Bingenheimer Saatgut
Bingenheimer Saatgut is a German seed company that sells only open-pollinated, organically grown seed of vegetables, herbs and flowers, to home gardeners and market gardeners. Plants from this seed…
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Bingenheimer Saatgut is a German seed company that sells only open-pollinated, organically grown seed of vegetables, herbs and flowers, to home gardeners and market gardeners. Plants from this seed…
Alternative to seeds from agrochemical groups, bred for industrial farming and sold as hybrids
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“Que faire de mes objets et déchets ?” is a free website of ADEME, the French agency for ecological transition: typing the name of an object or a type of waste shows how to repair, give away, resell…
Alternative to throwing everything in the bin because you don’t know who repairs, takes back or recycles it
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ARCHE NOAH is an Austrian association that preserves old and rare varieties of vegetables, fruit and grain, and sells organic seeds and plants of them so that gardeners can grow them and save their…
Alternative to hybrid seeds from the big seed groups that can’t be saved and resown
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Garden Organic is a British charity for organic gardening, and its Heritage Seed Library keeps more than 800 rare and old vegetable varieties alive by sending their seed to members each year.
Alternative to garden-centre seed packets of a few commercial varieties
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Refuges LPO is the scheme of the French bird protection league LPO for turning a garden, a balcony, a school or a company site into a refuge for wildlife, by signing a charter and following its…
Alternative to tidy lawns, pesticides and garden-centre landscaping
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The French Ministry of Health publishes the results of the official checks on tap water for every commune, free online, so anyone can see what is in their water before paying for bottles.
Alternative to bottled water bought out of distrust of the tap
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The “Économiser” pages of ADEME, the French ecological transition agency, are free guides to spending less on electricity, heating, fuel, water and everyday purchases. They need no account, carry no…
Alternative to energy-saving advice from suppliers and salespeople who want to sell you something
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An AMAP (association pour le maintien d’une agriculture paysanne) is a group of households that buys part of a nearby farm’s harvest in advance, for a season, and collects a basket each week at a…
Alternative to supermarket vegetables bought at prices that squeeze farmers
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ARTE.tv is the free streaming site and app of ARTE, the Franco-German public cultural channel: live TV, catch-up, documentaries, films, series, concerts and reports, with no subscription and no…
Alternative to Netflix, Prime Video and other paid streaming services
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The Blauer Engel (Blue Angel) is the German government’s eco-label, introduced in February 1978. It marks products and services that do less harm to the environment than others of the same kind…
Alternative to fresh-fibre paper and office products with vague “eco” claims
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Commown is a cooperative from Strasbourg that rents out electronics chosen to last: Fairphone smartphones, laptops from Why! and HP, desktop PCs, Repeat headphones and refurbished devices. The…
Alternative to buying new electronics on credit and replacing them at the first breakdown
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Enercoop is a French network of cooperatives that supplies renewable electricity bought directly from independent producers of wind, hydro, solar and biomass power, rather than through certificates…
Alternative to electricity suppliers selling nuclear or fossil power with green certificates bought on the side
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Énergie Partagée lets savers in France invest in wind farms, solar roofs, small hydro plants, wood-fired heating and biogas units owned and run by local residents and councils. It is both a movement…
Alternative to savings products that finance big energy groups and funds you know nothing about
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Envie is a French network of work-integration companies that collect used household appliances, repair them and sell them again with a two-year warranty valid in all its shops. The first opened in…
Alternative to buying a new washing machine, fridge or cooker
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EWS Schönau is a German energy cooperative from a small town in the Black Forest that supplies green electricity, and gas with a share of biogas, across Germany. It grew out of a parents’ group…
Alternative to large energy companies and discount suppliers that relabel coal and nuclear power as green
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Gallica is the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) and its partners. It gives free online access to more than 11 million digitised documents (January 2025): books…
Alternative to paid e-book shops and archive services for old books, newspapers and maps
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GLS Bank is a German cooperative bank, based in Bochum, that lends only to projects with a social or ecological purpose: renewable energy, organic farming and food, housing projects, schools and…
Alternative to large commercial banks that finance coal, arms and speculation, and free online banks with opaque investments
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iFixit is a free online repair manual with tens of thousands of illustrated, step-by-step guides for phones, laptops, consoles, household appliances and more, written by the company and its community…
Alternative to manufacturers’ after-sales services that are expensive or refuse to repair, and replacing a device at the first fault
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Kokopelli is a French association that sells organic and biodynamic seeds of open-pollinated varieties: more than 2,000 varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers, many of them old varieties no…
Alternative to F1 hybrid seeds from large seed companies, which cannot be saved and resown
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L’Heureux Cyclage is the French network of community bike workshops: associations where you repair your own bike with their tools and the advice of volunteers or staff, for a small membership fee.
