privacyguides.org/docs/tools.md
mfwmyfacewhen 8c8c4e1009
Remove video streaming section (#2239)
Co-authored-by: Daniel Gray <dngray@privacyguides.org>
2023-07-16 13:35:38 -05:00

23 KiB

meta_title title icon hide description
The Best Privacy Tools, Services, and Ad-Free Recommendations - Privacy Guides Privacy Tools material/tools
toc
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.

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.

Tor Network

  1. Snowflake does not increase privacy, however it allows you to easily contribute to the Tor network and help people in censored networks achieve better privacy.

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Desktop Web Browsers

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Additional Resources

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Mobile Web Browsers

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Additional Resources

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Service Providers

Cloud Storage

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

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Self-hosted Solutions

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Email

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Email Aliasing Services

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Self-Hosting Email

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Financial Services

Payment Masking Services

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Online Gift Card Marketplaces

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Search Engines

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

VPN Providers

??? danger "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 **instead** of a VPN.

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.

[Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:](vpn.md)

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Software

Calendar Sync

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Cryptocurrency

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Data and Metadata Redaction

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Email Clients

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Encryption Software

??? info "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.

[Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:](encryption.md##operating-system-included-full-disk-encryption-fde)

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

OpenPGP Clients

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

File Sharing and Sync

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Frontends

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Multi-Factor Authentication Tools

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

News Aggregators

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Notebooks

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Password Managers

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Productivity Tools

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Real-Time Communication

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Operating Systems

Mobile

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Android Apps

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Desktop/PC

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:

Router Firmware

Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle: