Everything you use has a European alternative.

WhatsApp, Messenger & Telegram 🇺🇸🇦🇪 non-EU

Encrypted messages, unencrypted metadata, owned by Meta.

• Olvid French messenger with no server-side directory at all; certified by ANSSI. 🇫🇷
• Element Matrix messaging with encrypted DMs and no phone number required. 🇬🇧
• Delta Chat Chat over ordinary email; works with any mailbox, no new account. 🇩🇪
• Threema Swiss paid messenger, no phone number needed (outside the default EU scope). 🇨🇭

Graco & Evenflo 🇺🇸 non-EU

American child car seats.

• Britax Römer Ulm. European i-Size seats, tested beyond the regulation. 🇩🇪
• RECARO Kids Italian arm of the German seat maker. 🇮🇹
• Axkid Gothenburg. Rear-facing to 25 kg, the Swedish orthodoxy. 🇸🇪
• Klippan Swedish, also rear-facing specialists. 🇸🇪

Alexa, Google Assistant & Siri 🇺🇸 non-EU

You can buy a European speaker. You cannot buy a European voice.

No European alternative

Firebase 🇺🇸 non-EU

Backend-as-a-service, backed by Google's roadmap.

• Aiven Helsinki-run managed Postgres, Kafka, Redis and more, in any EU region. 🇫🇮
• Clever Cloud Managed databases and add-ons alongside your app. 🇫🇷
• Nhost Swedish open-source Firebase alternative on Postgres and GraphQL. 🇸🇪
• Scaleway Managed Postgres, serverless SQL and object storage. 🇫🇷

Reddit 🇺🇸 non-EU

Forums, aggregated -- and now API-gated.

• Lemmy Federated link aggregator; subscribe across servers, no single owner. 🇩🇪

Band-Aid 🇺🇸 non-EU

A brand name that became the word.

• Hansaplast Beiersdorf, Hamburg — and the German word for a plaster. 🇩🇪
• Urgo Dijon, family-owned since 1880. 🇫🇷
• Salvequick Swedish, the Nordic default, part of Orkla. 🇸🇪

Domino's & Pizza Hut 🇺🇸 non-EU

American pizza delivery, in the countries that invented pizza.

• Telepizza Madrid-founded, the biggest non-US pizza chain in Europe. 🇪🇸
• Kotipizza Finland's chain — one of its pizzas won a world championship. 🇫🇮
• Vapiano German fresh-pasta-and-pizza concept, cooked in front of you. 🇩🇪
• PizzaExpress London since 1965. 🇬🇧

YouTube 🇺🇸 non-EU

The world's video archive, with an ad break in the middle.

• PeerTube Federated, self-hostable video; instances share load via peer-to-peer. 🇫🇷
• Dailymotion France's long-running video platform, owned by Vivendi. 🇫🇷

Chinese rare earth refining 🇨🇳 non-EU

In every motor, turbine, hard drive and headphone. Refined in one country.

No European alternative

ExpressVPN / PIA 🇻🇬🇺🇸 non-EU

Offshore VPNs owned by a single advertising-adjacent group.

• Mullvad VPN Gothenburg's account-number-only VPN; you can literally pay in cash. 🇸🇪
• OVPN Swedish provider running diskless servers it owns outright. 🇸🇪
• AirVPN Italian activist-run VPN with deep configuration control. 🇮🇹
• Surfshark Amsterdam-headquartered VPN with unlimited devices. 🇳🇱

Patreon / Buy Me a Coffee 🇺🇸 non-EU

Fan funding, with a US platform between you and your supporters.

• Steady Berlin membership platform built for European publishers and creators. 🇩🇪
• Tipeee French tipping and membership platform. 🇫🇷
• Liberapay French non-profit recurring donations; it takes no cut at all. 🇫🇷

Ore-Ida & McCain 🇺🇸🇨🇦 non-EU

Frozen chips from Idaho and Canada.

• Aviko Steenderen. Owned by a Dutch farmers' cooperative. 🇳🇱
• Farm Frites Oudenhoorn, family-owned since 1971. 🇳🇱
• Lutosa Belgian, and Belgium takes chips seriously. 🇧🇪
• Agrarfrost Lower Saxony, family-run. 🇩🇪

Casper & Tempur 🇺🇸 non-EU

Bed-in-a-box, American edition.

• Emma Frankfurt. Europe's biggest direct-to-consumer mattress brand. 🇩🇪
• bett1 BODYGUARD Berlin, and repeatedly Stiftung Warentest's top pick. 🇩🇪
• Dormeo Slovenian, sold across central Europe. 🇸🇮
• Hypnia French, made in Europe, 120-night trial. 🇫🇷

Google Workspace 🇺🇸 non-EU

Mail, docs and drive for companies, hosted entirely by Google.

