Why did I leave Google behind? (Degooglize)

I’ve always had this weird obsession with my personal data—who’s storing what about me, where my digital footprints end up, and whether I actually own my information or not.

Honestly, for a long time I wanted to keep my digital trace as private as possible. Not because I’m doing anything illegal—just because I want my normal data to simply be mine like a normal human being (thank you, yes, exactly). I tried different services. I even had a self-hosted Searx search engine running in Docker on my laptop. Sometimes I used ProtonMail. Basically, a part of my brain was always thinking about this stuff.

But the thing that finally pushed me to take a big step was buying a Raspberry Pi 5.

It made everything easier: a small computer that was always on and fully under my control. Around the same time, I watched a video by PewDiePie where he talked about the same topic—how he’s detaching himself from Google’s ecosystem. And I told myself:

If even he is thinking about this, why shouldn’t I?

The alternatives I found

When I started, I slowly began replacing Google services one by one. Not overnight, not all at once—just step by step:

• Google Search → searx (self-hosted) + DuckDuckGo
• Gmail → first ProtonMail, now MailWizz (self-hosted)
• Google Drive / Docs → Nextcloud + Collabora (self-hosted)
• Google Calendar → Nextcloud Calendar
• Google Meet → Nextcloud Talk (self-hosted)
• Google Play → APKMirror
• Google Password Manager → Vaultwarden (self-hosted)

Pretty much everything—except YouTube. There’s still no real replacement for it. But at least I try to use YouTube with no account whenever possible.

What was the hardest part?

Setting up the alternative services took a lot of time. I had to read tons of documentation, search forums, fix weird issues, and tweak configs.

And honestly, alternative search engines like Searx or DuckDuckGo still don’t have Google’s precision. Sometimes a very specific technical question used to appear in Google’s first result, but now… it takes more digging. Still, it’s worth it.

Do I feel safer now?

Absolutely.

I have a sense of control I never had before. I roughly know where my data lives, who can access it, and if I want, I can wipe everything clean. I also use extensions like Chameleon to block trackers. Every step I take gives me some distance from the tech giants and makes me feel more like me—not just an advertising data point.

What do I miss?

Google, annoyingly, is very good at connecting everything.

Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Drive—all in one place—was convenient. Logging into websites with my Google account? The easiest login ever.

But I decided not to trade my privacy for convenience.

Are the alternatives actually better, or just “good enough”?

They’re better than I expected.

Nextcloud is powerful enough to replace Drive, Docs, Calendar, and even my file manager. Vaultwarden is the best password manager I’ve ever used.

And the best part? I’m the one running everything in the background. Which means I’ve learned a ton and I’m still learning.

If you want to leave Google too…

Drop whatever you’re holding and just start.

You don’t have to ditch everything at once. Start with one thing—search. Then email. Then file storage. And keep going.

The hard part is the first few days. After that, you adapt.

And suddenly, your data belongs to you again. And the internet starts feeling like your home—not some rented space inside Google’s data farm.