAgent-Switcher/)

Web Archives

View archived and cached versions of web pages on 10+ search engines, such as the Wayback Machine, Archive.is, Google etc Useful for checking legitimacy of websites, and viewing change logs **Download**: [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-archive/) - [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-archives/hkligngkgcpcolhcnkgccglchdafcnao) - [Edge](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/apcfghlggldjdjepjnahfdjgdcdekhda) - [Source](https://github.com/dessant/web-archives)

WebRTC-Leak-Prevent

Provides user control over WebRTC privacy settings in Chromium, in order to prevent WebRTC leaks. **Download**: [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webrtc-leak-prevent/eiadekoaikejlgdbkbdfeijglgfdalml?hl=en-GB). For Firefox users, you can do this through [browser settings](https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/#webrtc). Test for WebRTC leaks, with [browserleaks.com/webrtc](https://browserleaks.com/webrtc)

Mobile Apps

1.1.1.1

Lets you use CloudFlares fast and secure 1.1.1.1 DNS, with DNS over HTTPS, and also has the option to enable CloudFlares WARP+ VPN.

AFWall+

Android Firewall+ (AFWall+) is an advanced iptables editor (GUI) for rooted Android devices, which provides very fine-grained control over which Android apps are allowed to access the network. Get from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/packages/dev.ukanth.ufirewall/)

Blokada

This application blocks ads and trackers, doesn't require root and works for all the apps on your Android phone. Check out how it works here.

Bouncer

Gives you the ability to grant permissions temporarily, so that you could for example use the camera to take a profile picture, but when you close the given app, those permissions will be revoked.

CamWings

Prevent background processes gaining unauthorized access to your devices camera. Better still, use a webcam sticker.

Catch the Man-in-the-Middle

Simple tool, that compares SHA-1 fingerprints of the the SSL certificates seen from your device, and the certificate seen from an external network. If they do not match, this may indicate a man-in-the-middle modifying requests.

Cryptomator

Encrypts files and folders client-side, before uploading them to cloud storage (such as Google Drive, One Drive or Dropbox), meaning none of your personal documents leave your device in plain text.

Exodus

Shows which trackers, each of your installed apps is using, so that you can better understand how your data is being collected. Uses data from the Exodus database of scanned APKs.

F-Droid

F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS applications for Android. The client enables you to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.

Fing App

A network scanner to help you monitor and secure your WiFi network. The app is totally free, but to use the advanced controls, you will need a Fing Box.

Greentooth

Auto-disable Bluetooth, then it is not being used. Saves battery, and prevent some security risks. Get from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.smilla.greentooth/)

Insular

An actively-maintained fork of the Island project with additional enhancements

Island

A sandbox environment, allowing you to clone selected apps and run them in an isolated box, preventing it from accessing your personal data, or device information.

NetGuard

A firewall app for Android, which does not require root. NetGuard provides simple and advanced ways to block access to the internet, where applications and addresses can individually be allowed or denied access to your Wi-Fi and/or mobile connection.

Orbot

System-wide Tor proxy, which encrypts your connection through multiple nodes. You can also use it alongside Tor Browser to access .onion sites.

PrivateLock

Auto lock your phone based on movement force/ acceleration. Get from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.wesaphzt.privatelock/) See also [PluckLock](https://github.com/SyntaxBlitz/PluckLock)

RethinkDNS & Firewall

An open-source ad-blocker and firewall app for Android 6+ (does not require root).

ScreenWings

Prevent background processes taking unauthorized screenshots, which could expose sensitive data.

Secure Task

Triggers actions, when certain security conditions are met, such as multiple failed login attempts or monitor settings changed. It does require Tasker, and needs to be set up with ADB, device does not need to be rooted.

SnoopSnitch

Collects and analyzes mobile radio data to make you aware of your mobile network security and to warn you about threats like fake base stations (IMSI catchers), user tracking and over-the-air updates. Get from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.srlabs.snoopsnitch/)

SuperFreezZ

Makes it possible to entirely freeze all background activities on a per-app basis. Intended purpose is to speed up your phone, and prolong battery life, but this app is also a great utility to stop certain apps from collecting data and tracking your actions while running in the background. See on [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/superfreeze.tool.android)

TrackerControl

Monitor and control hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behavior/ tracking. Get from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid/)

XPrivacyLua

Simple to use privacy manager for Android, that enables you to feed apps fake data when they request intimate permissions. Solves the problem caused by apps malfunctioning when you revoke permissions, and protects your real data by only sharing fake information. Enables you to hide call log, calendar, SMS messages, location, installed apps, photos, clipboard, network data plus more. And prevents access to camera, microphone, telemetry, GPS and other sensors.

Online Tools

10 Minute Mail

Generates temporary disposable email address, to avoid giving your real details.

Am I Unique?

Show how identifiable you are on the Internet by generating a fingerprint based on device information. This is how many websites track you (even without cookies enabled), so the aim is to not be unique.

Blocked.org

Checks if a given website is blocked by filters applied by your mobile and broadband Internet Service Providers (ISP).

Browser Leak Test

Shows which of personal identity data is being leaked through your browser, so you can better protect yourself against fingerprinting.

EXIF Remove

Displays, and removes Meta and EXIF data from an uploaded photo or document.

Hardenize

Scan websites and shows a security overview, relating to factors such as HTTPS, domain info, email data, www protocols and so on.

Have i been pwned

Checks if your credentials (Email address or Password) have been compromised in a data breach. See also Firefox Monitor.

IP Leak Test

Shows your IP address, and other associated details (location, ISP, WebRTC check, DNS, and lots more).

Is Legit?

Checks if a website or business is a scam, before buying something from it.

MXToolBox Mail Headers

Tool for analyzing email headers, useful for checking the authenticity of messages, as well as knowing what info you are revealing in your outbound messages.

Panopticlick

Check if your browser safe against tracking. Analyzes how well your browser and add-ons protect you against online tracking techniques, and if your system is uniquely configured—and thus identifiable.

Phish.ly

Analyzes emails, checking the URLs and creating a SHA256 and MD5 hash of attachments, with a link to VirusTotal. To use the service, just forward a potentially malicious or suspicious email to [email protected], and an automated reply will include the results. They claim that all email data is purged after analysis, but it would be wise to not include any sensitive information, and to use a forwarding address.

Redirect Detective

Check where a suspicious URL redirects to (without having to click it). Lets you avoid being tracked by not being redirected via adware/tracking sites, or see if a shortened link actually resolves a legitimate site, or see if link is an affiliate ad.

Should I Remove It?

Ever been uninstalling programs from your Windows PC and been unsure of what something is? Should I Remove It is a database of Windows software, detailing whether it is essential, harmless or dangerous.

Site Report

A tool from Netcraft, for analysing what any given website is running, where it's located and information about its host, registrar, IP and SSL certificates.