Alternative to paying a bike shop for every repair, or buying a new bike
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La Nef is a French cooperative bank that lends only to projects with a social, ecological or cultural purpose, such as organic farms, renewable energy, shared housing and local shops, and publishes…
Alternative to the big French banks and their investments in fossil fuels
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Mediapart is a French online newspaper known for its investigations, funded only by its subscribers, with no advertising. It is an alternative to free news sites that live on ads, and to media owned…
Alternative to free news sites full of advertising, and media owned by industrial groups
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MIRAMAP is the national network of the AMAP (associations pour le maintien d’une agriculture paysanne), groups of consumers who sign a contract with a local farmer, pay for the harvest in advance and…
Alternative to supermarket fruit and vegetables bought from industrial farms and central purchasing
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OxfamUnverpackt is the online gift shop of Oxfam Deutschland where each “gift” is a donation: a goat for €28, school books for €12 or clean water for 50 people for €44. The person receiving it gets a…
Alternative to last-minute gifts that end up in a drawer
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parkrun is a free, timed 5 km run held every Saturday morning in parks and run by volunteers. Runners register once online and get a personal barcode that works at every parkrun in the world; they…
Alternative to gym subscriptions and paid races
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Posteo is an independent email provider in Berlin: for €1 a month, it offers an ad-free mailbox with calendar and address book, financed only by its users. It is an alternative to Gmail, Outlook or…
Alternative to commercial American email providers such as Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo, which analyse your messages
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Project Gutenberg is a free online library of books in the public domain: nearly 78,000 e-books in March 2026, to read in the browser or download without an account. It is an alternative to buying…
Alternative to buying classics as e-books from Amazon’s Kindle store and other paid shops
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Refill Deutschland is a non-profit initiative that shows where anyone can refill a water bottle with tap water for free: shops, cafés, offices and public buildings put a blue Refill sticker on the…
Alternative to buying bottled water in plastic bottles
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A Repair Café is a free meeting where volunteers help people repair their own broken things: toasters, lamps, clothes, bikes, toys, laptops. It is an alternative to throwing away a broken appliance…
Alternative to throwing away broken appliances and buying new ones, often because repair seems too expensive
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Signal is a free messenger for texts, voice and video calls, groups and file sharing, with end-to-end encryption for everything by default, run by a non-profit foundation. It is an alternative to…
Alternative to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and other messengers owned by advertising groups
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The Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft is the German association of community supported agriculture (Solawi): farms whose members pay a monthly share of the farm’s costs and get a share of the…
Alternative to supermarket vegetables from heated greenhouses and long-distance imports
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The Man in Seat 61 is a guide to travelling by train and ferry, written since 2001 by Mark Smith, a former British railway manager. For hundreds of routes, it explains which trains to take, how and…
Alternative to flight comparison sites and booking platforms that only show planes
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VLC is a free, open-source media player that plays almost every video and audio file, DVDs and online streams without extra codec packs, on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and more. It is an…
Alternative to paid video players and codec packs full of adware
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Zero Waste France is an independent French association that works to reduce waste at the source: it publishes practical guides for households, schools and towns, investigates the packaging and waste…
Alternative to the advice of the packaging industry, which says recycling is enough
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The BZfE Saisonkalender is the seasonal calendar for fruit and vegetables of Germany’s Federal Centre for Nutrition, free as an app and as a poster, showing when each kind is harvested in Germany and…
Alternative to buying strawberries in winter and other out-of-season produce flown or trucked in
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Dreschflegel is a German group of small organic farms that grow, breed and sell open-pollinated seed of more than 800 vegetables, herbs and flowers, without hybrids or genetic engineering.
Alternative to hybrid vegetable seeds that must be bought again every year
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foodsharing.de is a free, ad-free platform run by volunteers in Germany who collect surplus food from shops, bakeries and restaurants and share it, without money, with anyone who wants it, after…
Alternative to shops, bakeries and restaurants throwing away edible food
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Goldeimer is a Hamburg social enterprise that sells recycled toilet paper with the Blauer Engel label and compost toilets for gardens, allotments and camper vans, and puts its profits into sanitation…
Alternative to toilet paper from big paper groups and to chemical camping toilets
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NaturFreunde Deutschlands is a non-profit association for outdoor leisure with more than 65,000 members in over 500 local groups, which runs more than 350 Naturfreundehäuser (simple guesthouses in…
Alternative to commercial tourism, package holidays and private gyms
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Pl@ntNet is a free app and website that names a plant from a photo of its flower, leaf, fruit or bark. It was built by French public research institutes, and every confirmed photo feeds a public…
Alternative to commercial plant identification apps with subscriptions
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The Complémentaire santé solidaire (C2S) is France’s public complementary health cover for people on low incomes. It pays what the Assurance Maladie leaves to the patient, for free or for at most €1…
Alternative to a paid mutuelle for people on low incomes
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Citiz is a French network of car-sharing operators, most of them cooperatives. Members book a car by the hour or the day, pick it up from a fixed station near home and bring it back there, paying for…
Alternative to owning a car that stands still 95 % of the time, and free-floating car rental run by large groups
