European Alternatives

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Growth and Scope of the List

  • Many note how much the catalog has expanded since 2021 and see this as evidence of accelerating EU-native alternatives.
  • Some want new categories (LLM/AI tooling, OSes, programming language toolchains, hardware vendors, CMS, GRC/compliance tools).
  • Others argue OS/toolchains are mostly FOSS already, so “EU alternative” is less about code location than about who funds and stewards projects.

What Counts as “European”

  • Criteria on the site: company based in EU/EEA/EFTA/DCFTA or UK; for hosting, not just reselling non‑EU infra.
  • Debate whether FLOSS with global contributors but US corporate sponsors truly reduces dependency.
  • Several small projects report submitting but never being listed; people suspect the site focuses on larger, commercial or infra‑level offerings.

Cloud, Hosting, and Practical Issues

  • Mixed experiences with EU cloud providers: praise for Hetzner and Scaleway (cost, responsiveness), but also complaints (Scaleway’s past lack of Unicode in addresses, confusing UX; OVH’s fire and data loss).
  • Some stress that provider redundancy and independent backups are critical regardless of whether the host is EU or US.
  • Domain registrar suggestions include INWX, Gandi, Hetzner and others, with warnings not to put domains, hosting, and backups under one provider.

Geopolitics, Sanctions, and Digital Sovereignty

  • Strong concern that US tech dominance is now a direct security and sovereignty risk, especially after recent US administration actions (tariffs, NATO rhetoric, Greenland crisis, sanctions).
  • Example cited: a French judge under US sanctions lost access to many US-based services (travel, banking, online platforms), used as a concrete risk case.
  • Many see “European alternatives” not as nationalism but as risk mitigation and autonomy; others worry about growing techno‑balkanization and would prefer global, interoperable FOSS solutions.

Economic and Salary Debates

  • Some doubt sustainability of EU tech without US‑level salaries; others counter that EU cost of living, social safety nets, and quality of life compensate.
  • Discussion of brain drain to the US vs. recent trend of US companies opening EU offices with higher local pay.
  • Venture capital culture in Europe seen as more risk‑averse; some hope EU public money and “strategic autonomy” policies will change this.

Payments and Financial Rails

  • Noted lack of Visa/Mastercard alternatives as a systemic dependency; national schemes (e.g., Girocard, CB) and upcoming initiatives (Wero, digital euro, GNU Taler) discussed.
  • Concern that card duopolies can be used as political leverage; digital euro framed as both cost and sovereignty project.

Reasons to Prefer EU Services

  • Non‑subjective reasons cited:
    • Reduced exposure to US sanctions and export controls.
    • GDPR enforcement and stronger privacy norms applied by default.
    • CLOUD Act/GDPR incompatibility and fear of data repurposing (e.g., for AI training).
    • Economic: keeping revenue, jobs, and tax base in Europe.

Alternatives Beyond Cloud

  • E‑commerce alternatives to Amazon mentioned (Otto, Bol, Coolblue, Galaxus, Zalando, national shops).
  • Interest in EU social networks, messaging, and “EU Product Hunt”/“EU Hacker News”; several new directories (for EU, Japan, Canada) and crowd‑sourced AlternativeTo are referenced.

Nationalism vs Decentralization

  • Some lament the return to “US vs EU vs China/Russia” tech blocs; others argue decentralization and multiple strong regional providers are healthier than a single global monopoly.
  • Broad agreement that more competition and interoperability are desirable, but tension remains between building EU mega‑platforms and embracing a federated, open‑web approach.