Virus Total

Analyses a potentially-suspicious web resources (by URL, IP, domain or file hash) to detect types of malware (*note: files are scanned publicly*).

εxodus

Checks how many, and which trackers any Android app has. Useful to understand how data is being collected before you install a certain APK, it also shows which permissions the app asks for.

Networking

Virtual Private Networks

Azire

Azire is a Swedish VPN provider, who owns their own hardware with physically removed storage and a no logging policy. Pricing starts at €3.25/mo, with crypto (including XMR) supported. Note that they've not yet been audited, and client applications are not open source, for more info, see #140.

IVPN

Independently Security Audited VPN with anonymous signup, no logs, no cloud or customer data stored, open-source apps and website. Strong ethics: no trackers, no false promises, no surveillance ads. Accepts various payment methods including cryptocurrencies.

Mullvad

Mullvad is one of the best for privacy, they have a totally anonymous sign up process, you don't need to provide any details at all, you can choose to pay anonymously too (with Monero, BTC or cash).

OVPN

A court-proven VPN service with support for Wireguard and OpenVPN support, and optional ad-blocking. Running on dedicated hardware, with no hard drives.

Party VPN

Crypto-native VPN with pay-as-you-go pricing. Accepts cryptocurrency only, including Monero. WireGuard and AmneziaWG protocols, no-logs policy, REST API for developers. No subscriptions or credit cards.

ProtonVPN

From the creators of ProtonMail, ProtonVPN has a solid reputation. They have a full suite of user-friendly native mobile and desktop apps. ProtonVPN is one of the few "trustworthy" providers that also offer a free plan.

Windscribe

An audited and court-proven VPN with a free 10GB plan, in-RAM servers, browser extensions and open source WireGuard/IKEv2/OpenVPN clients. Supports split tunneling, customizable DNS blocking, MAC spoofing, decoy traffic and censorship circumvention.

Self-Hosted Network Security

E2guardian

Powerful open source web content filter.

Firezone

Open-source self-hosted VPN and firewall built on WireGuard®.

IPFire

A hardened, versatile, state-of-the-art open source firewall based on Linux. Its ease of use, high performance and extensibility make it usable for everyone.

PF Sense

Widely used, open source firewall/router.

Pi-Hole

Network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole. Pi-Hole can significantly speed up your internet, remove ads and block malware. It comes with a nice web interface and a mobile app with monitoring features, it's open source, easy to install and very widely used.

PiVPN

A simple way to set up a home VPN on any Debian server. Supports OpenVPN and WireGuard with elliptic curve encryption keys up to 512 bit. Supports multiple DNS providers and custom DNS providers - works nicely along-side PiHole.

Technitium

Another DNS server for blocking privacy-invasive content at its source. Technitium doesn't require much of a setup, and basically works straight out of the box, it supports a wide range of systems (and can even run as a portable app on Windows). It allows you to do some additional tasks, such as add local DNS addresses and zones with specific DNS records. Compared to Pi-Hole, Technitium is very lightweight, but lacks the deep insights that Pi-Hole provides, and has a significantly smaller community behind it.

Zeek

Detect if you have a malware-infected computer on your network, and powerful network analysis framework and monitor.

Anonymity Networks

Freenet

Freenet is easy to setup, provides excellent friend To Friend Sharing vs I2P, and is great for publishing content anonymously. It's quite large in size, and very slow so not the best choice for casual browsing.

I2P

I2P offers great generic transports, it is well geared towards accessing hidden services, and has a couple of technical benefits over Tor: P2P friendly with unidirectional short-lived tunnels, it is packet-switched (instead of circuit-switched) with TCP and UDP, and continuously profiles peers, in order to select the best performing ones. I2P is less mature, but fully-distributed and self-organising, its smaller size means that it hasn't yet been blocked or DOSed much.

Tor

Tor provides robust anonymity, allowing you to defend against surveillance, circumvent censorship and reduce tracking. It blocks trackers, resists fingerprinting and implements multi-layered encryption by default, meaning you can browse freely. Tor also allows access to OnionLand: hidden services.

Proxies

Privoxy

Non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk.

ShadowSocks

Secure socks5 proxy, designed to protect your Internet traffic. Open source, superfast, cross-platform and easy to deploy, see [GitHub repo](https://github.com/shadowsocks).

DNS Providers

AdGuard

Open-source DNS provider, specialising in the blocking of ads, trackers and malicious domains. They have been independently audited and do not keep logs.

CloudFlare

One of the most performant options, Cloudflare's DNS supports DoH and DoT, and has a Tor implementation, providing world-class protection. They have native cross-platform apps, for easy set-up.

NextDNS

An ad-blocking, privacy-protecting, censorship-bypassing DNS. Also comes with analytics, and the ability to shield kids from adult content.

DNS Clients

DNS Cloak

Simple all that allows for the use for dnscrypt-proxy 2 on an iPhone.

DNScrypt-proxy 2

DNScrypt-proxy 2

A flexible DNS proxy, with support for modern encrypted DNS protocols including DNSCrypt V2, DNS-over-HTTPS and Anonymized DNSCrypt. Also allows for advanced monitoring, filtering, caching and client IP protection through Tor, SOCKS proxies or Anonymized DNS relays.

Nebulo

Nebulo

Non-root, small-sized DNS changer utilizing DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS. (Note, since this uses Android's VPN API, it is not possible to run a VPN while using Nebulo.)

RethinkDNS & Firewall

Free and open source DNS changer with support for DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-Tor, and DNSCrypt v3 with Anonymized Relays. (Note, since this uses Android's VPN API, it is not possible to run a VPN while using RethinkDNS + Firewall.)

Stubby

Stubby

Acts as a local DNS Privacy stub resolver (using DNS-over-TLS). Stubby encrypts DNS queries sent from a client machine (desktop or laptop) to a DNS Privacy resolver increasing end user privacy. Stubby can be used in combination with Unbound - Unbound provides a local cache and Stubby manages the upstream TLS connections (since Unbound cannot yet re-use TCP/TLS connections), see example configuration.

Unbound

Unbound

Validating, recursive, caching DNS resolve with support for DNS-over-TLS. Designed to be fast, lean, and secure Unbound incorporates modern features based on open standards. It's fully open source, and recently audited. (For an in-depth tutorial, see this article by DNSWatch.)

Firewalls

AFWall+

AFWall+

Android Firewall+ (AFWall+) is an advanced iptables editor (GUI) for rooted Android devices, which provides very fine-grained control over which Android apps are allowed to access the network.

Gufw

Gufw

Open source GUI firewall for Linux, allowing you to block internet access for certain applications. Supports both simple and advanced mode, GUI and CLI options, very easy to use, lightweight/ low-overhead, under active maintenance and backed by a strong community.

