Best Open-Source Alternatives To Common Applications

There are a lot of reasons to make the switch to open-source. Whether it's privacy, customizability, or even just supporting open-source developers. I try to use an open-source alternative to all my software when I can, so I've compiled a list of my favorite alternatives to any website or application.

Web Browsers

Google Chrome is by far the biggest web browser in terms of market share, it is unsurprisingly closed-source. However, Google built Chrome on top of their open-source browser, called Chromium. Chromium is essentially the same as Google Chrome, just with minimal spyware and Google integration, because of its open-source nature. Chromium is a fine alternative to Chrome and will be an easy switch for most people, however, we can do better. Since Chromium is open-source, there are a lot of privacy-focused forks of the browser, so they keep the benefits of Chromium but with as little spyware as possible.

My favorite is the Brave browser, which is one of the more popular privacy-focused Chromium-based browsers. It comes integrated with an ad-blocker, which is quite nice, and makes the initial setup easy. A problem some have with Brave is the way it is monetized. Brave will run ads (usually cryptocurrency-based ads) in the browser as a popup notification, and the user gets paid a small amount of Brave's cryptocurrency (BAT) for viewing the ad. Though this feature can be disabled, it is a turn-off for some. Many aren't a fan of cryptocurrency, so that's a reason why many may dislike it. As well as the potential ethics of a browser that blocks ads on websites and runs its own ads. Although none of this is required to be used when using the browser, I think it's a great choice, and has some great out-of-the-box privacy settings.

Another Chromium-based alternative would be Ungoogled Chromium. It is essentially just regular ol' Chromium, however, as the name implies, completely stripped of any Google features. I haven't used this one much, so I can't speak to how well it is day-to-day, but if you want a more barebones experience compared to Brave, Ungoogled Chromium is worth a try.

Now, if you aren't a big fan of Chromium, or want to stay as far away from Google as possible, which is very understandable, look no further than Firefox. Firefox used to be the dominant browser, but it has fallen substantially in popularity since Google Chrome was released, and that's too bad. Firefox is open-source and can be arguably the most private browser you can get. The problem is that it's not very private out-of-the-box, with some Mozilla data collection, and Google as the default browser, for starters. However, if you just change the settings around a bit (okay, a lot) it can become a great privacy-respecting browser. I used to use Firefox as a daily driver, and I personally haven't experienced any issues with websites being broken, however, I've seen some people who have experienced these issues, so it can happen. Overall, Firefox, if you're willing to tweak it a bit, is definitely a great choice for a browser.

If you want to have good default privacy settings out-of-the-box with Firefox, then LibreWolf is a great Firefox-based browser to use. It's just a fork of Firefox with the settings changed and a couple of quality-of-life tweaks integrated, such as an ad-blocker. It's a great choice to get you up and running fast without having to change many settings.

Office Suite

If you want to be able to use software like Microsoft Office or Google Docs without being spied on, then give LibreOffice a try.

LibreOffice is fantastic open-source software, and is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. It has an alternative to basically every Office software, such as Word, Excel, and Access. While the design isn't very modern looking, what it lacks in style it makes up for in functionality. From my experience using LibreOffice for school and hobby writing, it has all the functionality I've needed. A very cool feature it has is the ability to not only view and edit Microsoft Office files, but also to export to the Office filetypes, seemingly quite well in my experience. Overall, LibreOffice is a stellar choice for anyone who needs an Office suite.

Video Editors

While Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, and DaVinci resolves are all great video editors, none of them are open-source (and most of them are not available on Linux). However, there are some decent FOSS alternatives.

OpenShot is a lighter-weight video editor, close to something like iMovie. It's great for those who don't do a lot of video editing, and don't need a lot of features. While it has some problems, it is a great alternative to look into.

Kdenlive is a video editor which is a bit more advanced. It has most of the features you would need from a video editor, and many who run full-time YouTube channels use Kdenlive as their only video editor. However, it can be a bit unstable. It can randomly crash quite often (though, even the more prestigious video editors do this), and can be unreliable. However, because of the many features, and it's FOSS-nature, it is a great and very viable alternative to something like Premiere Pro.

Shotcut is my personal favorite FOSS video editor and the one I primarily use. It has quite a few features, though, from what I can tell, it's not quite as feature-packed as Kdenlive. However, I've found it is more stable, and I've used it to do quite a few edits without much crashing (though, it still can sometimes). Overall, I would recommend Shotcut above Kdenlive simply because I've found it to be more stable.

