A Directory for European Technology
I run a directory of European alternatives to US tech. 350+ products, one person, built in Rotterdam.
🇳🇱 Built in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Why This Exists
Europe builds a lot of good software. The problem is finding it. Google defaults the whole continent to US tools, the indie European products don't rank, and if you don't already know the names you're not going to stumble onto them.
I'm Sidney. I started BuiltInEu from Rotterdam because I was tired of that. I wanted to know what the European alternative to Gmail was, or to Dropbox, or to Google Analytics, and every answer I could find was either a random Reddit thread from 2019 or a directory that hadn't been updated in years. So I built the thing I wanted to exist. It's still mostly me. If you're reading this in 2026, we're at 350+ products across 44 categories.
Jurisdiction matters too, and it's worth being direct about why. If your provider is headquartered in Europe, your data sits under GDPR and (for Switzerland and Norway) equivalent national law. A US-headquartered company, even one with European servers, can be reached by the US CLOUD Act. That's not a political argument, it's how the law actually works. For some people that's the whole reason to look at European alternatives. For others it's a bonus on top of wanting a tool that isn't trying to sell them to an ad network.
What We Do
The directory is a curated list of European alternatives to popular (mostly US-based) tech products. For every product I add, I check where the company is actually headquartered and look at how it handles your data. No product goes in on vibes alone.
- Side-by-side comparisons so you can see what actually changes when you switch
- Editorial posts: reviews, explainers, and the occasional news item about European tech
- Community submissions, because one person can't find everything worth listing
How We're Funded
BuiltInEu is bootstrapped and self-funded. No VC, no investors, no parent company. Some of the products in the directory have affiliate links, and if you sign up through one of those I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. That's what pays for the hosting, the research time, and the coffee.
Affiliate links don't buy a better ranking. A product is either a good European alternative or it isn't. Anything with an affiliate link gets a Partner badge so you always know what you're looking at.
What We Stand For
Privacy
Your data is yours. I only list products that actually treat it that way.
Transparency
If a link pays me, it says so. If a product has a flaw, I write about it.
European Innovation
There's a lot of good European software. Most of it is just hard to find.
Community
This directory gets better when people tell me what I missed. Suggestions and corrections always welcome.