IPFire

IPFire

IPFire is a hardened, versatile, state-of-the-art Open Source firewall based on Linux. Easy to install on a raspberry Pi, since it is lightweight and heavily customizable.

Little Snitch

A very polished application firewall, allowing you to easily manage internet connections on a per-app basis. (Mac OS)

Lockdown

Firewall app for iPhone, allowing you to block any connection to any domain.

LuLu

LuLu

Free, open source macOS firewall. It aims to block unknown outgoing connections, unless explicitly approved by the user.

NetGuard

NetGuard

Provides simple and advanced ways to block access to the internet. Applications and addresses can individually be allowed or denied access to Wi-Fi and/or mobile connection.

OpenSnitch

OpenSnitch

Makes internet connections from all apps visible, allowing you to block or manage traffic on a per-app basis. GNU/Linux port of the Little Snitch application firewall.

OPNSense

OPNSense

Enterprise firewall and router for protecting networks, built on the FreeBSD system.

RethinkDNS & Firewall

An open-source ad-blocker and firewall app for Android 6+ (does not require root).

Shorewall

Shorewall

An open source firewall tool for Linux that builds upon the Netfilter system built into the Linux kernel, making it easier to manage more complex configuration schemes with iptables.

SimpleWall

SimpleWall

Tool to control Windows Filtering Platform (WFP), in order to configure detailed network activity on your PC. (Windows)

Uncomplicated Firewall

The ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) is a GUI application and CLI, that allows you to configure a firewall using `iptables` much more easily.

Ad Blockers

Blokada

Blokada

Open source mobile ad-blocker that acts like a firewall. Since it's device-wide, once connected all apps will have ads/ trackers blocked, and the blacklist can be edited. The app is free, but there is a premium option, which has a built-in VPN.

Diversion

Diversion

A shell script application to manage ad-blocking, Dnsmasq logging, Entware and pixelserv-tls installations and more on supported routers running Asuswrt-Merlin firmware, including its forks.

hBlock

hBlock

A POSIX-compliant shell script, designed for Unix-like systems, that gets a list of domains that serve ads, tracking scripts and malware from multiple sources and creates a hosts file (alternative formats are also supported) that prevents your system from connecting to them. Aimed at improving security and privacy through blocking advert, tracking and malware associated domains.

Pi-Hole

Pi-Hole

Incredibly powerful, network-wide ad-blocker. Works out-of-the-box, light-weight with an intuitive web interface, but still allows for a lot of advanced configuration for power users. As well as blocking ads and trackers, Pi-Hole speeds up your network speeds quite significantly. The dashboard has detailed statistics, and makes it easy to pause/ resume Pi-Hole if needed.

RethinkDNS & Firewall

Free and open source ad-blocker and a firewall for Android 6+ (no root required).

uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin

Light-weight, fast browser extension for Firefox and Chromium (Chrome, Edge, Brave Opera etc), that blocks tracking, ads and known malware. uBlock is easy-to-use out-of-the-box, but also has a highly customisable advanced mode, with a point-and-click firewall which can be configured on a per-site basis.

Host Block Lists

EasyList

Comprehensive list of domains for blocking tracking, social scripts, bad cookies and annoying stuff.

Hosts by StevenBlack

Open source, community-maintained consolidated and extending hosts files from several well-curated sources. You can optionally pick extensions to block p0rn, Social Media, gambling, fake news and other categories.

iBlockList

Variety of lists (free and paid-for) for blocking content based on certain topics, inducing: spam, abuse, political, illegal, hijacked, bad peers and more.

No Google

Totally block all direct and indirect content from Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft (or just some).

SomeoneWhoCares/ Hosts

An up-to-date host list, maintained by Dan Pollock - to make the internet not suck (as much).

Router Firmware

DD-WRT

Easy and powerful user interface. Great access control, bandwidth monitoring and quality of service. IPTables is built-in for firewall, and there's great VPN support as well as additional plug-and-play and wake-on-lan features.

OpenWRT

Plenty of scope for customization and a ton of supported addons. Stateful firewall, NAT, and dynamically-configured port forwarding protocols (UPnP, NAT-PMP + upnpd, etc), Load balancing, IP tunneling, IPv4 & IPv6 support.

Network Analysis

Goodbye DPI

Goodbye DPI

Passive Deep Packet Inspection blocker and Active DPI circumvention utility, for Windows.

OONI

OONI

Open Observatory of Network Interference - A free tool and global observation network, for detecting censorship, surveillance and traffic manipulation on the internet. Developed by The Tor Project, and available for Android, iOS, and Linux.

Proxy Checker

You can quickly check if a given IP is using a proxy, this can also be done through the command line.

Intrusion Detection

Kismet

Kismet

An 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system.

OSSEC

OSSEC

OSSEC is an Open Source host-based intrusion detection system, that performs log analysis, integrity checking, monitoring, rootkit detection, real-time alerting and active response.

picosnitch

picosnitch

picosnitch helps protect your security and privacy by "snitching" on anything that connects to the internet, letting you know when, how much data was transferred, and to where. It uses BPF to monitor network traffic per application, and per parent to cover those that just call others. It also hashes every executable, and will complain if some mischievous program is giving it trouble.

Snare

Snare

SNARE (System iNtrusion Analysis and Reporting Environment) is a series of log collection agents that facilitate centralized analysis of audit log data. Logs from the OS are collected and audited. Full remote access, through a web interface easy to use manually, or by an automated process.

Zeek

Zeek

Zeek (formally Bro) Passively monitors network traffic and looks for suspicious activity.

Cloud Hosting

Bunker

Sovereign open-source cloud platform (SSPL-1.0) hosted entirely in France. Offers managed hosting of open-source apps (Grafana, Matomo, Vaultwarden, etc.) and S3-compatible object storage. GDPR-native, ISO 27001 compliant, with no vendor lock-in.

Njalla

Njalla is a privacy and security-focused domain registrar and VPN hosting provider. They own and manage all their own servers, which are based in Sweden. They accept crypto, for anonymous payments, and allow you to sign up with OTR XMPP if you do not want to provide an email address. Both VPS and domain name pricing is reasonable, with packages starting at $15/ month.

Private Layer

Offers enterprise-grade, high-speed offshore dedicated servers, they own their own data centres, have a solid privacy policy and accept anonymous payment.

Servers Guru

Servers Guru provides affordable and anonymous VPS and cloud servers with dedicated cpu resources. They accept crypto-currencies (Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum etc..) and don't require any personal informations. They resell from reputable providers.

Domain Registrars

Njal.la

Privacy-aware domain service with anonymous sign-up and accepts cryptocurrency.

Orange Website

Anonymous domain registration, with low online censorship since they are based outside the 14-eyes jurisdiction (in Iceland).