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Cohabilis is the French network of intergenerational home-sharing associations: a person aged 60 or over rents a room in their home to someone under 30, a student, apprentice, trainee or young worker…
Alternative to expensive student rooms, and to living alone in old age
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CoopCycle is a federation of bike delivery cooperatives, mostly in France and Spain but also in Germany, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Mexico and Canada. Its members deliver meals from local restaurants…
Alternative to Uber Eats, Deliveroo and the other delivery platforms that take high commissions and pay riders poorly
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A cooperative supermarket belongs to its customers: each member buys shares, works a few hours a month in the shop and buys food there at lower margins than in ordinary supermarkets. Only members can…
Alternative to supermarket chains that set prices and margins for their shareholders
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The Deutscher Tierschutzbund is the umbrella organisation of animal welfare associations and animal shelters in Germany. At the end of 2023 it had 785 local member associations in 16 regional…
Alternative to buying puppies and kittens online, often from illegal trade
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Emmaüs Connect is a French association that helps people who struggle with digital tools: using a phone or a computer, online paperwork, job hunting, and access to rights and health care. A member of…
Alternative to being left alone with online paperwork, expensive phone plans and new devices you can’t afford
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The Energie-Info comparator is the official comparison tool of France’s energy ombudsman (médiateur national de l’énergie). It lists the electricity and gas offers of every supplier and ranks them by…
Alternative to commercial comparison sites paid by suppliers that sell your contact details
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Ethiquable is a French worker cooperative (Scop) from Fleurance, in the Gers, that sells organic fair trade food: chocolate, coffee, tea, juice, rice, sugar, spices and snacks, bought from…
Alternative to supermarket coffee, chocolate and juice from multinational brands
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Fairphone is a Dutch company from Amsterdam that makes smartphones built to be repaired and kept for years, with a larger share of fairly sourced materials. The battery, screen, cameras, USB-C port…
Alternative to smartphones that are glued shut, get few years of updates and are replaced every two or three years
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Framasoft is a French non-profit association, based in Lyon, that promotes free software and runs free online services as alternatives to those of big tech: Framadate for polls, Framaforms for forms…
Alternative to Google Forms, Doodle and the other free services of big tech that live from your data
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France Rénov’ is the French public service for home energy renovation, run by the national housing agency Anah. Its advisers give free, neutral advice on insulation, heating, ventilation and the…
Alternative to commercial renovation companies that cold-call households and sell expensive works
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FUN MOOC is the French public platform of free online courses made by universities and grandes écoles: videos, quizzes and forums on hundreds of subjects, mostly in French, with about one course in…
Alternative to commercial online course platforms such as Coursera or Udemy
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GEPA – The Fair Trade Company is a German fair trade importer founded in 1975 and based in Wuppertal. It sells coffee, tea, chocolate, honey, cocoa, sugar, spreads and handicrafts bought from…
Alternative to conventional coffee, tea and chocolate brands that pay growers prices below the cost of living
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Gesundheitsinformation.de is the health information site of IQWiG, the German institute that assesses the benefits and harms of medical treatments. It explains illnesses, examinations and treatments…
Alternative to health websites financed by advertising, supplement sellers and “Doctor Google”
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GIMP is a free, open-source photo editor and image creation program for Windows, macOS and Linux. It crops, corrects colours, cuts out shapes, works with layers and masks, paints and draws.
Alternative to Adobe Photoshop and its monthly subscription
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KeePassXC is a free, open-source password manager for Windows, macOS and Linux. It keeps logins, passwords, passkeys and notes in an encrypted file, in the common KeePass (KDBX) format, opened with a…
Alternative to cloud password managers such as LastPass, 1Password or Dashlane
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Khan Academy is a US non-profit organisation that offers free courses with videos and exercises, mainly in mathematics and science, but also computing, economics, history and test preparation, from…
Alternative to paid tutoring and online course platforms financed by advertising or subscriptions
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Label Emmaüs is the online shop of the Emmaüs movement and other organisations of the social and solidarity economy. About 180 solidarity shops sell second-hand books, clothes, furniture, household…
Alternative to Amazon and the big online marketplaces selling new products shipped from far away
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Lamazuna is a French brand of zero-waste bathroom products: solid shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and toothpastes, washable make-up remover wipes, rechargeable toothbrushes and menstrual cups. It…
Alternative to cosmetics in plastic bottles, disposable cotton pads and single-use razors
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LibreOffice is a free, open-source office suite with a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), presentations (Impress), drawing (Draw), a database (Base) and a formula editor (Math). It…
Alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs, with their subscriptions and data collection
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Lumni is the free, ad-free educational platform of French public broadcasting: videos, quizzes, games, articles and podcasts for learning and revising school subjects, from nursery school to the…
Alternative to paid tutoring and revision books
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Mastodon is open-source software for a decentralised social network: thousands of independent servers, run by associations, universities, media, public bodies or individuals, connect with each other…
Alternative to X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and the other advertising-funded social networks
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Open Food Facts is a free, collaborative database of food products run by a French non-profit association: volunteers scan barcodes and photograph packaging, and the app and website then show the…
Alternative to the marketing on food packaging, and commercial food-scanning apps
