Plan B
The alternatives exist. This page maps them, from the simplest daily switch to the deepest infrastructure change.
Tactical
You do not need to rebuild the web today. Three moves. Thirty minutes. You are already somewhere different.
Switch to an independent search engine. Do not rely on AI summaries for sources. Read the web directly: real sites, real authors, real contexts.
Start with a privacy-respecting search engine like DuckDuckGo. For deeper exploration, Marginalia indexes the small web, and Mojeek builds its own independent index with no tracking. Each is a step away from mediated and controlled access.
Establish your presence on the open web. Your identity should not depend on a platform that can restrict, filter, or remove it.
Start with federated or open networks. Mastodon and the Fediverse let you choose your community and move between servers. Then go further: create your own site. Neocities is the easiest starting point, with free hosting, no tracking, and a community of independent publishers. A personal domain gives you a stable presence no platform can take away.
The open web exists because people maintain it. It depends on shared effort, not extraction.
Start by participating. Wikipedia shows what a commons can be: knowledge created and governed by its users. Then go further. Tools like Nextcloud provide shared infrastructure that communities can run and control themselves. Finally, support the projects you rely on. Open Collective enables communities to fund and sustain open-source work. The web runs on contributions: time, care, and resources.
Guardrails
Every resource listed here has been assessed against three tests. If something fails any one of them, it is not listed.
Must be built on open standards or designed to avoid lock-in. Walled gardens, proprietary systems that restrict interoperability, and platforms that cannot federate are excluded.
No surveillance-based business models. Resources that monetise attention, exploit behavioural data, or depend on targeted advertising are excluded.
Users must be able to take their data and leave without penalty. Export, migration, and interoperability must be possible in practice, not just in theory.
Level 1
Individual agency. Daily tools you can switch this week. No server required.
An independent search engine with no ads and no tracking. Kagi is a paid service, which changes the model. When you are not the product, search works for you. Kagi is a centralised, proprietary service, a pragmatic but imperfect choice.
Go to Kagi →A privacy-respecting browser setup you can switch to immediately. Firefox respects your privacy. uBlock Origin blocks trackers and ads at the network level. Add Firefox Multi-Account Containers to keep identities separate.
Get Firefox →End-to-end encrypted messaging with open-source clients and documented data export. For one-to-one and group conversations, not public timelines. The standard for private communication.
Get Signal →A guide to the federated social web. Start with Mastodon and explore communities across the Fediverse, social networks you can choose and move between.
Go to directory →A minimal, privacy-respecting publishing platform. Write and publish without tracking or clutter. Your posts can connect to the Fediverse via ActivityPub, making your writing visible across the open web.
Go to Write.as →A community-maintained, non-commercial resource recommending privacy-respecting software and services. No affiliate links. No ads. A good next step once you have made your first switches and want to go further.
Go to guides →Level 2
Collective agency. Infrastructure for groups, cooperatives, and local organisations that want to run their own digital spaces.
Federated, end-to-end encrypted chat for communities. Each group runs its own server, sets its own rules, and connects to others through the open Matrix protocol. Used by public administrations across Europe. Element is the most accessible client to get started.
Go to Matrix →Self-hosted cloud storage, calendars, contacts, and collaboration tools. Your files stay under your control, with no third-party access. Use a trusted provider or host your own.
Find a provider →A real-time collaborative text editor. No account required on most instances. Open source, self-hostable, and widely used for shared documents and meeting notes.
Find an instance →A community-run, non-profit platform offering email, cloud storage, and collaborative tools in one place. No installation required. A sovereign stack your group can use immediately. For encrypted email only, Proton is a well-known alternative, though centralised.
Go to Disroot →A federated platform for events and groups. Organise and coordinate without relying on Facebook Events or Meetup. Each instance is independently run, with events visible across the network.
Go to Mobilizon →A French non-profit running dozens of free and open-source alternatives, from scheduling to video hosting to collaborative tools. A concrete example of digital commons in practice.
Go to Framasoft →Level 3
For those who want to understand and control more of the infrastructure they depend on. No programming required, but a willingness to understand more of how things work.
Browse the web anonymously. Tor routes your traffic through a network of volunteer-run relays, making it difficult to trace your activity back to you. Used by journalists, activists, and anyone who needs to move freely online. The network becomes stronger as more people use it.
Go to Tor →An open-source operating system that puts you in control of your machine. No telemetry, no forced updates, no hidden processes. Distributions exist for every level of experience: Ubuntu and Fedora for beginners, Debian for stability, Arch for full control.
Explore distributions →A VPN with no accounts, no email required, and no activity logs. You pay, they provide access, without tracking. Independently audited and designed to minimise data collection by default.
Go to Mullvad →A server operating system designed to make self-hosting accessible. Install and manage your own email, cloud storage, and collaborative tools from a simple interface. Run your own infrastructure without being a system administrator.
Go to YunoHost →End-to-end encrypted collaborative documents. Everything is encrypted in your browser before it leaves your machine, so even the server operator cannot read your files. A privacy-respecting alternative to mainstream document platforms.
Go to CryptPad →A practical guide to digital autonomy by the EFF. Covers threat modeling, tool selection, and step-by-step practices for protecting your data and communications. Designed for activists, journalists, and anyone who wants to understand their risks.
Go to EFF →A starting point, not a prescription
This list is a starting point, not a standard. Every community has different needs, different constraints, different starting points. What matters is not which tools you use, but the questions you ask about them: Who controls this? Who benefits? Can I leave? These questions matter more than any tool.
Nobody makes perfect choices. Switching costs are real, networks matter, and the alternatives are not always ready. But every choice has an impact. When we default to the easy option, the dominant platform, the path of least resistance, we make it harder to imagine something different.
The open web does not need everyone to be perfect. It needs more people to try.