While the video editors I've listed are great, and have a lot of features, it's still very likely that if you are a professional video editor, you won't be able to do everything you want with the software listed above, and may need to use something like Premiere Pro. If these editors got a greater adoption, then they may get to the point where they are as feature-packed, and as stable as any of the professional video editing software. But at the current state video editors are some of the less-viable FOSS alternatives.

Photo Editors

GIMP is easily the best alternative I've ever used to Photoshop. It is feature-rich and has a very nice interface. It has become quite mainstream and is very commonly used among people who know nothing about FOSS.

Inkscape is meant to be an alternative to Adobe Illustrator, and it is quite a good one at that. While I haven't used it too much, from what I've seen it has a lot of features, and any artist should look into using this as their FOSS alternative.

Operating Systems

While basically, everyone uses either Windows or MacOS nowadays, those operating systems don't respect your privacy in the slightest, and they are completely proprietary. However, there is a surprisingly viable option out there, Linux.

While Linux itself is not technically a full operating system, and instead just a kernel, it is the base for many popular distributions, or "distros" which are entire operating systems. Some popular ones include Ubuntu, Mint, and Manjaro. While they are technically different operating systems, they are all built upon the Linux kernel, each with mostly minor differences. It doesn't matter too much which distribution you pick, as it can be modified nearly limitlessly. A problem with using a Linux distribution is that you will have to learn how to use it, it's not quite as "hand-holdy" as the more popular operating systems. While there are some noobie-oriented Linux distros, they still do occasionally require some input from the terminal and such, which some may not like. It also has the problem of being separate from the big Operating Systems, and thus all software has to be ported to be available. For example, Microsoft Office is not technically available on Linux, unless you use the browser version, which is limited. However, if you try to use mostly open-source software, then most of that will be available on Linux. There are some other problems with Linux and many upsides, but if you want to try to get away from Microsoft or Apple, then Linux is a very viable option in modern times.

Miscellaneous

This section is for the ones that I didn't categorize, and I just want to briefly list some great open-source software.

Blender is easily the best free 3D modeling software and is very commonly used even in professional workspaces. It is very feature-packed and even can function as a video editor if needed.

Open Broadcast Software (OBS) is a fantastic piece of software, which can be used to capture video, and even to live stream. It is very widely adopted among content creators online and is probably just as good, or even better than any of the paid proprietary alternatives.

7Zip is a file compression software, similar to something like WinRAR, and it is amazing. There's not much to talk about as it is just for file compression, but if you're currently using WinRAR, then I'd say give 7Zip a try.

VLC is a multimedia player, which can be used to play local files, physical media, and even files streamed over the web. VLC is a great piece of software, which is way better than something like Windows Media Player.

Mastodon, Lemmy, and Odysee are all great alternatives to some of the popular social media sites. Mastodon is aimed to be a decentralized FOSS alternative to something like Twitter, and it has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. Surprisingly, Donald Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, is actually based on Mastodon. Lemmy is a decentralized FOSS alternative to Reddit, with lots of general and specific instances. It has seen a huge spike in users since Reddit shut down third-party apps, and now has a decent-sized community in many different niches. Odysee is meant to be an alternative to YouTube. It is based on the LBRY protocol and has cryptocurrency integrated as the current form of monetization on the platform. And, it has a neat feature for creators, where you can upload your videos to YouTube, and they will be automatically crossposted to Odysee. It is very usable and has a decent amount of content. Though, it obviously doesn't compare to the amount of content on YouTube (yet).

Signal is a great alternative to something like WhatsApp or regular SMS. It has E2E encryption, so all your conversations in Signal are safe from spies. It also has phone and video calling functionality, and even has a mode to use Signal as your default SMS application (though, SMS conversations are not encrypted).

FreeCAD is a FOSS cad software and a great one at that. While I haven't used it for any professional work, I've been using it to learn CAD software, and it seems quite feature-rich. I've made a couple of models using it, and even 3D printed some of them.

Matrix is another communication platform but is meant to be an alternative to Discord. It is a decentralized platform, and a common instance of its implementation is Element. Element has the functionality to create different servers or to just send DM to specific users. It has a feature that allows you to "bridge" your Discord server with your Matrix server, making them connected, though, it can be a bit finicky.

Jitsi is a communication platform that is specific to video calls. It allows you to make video conference calls, in the same way Zoom allows you to.

BitWarden is a password management software, similar to something like KeyPass. It allows you to securely store your passwords, either on the cloud or on your own server if you desire. It is surprisingly easy to use and even has a Chrome and Firefox extension, with built-in autofill in the browser. The free-tier allows you to store as many passwords as you want on the cloud, and use as many devices as you want.