• Nextcloud Self-hosted or EU-hosted files, docs, talk, calendar and mail. 🇩🇪
• Open-Xchange Cologne groupware powering many European ISP mail platforms. 🇩🇪
• Twake Workplace LINAGORA's French open-source workplace suite. 🇫🇷
• Infomaniak kSuite Swiss full workplace suite (outside the default EU scope). 🇨🇭

Hanes & Fruit of the Loom 🇺🇸 non-EU

American blank tees, made wherever is cheapest.

• Trigema Burladingen. Everything made in Germany, and it says so loudly. 🇩🇪
• Stanley/Stella Brussels. Organic blanks with a published factory list. 🇧🇪
• Continental Clothing UK, Earth Positive carbon-neutral range. 🇬🇧
• Sanetta German children's basics since 1800. 🇩🇪

Kohler, Moen & Delta Faucet 🇺🇸🇩🇪 non-EU

The German tap you would switch to is often American.

• Duravit Hornberg since 1817, still family-controlled. 🇩🇪
• Villeroy & Boch Mettlach since 1748. Ceramics, baths and the tiles too. 🇩🇪
• Geberit Rapperswil-Jona. The cistern behind half of Europe's walls. 🇨🇭
• Roca Barcelona. Family-owned and the largest bathroom maker in Europe. 🇪🇸

Coursera / Udemy 🇺🇸 non-EU

Learning platforms with US course economics.

• OpenClassrooms French platform with state-recognised diplomas and apprenticeships. 🇫🇷
• FutureLearn UK platform founded by the Open University. 🇬🇧
• openHPI Hasso Plattner Institute's free German MOOCs on IT and digital health. 🇩🇪
• GoodHabitz Dutch corporate training in 20+ European languages. 🇳🇱

DocuSign 🇺🇸 non-EU

Signatures in the cloud, evidence in San Francisco.

• Yousign French eIDAS-qualified signature provider, data stored in the EU. 🇫🇷
• Namirial Italian qualified trust service provider across the EU. 🇮🇹
• Dokobit Lithuanian signing that speaks every Baltic and Nordic eID. 🇱🇹
• Signaturit Spanish qualified electronic signature and identification. 🇪🇸

Marriott, Hilton & Hyatt 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇹🇭 non-EU

Loyalty points are the product. You are the inventory.

• Accor Paris, and the largest hotel group in Europe. Ibis, Novotel, Mercure, Sofitel. 🇫🇷
• Meliá Hotels Palma de Mallorca, family-controlled, strong across Spain and the Caribbean. 🇪🇸
• Scandic Hotels Stockholm. The Nordic default, and unusually good on accessibility. 🇸🇪
• Motel One Munich. Cheap, central, and better designed than the price suggests. 🇩🇪

Kellogg's & General Mills 🇺🇸 non-EU

American breakfast, exported with the sugar included.

• Kölln Elmshorn since 1795. Oats, done properly. 🇩🇪
• Jordans Bedfordshire, farm-sourced granola and muesli. 🇬🇧
• Brüggen Lübeck family mill, supplies half of Europe's own-brand muesli. 🇩🇪
• Dr. Oetker Vitalis Bielefeld. The muesli that actually tastes of nuts. 🇩🇪

Microsoft 365 / Office 🇺🇸 non-EU

Word, Excel and friends, now rented rather than owned.

• LibreOffice The Document Foundation's free desktop suite; opens and saves Microsoft formats. 🇩🇪
• ONLYOFFICE Riga-built suite with the best OOXML fidelity of the open-source options. 🇱🇻
• Collabora Online Cambridge-based LibreOffice-in-the-browser, self-hostable. 🇬🇧
• Nextcloud Office Documents, files and collaboration on your own server. 🇩🇪

Gillette 🇺🇸 non-EU

The blade cartridge as a business model.

• MÜHLE Saxony since 1945. Safety razors and brushes, made in Germany. 🇩🇪
• Merkur Solingen. The 34C is the safety razor most people start with. 🇩🇪
• Edwin Jagger Sheffield. English razors and brushes. 🇬🇧
• Proraso Florence since 1948. The green tub. 🇮🇹

Samsung, LG & TCL 🇰🇷🇨🇳 non-EU

Korean and Chinese panels in every European living room.

• Loewe Kronach, Bavaria, since 1923. Twice insolvent and relaunched, so check support before buying. 🇩🇪
• TechniSat German televisions and receivers, made in Saxony. 🇩🇪
• Metz Zirndorf, Bavaria. One of the last televisions actually assembled in Germany. 🇩🇪
• Bang & Olufsen Struer, Denmark. Expensive, and the picture and sound justify some of it. 🇩🇰

Dasani & Aquafina 🇺🇸 non-EU

Bottled tap water with an American logo on it.

• Gerolsteiner Volcanic Eifel spring, exceptionally mineral-rich. 🇩🇪
• Mattoni Karlovy Vary mineral water, Czech since 1873. 🇨🇿
• Evian Filtered for fifteen years through the French Alps. 🇫🇷
• San Pellegrino The sparkling one from Lombardy, part of Nestlé. 🇮🇹