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Oxfam Shops are second-hand shops in Germany, run by Oxfam with about 4,000 volunteers, that sell donated clothes, books, music, films and household goods. Their surplus funds Oxfam Deutschland’s…
Alternative to fast fashion and new books, and online second-hand platforms that earn on every sale
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Place des Libraires is a French website that shows which bookshops have a book in stock: readers choose a title and a nearby shop, then reserve the book to collect there, or order it if it isn’t in…
Alternative to ordering books from Amazon and the big online retailers
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Ressourceries and recycleries are local second-hand shops, most often run by associations, that collect objects people no longer want, check, clean and repair them, then sell them at low prices or…
Alternative to throwing away objects that still work, and buying everything new
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Sonett is a German maker of ecological washing and cleaning products, founded in 1977 near Lake Constance: laundry detergents, washing-up liquid, cleaners and soaps based on plant soaps, sugar…
Alternative to conventional detergents and cleaners from large chemical groups, with petroleum-based ingredients and single-use bottles
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The SPA (Société Protectrice des Animaux), founded in 1845 and recognised as a public-interest association since 1860, is France’s oldest animal protection association. It runs 64 shelters and…
Alternative to buying a pet from a pet shop, a breeder or a classified ad
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The taz is a national daily newspaper from Berlin, founded in 1978, that belongs to a cooperative of more than 26,000 readers, so no publisher or investor can buy it. Its website has no paywall…
Alternative to news sites that live from clicks and advertising, and newspapers owned by billionaires and media groups
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Telecoop is a French cooperative mobile operator, founded in 2020, whose plans encourage people to use less data and keep their phone longer. It uses Orange’s 4G network, and it is an alternative to…
Alternative to the large mobile operators and their incentives to consume ever more data and change phones often
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The Unverpackt Verband (Unverpackt e.V.) is the association of German zero-packaging shops, where customers fill their own jars, bags and bottles with dry goods, oils, cleaning products and cosmetics…
Alternative to supermarket groceries wrapped in plastic
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The Verbraucherzentralen are the consumer advice centres of the 16 German federal states: non-profit associations, mostly publicly funded, that advise on contracts, energy, insurance, banking, food…
Alternative to the customer service of the company you are in dispute with, and comparison sites paid by commissions
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The Volkshochschulen (vhs) are the public adult education centres in Germany: 815 centres with about 2,630 branches, most run by towns and districts. They offer affordable courses in languages…
Alternative to expensive private courses and coaching, and online course platforms that sell subscriptions
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VRAC organises group buying of organic, fair-trade and local food in low-income neighbourhoods of France and sells it at cost price. Members order and collect their goods, in their own containers, at…
Alternative to discount supermarkets as the only option in low-income neighbourhoods
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Crédit Coopératif is a French cooperative bank, owned by its client-members, that has banked associations and social-economy businesses since 1893 and also offers current accounts, cards and savings…
Alternative to commercial high-street banks that finance fossil fuels
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Le Pari Solidaire is a Paris association that places young people under 30 in the homes of people aged 60 or more, in Paris and Île-de-France. The young person gets a room for a small contribution…
Alternative to living alone in old age and to overpriced rooms in Paris
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Solidarités International is a French humanitarian NGO, founded in 1980, that brings drinking water, sanitation and hygiene to people hit by wars and disasters, along with food aid and shelter. Water…
Alternative to donating without knowing where the money goes, for clean water in crisis zones
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ACORN is a community and tenants’ union in England and Wales whose members act together against bad landlords, to get repairs done, deposits returned and evictions stopped, for a membership fee based…
Alternative to facing a landlord or letting agent alone
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Artisans du Monde is a French network of fair trade shops run mostly by volunteers, selling crafts, food and cosmetics bought from more than 120 producer organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin…
Alternative to gift shops and chain stores selling crafts and food from unknown suppliers
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The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is an environmental charity near Machynlleth in mid-Wales that teaches low-carbon building, eco-renovation and renewable energy through free information…
Alternative to conventional building and renovation that ignores energy and materials
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The Community Land Trust Network is the charity for community land trusts in England and Wales: local, member-controlled non-profits that own land so that the homes on it stay affordable for local…
Alternative to speculative housing whose prices follow the market, not local wages
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Compagnons Bâtisseurs is a French network of associations that helps low-income tenants and owners repair and renovate their own homes themselves, with a building professional and volunteers at their…
Alternative to paying a contractor for every repair when money is short
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The Coopérative Funéraire de Nantes is a funeral home run as a cooperative (SCIC), owned by its members, including families, which pays no dividends and offers funerals around Nantes, with sister…
Alternative to the funeral chains OGF and Funecap
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The DGE recommendations, “Gut essen und trinken”, are Germany’s food-based dietary guidelines from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung, which since 2024 take the environment into account as well…
Alternative to diet trends, influencers and nutrition advice paid for by food brands
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Dogs Trust is a British dog welfare charity that takes in stray and unwanted dogs at its rehoming centres, finds them new homes, and never puts a healthy dog to sleep.
Alternative to buying a puppy from a breeder or online advert
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Dr. Hauschka is a range of certified natural cosmetics made by WALA, a foundation-owned company in Bad Boll-Eckwälden in Swabia that grows many of its medicinal plants in its own biodynamic garden.
