3 — De-Google Your Life
Replace Google services with alternatives you can actually trust.
The Google Problem
Think about how many Google products you use: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Photos, Chrome, Google Search, YouTube, Google Docs, Google Contacts, Google Keep, Android with Google Play. Each one of these is a data pipeline flowing straight to Google's advertising machine.
PewDiePie described it perfectly — Google knows where you are, where you've been, who you email, what you search for, what you write in your documents, what photos you take, what appointments you have, and what you watch. That's not a service provider. That's a surveillance company you happen to get free email from.
De-Googling doesn't mean going off-grid. It means replacing Google's services with alternatives that don't monetize your personal data. Some replacements are great. Some are... honestly not. We'll tell you which is which.
Map Your Google Services
Audit What You Actually Use
Before you start replacing things, figure out what you actually depend on. Go to myaccount.google.com and look at your activity dashboard. Check Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) to download all your data — emails, photos, documents, everything. You'll want this backup before you start migrating.
Make a list. Be honest about which services you use daily vs. occasionally. Prioritize replacing the daily ones first.
The Replacement Map
Here's every major Google service and what to replace it with, ranked by how good the replacement actually is.
A word of caution: Don't replace all of Google with all of Proton. Trading one single provider for another means you're still putting all your eggs in one basket. If Proton goes down, gets compromised, or changes their policies — you lose everything at once. Mix and match providers where it makes sense.
Step 2 Gmail → ProtonMail or Tuta
ProtonMail is end-to-end encrypted email based in Switzerland. The free tier gives you 1 GB of storage and 1 email address. The paid plan (Proton Unlimited, ~$10/month) gives you 500 GB, 15 email addresses, and includes Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and Proton VPN.
Tuta (formerly Tutanota) is another excellent encrypted email provider based in Germany. Free tier includes 1 GB storage. Their encryption approach is slightly different from Proton's — both are solid choices. Having your email on one provider and your calendar/drive on another reduces your single-point-of-failure risk.
Migration tip: Set up email forwarding from Gmail to your new address. Over the next few months, update your email on every service you use. Gradual approach = never miss an important email.
Quality rating: Excellent. Both ProtonMail and Tuta are genuinely good. Clean interfaces, solid mobile apps, real security.
Step 3 Google Drive → Nextcloud / Proton Drive / Syncthing
Nextcloud is a self-hosted cloud storage solution (see the Self-Hosting guide for setup). If you don't want to self-host, Proton Drive comes with your Proton subscription and is end-to-end encrypted. For simple file syncing between devices, Syncthing is peer-to-peer and never touches a third-party server.
Quality rating: Good. Proton Drive is polished but has less storage than Google. Nextcloud is powerful but requires self-hosting. Syncthing is excellent for device-to-device sync.
Step 4 Chrome → Firefox
You've already done this if you followed the Browser guide. If not, go do that first. It's the easiest win on this entire site.
Quality rating: Very good. Firefox is a fantastic starter though you need to harden it. There are better out of the box options out there.
Step 5 Google Search → DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo doesn't track your searches, doesn't build a profile, and doesn't filter results based on what it thinks you want. Use !g bangs when you need Google results for a specific query.
Quality rating: Good. 90% of the time it's fine. The other 10%, you'll use !g.
Step 6 Google Maps → OsmAnd / Organic Maps
This is the one that hurt PewDiePie the most. He was 30 minutes late because the navigation was that bad. Google Maps is genuinely one of the hardest services to replace.
OsmAnd is free, open-source, and works offline. Great for hiking, cycling, and areas where OpenStreetMap data is good (most of Europe, urban areas worldwide). Driving navigation in less-mapped areas struggles.
Organic Maps is another OpenStreetMap option with a cleaner interface. Good for walking and general navigation.
Quality rating: Poor to mediocre. This is where de-Googling hurts the most. PewDiePie himself still uses Google Maps for driving. You might keep it as a reluctant exception.
Step 7 Google Photos → Immich / Ente / Nextcloud
Immich is a self-hosted Google Photos replacement that's genuinely impressive. Face recognition, location browsing, memories, sharing, and automatic mobile backup. Looks and feels like Google Photos. Requires self-hosting (see Self-Hosting guide).
Ente is an excellent cloud-based alternative if you don't want to self-host. End-to-end encrypted photo storage with automatic backup, sharing, and a polished mobile app. Paid service, but no self-hosting required.
Nextcloud also has a photos feature, though less polished than Immich or Ente.
Quality rating: Very good. Immich and Ente are both excellent options depending on whether you prefer self-hosting or cloud.
Step 8 Google Calendar → Proton Calendar / Tuta Calendar
Proton Calendar comes with your Proton subscription. Encrypted, syncs with the Proton mobile app, handles CalDAV for third-party clients.
Tuta Calendar is included with Tuta email. If you went with Tuta for email, keep your calendar there too. If you self-host, Nextcloud Calendar is also solid.
Quality rating: Good. Both do everything a calendar needs. Sharing with users on other platforms is slightly clunky.
Step 9 Google Docs → LibreOffice / OpenOffice / CryptPad
LibreOffice is a full office suite that runs locally. Handles Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Free, open-source. Interface is dated but functional.
OpenOffice is an alternative to LibreOffice with a more familiar interface that looks closer to the Microslop Office suite. More stable for some users, though less actively developed.
CryptPad is an encrypted, web-based collaborative editor — the closest replacement for Google Docs' real-time collaboration. Self-host it or use the free tier.
Quality rating: Good for solo work, mediocre for collaboration. Real-time collaboration with non-technical people is still a weak spot.
The Migration Strategy
Don't try to do everything at once. Here's the order that makes the most sense:
- Week 1: Browser and search (you've already done this)
- Week 2: Set up ProtonMail or Tuta, start forwarding Gmail
- Week 3: Move your files to Nextcloud, Proton Drive, or Syncthing
- Week 4: Switch calendar, start updating email addresses on services
- Week 5: Photos migration (Immich, Ente, or Nextcloud)
- Ongoing: As each account gets moved to your new email, update it and move on
The full migration takes 2-3 months if you do it properly. That's fine. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Every service you move is one less data pipeline to Google. Remember: spread your services across different providers rather than replacing Google with a single alternative.
Honest Downsides
De-Googling has real costs. Here's what to expect:
Google Maps is irreplaceable for driving
PewDiePie was 30 minutes late because of OsmAnd. Real-time traffic, business hours, reviews, and street-level imagery don't exist in the open-source world at the same quality. You may need to keep Google Maps as a guilty exception.
The free tier of encrypted email is limiting
1 GB fills up fast. You'll likely need to pay for Proton Unlimited ($10/month) or Tuta Premium (~$3/month). That's money for something Google gives you 'for free' (in exchange for your data).
Collaborative document editing is worse
Sending someone a CryptPad link is a harder sell than 'just share it on Google Docs.' The network effect is real.
Some Google services have no good replacement
Google Translate, Google Scholar, Google Flights — Google's data advantage is so massive that alternatives feel primitive.
Don't replace one monopoly with another
Going all-in on Proton (email + calendar + drive + VPN) means Proton becomes your new single point of failure. Mix providers: email on one, files on another, calendar on a third.
You'll feel the friction
Logging into a new email, forgetting which account is where, calendar invites going to the wrong address — these annoyances fade after a month, but the first few weeks are rough.
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