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Signed-off-by: Jonah Aragon <jonah@triplebit.net> Co-authored-by: redoomed1 <161974310+redoomed1@users.noreply.github.com>
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| The Best Privacy Tools, Services, and Ad-Free Recommendations - Privacy Guides | Privacy Tools | material/tools |
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Privacy Guides is the most transparent and reliable website for finding software, apps, and services that protect your personal data from mass surveillance programs and other internet threats. |
If you're looking for a specific solution to something, these are the hardware and software tools we recommend in a variety of categories. Our recommended privacy tools are primarily chosen based on security features, with additional emphasis on decentralized and open-source tools. They are applicable to a variety of threat models ranging from protection against global mass surveillance programs and avoiding big tech companies to mitigating attacks, but only you can determine what will work best for your needs.
VPN Providers{ .md-button } Password Managers{ .md-button } Email Providers{ .md-button } Browser Extensions{ .md-button } DNS Servers{ .md-button } Email Aliasing Services{ .md-button } Photo Organization Tools{ .md-button }
If you want assistance figuring out the best privacy tools and alternative programs for your needs, start a discussion on our forum or our Matrix community!
For more details about each project, why they were chosen, and additional tips or tricks we recommend, click the "Learn more" link in each section, or click on the recommendation itself to be taken to that specific section of the page.
Threat Model Labels
You may find any of the following icons on some of the recommendation pages: :material-incognito: :material-target-account: :material-package-variant-closed-remove: :material-bug-outline: :material-server-network: :material-eye-outline: :material-account-cash: :material-account-search: :material-close-outline:
We are testing a new feature that allows readers to better identify and understand the kinds of threats that privacy tools best defend against. Let us know what you think about this feature by replying to this dedicated forum thread!
Private Web Browsers
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Tor Browser (Desktop & Android) is the top choice if you need anonymity, as it provides you with access to the Tor network, a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows you to connect for free and improve your privacy and security on the Internet. Individuals and organizations can also share information over the Tor network with ".onion hidden services" without compromising their privacy. Because Tor traffic is difficult to block and trace, Tor is an effective censorship circumvention tool.
Read Our Full Review :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:{ .md-button .md-button--primary }
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Mullvad Browser
Mullvad Browser is a version of Tor Browser with Tor network integrations removed, aimed at providing Tor Browser's anti-fingerprinting browser technologies to VPN users.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Firefox
Firefox is a great Chromium alternative which provides strong privacy settings such as Enhanced Tracking Protection, which can help block various types of tracking.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Brave Browser
Brave is a private-by-default browser based on Chromium, so it should feel familiar and have minimal website compatibility issues.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Mull (Android)
Mull is a Firefox-based browser for Android centered around privacy and removing proprietary components.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Safari (iOS)
We recommend Safari alongside a tracker-blocker like AdGuard on iOS, because all iOS browsers are forced to be based on Safari anyways. This reduces the number of parties you're required to trust.
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } uBlock Origin
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } uBlock Origin Lite
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } AdGuard for iOS
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Orbot (Smartphone Tor Proxy)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Onion Browser (Tor for iOS)
Top 3 Private VPN Providers
VPNs do not provide anonymity
Using a VPN will not keep your browsing habits anonymous, nor will it add additional security to non-secure (HTTP) traffic.
If you are looking for anonymity, you should use the Tor Browser.
If you're looking for added security, you should always ensure you're connecting to websites using HTTPS. A VPN is not a replacement for good security practices.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Proton VPN
- 112+ Countries
- WireGuard Support
- Cash Payments
- Partial Port Forwarding Support
- No IPv6
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } IVPN
- 37+ Countries
- WireGuard Support
- Monero & Cash Payments
- No Port Forwarding
- No IPv6
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Mullvad
- 45+ Countries
- WireGuard Support
- Monero & Cash Payments
- No Port Forwarding
- IPv6 Support
Top 3 Private Email Providers
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Proton Mail
Proton Mail is an email service with a focus on privacy, encryption, security, and ease of use. They have been in operation since 2013. Proton AG is based in Genève, Switzerland. The Proton Mail Free plan comes with 500MB of Mail storage, which you can increase up to 1GB for free.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Mailbox.org
Mailbox.org is an email service with a focus on being secure, ad-free, and privately powered by 100% eco-friendly energy. They have been in operation since 2014. Mailbox.org is based in Berlin, Germany. Accounts start with up to 2GB storage, which can be upgraded as needed.
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{ .lg .middle .twemoji } Tuta
Tuta (formerly Tutanota) is an email service with a focus on security and privacy through the use of encryption. Tuta has been in operation since 2011 and is based in Hanover, Germany. Free accounts start with 1GB of storage.