Alternative to conventional skin care from L’Oréal, Beiersdorf and other cosmetics groups
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Ecosia is a Berlin search engine that spends all its profits on climate action, mainly tree planting and renewable energy, and has been legally barred from being sold since it became steward-owned in…
Alternative to Google Search, whose ad profits go to shareholders
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Energy Saving Trust is a British organisation that gives free, impartial advice on insulating and heating a home, and runs government advice services such as Home Energy Scotland, without selling or…
Alternative to energy advice from installers and sales companies that sell the product
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The EU Ecolabel is the European Union’s official environmental label, with a flower logo, for products and services that meet published criteria; for cleaning products it limits hazardous substances…
Alternative to cleaning products with green claims that nobody checks
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The FSGT is a French multisport federation founded in 1934, with about 4,200 self-managed clubs, 200,000 people taking part and around a hundred sports, built on the idea that everyone should have…
Alternative to expensive gym chains and commercial sports clubs
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Grünspecht is a family company in Bavaria that has made natural baby and family products since 1994, such as cherry-stone pillows, natural rubber teething rings, organic cotton and wool care, mostly…
Alternative to conventional baby care products and plastic baby accessories
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Habitat Participatif France is the national association of co-housing in France: groups of households who design, build or renovate their homes together and share some spaces, and it helps them find…
Alternative to buying a flat from a developer or renting alone
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Incredible Edible is a movement of local groups that grow vegetables, fruit and herbs in public places, for anyone to pick for free. It started in Todmorden, in northern England, in 2008.
Alternative to buying every vegetable at the supermarket and to ornamental-only public planting
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Kaffee-Kooperative is a Berlin company that sells Fairtrade coffee from Rwanda roasted and packed in Kigali, by a roastery owned by Rwandan coffee cooperatives, so that more of the price stays in the…
Alternative to coffee roasted in Europe, where most of the value of the beans stays
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memo is a German mail-order company that sells more than 20,000 products for the office, home and everyday life chosen for their sustainability, and ships them in a reusable box at no extra charge…
Alternative to Lyreco, Amazon and other big office-supply sellers
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MonGR is the official website of the GR long-distance footpaths in France, published by the French hiking federation (FFRandonnée), with a map of the trails, themed route ideas, topoguides for sale…
Alternative to Komoot and other commercial hiking apps
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Ostheimer makes wooden toy figures and animals by hand in Zell unter Aichelberg near Stuttgart, from wood from Central European forests, painted and dipped in oil, and is owned by a non-profit…
Alternative to plastic toys and figures made far away
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PDSA is a British veterinary charity that treats the pets of people on benefits for free or at reduced prices, in its own pet hospitals and through partner vets.
Alternative to private vets that people on benefits can’t afford
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PeerTube is free, open-source software for sharing videos, developed by the French non-profit Framasoft, on which anyone can run a video platform that connects with the others, so there is no single…
Alternative to YouTube and its ads, recommendation algorithm and single owner
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Les Petits Frères des Pauvres is a French association, founded in 1946, whose volunteers visit isolated older people at home, organise group activities and holidays, and answer a free, anonymous…
Alternative to leaving older people alone, or paying a private company for company
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Quartiermeister is a Berlin beer brand owned by a non-profit foundation: its profits go to neighbourhood projects, chosen by public vote in the cities where the beer is drunk.
Alternative to beer from big brewing groups such as AB InBev, Heineken or Radeberger
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The Ramblers is a British walking charity whose roughly 485 local groups lead tens of thousands of walks a year across England, Scotland and Wales, and which campaigns to protect public footpaths and…
Alternative to paid guided walks and walking holidays
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Reuse Network, called the Furniture Re-use Network until 2018, is the UK umbrella charity of local charities and social enterprises that collect donated furniture and appliances and pass them on at…
Alternative to cheap new furniture and appliances bought on credit
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Shelter is a British housing charity whose free online advice explains tenants’ rights in England on deposits, repairs, rent rises and eviction, with a helpline and webchat for urgent cases and…
Alternative to relying on lettings agents and landlords for advice on your rights
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The Slow Food Genussführer is a German restaurant guide of about 450 places chosen by Slow Food volunteers for regional, seasonal cooking without convenience products, published as a book and an app…
Alternative to sponsored restaurant guides and star rankings
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Terra Etica, long known as Café Michel, is a worker cooperative (SCOP) in Pessac near Bordeaux that roasts organic, fair-trade coffee and sells tea, chocolate and sugar bought from small farmers’…
Alternative to supermarket coffee brands such as Carte Noire, L’Or or Jacques Vabre
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Visale is a free rent guarantee from Action Logement that stands in for a personal guarantor: it covers unpaid rent and charges for the landlord, at no cost to either landlord or tenant, for young…
Alternative to paid guarantors, guarantor companies and unpaid-rent insurance
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Weltläden are Germany’s fair trade shops, about 900 local shops mostly run by volunteers, which sell coffee, chocolate, crafts, clothing and gifts from suppliers checked against fair trade criteria.