DNS Hosting

deSEC

deSEC

Free DNS hosting provider designed with security in mind, and running on purely open source software. deSEC is backed and funded by SSE.

Mail Servers

Docker Mailserver

A full-stack but simple mailserver (smtp, imap, antispam, antivirus, ssl...) using Docker. Very complete, with everything you will need, customizable and very easy to deploy with docker.

Mail-in-a-box

Easy-to-deploy fully-featured and pre-configured SMTP mail server. It includes everything from webmail, to spam filtering and backups.

mailcow

mailcow

A mail server with everything you need (SMTP, IMAP, webmail, NextCloud support..) using Docker.

Productivity

Digital Notes

Cryptee

Cryptee

Private & encrypted rich-text documents. Cryptee has encryption and anonymity at its core, it also has a beautiful and minimalistic UI. You can use Cryptee from the browser, or download native apps. Comes with many additional features, such as support for photo albums and file storage. The disadvantage is that only the frontend is open source. Pricing is free for starter plan, $3/ month for 10GB, additional plans go up-to 2TB.

Joplin

Joplin

Cross-platform desktop and mobile note-taking and todo app. Easy organisation into notebooks and sections, revision history and a simple UI. Allows for easy import and export of notes to or from other services. Supports synchronisation with cloud services, implemented with E2EE.

Logseq

Logseq

Privacy-first, open-source knowledge base that works on top of local plain-text Markdown and Org-mode files. Supports lots of different note modes, including task management, PDF annotation, flashcards, whiteboards strong markdown support and more. Includes themes and extensions, backed by a strong community

Notable

Notable

An offline markdown-based note editor for desktop, with a simple, yet feature-rich UI. All notes are saved individually as .md files, making them easy to manage. No mobile app, built-in cloud-sync, encryption or web UI. But due to the structure of the files, it is easy to use your own cloud sync provider, and additional features are provided through extensions.

Obsidian

Obsidian

A powerful knowledge base that works on top of local plain-text Markdown files. It has a strong community, and a lot of plugins and themes. Generally privacy-respecting, but no encryption out of the box, and some of the code is obfuscated or not fully open source

Standard Notes

Standard Notes

S.Notes is a free, open-source, and completely encrypted private notes app. It has a simple UI, yet packs in a lot of features, thanks to the Extensions Store, allowing for: To-Do lists, Spreadsheets, Rich Text, Markdown, Math Editor, Code Editor and many more. You can choose between a number of themes (yay, dark mode!), and it features built-in secure file store, tags/ folders, fast search and more. Standard Notes is actively developed, and fully open-source.

Turtle

Turtle

A secure, collaborative notebook. Self-host it yourself, or use their hosted plan (free edition or $3/ month for premium).

VNote

VNote

A free, open-source note-taking application built with Qt, focused on providing a pleasant Markdown editing experience. It manages notes directly as plain text files on your local system.

Calendar

Fossify Calendar

Fossify Calendar from the family of forked FOSS apps from the discontinued SimpleMobileTools. Simple, customizable, includes widgets. Note that CalDAV support is currently limited (see [#921](https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/issues/921)

Nextcloud Calendar

Nextcloud Calendar

Calendar app for the self-hosted Nextcloud platform. Uses CalDAV for sync across devices. No E2E encryption support.

Proton Calendar

The calendar app from the Proton suite. End-to-end encrypted. Supports ICS (not encrypted), colours, recurring events, mail integration, notifications and multiple time zones.

Task Management

Super Productivity

Privacy-respecting, open-source task manager and time tracker. All data is stored locally on your device - no account required, no cloud dependency, and zero telemetry. Supports Jira, GitLab, GitHub, Gitea, OpenProject and CalDAV integration. Features include time tracking, Pomodoro timer, break reminders, and idle detection.

Backup and Sync

bewCloud

Modern and simpler alternative to Nextcloud/ownCloud crafted with TypeScript. Unifies file management, sync, sharing, notes, RSS, expenses, calendars, contacts, and photos, with MFA, WebDAV, CalDAV, CardDAV, SSO, and more.

NextCloud

NextCloud

Feature-rich productivity platform, that can be used to backup and selectively sync encrypted files and folders between 1 or more clients. A key benefit the wide range of plug-ins in the NextCloud App Store, maintained by the community. NextCloud was a hard fork off OwnCloud.

SeaFile

SeaFile

An open source cloud storage and sync solution. Files are grouped into Libraries, which can be individually encrypted, shared of synced. Docker image available for easy deployment, and native clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.

Syncthing

Syncthing

Continuous file synchronization between 2 or more clients. It is simple, yet powerful, and fully-encrypted and private. Syncthing can be deployed with Docker, and there are native clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Android.

Cloud Productivity Suites

CryptPad

A zero knowledge cloud productivity suite. Provides Rich Text, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Kanban, Paint a code editor and file drive. All notes and user content, are encrypted by default, and can only be accessed with specific URL. The main disadvantage, is a lack of Android, iOS and desktop apps - CryptPad is entirely web-based. You can use their web service, or you can host your own instance. Price for hosted: free for 50mb or $5/ month for premium.

Disroot

Disroot

A platform providing online services based on principles of freedom, privacy, federation and decentralization. It is an implementation of NextCloud, with strong encryption configured - it is widely used by journalists, activists and whistle-blowers. It is free to use, but there have been reported reliability issues of the cloud services.

NextCloud

NextCloud

A complete self-hosted productivity platform, with a strong community and growing app store. NextCloud is similar to (but arguably more complete than) Google Drive, Office 365 and Dropbox. Clear UI and stable native apps across all platforms, and also supports file sync. Supports encrypted files, but you need to configure this yourself. Fully open source.

Sandstorm

An open source platform for self-hosting web apps. Once you've set it up, you can install items from the Sandstorm App Market with -click, similar to NextCloud in terms of flexibility.

Vikunja

Vikunja

Vikunja is an open-source to-do application. It is suitable for a wide variety of projects, supporting List, Gantt, Table and Kanban views to visualize all tasks in different contexts. For collaboration, it has sharing support via private teams or public links. It can be self-hosted or used as a managed service for a small fee.

Encrypted Cloud Storage

FileN

Zero knowledge end-to-end encrypted affordable cloud storage made in Germany. Open-source mobile and desktop apps. 10GB FREE with paid plans starting at €0.92/month for 100GB.

IceDrive

Very affordable encrypted storage provider, with cross-platform apps. Starts as £1.50/month for 150 GB or £3.33/month for 1 TB.

Internxt

Store your files in total privacy. Internxt Drive is a zero-knowledge cloud storage service based on best-in-class privacy and security. Made in Spain. Open-source mobile and desktop apps. 10GB FREE and Paid plans starting from €0.99/month for 20GB.

