Getting Free of Google’s Grip: The 10 Top Alternatives
Last week I wrote an apparently controversial article on how I do my work completely online and why the operating system I use is no longer relevant: Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive and Software are Obsolete.
In the many comments that followed, I was accused of being a Google fanboy, because I use so many Google apps: Gmail, Gcal, Google Reader, Picasa, Google Homepage and more. The truth is, I use those apps because in my experience they are the best online apps in each of their respective categories.
But it’s true that it’s never good to be under the thumbs of one company, and so by popular demand, here are the best alternatives to those Google apps. While it’s too late to save myself, perhaps you guys can get free from the Google stranglehold!
Top 10 Alternatives to Google’s apps
1. Thunderbird. As I noted in the previous article, I’m a fan of Firefox … and Mozilla’s open-source Thunderbird is right behind it in terms of usefulness, functionality, speed and extensibility. Thunderbird, although not an online app, is a great alternative to Gmail. If you add Mozilla’s Lightning or Sunbird, you can replace Gcal too.
2. 30 Boxes. Although the simple and fast Gcal meets my needs perfectly, 30 boxes is just as fast and easy, and is loved by many. If Gcal didn’t integrate with Gmail, I would probably be using 30 Boxes.
3. Netvibes. Although I love the speed of Google Reader, Netvibes can not only hold all of your feeds in an organized way, it can replace both Reader and Google Personalized Homepage. A great way to organize all your favorite services in a personalized way, Netvibes was my homepage of choice until I discovered Reader.
4. Zoho Office Suite. Perhaps the best online alternative to the Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Zoho has just about everything you’d ever need: a spreadsheet, word processor, presentation program, project manager, notebook, wiki, web conferencing, mail, chat, database and CRM. This might actually be my choice of the future.
5. Peepel. This new offering takes my online OS model almost literally — it offers a desktop environment from within your browser. This service contains office apps, accessible anywhere online, including a word processor, spreadsheet and more. I haven’t actually given this a spin yet, but I intend to. It’s limited in its current beta release, but it has potential and plans to expand in the future. Replaces Google Docs and Spreadsheets
6. Bloglines. If Netvibes or Google Reader isn’t for you, Bloglines is another popular and excellent choice.
7. Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Yet another online office suite, Zimbra started out with email/calendar functionality and has since launched spreadsheet and word processing apps. I haven’t tried this, but have heard excellent things about it, and I love that it’s open-source with an API that could have many uses. Another alternative to Google Docs and Spreadsheets
8. ThinkFree Online. Billed as the “best online office on earth,” ThinkFree aims to ween people from Microsoft Office to is web office suite. It has spreadsheet, word processing and presentation apps, online storage, document sharing and more. Unfortunately, only some of that functionality is free, but it’s still an interesting suite. Replaces Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
9. OpenOffice.org. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention everybody’s favorite open-source office suite, OpenOffice. It’s not an online app, but it offers everything Microsoft Office can give you, but for free, and without all the bloat. This is definitely worth a try, especially if you’re not only trying to get free from Google but Microsoft as well. Replaces Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
10. Flickr. An obvious choice as a replacement for Google’s Picasa web photo service, Yahoo’s Flickr is actually much more popular. My free Flickr account wasn’t good enough for me, but it’s a great service loved by many.
Can you get free from Google’s grip? Yes, I believe you can. As I said before, I’m more than willing to try out the alternatives, but Google’s apps are the best I’ve found so far. For those of you who aren’t fans of Google, there’s a lot more out there.
Leo Babauta blogs regularly about achieving goals through daily habits on Zen Habits, and covers such topics as productivity, GTD, simplifying, frugality, parenting, happiness, motivation, exercise, eating healthy and more. Read his articles on keeping your inbox empty, clearing your desk, becoming an early riser, and the Top 20 Motivation Hacks.
Tags: 
Loading ...
Comments
Craig Childs says on April 9th, 2007 at 9:51 am
The new version of Thunderbird [2] should be out some time this week; so keep an eye out.
Rumored improvements include better integration with Gmail, so that’s a no brainer.
Nxqd3051990 says on April 9th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Why not Google apps
Why replace ?
Google is all that I need . I’m also G Fan
nXqd
Nigel says on April 9th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I like goowy.com. Email (a goowy.com email address as well as access to your other email accounts), calendar, online file storage, widgets (called minis on goowy) all in one place.
Aspiration Jones says on April 9th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Y’know - I loved that original article so much - it made me sign up for a googlemail acct (UK based user y’see). I’ve incorporated Docs, Calendar, Googlemail, Reader, Groups and the online bookmarks storage thing into my personalised Google homepage. I love it. Now if I could just figure out Adsense…
Seamus MacAmus says on April 10th, 2007 at 12:07 am
I agree with you. Google’s apps are, for the most part, just better.