Alternative to department stores and online giants for gifts, coffee and chocolate
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The Wohnprojekte-Portal is a free German directory of about 890 co-housing projects and groups, run by the non-profit Stiftung trias, where people can find a shared housing project with room for them…
Alternative to looking for a flat alone on commercial property portals
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Zu gut für die Tonne! (“Too good for the bin”) is the German federal government’s campaign against food waste, with a free app of about 800 leftover recipes, storage tips for each food and a…
Alternative to throwing away leftovers and food past its best-before date
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Datan is a free website that shows how each member of the French National Assembly and each parliamentary group votes, from the Assembly’s own open data. A reader can check an MP’s actual votes on…
Alternative to what MPs and parties say about their own votes
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The Krankenkassenliste is the official list of Germany’s statutory health insurance funds (gesetzliche Krankenkassen) with their additional contribution rates, published by their umbrella body, the…
Alternative to comparison portals such as Check24 and Verivox that show only the health insurance funds paying them
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The Que Choisir mutuelle comparator is the health insurance comparison tool of Que Choisir Ensemble, the French consumer association formerly called UFC-Que Choisir. It ranks complementary health…
Alternative to mutuelle comparison sites run by brokers, paid by insurers, that resell your phone number
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The Krankenkassenvergleich of Stiftung Warentest is a database of the contribution rates and extra benefits of 67 German statutory health insurance funds, which together insure about 97 % of…
Alternative to Check24, Verivox and other comparison portals paid by the insurers they rank
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1083 is a French brand of jeans, jackets and sneakers made in France, based in Romans-sur-Isère in the Drôme. Its name is the distance in kilometres between the two towns of mainland France that lie…
Alternative to fast-fashion jeans and sneakers made far away under poor working conditions
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abgeordnetenwatch.de is a German website where anyone can put a question to a member of parliament in public and read the answer. It also shows how each member voted in important roll-call votes and…
Alternative to political news shaped by spin and party advertising, and politicians who are hard to reach
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The ADIL (agences départementales d’information sur le logement) give free legal, financial and tax advice on housing in France: leases and rent, unpaid rent, co-ownership, buying a home, loans…
Alternative to paid legal advice and the vague answers of internet forums
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Aeternitas is a German consumer association for funerals and cemeteries, the “Verbraucherinitiative Bestattungskultur”. Its website explains how burial works in Germany, what each part of a funeral…
Alternative to funeral homes that sell expensive packages to grieving families in a hurry
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Bienvenue à la ferme is the network of French farmers who sell their produce directly or welcome visitors, and its free website maps them: farm shops, farmers’ markets, producers’ shops, “drives…
Alternative to supermarket fruit, vegetables and meat that pass through several middlemen
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The Deutscher Mieterbund (DMB) is the umbrella organisation of more than 300 local tenants’ associations (Mietervereine) in Germany. Members of a local association get personal legal advice on rent…
Alternative to facing landlords alone, or paying an expensive lawyer for every dispute
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Don en Confiance is a French association that awards a label to charities and foundations that sign its ethical code and accept continuous checks. Donors use it to see which organisations appealing…
Alternative to giving to street or phone fundraisers without checking the organisation
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The DZI Spendensiegel is a German seal for charities that collect donations. The DZI (Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen), a foundation in Berlin, awards it each year after checking the…
Alternative to giving to the organisation with the most emotional advertising, without knowing how the money is used
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Good On You rates fashion brands on their impact on people, the planet and animals, on a five-step scale from “We avoid” to “Great”. Its website and free app for iOS and Android cover more than 7,000…
Alternative to the green marketing of fashion brands, which nobody checks
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Karte von morgen (“map of tomorrow”) is an open map of sustainable initiatives and businesses: organic shops, repair cafés, community gardens, cooperatives, sharing places, places to eat and more, in…
Alternative to commercial map apps that list whoever pays for advertising first
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Les Frigos Solidaires is a French association that sets up self-service fridges outside shops, associations, universities, schools and companies, where anyone can leave food or take some, free and…
Alternative to throwing away food that is still good
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Les Scop is the website of the Confédération générale des Scop et des Scic (CG Scop), the federation of French worker cooperatives (Scop) and multi-stakeholder cooperatives (Scic). In a Scop the…
Alternative to companies owned by distant shareholders, where employees have no say
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Medito is a free meditation app for iPhone and Android with no ads, trial period or premium tier, published by Stichting Medito, a non-profit foundation registered in Amsterdam in 2020. It is an…
Alternative to paid meditation apps such as Headspace or Calm
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The Mietshäuser Syndikat is a German network of self-organised housing projects that buys buildings and takes them off the property market for good. It is an alternative to renting from investors and…
Alternative to renting from investors and real estate companies that resell for profit
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Mobicoop is a carpooling website and app that takes no commission and shows no advertising: passengers share the driver’s costs, paid online, and nothing is added on top.
