[HacktionLab] Alternatives to big tech for personal use?

Thu Jan 1 13:22:56 UTC 2026

Well I know the original question was about service provision but for personal and small organization use Proton works for me. It has non free elements but it's audited. It has collaborative docs and spreadsheets with its drive service that work pretty well with basic features. Very big issue is that the drive lacks a Linux client but people are working in it. The rest of the proton suite works well on Linux. 

It's expensive but this means it's stable which works for me. I use pcloud for file sync and proton for everything else. I'm looking forward to the Linux client for proton drive and I'll move over file sync when it's released.

It works well as a suite, doesn't integrate into the android data ecosystem which I like but which many people might find inconvenient.

I spent years at fossbox running workshops to empower people to switch to FOSS software and apps but basically people want free (as in beer) services which are easy to use and integrate with each other and with mainstream services and that means surveillance capitalism. People are getting anxious about surveillance capitalism but I don't see any mass exodus. The FOAF walled garden problem and the HCI design problems persist. 

Proton is a really good compromise for me but half the people I know don't want to pay for it and/or want integration with android whilst the other half objects to it not being open sourced and/or one ill judged remark on its blog taken out of context. 

I stopped using nextcloud because ironically the Europe based hosting service I used doesn't sync that well with linux desktops and I can't be arsed to run a production server myself (retired and ill). Setting up libre office collab is a nightmare. 

People want an app that integrates with their other apps and platform with a well thought out interface, privacy etc and they want a free (beer) service. Obviously this isn't viable as tech workers and designers need to eat and pay rent. So I cough up annually to have my encrypted email, vpn, password manager, contacts, calendar, 2fa, file sync and collaborative docs run from Switzerland by highly competent people. There's a free tier for email and calendar but I want the whole suite with decent storage. 

There's currently better awareness among policy makers of the stupidity of handing over your entire tech infrastructure to a foreign imperialist power but this isn't translating to much action on the part of the public - for the same old reasons. But of you want to "de-Google" proton is a good alternative IMHO. 

My feeling is that we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and just switch to reliable European platforms and services whose values may not be identical to our own but are at least under European law and dedicated to privacy. This, to me, is worth the fee. However I understand that for many people the annual sub is out of reach, proton has a free (beer) tier which should be enough for basic personal use. But we do need to understand that tech services for the public need to be run as businesses.