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } addy.io
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } SimpleLogin
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } mailcow
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Mail-in-a-Box
Secure Email Clients
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Thunderbird
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Apple Mail (macOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Canary Mail (iOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } FairEmail (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } GNOME Evolution (Linux)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } K-9 Mail (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Kontact (Linux)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Mailvelope (PGP in standard webmail)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } NeoMutt (CLI)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
More Private Service Providers
Cloud Storage
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Proton Drive
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Tresorit
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Peergos
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Data Removal Services
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } EasyOptOuts
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Optery
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Google Results about you
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
DNS
DNS Providers
We recommend a number of encrypted DNS servers based on a variety of criteria, such as Mullvad and Quad9 amongst others. We recommend for you to read our pages on DNS before choosing a provider. In many cases, using an alternative DNS provider is not recommended.
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Encrypted DNS Proxies
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{ .twemoji loading=lazy } RethinkDNS
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } dnscrypt-proxy
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Self-hosted Solutions
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } AdGuard Home
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Pi-hole
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Financial Services
Payment Masking Services
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{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Privacy.com
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{ .twemoji loading=lazy } MySudo
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Online Gift Card Marketplaces
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Coincards
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Photo Management
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Ente Photos
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Stingle
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } PhotoPrism
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Search Engines
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Brave Search
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } DuckDuckGo
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } SearXNG
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{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Startpage
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Software
Calendar Sync
- { .twemoji loading=lazy }{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Tuta
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Proton Calendar
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Cryptocurrency
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Monero
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Data and Metadata Redaction
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } MAT2
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } ExifEraser (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Metapho (iOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } PrivacyBlur
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } ExifTool (CLI)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Document Collaboration
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Nextcloud (Self-Hostable)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } CryptPad
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Encryption Software
Operating System Disk Encryption
For encrypting your operating system drive, we typically recommend using whichever encryption tool your operating system provides, whether that is BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on macOS, or LUKS on Linux. These tools are included with the operating system and typically use hardware encryption elements such as a TPM that other full-disk encryption software like VeraCrypt do not. VeraCrypt is still suitable for non-operating system disks such as external drives, especially drives that may be accessed from multiple operating systems.
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Cryptomator
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Picocrypt
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } VeraCrypt (FDE)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Kryptor
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Tomb
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
OpenPGP Clients
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } GnuPG
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } GPG4Win (Windows)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } GPG Suite (macOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } OpenKeychain
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
File Sharing and Sync
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Send
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } OnionShare
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } FreedomBox- { .twemoji loading=lazy } Nextcloud (Self-Hostable)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Syncthing
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Frontends
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Redlib (Reddit, Web)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } ProxiTok (TikTok, Web)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } FreeTube (YouTube, Desktop)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Yattee (YouTube; iOS, tvOS, macOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } LibreTube (YouTube, Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } NewPipe (YouTube, Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Invidious (YouTube, Web)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Piped (YouTube, Web)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Language Tools
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } LanguageTool
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Multi-Factor Authentication Tools
Note: Hardware security keys have been moved to their own category.
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Ente Auth
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Aegis Authenticator (Android)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
News Aggregators
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Akregator
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } NewsFlash
{ .twemoji} Feeder (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Fluent Reader
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Miniflux
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } NetNewsWire
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Newsboat
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Notebooks
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Standard Notes
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Notesnook
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Joplin
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Cryptee
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Org-mode
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Office Suites
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } LibreOffice
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } OnlyOffice
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Password Managers
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Bitwarden
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Proton Pass
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } 1Password
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Psono
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } KeePassXC
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } KeePassDX (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Strongbox (iOS & macOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } gopass (CLI)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Pastebins
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } PrivateBin
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Real-Time Communication
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Signal
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Briar
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } SimpleX Chat
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Element
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Session
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Hardware
Security Keys
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Yubico Security Key- { .twemoji loading=lazy } YubiKey
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Nitrokey
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Mobile Phones
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Google Pixel
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Operating Systems
Mobile
Custom Android Operating Systems
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{ .twemoji loading=lazy } GrapheneOS
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } DivestOS
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Android Apps
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Shelter (Work Profiles)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Secure Camera
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Secure PDF Viewer
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Ways to Obtain Android Apps
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Obtainium (App Manager)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Aurora Store (Google Play Client)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Desktop/PC
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Qubes OS (Xen VM Distribution)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Fedora Workstation
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Arch Linux- { .twemoji loading=lazy } Fedora Atomic Desktops
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } NixOS
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Whonix (Tor)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Tails (Live Boot)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Kicksecure
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Router Firmware
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Advanced Tools
These tools may provide utility for certain individuals. They provide functionality which most people do not need to worry about, and often require more in-depth technical knowledge to utilize effectively.
Alternative Networks
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Device Integrity Verification
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Mobile Verification Toolkit
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } iMazing (iOS)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Auditor (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy }
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } Hypatia (Android)
{ .twemoji loading=lazy } iVerify Basic (iOS)