European alternatives

An expert has seen a huge change in just a few months: Concerns about Finnish data have exploded, thanks to Musk and Trump. Trust in the US is eroding: Companies are looking for European alternatives to Amazon, Microsoft and Google

President Donald Trump’s administration in the United States has shown in a short time that it is not very careful about protecting even the sensitive data of its own citizens and even their own military secrets.

More than 80% of Europe’s digital technologies and infrastructures are imported, and 70% of the foundational AI models used globally originate in the United States. Meanwhile, European companies account for just 7% of global research spending on software and the internet. These figures alone highlight Europe’s heavy reliance on other economic powers in the digital sector.

We have long assumed in Finland and Europe that the physical location of the data is essential. Now there has been a lot of discussion about which country’s legislation the entity that stores the data is subject to. Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple are large American cloud service providers. EU laws of course oblige them somewhat but US laws even more. The new Doge agency has sought broad access to, for example, Americans’ social security data. At the same time, experts know that critical health data of Finns is also stored on American servers.

European companies are looking for replacements for cloud services from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, among others, as trust in the US administration has eroded. The search for European alternatives for popular services from USA has started. Millions are visiting the European Alternatives siteMillions are visiting the European Alternatives site for most popular top 5 categories:
- Email providers
- Search Engines
- Cloud Computing Platforms
- Navigation Apps
- Web Analytics Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, which dominate the cloud services market, may lose their market share as European companies increasingly turn their attention to cloud services within the eurozone.

https://european-alternatives.eu/ is a site is created to help to find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products. The european-alternatives.edu site has no ratings, but the different categories and what is in them are discussed widely

There are six Euro alternative search engines listed:
Qwant (French, uses Bing search index + their own; separate search engine for kids)
Ecosia (Germany, uses Bing or Google, depending on your preferences, has advertising but donates 80% of surplus revenue to conservation projects)
Startpage (Netherlands, uses Google & Bing results, but with focus on privacy)
Good (non-profit search engine from Germany, uses Brave search index)
Swisscows (Swiss search engine uses Bing index + self-made one)
metaGer (German metasearch combining search results from other providers)

Boycott USA: List of products to boycott, and alternative products is another site that lists European alternatives for digital products. It will help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like email providers, search engines, cloud services and web browsers.

Europe is running the risk of falling even further behind global digital market leaders like the United States and China. The EuroStack initiative aims to counter this trend by developing Europe’s own comprehensive digital infrastructure. This industrial policy framework integrates technology, financing, economic development, political governance, sustainability and public interest considerations.

EU OS is a Community-led Proof-of-Concept for a free Operating System for the EU public sector. It is a a Fedora-based Linux operating system with a KDE Plasma desktop environment.The added value of EU OS is a common Linux OS as a base for all EU OS users with options to layer on top modifications (national layer, regional or sector-specific layer, organsation-specific layer).

Sources:

https://www.storagereview.com/news/proxmox-ve-8-3-enhanced-features-for-enterprise-virtualization

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1ifr95c/european_alternatives_for_popular_services_from/

https://news.itsfoss.com/eu-os/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14538621/EU-ww3-ukraine-russia-europe-war-survival-kit-global-conflict.html

https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000011108658.html

https://european-alternatives.eu/

https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000011108658.html

https://euro-stackletter.eu/

https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/luottamus-usahan-rakoilee-yhtiot-etsivat-amazonille-microsoftille-ja-googlelle-eurooppalaisia-vaihtoehtoja/ddcc0e43-1fac-4274-bb0b-0da80a07b4ae

Sinäkin joudut nyt valinnan eteen – syynä Trumpin ja Muskin toiminta

https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000011106183.html

https://talk.tidbits.com/t/european-alternatives-for-digital-products-services/30609/2

https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/106324/european-alternatives-for-digital-products

https://european-alternatives.eu/

https://github.com/happysegfault/boycottusa

European alternatives for popular services

https://european-alternatives.eu/alternatives-to

https://euro-stackletter.eu/

https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/reframetech-algorithmen-fuers-gemeinwohl/project-news/eurostack-a-european-alternative-for-digital-sovereignty

https://eu-os.gitlab.io

66 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Open source gains urgency as Europe reassesses reliance on US tech.