That's my probably unpopular 2 cents :D

Paula

On 1 January 2026 12:33:03 GMT, Mike Harris <mike at mbharris.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi Nick,
>
>Yes, that's my understanding too, on all counts, which is why until now I've given up on hosting onlyoffice/collabora-type features.
>
>A few weeks ago I attended another Rise Against Big Tech "workshop" online.   "How to wean ourselves off Google Docs and Office 365 (or whatever it's currently called, CoPilotMyLife.com ...)" was the topic for the workshops.
>
>I felt like we were like a circle of people who just couldn't give up smoking cigarettes and who were blaming the tobacco companies, governments, and society in general, rather than taking responsibility for our own actions and agency.
>
>Years ago we used to email documents about, or share them via owncloud/nextcloud, and in fact that's what I still do some of the time, although I also use Google Docs, although this doesn't bother me too much personally.
>
>So why can't we just do that?
>
>Surely, if we want to be "free" we perhaps have to put up with a little less convenience rather than moan about our addictions to Big Tech, blame Zuckerberg et al for it, and wait around in the hope that some techs somehow come up with the answers?
>
>I've felt for a long time that competing with mainstream services was a hopeless exercise.  The countless live and dead projects out there producing tools to take on Twitter, Facebook, etc. are illustrative of this.   It took a lot of hard work and the tools quite frankly were never as good.  (of course that's a generalisation and probably a little unfair)
>
>What I'm saying is that maybe we shouldn't be competing, but rather encouraging people to take a different path, and accept a little more inconvenience for a little more perceived if not actual freedom.
>
>And I'm saying this in the face of a large proportion of our society walking head long blindly into the irresistible convenience of AI........
>
>That said, am still up for trying again to get onlyoffice/collabora working again.  Anyone managed this?
>
>M
>
>On 01/01/2026 11:37, Nick Sellen wrote:
>> As I understand it nextcloud doesn't have the doc editing built-in, it's more like dropbox, and if you want doc editing you add onlyoffice, or collabora (which they seem to have bundled up into "nextcloud office" now - https://nextcloud.com/office/).
>> 
>> They are all quite heavy on the hosting I think.
>> 
>> Another pathway would be something that feels halfway between a pad and a document suite, e.g. https://github.com/suitenumerique/docs built by french and german government - there is an initiative here to try and offer it as a service through a coop --> https://docs.coop/ (not sure where they are at with that though).
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Nick
>> 
>> 
>> On Thursday, 1 January 2026 at 10:10, Mike Harris <mike at mbharris.co.uk> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Hey all,
>>> 
>>> I'm very interested in this, not least because I've got a chunk of
>>> server upgrade work for XtreamLab to do this first quarter of 2026, and
>>> part of my desires is to get some office document editing replacement as
>>> something we can provide to our users as a service. I've tried to get
>>> OnlyOffice integrated with OwnCloud a couple of times and gave up, but
>>> I'm feeling pretty confident that this time I could do something.
>>> Perhaps NextCloud?
>>> 
>>> So, what could I use folks?
>>> 
>>> Also, if anyone on the list wants email or hosting stuff, then do let me
>>> know - https://xtreamlab.net - we're running the venerable RoundCube for
>>> webmail as well as the newer SnappyMail (previously RainLoop).
>>> 
>>> And also, I guess, if anyone's potentially up for working to build these
>>> services, then let's collaborate!
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> 
>>> Mike.
>>> 
>>> On 31/12/2025 12:30, Garcon du Monde wrote:
>>> 
>>>> i already sent this recently so not sure if it was missed:
>>>> 
>>>> * https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/
>>>> 
>>>> i think there is everything you might want here, but there's also a
>>>> listing of alternatives for some additional services:
>>>> 
>>>> * https://alt.framasoft.org/en/
>>>> 
>>>> solidarity,
>>>> 
>>>> --gdm
>>>> 
>>>> On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 02:47:57PM +0000, brentc wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks all!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Yes, riseup is good and generally well regarded. It doesn't do full cloud
>>>>> drive and online office suite though afaik.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I also want non-US for efficiency/sustainability (as well as more political
>>>>> reasons)- makes technical sense to use a UK/EU location if I'm based in that
>>>>> area.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Proton mail does seem ok, but I get the impression their politics are more
>>>>> libertarian than liberal? E.g. CEO making statements apparently a bit
>>>>> republican supporting. I'd be curious as to others' thoughts here? Tricky
>>>>> area. I would also need to figure out how to calm down their adverts for
>>>>> themselves on their UI.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Mailbox.org might be worth a spin.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cheers
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 26/12/2025 17:58, Patrice Riemens wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Being on puscii, which is a very small, hackers run ISP, I do not use riseup, but many friends are - to their full satisfaction. It's a bit the 'Isp of records' ;-) in some demographies. That is is US- based with all the consequences does not seem to be a drawback. But if you are paranoid about anything US related (aren't we all? ;-) I always advise Sswitzerland-based protonmail - in conjunction with an own mailer, type Thunderbird (here's a piece of 'do as I say, not as I do advice ;-) Protonmail free has a rather limited storage.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Cheers to all & best wishes for a rather anxiogenous 2026!
>>>>>> p+2D!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>> From: "Chris Clemson" Chris.Clemson at GoGreenIT.net
>>>>>> To: hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, 26 December, 2025 15:23:55
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [HacktionLab] Alternatives to big tech for personal use?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Have you tried https://riseup.net/?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I've not used it, but it has been around for a while.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> There's a list of disroot-like services here, which might help:
>>>>>> https://alternativeto.net/software/disroot/
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Let us know if you try any of them.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 24/12/2025 11:03, brentc wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hello
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I'd love to find something like Google suite that isn't Google. I use
>>>>>>> alternatives for more activist stuff but keep coming back to Google
>>>>>>> for general use. Any (constructive) thoughts or pointers?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I guess looking for something in between weak activist offerings and
>>>>>>> big tech. If something like a non-profit non-US Mozilla offered an
>>>>>>> awesome product, that would be lovely, but I don't see it.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Specifically, for me, I need the typical 'personal productivity'
>>>>>>> services- email, todo lists, calendars, drive/docs/sheets with decent
>>>>>>> editing and features, and sharing (with people who don't have an
>>>>>>> account). I'd rather not use multiple services, want uptime and
>>>>>>> backups handled, and if it's green hosted and a non-profit oriented,
>>>>>>> bonus. It should probably be UK/EU region. I don't want to host my own
>>>>>>> stuff. I'll pay for the right thing. Honestly, for personal use, I
>>>>>>> probably want some balance of encryption/security with features,
>>>>>>> noting I'll have to trust the provider anyway.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I've tried disroot. It's quite good to be fair, but still limited
>>>>>>> feature-wise, and more worryingly, couldn't get issues sorted with
>>>>>>> support (which is a common thing with smaller outfits in my
>>>>>>> experience, that I don't want to deal with). I don't like protonmail.
>>>>>>> There's mailbox.org but tradeoffs are they're a company albeit seem
>>>>>>> alright, and their website gives me the creeps.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Maybe I ask for the currently impossible.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Brent
>>>>>>> 
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>>> --
>>> Mike Harris
>>> +44 07811 781 893
>>> https://mbharris.co.uk - https://hacktionlab.org - https://xtreamlab.net
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> HacktionLab at lists.aktivix.org
>>> https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/hacktionlab
>
>-- 
>Mike Harris
>+44 07811 781 893
>https://mbharris.co.uk - https://hacktionlab.org - https://xtreamlab.net
>
>
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-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail from Paula Gazzard
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