Alternative to BlaBlaCar and other carpooling platforms that take a fee on every booking
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Nightjet is the night-train brand of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), with trains from Vienna, Munich, Zurich and other cities to more than 25 European destinations, among them Hamburg, Berlin…
Alternative to short-haul flights and low-cost airlines between European cities
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Onleihe is the digital lending service of public libraries in German-speaking countries: with a library card, readers borrow e-books, audiobooks, newspapers, magazines and videos from home, and the…
Alternative to buying e-books and audiobooks from Amazon Kindle and Audible
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Pour bien vieillir is a free website of the French public pension funds that helps retired people stay healthy and independent: advice on physical activity, food, sleep, memory, falls, social life…
Alternative to private retirement-home brokers and the advice of companies selling senior services
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RECUP is a deposit system for reusable cups, bowls and pizza boxes in Germany: customers pay €1 for a cup, €5 for a bowl or €7 for a pizza box at a café or restaurant, and get the deposit back when…
Alternative to single-use coffee cups and takeaway boxes
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Rezo Pouce is a free, organised hitchhiking network in rural and suburban France: members wait at signposted “arrêts sur le pouce” stops, show where they are going, and a driver from the network…
Alternative to needing a car, or a second car, in the countryside
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SignalConso is the free public service of the DGCCRF, the French consumer protection authority, for reporting a problem with a company, in a shop or online, or asking a question about consumer rights…
Alternative to giving up when a shop or company doesn’t respect your rights
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Simply Good Food is a recipe site of classic, simple dishes, mostly vegetarian, in English, French and German: soups, salads, pasta, curries, bakes and desserts. It is an alternative to recipe sites…
Alternative to recipe sites full of advertising, pop-ups and life stories before the recipe
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Social grocery shops (épiceries solidaires) sell food, fresh produce and hygiene products to households on low incomes at 10 to 30 % of the usual price. Customers choose on the shelves and pay at the…
Alternative to food parcels, for households on a small income who want to choose their own shopping
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TEAM 7 is an Austrian maker of solid wood furniture, from tables and beds to wardrobes and kitchens, made to order in Upper Austria from European hardwoods glued without formaldehyde and finished…
Alternative to flat-pack chipboard furniture that rarely survives a second move
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Que Choisir Ensemble, called UFC-Que Choisir until its renaming in 2025–2026, is the largest French consumer association: it tests more than 2,000 products a year, publishes the results in its…
Alternative to advertising, sponsored reviews and comparison sites paid by the brands they compare
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VAUDE is a family-owned German maker of outdoor clothing, backpacks, tents and bike bags, based at Obereisenbach near Lake Constance. It is known for its environmental work: PFAS-free products…
Alternative to outdoor brands that use toxic chemicals and make gear that is hard to repair
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Weleda is a Swiss maker of natural cosmetics and anthroposophic medicines, founded in 1921, with its head office in Arlesheim near Basel and its largest site at Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany. Its…
Alternative to conventional cosmetics with mineral oils, silicones and synthetic fragrances
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The Association Végétarienne de France (AVF) is a French non-profit that helps people eat less meat or none at all, with free leaflets on nutrition, recipes, cooking workshops, the Défi Veggie…
Alternative to eating meat every day without knowing how to cook without it
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MAIF is a French mutual insurer, owned by its 4.2 million members, that insures homes, cars, bikes and borrowers. It became a société à mission in 2020 and gives 10 % of its profit to environmental…
Alternative to shareholder-owned insurers for home and car
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The Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack label from A (dark green) to E (red) that sums up a food's nutritional quality per 100 g or 100 ml, so that two breakfast cereals or two pizzas can be compared at a…
Alternative to nutrition tables in small print and to health claims on packaging
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Adopte un bureau is a French company that buys used office furniture from businesses, refurbishes it in its workshops in Antony and Albi and resells it, with a 24-month warranty, at much lower prices…
Alternative to buying new office furniture
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The ANE Elternbriefe are 46 parent letters from the Berlin association Arbeitskreis Neue Erziehung, sent by post from a child’s birth until its eighth birthday, each explaining what parents can…
Alternative to parenting apps and commercial baby magazines full of advertising
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Cafédirect is a British Fairtrade coffee company founded in 1991 by Oxfam, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange and Twin Trading, with two coffee producers on its board and a certified B Corp since 2018.
Alternative to Nescafé, Kenco and other coffee from multinational groups
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The calendrier de l’Avent inversé, or reverse Advent calendar, turns the December countdown around: instead of opening a window each day, the family puts one useful item a day into a box, then gives…
Alternative to bought Advent calendars filled with chocolate, cosmetics or toys
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Camif is a French online furniture and home shop that sells only products made in Europe, 70 % of them in France according to its own figures, and shows on each product page where it was made.
Alternative to IKEA and furniture chains that sell flat-pack furniture made far away
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Compassion in Dying is a British charity that helps people plan their care at the end of life, with free living will (advance decision) forms, guidance on lasting power of attorney and a free…
Alternative to paying a solicitor for a living will
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The Deutscher Alpenverein (DAV) is the German mountaineering association, with more than 1.6 million members in over 350 sections, which runs 325 mountain huts and 220 climbing facilities, maintains…
Alternative to commercial mountain guides, gear rental and tour apps
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dieUmweltDruckerei is a German online print shop that prints flyers, business cards, brochures, posters, calendars and labels on 100 % recycled paper, much of it with the Blauer Engel label, using…
Alternative to online print shops printing on virgin-fibre paper
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Écotable is a French label and guide for restaurants that cook with organic, local and seasonal produce, with three levels from “transition started” to “an example for all” and a map of about 300…
Alternative to restaurant guides that say nothing about where the food comes from
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einhorn is a Berlin company that sells vegan condoms made from traceable natural rubber, and period products such as tampons and a menstrual cup, with no outside investors and in steward ownership.