    Finnish MEP Aura Salla:
    The EU runs on Microsoft.
    The US could turn us off inside one hour.

    The German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which switched away from Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook to Open-Xchange and Mozilla Thunderbird. The head of Schleswig’s Chancellery and Minister for Digital Transformation, Dirk Schrödter, gave a keynote saying: “We are free; now everyone must follow.”

    Summary of the status quo:
    We’re in the habit of exporting public money out of Europe, and importing dependencies.
    Don’t look at the big mountain in the distance. Look at concrete steps you can take to start.

    Schleswig is still running Windows, but has replaced Microsoft Office with LibreOffice on “nearly 100 percent” of machines. It’s using Thunderbird for email, calendars, and contacts, talking to Open-Xchange on the back end, alongside the Matrix-based Element for chat and Nextcloud for collaboration.

    Other speakers on the same panel made the point that FOSS doesn’t mean free of charge, but spending money with European companies means benefits to European economies – keeping more of the EU’s vast public spending inside the EU. As Leontina Sandu put it: “We spend 0.4 percent of EU money on software licenses. It’s a lot – public sector spending is half of the EU’s GDP.” Blogger Markus Sandelin estimates that the EU spends over €200 million a year just on Microsoft 365 licenses.

    The Eclipse Foundation’s Mike Milinkovich echoed Salla’s earlier point that Microsoft effectively had a kill switch over Office 365, but pointed out that the company has more such controls: it also owns GitHub.

    Companies working on open source in Europe, of course, stand to profit significantly from this.

    https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/eu_foss_fears/

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/eu_foss_fears/

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Voiko amerikkalaisiin teknologiajätteihin enää luottaa? Näin vastaa Mikko Hyppönen
    Amerikkalaisyhtiöiden on päästettävä USA:n viranomaiset käsiksi myös EU:ssa olevaan asiakasdataan, jos oikeus niin määrää.
    https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000011789483.html

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Most Finnish digital public services hosted by U.S. cloud providers
    https://diesl.eu/most-finnish-digital-public-services-hosted-by-u-s-cloud-providers/

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Open Innovation and
    Open Source Strategy
    of Land Schleswig-Holstein
    https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/themen/digitalisierung/linux-plus1/Service/Downloads/_dateien/open-source-strategy_EN.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ranska luopuu Microsoft Teamsin ja Zoomin käytöstä
    Riippumattomuus|Kaikki valtion virastot siirtyvät käyttämään ranskalaista Visio-alustaa ensi vuoteen mennessä. Taustalla on huolet sähköisen viestinnän turvallisuudesta.
    https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000011779473.html

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    USU: Oikeusministeriö harkitsee uudelleen vaalitietojärjestelmän siirtoa yhdysvaltalaiseen pilvipalveluun
    Varajärjestelmässä kaikki data pysyisi suomalaisissa konesaleissa, eikä sitä siirrettäisi pilvipalveluun.
    https://yle.fi/a/74-20207085

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Loukussa
    Suomi on valinnut tien, jossa ei ole talouden eikä turvallisuuden kannalta järkeä. Yhteiskuntamme toimi yhdysvaltalaisen teknologian varassa.
    https://www.hs.fi/visio/art-2000011766288.html

    On varhainen aamu suomalaisessa virastossa. Työntekijä avaa tietokoneen. Ruudulle aukeaa Microsoftin logo. Neljä kuutiota, oranssi, vihreä, sininen ja keltainen.

    Värikkäillä kuutioilla on hinta. Lasku yhden työntekijän ohjelmistosta on suunnilleen 30 euroa kuukaudessa.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Euroopan asetuotanto on ohittamassa USA:n
    Antti Kirkkala
    Julkaistu 29.01.2026 | 13:22
    Päivitetty 29.01.2026 | 14:04
    Aseteollisuus, Nato
    Saksalainen Rheinmetall pystyy pian tuottamaan enemmän tykistöammuksia kuin koko Yhdysvaltain puolustusteollisuus.
    https://www.verkkouutiset.fi/a/euroopan-asetuotanto-on-ohittamassa-usan/#2707427f

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Onko Trumpilla tappokytkin? Britanniassa heräsi huoli Palantirin ohjelmistosta
    Anna Helakallio26.1.202611:30|päivitetty26.1.202620:32Tekoäly
    Palantir kiistää järjestelmiinsä liittyvät turvallisuushuolet.
    https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/a/d8a19545-77d0-44d2-87c8-7131a03d6aa2