Leo Babauta says on April 10th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Where were you Google fans last week, when I was torn apart for being a google fanboy?
Thanks for the comments, guys. I’m still using Google apps, for the most part, but I’m checking out some of the above to see if they work any better. Always keep an open mind, right?
RaJ says on April 10th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Yes, Lots of alternatives are available. But user at some sort of time stick to big corporate applications. User prefer single login feature. I would say, all sites should allow the email ID as user name. And in that case its easy for the user. Suggest Usability !!!!
~ http://www.suggestusability.com
oxiris says on April 10th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I liked your original post (Firefox OS) as it affirms my own thoughts on that matter.
Very strong alternative for photos is sharpcast. It is much better than picasa or flickr (unlimited storage, seamless syncing, organizing etc.)
Cliff Man says on April 16th, 2007 at 1:30 am
I would recommend a nice alternative to Google’s spreadsheet to put on list as well, that is EditGrid, a feature rich and robust spreadsheet.
Carl says on April 17th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Our free alternative to Picasa is KoffeePhoto, a free and unlimited photo hosting and sharing solution featuring ubiquituous access to pictures.
Leandro Ardissone says on April 17th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I use Flickr and 30boxes since the beginning. Never found Google Calendar and Picasa as a replacement for those.
I use Talk, Gmail, Docs and Reader from Google since I haven’t found other services better than these.
Gratis Software says on April 29th, 2007 at 3:01 am
Or you could get free of Google, Microsoft and the internet with PortableApps Suite; portableapps.com
Why bother? says on May 12th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Why bother? MS got big; Everyone started screaming they were evil incarnate. Sorry, but Word and Excel have changed my life for the better. For the relatively small cost (compared to previously spent work hours) I save a tremendous amount of time. Google has gotten big; Every is starting to scream they are evil incarnate. I’m not joining the screaming hordes.
Privacy? says on June 18th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Isn’t anyone concerned with the massive amount of personal data that Google is compiling. Here’s a list:
# Google search: any search term a user enters into Google;
# Google Desktop: an index of the user’s computer files, e-mails, music, photos, and chat and Web browser history;
# Google Talk: instant-message chats between users;
# Google Maps: address information requested, often including the user’s home address for use in obtaining directions;
# Google Mail (Gmail): a user’s e-mail history, with default settings set to retain emails “forever”;
# Google Calendar: a user’s schedule as inputted by the user;
# Google Orkut: social networking tool storing personal information such as name, location, relationship status, etc.;
# Google Reader: which ATOM/RSS feeds a user reads;
# Google Video/YouTube: videos watched by user;
# Google Checkout: credit card/payment information for use on other sites.
Check out the article here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/.....350,00.asp
I’m going to use services that have better privacy policies than Google’s.
Answeroy says on July 11th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
@Privacy?
Your internet access provider logs EVERY SINGLE byte and you are concerned about Google? C’mon…
When you are concerned about privacy… dont use google.. you can live without it…
But can you live without an internet access provider… who maybe logs lots more than Google?
Dkong says on July 29th, 2007 at 4:25 am
You know…I’m not really that concerned with my privacy with Google. If they want to know that I search for anime with their engine, so be it (ok, so I search a ton of stuff, but nothing that I just CAN’T let other people know).
If they want to know when my baseball games are, but not where…and when my school days off are, they are free to spy on my gcal to their heart’s content.
If they want to read all my receipts and mailing order emails, they can spy on my email.
Maps…ok, so they have my home address…then again, how do they know that it’s my home address? They don’t associate names with the addresses.
Reader- dammit, they know that I read video game, tech, and anime news! I’m screwed.
Youtube- well, I guess I’m busted for watching Charlie the Unicorn!
Seriously, I really do not care if they spy on my stuff. If they want to, that’s their own time that they’re wasting.
As for my reason for going to google for everything: It’s easier to have just one account then 15 accounts, plus it’s really easy to integrate Google apps with each other.
pete says on August 12th, 2007 at 9:39 am
well, I liked Google’s apps but I’m not happy with the relation between Google and China so I’m looking for alternatives.
David says on September 17th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Thunderbird is an app, not a service. So it doesn’t quite make sense to offer it as a possible alternative to Gmail.
That being said, I’ve been sitting here this evening wondering what it would be like to live in China, and want to write about human rights abuses, and then have some big ugly US company block my site from appearing in their search results. Not very nice, I think. So much for “don’t be evil”.
So I’m planning to get rid of my Gmail address. inbox.com is looking good - and they assist with migration.