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Millions are visiting the European Alternatives site. What trends are we seeing? (plausible.io)

493 points by themeaningist · 496 days ago · 612 comments on HN

Article summary

The European Alternatives website has seen a significant surge in traffic, with over 2 million visitors and 8.5 million pageviews, indicating a growing interest in independent, privacy-friendly digital tools. The website's analytics dashboard shows that Reddit is a major source of traffic, surpassing Google, and that privacy-friendly search engines such as DuckDuckGo and Ecosia are gaining traction. The top categories of interest include email providers, search engines, and cloud computing platforms. The trend is not limited to Europe, with visitors from the US, Canada, and India also contributing to the traffic.

Main themes

  • Privacy-friendly digital tools
  • European alternatives to US tech
  • Digital sovereignty
  • Search engine trends
  • Cloud computing
  • Data privacy

What commenters say

  • Switching to alternative digital tools requires significant effort and can be hindered by the stickiness of existing providers' walled gardens.
  • Having one's own domain is essential for email portability and avoiding being held hostage by any business.
  • Some commenters have successfully switched to alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo and found them to be of comparable quality to Google.
  • The European Union's efforts to break down walled gardens of US tech companies are crucial for preserving viable alternatives in the long term.
  • There is a growing interest in non-US alternatives, with some commenters suggesting the creation of a 'Non-US Alternatives' site to showcase options from Canada, Australia, and other regions.
  • The effectiveness of the boycott of US companies will be evident in the upcoming quarterly earnings reports, with some companies like Tesla already showing significant declines in European sales.
  • Regional brands and alternatives to US products, such as Fritz-Kola, are gaining popularity in some European countries.
  • The shift towards privacy-friendly digital tools is a gradual process that requires awareness, willingness to change, and the availability of viable alternatives.