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The Best Privacy Tools, Services, and Ad-Free Recommendations - Privacy Guides |
Privacy 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.
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.
- { .twemoji } Tor Browser
- { .twemoji } Orbot (Smartphone Tor Proxy)
- { .twemoji } Onion Browser (Tor for iOS)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Snowflake (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:
- { .twemoji } Mullvad Browser
- { .twemoji } Firefox
- { .twemoji } Brave
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Brave (Android)
- { .twemoji } Mull (Android)
- { .twemoji } Safari (iOS)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } uBlock Origin
- { .twemoji } uBlock Origin Lite
- { .twemoji } AdGuard for iOS
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Proton Drive
- { .twemoji } Tresorit
- { .twemoji } Peergos
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
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:
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } RethinkDNS
- { .twemoji } dnscrypt-proxy
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } AdGuard Home
- { .twemoji } Pi-hole
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Proton Mail
- { .twemoji } Mailbox.org
- { .twemoji } Tuta
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } addy.io
- { .twemoji } SimpleLogin
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } mailcow
- { .twemoji } Mail-in-a-Box
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Privacy.com
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } MySudo
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } CoinCards
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Ente
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Stingle
- { .twemoji } PhotoPrism
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Brave Search
- { .twemoji } DuckDuckGo
- { .twemoji } SearXNG
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Startpage
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
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.
- { .twemoji } Proton VPN
- { .twemoji } IVPN
- { .twemoji } Mullvad
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Tuta
- { .twemoji } Proton Calendar
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Monero
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } MAT2
- { .twemoji } ExifEraser (Android)
- { .twemoji } Metapho (iOS)
- { .twemoji } PrivacyBlur
- { .twemoji } ExifTool (CLI)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Thunderbird
- { .twemoji } Apple Mail (macOS)
- { .twemoji } Canary Mail (iOS)
- { .twemoji } FairEmail (Android)
- { .twemoji } GNOME Evolution (Linux)
- { .twemoji } K-9 Mail (Android)
- { .twemoji } Kontact (Linux)
- { .twemoji } Mailvelope (PGP in standard webmail)
- { .twemoji } NeoMutt (CLI)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
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 } Cryptomator
- { .twemoji } Picocrypt
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } VeraCrypt (FDE)
- { .twemoji } Kryptor
- { .twemoji } Tomb
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } GnuPG
- { .twemoji } GPG4Win (Windows)
- { .twemoji } GPG Suite (macOS)
- { .twemoji } OpenKeychain
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Send
- { .twemoji } OnionShare
- { .twemoji } FreedomBox
- { .twemoji } Nextcloud (Self-Hostable)
- { .twemoji } Syncthing
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } FreeTube (YouTube, Desktop)
- { .twemoji } Yattee (YouTube; iOS, tvOS, macOS)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } LibreTube (YouTube, Android)
- { .twemoji } NewPipe (YouTube, Android)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Invidious (YouTube, Web)
- { .twemoji } Piped (YouTube, Web)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } YubiKey
- { .twemoji } Nitrokey
- { .twemoji } ente Auth
- { .twemoji } Aegis Authenticator (Android)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Akregator
- { .twemoji } NewsFlash
- { .twemoji} Feeder (Android)
- { .twemoji } Fluent Reader
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Miniflux
- { .twemoji } NetNewsWire
- { .twemoji } Newsboat
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Standard Notes
- { .twemoji } Notesnook
- { .twemoji } Joplin
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Cryptee
- { .twemoji } Org-mode
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Bitwarden
- { .twemoji } 1Password
- { .twemoji } Psono
- { .twemoji } KeePassXC
- { .twemoji } KeePassDX (Android)
- { .twemoji } Strongbox (iOS & macOS)
- { .twemoji } gopass
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Nextcloud (Self-Hostable)
- { .twemoji } LibreOffice
- { .twemoji } OnlyOffice
- { .twemoji } CryptPad
- { .twemoji } PrivateBin (Pastebin)
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Signal
- { .twemoji } Briar
- { .twemoji } SimpleX Chat
- { .twemoji } Element
- { .twemoji } Session
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } GrapheneOS
- { .twemoji } DivestOS
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Obtainium (App Manager)
- { .twemoji } Aurora Store (Google Play Client)
- { .twemoji } Shelter (Work Profiles)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Secure Camera
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Secure PDF Viewer
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
- { .twemoji } Qubes OS (Xen VM Distribution)
- { .twemoji } Fedora Workstation
- { .twemoji } OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
- { .twemoji } Arch Linux
- { .twemoji } Fedora Atomic Desktops
- { .twemoji } NixOS
- { .twemoji } Whonix (Tor)
- { .twemoji } Tails (Live Boot)
- { .twemoji } Kicksecure
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
Learn more :material-arrow-right-drop-circle:
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.
- { .twemoji } Mobile Verification Toolkit
- { .twemoji } iMazing (iOS)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Auditor (Android)
- { .twemoji }{ .twemoji } Hypatia (Android)
- { .twemoji } iVerify (iOS)