Koofr

GDPR compliant storage (web/desktop/mobile/WebDAV/RClone) with a sensible privacy policy. Has optional open-source client-side encryption, compatible with RClone. Can connect to other cloud services and MS Office. 10GB free, on ISO27001 servers (DE).

Peergos

A peer-to-peer end-to-end encrypted global filesystem with fine grained access control. Provides a secure and private space online where you can store, share and view your photos, videos, music and documents. Also includes a calendar, news feed, task lists, chat and email client. Fully open source and self-hostable (or use hosted solution, from £5/month for 100 GB).

Tresorit

End-to-end encrypted zero knowledge file storage, syncing and sharing provider, based in Switzerland. The app is cross-platform, user-friendly client and with all expected features. £6.49/month for 500 GB.

Secret Sharing

1time.io

1time.io - Zero-knowledge one-time secret sharing with AES-256-GCM browser-side encryption, HKDF key derivation, CLI tool, and Docker self-hosting.

crypt.fyi

crypt.fyi is an ephemeral zero-knowledge sensitive data sharing platform with web, cli, and chrome-extension clients. It offers a suite of configurations beyond the standard for comparable private pastebins, including max read count, IP/CIDR allow-listing, and webhooks.

Hemmelig.app

Share rich text and files securely with locally encrypted messages that automatically self-destruct, or invite others to send you a secret. Allows setting maximum views, webhooks, expiration times and IP restrictions. Open source and self-hostable.

File Drop

FileSend

Simple, encrypted file sharing, with a 500mb limit and 5-day retention. Files are secured with client-side AES-256 encryption and no IP address or device info is logged. Files are permanently deleted after download or after specified duration. Developed by StandardNotes, and has built-in integration with the SN app.

OnionShare

OnionShare

An open source tool that lets you securely and anonymously share a file of any size, via Tor servers. OnionShare does require installing, but the benefit is that your files are transferred directly to the recipient, without needing to be hosted on an interim server. The host needs to remain connected for the duration of the transfer, but once it is complete, the process will be terminated.

Browser Sync

Floccus

Simple and efficient bookmark syncing using either NextCloud Bookmarks, a WebDAV server (local or remote) or just a local folder through LoFloccus. Browser extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Shiori

Simple bookmark manager written in Go, intended to be a clone of Pocket, it has both a simple and clean web interface as well as a CLI. Shiori has easy import/ export, is portable and has webpage archiving features.

Unmark

A web application which acts as a todo app for bookmarks. You can either self-host it, or use their managed service which has a free and paid-for tier.

XBrowserSync

Secure, anonymous and free browser and bookmark syncing. Easy to setup, and no sign up is required, you can either use a community-run sync server, or host your own with their docker image. Extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, and on Android.

Secure Conference Calls

Jami

Jami

A free and open source, distributed video, calling and screenshare platform with a focus on security. Jami is completely peer-to-peer, and has full end-to-end encryption with perfect forward secrecy for all communications, complying with the X.509 standard. Supported natively on Windows, macOS, iOS, GNU/Linux, Android and Android TV. Video quality is quite good, but very dependent on network speeds, some of the apps are lacking in features.

Jitsi

Jitsi

Encrypted, free and open source video calling app, which does not require creating an account/ providing any personal details. Available as a web app, and native app for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS. You can use the public Jitsi instance, self-host your own, or use a community hosted instance.

Maps & Navigation

CoMaps

CoMaps

Community-led, not-for-profit offline maps and navigation app built on OpenStreetMap data. No tracking, ads or data collection; all search and routing happen on-device. A community fork of Organic Maps, supporting driving, cycling and hiking.

Utilities

Virtual Machines

UTM

UTM

Open source, feature rich, powerful type 2 hypervisor for Mac, can emulate x86-64 OSes on Apple Silicon Macs. There's also an [iOS](https://getutm.app/) version (so you can run Windows on your iPhone!)

VirtualBox

Open source, powerful, feature-rich virtualization product, supporting x86 and AMD64/Intel64 architectures. Available for Windows, MacOS, Linux and BSD, and free for both personal and enterprise use. VirtualBox is backed by a strong community, and has been under active development since 2007.

Xen Project

Xen Project

Open source virtual machine monitor intended to serve as a type-1 hyperviser for multiple operating systems using the same hardware - very useful for servers, as it allows for fully independent virtual Linux machines.

PGP Managers

FlowCrypt

FlowCrypt

Browser extension for using PGP within Gmail, for Chrome and Firefox. Mobile version supported on Android and iOS.

GPG Suite

GPG Suite

Successor of MacGPG. Plays nice with MacOS apps, including Finder, Appple Mail, Keychain and Spotlight. Makes encrypting files, emails, and messages / data very easy. As well as GUI for generating keys, verifying signatures, etc.

GPG4Win

GPG4Win

Kleopatra ported to Windows.

Kleopatra

Kleopatra

Certificate manager and a universal crypto GUI. It supports managing X.509 and OpenPGP certificates in the GpgSM keybox and retrieving certificates from LDAP servers.

Mailvelope

Mailvelope

Mailvelope is an addon for email applications, that makes using PGP very easy for beginners. You can use the hosted version for free, or opt to host your own instance. Works with Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, GMX, Posteo, Web.de, FreeNet.de, Mailbox.org and [many others](https://mailvelope.com/en/faq#mailer_list).

OpenKeychain

OpenKeychain

Android app for managing keys, and encrypting messages. Works both stand-alone, and as integrated into other apps, including k9-Mail. Everything can be done through a simple yet powerful GUI. Open source, security audited, transparent permissions, and activley maintained.

PGP Everywhere

iOS app for encrypting/ decrypting text. Has native keyboard integration, keychain support and app integrations which makes it quick to use in any app.

SeaHorse

SeaHorse

Application for managing encryption keys and passwords, integrated with the GNOME Keyring.

Metadata Removal

ExifCleaner

Cross-platform, open source, performant EXIF meta data removal tool. This GUI tool makes cleaning media files really easy, and has great batch process support. Created by @szTheory, and uses ExifTool.

ExifTool

Platform-independent open source Perl library & CLI app, for reading, writing and editing meta data. Built by Phill Harvey. Very good performance, and supports all common metadata formats. An official GUI application is available for Windows, implemented by Bogdan Hrastnik.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim

Native MacOS app, with drag 'n drop image optimization and meta data removal.

Data Erasers

DBAN

DBAN

Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is the free edition of Blanco, which is an enterprise tool designed for legal compliance.

Eraser

Eraser

Allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

Mr. Phone

Mr. Phone

Proprietary, closed-source suite of forensic data tools for mobile. The data eraser allows for both Android and iOS to be fully wiped, through connecting them to a PC.

nwipe

nwipe

C-based secure light-weight disk eraser, operated through the easy-to-use CLI or a GUI interface.

OW Shredder

OW Shredder

File, folder and drive portable eraser for Windows. Bundled with other tools to scan, analyze, and wipe, and other traces that were left behind. Includes context menu item, recycle bin integration.

SDelete

SDelete

Microsoft Secure Delete is a CLI utility, uses DoD 5220.22-M.

Secure Remove

CLI utility for securely removing files, directories and whole disks, works on Linux, BSD and MacOS.

shred

shred

A CLI utility that can be used to securely delete files and devices, to make them extremely difficult to recover.

Operating Systems

Mobile Operating Systems

AXP.OS

AXP.OS is an operating system based on AOSP & LineageOS. Emerged from the discontinued [DivestOS](https://divestos-archive.codeberg.page), it aims to prolong the lifespan of discontinued devices, enhance privacy and increase security where possible, e.g. by backporting kernel patches.

GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS is an open source privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility. Developed by Daniel Micay. GrapheneOS is a young project, and currently only supports Pixel devices, partially due to their strong hardware security.

LineageOS

A free and open-source operating system for various devices, based on the Android mobile platform - Lineage is light-weight, well maintained, supports a wide range of devices, and comes bundled with Privacy Guard.

Desktop Operating Systems

Alpine Linux

Alpine is a security-oriented, lightweight distro based on musl libc and busybox. It compiles all user-space binaries as position-independent executables with stack-smashing protection. Install and setup may be quite complex for some new users.

Parrot

Parrot

Parrot Linux, is a full Debian-based operating system, that is geared towards security, privacy and development. It is fully-featured yet light-weight, very open. There are 3 editions: General Purpose, Security and Forensic. The Secure distribution includes its own sandbox system obtained with the combination of Firejail and AppArmor with custom security profiles. While the Forensics Edition is bundled with a comprehensive suite of security/ pen-testing tools, similar to Kali and Black Arch.

Qubes OS

Qubes OS

Open-source security-oriented operating system for single-user desktop computing. It uses virtualisation, to run each application in its own compartment to avoid data being leaked. It features Split GPG, U2F Proxy, and Whonix integration. Qubes makes is easy to create disposable VMs which are spawned quickly and destroyed when closed. Qubes is recommended by Edward Snowden.

Tails

Tails

Tails is a live operating system (so you boot into it from a USB, instead of installing). It preserves your privacy and anonymity through having no persistent memory/ leaving no trace on the computer. Tails has Tor built-in system-wide, and uses state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging. Open source, and built on top of Debian. Tails is simple to stop, configure and use.

Whonix

Whonix is an anonymous operating system, which can run in a VM, inside your current OS. It is the best way to use Tor, and provides very strong protection for your IP address. It comes bundled with other features too: Keystroke Anonymization, Time Attack Defences, Stream Isolation, Kernel Self Protection Settings and an Advanced Firewall. Open source, well audited, and with a strong community - Whonix is based on Debian, KickSecure and Tor.

Linux Defenses

BleachBit

Clears cache and deletes temporary files very effectively. This frees up disk space, improves performance, but most importantly helps to protect privacy.

chkrootkit

Locally checks for signs of a rootkit.

ClamTk

ClamTk is basically a graphical front-end for ClamAV, making it an easy to use, light-weight, on-demand virus scanner for Linux systems.

Firejail

Firejail is a SUID sandbox program that reduces the risk of security breaches by restricting the running environment of untrusted applications using Linux namespaces and seccomp-bpf. Written in C, virtually no dependencies, runs on any modern Linux system, with no daemon running in the background, no complicated configuration, and it's super lightweight and super secure, since all actions are implemented by the kernel. It includes security profiles for over 800 common Linux applications. FireJail is recommended for running any app that may potential pose some kind of risk, such as torrenting through Transmission, browsing the web, opening downloaded attachments.

Gufw

Gufw

Open source GUI firewall for Linux, allowing you to block internet access for certain applications. Supports both simple and advanced mode, GUI and CLI options, very easy to use, lightweight/ low-overhead, under active maintenance and backed by a strong community. Installable through most package managers, or compile from source.

Snort

Open source intrusion prevention system capable of real-time traffic analysis and packet logging.

Windows Defences

BleachBit

Clears cache and deletes temporary files very effectively. This frees up disk space, improves performance, but most importantly helps to protect privacy.

GhostPress

Anti low-level keylogger: Provides full system-wide key press protection, and target window screenshot protection.

GMER

Rootkit detection and removal utility.

HardenTools

A utility that disables a number of risky Windows features. These "features" are exposed by the OS and primary consumer applications, and very commonly abused by attackers, to execute malicious code on a victim's computer. So this tool just reduces the attack surface by disabling the low-hanging fruit.

IIS Crypto

A utility for configuring encryption protocols, cyphers, hashing methods, and key exchanges for Windows components. Useful for sysadmins on Windows Server.

KeyScrambler

Provides protection against software keyloggers. Encrypts keypresses at driver level, and decrypts at application level, to protect against common keyloggers.

NetLimiter

Internet traffic control and monitoring tool.

RKill

Useful utility, that attempts to terminate known malware processes, so that your normal security software can then run and clean your computer of infections.

SafeKeys V3.0

Portable virtual keyboard. Useful for protecting from keyloggers when using a public computer, as it can run of a USB with no administrative permissions.

ScreenWings

Blocks malicious background applications from taking screenshots.

ShutUp10

A portable app that lets you disable core Windows features (such as Cortana, Edge) and control which data is passed to Microsoft. (Note: Free, but not open source).

SigCheck

A CLI utility that shows file version number, timestamp information, and digital signature details.

USBFix

Detects infected USB removable devices.

Windows Secure Baseline

Group Policy objects, compliance checks, and configuration tools that provide an automated and flexible approach for securely deploying and maintaining the latest releases of Windows 10.

Windows Spy Blocker

Capture and interprets network traffic based on a set of rules, and depending on the interactions certain assignments are blocked. Open source, written in Go and delivered as a single executable.

WPD

Portable app with a GUI, that makes it really easy to safely block key telemetry features, from sending data to Microsoft and other third parties (It uses the Windows API to interact with key features of Local Group Police, Services, Tasks Scheduler, etc).

Mac OS Defences

LuLu

Free, open source macOS firewall. It aims to block unknown outgoing connections, unless explicitly approved by the user.

Stronghold

Easily configure macOS security settings from the terminal.

Anti-Malware

ClamAV

An open source cross-platform antivirus engine for detecting viruses, malware & other malicious threats. It is versatile, performant and very effective.

VirusTotal

Web-based malware scanner, that inspects files and URLs with over 70 antivirus scanners, URL/domain services, and other tools to extract signals and determine the legitimacy.

Development

Code Hosting

Codeberg

A fully-managed instance of Forgejo.

Gitea

Lightweight self-hosted git platform, written in Go.