    Yhdistyneen kuningaskunnan ja yhdysvaltalaisen tekoäly-yhtiö Palantirin välinen sopimus on herättänyt huolta kansallisesta turvallisuudesta. Maan hallitus ja Palantir solmivat vuoden alussa 240 miljoonan punnan sopimuksen maan armeijan data-analyysitarpeiden kattamisesta. Sopimuksen kriitikot ovat kuitenkin varoittaneet, että Yhdysvallat voisi pakottaa Palantirin sulkemaan armeijan käyttämät järjestelmät konfliktitilanteessa.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    European Cloud Providers’ Local Market Share Now Holds Steady at 15%
    https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/european-cloud-providers-local-market-share-now-holds-steady-at-15

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Euroopan komissio hakee irtiottoa Microsoftin inhokkisovelluksesta
    https://muropaketti.com/tietotekniikka/tietotekniikkauutiset/euroopan-komissio-hakee-irtiottoa-microsoftin-inhokkisovelluksesta/

    Ranskassa ollaan jo pitkällä digitaalisessa itsemääräämisoikeudessa.

    Euroopan komissio on aloittanut kokeilun, jonka puitteissa se testaa eurooppalaista avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistoa sisäisessä viestinnässään. Tarkoituksena on kehittää digitaalista itsemääräämisoikeutta ja vähentää riippuvuutta yhdysvaltalaisista tietotekniikkajäteistä.

    Pölkyllä on Microsoftin viestintäsovellus Teams. Monen etätyöläisen tuntema Teams on joillekin myös inhokkisovellus, sillä osa voi kokea kokousähkyä jatkuvien palaverien vuoksi. Sovellus koetaan usein myös resurssisyöpöksi, huonoksi käyttöliittymältään ja bugiseksi.

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DBo62Hu1h/

    Yesterday in Antwerp, Emmanuel Macron did not mince his words: “We are crazy!” he said, denouncing a Europe that preaches free trade yet leaves its producers defenceless while China and the US protect theirs. He is absolutely right. Strategic autonomy is not protectionism; it is common sense. A real European preference in key sectors is how we defend jobs, innovation and sovereignty. For sure.

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Matrix is quietly becoming the chat layer for governments chasing digital sovereignty
    One-to-one and group messaging, encrypted VoIP calls, video conferencing – the open protocol handles them all
    https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/09/matrix_element_secure_chat/

    Amid growing interest in digital sovereignty and getting data out of the corporate cloud and into organizations’ ownership, the Matrix open communication protocol is thriving.

    The project was co-founded by Matthew Hodgson and Amandine le Pape, and The Reg FOSS desk met both at this year’s FOSDEM for a chat about what’s happening with Matrix.

    The Register has covered Matrix and its commercial Element side quite a few times over the years, but we thought it might make things a little clearer to first explain the two sides of the Matrix project. It has existed since 2014 when it separated from its parent and sponsor, telecoms vendor Amdocs, which we’ve covered since at least 2000.

    The Matrix project has two main public faces: Matrix.org represents the nonprofit foundation behind the Matrix protocol, while Element (formerly Vector and later Riot) is the name of the client app. Element the company, originally called New Vector Ltd, was spun out of Amdocs in 2017. A for-profit business, it rebranded as Element in 2020. Element.io provides both client apps and server software that run the Matrix protocol. As well as free FOSS versions of both, there are also paid-for commercial tools: the Element Pro client and the Element Server Suite Pro.

    Because Matrix is an open protocol, anyone is free to implement it, and various apps have, so you don’t have to run Element in order to be on Matrix and to talk to other users.

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling
    Brussels is going head-to-head with social media platforms to change addictive design.
    https://www.politico.eu/article/tiktok-meta-facebook-instagram-brussels-kill-infinite-scrolling/

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ericsson and Nokia bid to prevent Europe and US rift
    The Trusted Tech Alliance predictably features no Chinese names and seems largely about defending a transatlantic relationship that is fraying.
    https://www.lightreading.com/regulatory-politics/ericsson-and-nokia-bid-to-prevent-europe-and-us-rift

    Reply

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