GitLab

Fully-featured git, CI and project management platform. Managed instance available, but can also be self-hosted.

Gogs

Lightweight self-hosted git platform, written in Go.

SourceHut

Git and mercurial code hosting, task management, mailing lists, wiki hosting and Alpine-based build pipelines. Can be self-hosted, or used through the managed instance at sr.ht.

IDEs

VSCodium

Free and open source binaries of VS Code, built without Microsoft branding and with community-driven defaults. Extension compatibility can differ from Microsoft's official VS Code build.

Terminal Emulators

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Developer Utilities

Smart Home & IoT

Finance

Cryptocurrencies

Monero

One of the most private cryptocurrencies, since no meta data is available (not even the transaction amount). It uses complex on-chain cryptographic methods such as Ring signatures, RingCT, Kovri, and Stealth addresses all of which help protect the privacy of users.

ZCash

Uses zero-knowledge proofs to protect privacy cryptographic technique, that allows two users to transact without ever revealing their true identity or address. The Zcash blockchain uses two types of addresses and transactions, Z transactions and addresses are private and T transactions and addresses are transparent like Bitcoin.

Crypto Wallets

BitBox02

BitBox02

Open source hardware wallet, supporting secure multisig with the option for making encrypted backups on a MicroSD card.

ColdCard

ColdCard

An easy-to-use, super secure Bitcoin hardware wallet, which can be used independently as an air-gapped wallet. ColdCard is based on partially signed Bitcoin transactions following the BIP174 standard. Built specifically for Bitcoin, and with a variety of unique security features, ColdCard is secure, trustless, private, and easy-to-use. Companion products for the ColdCard include: BlockClock, SeedPlate, and ColdPower.

CryptoSteel

CryptoSteel

A steel plate, with engraved letters which can be permanently screwed - CryptoSteel is a good fire-proof, shock-proof, water-proof, and stainless cryptocurrency backup solution.

Electrum

Electrum

Long-standing Python-based Bitcoin wallet with good security features. Private keys are encrypted and do not touch the internet and balance is checked with a watch-only wallet. Compatible with other wallets, so there is no tie-in, and funds can be recovered with your secret seed. It supports proof-checking to verify transactions using SPV, multi-sig, and add-ons for compatibility with hardware wallets. A decentralized server indexes ledger transactions, meaning it's fast and doesn't require much disk space. The potential security issue here would not be with the wallet, but rather your PC - you must ensure your computer is secure and your wallet has a long, strong passphrase to encrypt it with.

Sparrow Wallet

Sparrow is a Bitcoin wallet for those who value financial self-sovereignty. Sparrow’s emphasis is on security, privacy, and usability. Sparrow does not hide information from you - on the contrary, it attempts to provide as much detail as possible about your transactions and UTXOs, but in a way that is manageable and usable.

Trezor

Trezor

Open source, cross-platform, offline, crypto wallet, compatible with 1000+ coins. Your private key is generated on the device, and never leaves it, all transactions are signed by the Trezor, which ensures your wallet is safe from theft. There are native apps for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, and iOS, but Trezor is also compatible with other wallets, such as Wasabi. You can back the Trezor up, either by writing down the seed, or by duplicating it to another device. It is simple and intuitive to use, but also incredibly customizable with a large range of advanced features.

Wasabi Wallet

Wasabi Wallet

An open source, native desktop wallet for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. Wasabi implements trustless CoinJoins over the Tor network. Neither an observer nor the participants can determine which output belongs to which input. This makes it difficult for outside parties to trace where a particular coin originated from and where it was sent to, which greatly improves privacy. Since it's trustless, the CoinJoin coordinator cannot breach the privacy of the participants. Wasabi is compatible with cold storage and hardware wallets, including OpenCard and Trezor.

Crypto Exchanges

Bisq

An open-source, peer-to-peer application that allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in exchange for national currencies. Fully decentralized, and no registration required.

RoboSats

RoboSats is an easy way to privately exchange Bitcoin for national currencies. It simplifies the peer-to-peer experience and makes use of lightning hold invoices to minimize custody and trust requirements. The deterministically generated avatars help users stick to best privacy practices.

Virtual Credit Cards

MySudo

Much more than just virtual cards, MySudo is a platform for creating compartmentalised identities, each with their own virtual cards, virtual phone numbers, virtual email addresses, messaging, private browsing, and more. There is a free plan for up to 3 identities, and premium plans start at $0.99/month.

Privacy.com

Privacy.com has a good reputation, and is the largest virtual card provider in the US. Unlike other providers, it is free for personal use (up to 12 cards per month) with no fees, apps and support is good. There is a premium plan for $10/month, with 1% cashback and 36 cards/month.

Other Payment Methods

Cash

Actual physical cash is still the most private option, with no chance of leaving any transactional records.

Gift Cards

Gift cards can be purchased for cash in many convenience stores, and redeemed online for goods or services. Try to avoid CCTV as best as possible.

Pre-paid Cards

Similarly to gift cards, buying a pre-paid card for cash can enable you to purchase goods and services in stores that only accept card payments.

Secure Budgeting

BeeCount

BeeCount

Privacy-first cross-platform personal expense tracker (Android/iOS/Web) with offline-first design. Multi-cloud sync options — self-hosted BeeCount Cloud, iCloud, Supabase, WebDAV or S3 — keep data under user control.

ezBookkeeping

ezBookkeeping

A lightweight, self-hosted personal finance app for recording daily transactions and analyzing spending patterns. Self-hosted, with all data staying on your own server. Supports 2FA and OICD.

Firefly III

Firefly III

A free and open source personal finance manager. Firefly III features a clean and clear UI, is easy to set up and use, and is backed by a strong community. Regular updates bring new features, improvements, and fixes. There's also a hass.io addon, and compatibility with Home Assistant. Ensure your server is securely configured.

GnuCash

GnuCash

A full-featured cross-platform accounting application suitable for personal and small business finance. Stable and reliable, GnuCash offers a comprehensive suite of financial management tools. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.

Plain Text Accounting

Utilizes plain text files and scriptable, command-line-friendly software for bookkeeping/accounting, offering full control over data. Popular tools include Ledger, hledger, and Beancount among others, providing a flexible and vendor-independent approach to accounting.

Social

Social Networks

Discourse

A fully open-source, self-hostable discussion platform usable as a mailing list, discussion forum, or long-form chat room.

Lemmy

A federated, open-source link aggregator and discussion platform, similar to Reddit. Built on ActivityPub. Wide range of cross-platform [client apps](https://join-lemmy.org/apps).

Mastodon

An open-source, distributed social media platform functioning similarly to Twitter, without algorithmic timeline manipulations. It operates across independent servers.

nostr

nostr stands for Notes and other stuff transmitted by relays. It is an open protocol, not merely a platform. This distinction enables truly censorship-resistant and global value-for-value publishing on the web. With the power to replace data-greedy applications like Twitter and Instagram, nostr offers a promising alternative for users seeking a more private and secure online experience without algorithmic manipulations. ".... I feel like I’m looking at the future." that is what [Snowden](https://x.com/Snowden/status/1617623779626352640) wrote about nostr.

Video Platforms

DTube

A decentralized, ad-free video platform emphasizing minimal moderation. It rewards users with cryptocurrency, leveraging blockchain technology.

PeerTube

A federated video platform leveraging peer-to-peer technology to decrease server load during video streaming. Supports self-hosting or joining existing instances, enabling video viewing from any PeerTube server.

Blogging Platforms

Bear Blog

A no-nonsense, super-fast blogging platform prioritizing privacy. It strips back unnecessary features to focus on straightforward blogging. The platform is open source.

Mataroa

A minimalist blogging platform focused on privacy and simplicity. It's open source and eschews complex features for a straightforward writing and publishing experience.

Movim

A web frontend for XMPP, offering decentralized blogging and chatrooms. Movim is open source, integrating social and communication tools in a unified platform.

Pico

Web services over SSH, including blogging with Prose, microsites with Pages, and a pastebin with Pastes. The services use public-key cryptography by default with no browser-based tracking and minimal logging.

Telegraph

A quick, anonymous blogging platform by Telegram. It's designed for simplicity and speed, allowing for straightforward content publishing without registration.

Write Freely

A minimalist, federated blogging platform offering a clean UI. It's free, open source, and caters to writers seeking simplicity and federation capabilities. For hosted options, visit Write.as.

News Readers

Tiny RSS

A web-based news feed reader and aggregator, supporting RSS/Atom feeds. It's free, open source, and offers a customizable and self-hostable platform for managing your news feeds.

Proxy Sites

Invidious

Invidious

An open source, privacy-focused YouTube frontend. It minimizes Google tracking, supports audio-only mode, integrates Reddit comments, and offers advanced playback options. Lightweight and can function without JavaScript. Supports import/export of subscriptions and feed customization.

Nitter

Nitter

A privacy-centric alternative to Twitter's front-end, focusing on preventing user tracking. It's free, open source, lightweight, supports multiple themes, and offers customizable RSS feeds. All client requests are proxied, enhancing privacy. No JavaScript required.

Redlib

Redlib

An alternative private front-end to Reddit, with its origins in [Libreddit](https://github.com/libreddit/libreddit). Has workarounds to access data without relying upon the restrictive Reddit API.

WebProxy

A free proxy service offering a Tor mode for evading censorship and accessing geo-restricted content. Claims to encrypt traffic, but caution is advised for personal information. Managed by DevroLabs.

Media

Gaming

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Media Servers

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Music Players

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Video Players

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Photo Viewers

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

E-Book Readers

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Podcast Players

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

Torrent Downloaders

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

File Converters

FFmpeg

A complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert, and stream audio and video. It's the industry standard multimedia framework, handling a vast range of formats. As a command-line tool, it guarantees that all processing is done locally on your machine.

VERT

Web-based file conversion utility, which runs locally on your device using WebAssembly. Supports 250+ formats across images, audio, documents, and video.

Creativity

Image Editors

DarkTable

DarkTable

A photography workflow application (similar to Adbobe Lightroom) Includes a non-destructive raw developer for raw images and managing digital negatives.

Gimp

Gimp

A free, open source, cross-platform image editor. GIMP is a powerful tool for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It is highly customizable, and supports a wide range of file formats.

InkScape

InkScape

A free, open source, professional vector graphics editor. It is a powerful tool for creating illustrations, icons, logos, diagrams, maps, and web graphics.

Krita

Krita

Digital painting application. Free and open source (backed by KDE), with cross-platform support, Krita is popular among both professional and amateur artists due to it's comprehensive feature set, and intuitive UI

Paint.NET

Paint.NET

A more advanced take on Microsoft Paint. Suitable for basic image editing, with support for basic layers, unlimited undo/redo, and extendable via plugins

PhotoPea

A free online image editor, for both raster and vector graphics, with a very wide range of supported formats

PixlrX

PixlrX

A free web-based image editor, with a modern UI. Also offers premium/paid features, such as AI-powered generation, touchup and editing

RawTherapee

RawTherapee

A powerful raw photo processing system and editor, for non-destructive editing of raw digital photos

Video Editors

Cinelerra GG Infinity

Simple video editor, for applying transitions, effects and text as well as splicing video clips

FlowBlade

FlowBlade

A multitrack non-linear video editor with a simple interface

Kdenlive

Kdenlive

KDE Non-Linear Video Editor, is an editor based on the MLT Framework, KDE and Qt, written using C++ and using FFmpeg

Natron

Natron

Free & open desktop node-graph based video compositing software. Similar in functionalities to Adobe After Effects. Features flexible rotoscoping, 2D & planner tracking, keying tools, curve & dope-shift editor, GPU & network rendering, and is easily extendable via community plugins, or by writing Python scripts

OpenShot

OpenShot

A free, simple, cross-platform video editor. Great for trimming/slicing, video effects, adding titles, scene animations and [more](https://www.openshot.org/features/)

Shotcut

Shotcut

A free, open source, cross-platform video editor, using FFmpeg Shotcut supports a wide range of formats, and has a comprehensive feature set, including 4K & 8k resolution, webcam + audio capture, batch opperations and [much more](https://shotcut.org/features/)

VitCutter

VitCutter

A simple Python-based cross-platform tool for cutting and splicing videos

Audio Editors & Recorders

Audacity

Audacity

An easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for desktops, great free alternative to Adobe Audition. Features recording from real and virtual devices, import/export to a wide range of formats, high-quality processing advanced multi-track editing, noise reduction, pitch correction, audio restoration and much more. It's easily extendable via community plugins, and also supports cusotm macros and many scripting options

Casting & Streaming

OBS Studio

OBS Studio

Powerful desktop software for live streaming and screen recording. Free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Features real-time video/audio capturing, scene composition, encoding, recording, and broadcasting. It supports a wide range of formats, and is easily extendable via community plugins

Screenshot Tools

This section is still a work in progress
Check back soon, or help us complete it by submitting a pull request or entry.

3D Graphics

Blender

Blender

Free desktop 3D creation suite, with a wide range of tools for modeling, sculpting, texturing, rigging, animation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and video editing. It's easily extendable via community plugins

Wings3D

Wings3D

A simple and easy-to-use subdivision 3D modeler with AutoUV facility for unfolding a models surface for painting/texturing. Unlike Blender, it has no built-in animation capabilites, and it's feature set is more limited, but it's a good choice for beginners.

Animation

Aseprite

An animated sprite editor & pixel art tool for Windows, macOS and Linux.