Alternative to condoms and period products from Durex, o.b. and other consumer-goods groups
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Food Made Good is the sustainability standard of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, a British organisation that rates restaurants, cafés and caterers on sourcing, society and environment and…
Alternative to restaurant guides that rate the food but not the sourcing
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Frosch is a range of household cleaners, washing-up liquids and laundry products from Werner & Mertz, a family company in Mainz, whose bottles are made from plastic collected in household recycling…
Alternative to cleaning products from Procter & Gamble, Henkel and Reckitt
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The Good Gifts Catalogue is a British charity gift catalogue: instead of an object, the buyer pays for a specific item or service for a charity project, such as a goat or seeds and tools, and…
Alternative to gadgets and presents nobody needs, and to charity gifts that go into a general fund
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Grüne Erde is an Austrian maker of natural mattresses, beds and wood furniture, with home textiles and cosmetics. Its mattresses are made by hand in Upper Austria from wool, natural latex, coconut…
Alternative to foam mattresses and furniture in chipboard and synthetic glue
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HappyCow is a guide to vegan, vegetarian and veg-friendly restaurants, shops and cafés around the world, with a map, filters and reviews written by its community, on the web and in an app.
Alternative to general review apps for finding vegan and vegetarian food
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The Initiative Pro Recyclingpapier is a German alliance of companies that promotes office and printing paper with the Blauer Engel, made from 100 % waste paper, and runs the Papieratlas, a yearly…
Alternative to virgin-fibre office paper
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L’Arbre Vert is a French brand of washing-up liquids, laundry detergents, household cleaners and toiletries sold in supermarkets, most of them certified with the EU Ecolabel and made in France.
Alternative to conventional cleaning products and toiletries from big consumer-goods groups
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Lemonaid is a Hamburg brand of organic, Fairtrade-certified lemonades that gives 5 cents from every bottle sold to its own charity, Lemonaid & ChariTea e.V., which funds projects in the countries…
Alternative to Coca-Cola, Fanta and other soft drinks from global beverage groups
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Love Food Hate Waste is the UK campaign against household food waste run by the charity WRAP, with a portion planner, an A–Z of how to store each food and a fridge temperature tool, free on its…
Alternative to throwing away food that could have been eaten
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Manger Bouger is the French public health website on food and physical activity, run by Santé publique France, with the official recommendations and La Fabrique à menus, a free weekly menu planner…
Alternative to diet apps, paid meal plans and food advice from the food industry
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Mojeek is a British search engine with its own crawler and its own index of more than 9 billion pages, so its results don’t come from Google or Bing, and it follows a strict no-tracking policy.
Alternative to Google and Bing, and to search engines that resell their results
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NATRUE and Cosmébio are two labels for natural and organic cosmetics, NATRUE common in Germany and across Europe, Cosmébio in France, whose criteria are published and whose products are checked by…
Alternative to “natural” and “green” claims on cosmetics that no one checks
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The Natural Death Centre is a British charity that gives free, impartial advice on natural burial, do-it-yourself and environmentally friendly funerals, and on consumer rights when arranging a…
Alternative to conventional funeral packages
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Olio is a free British app for giving away food and household items to neighbours, and for collecting surplus food from shops such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s through volunteer “Food Waste Heroes”, who…
Alternative to throwing away leftover food and unwanted household items
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Refill is a free British app and scheme that shows on a map where to fill a water bottle for free: public fountains, cafés, shops and offices that display a Refill sticker in the window.
Alternative to buying bottled water and drinks in single-use cups when out
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Seconde Chance is a French website that lists animals waiting for adoption in shelters and animal welfare associations all over France, so that people looking for a dog, cat or rabbit can find one…
Alternative to buying a dog or cat online, from a breeder or at a fair
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smarticular is a German website and publisher with free recipes for making cleaning and laundry products from a few basic ingredients, such as baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, citric acid and curd…
Alternative to buying a separate cleaning product for every job
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Speick is a family-owned natural cosmetics maker near Stuttgart, best known for its soaps and shaving products, whose whole range contains an extract of the Speick plant hand-picked in the Austrian…
Alternative to conventional soap, shaving cream and deodorant from Nivea, Gillette and other big brands
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TASSO is a German non-profit pet registry where owners record their dog’s or cat’s microchip number for free, so that a vet, shelter or finder can trace the owner when the animal is found.
Alternative to paid pet registries and to searching for a lost animal on social media alone
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The Eatwell Guide is the UK government’s picture of a healthy, balanced diet, a plate divided into food groups, explained for free on the NHS website and published by the Office for Health…
Alternative to diet plans, supplements and nutrition advice sold by brands
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The ZQP advice database is a free, ad-free search for care advice services across Germany, including the Pflegestützpunkte, run by the Zentrum für Qualität in der Pflege, a non-profit foundation in…
Alternative to care advice from providers who sell the care
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“Is private health insurance worth it?” is a free guide from MoneyHelper, the money guidance service of the UK government’s Money and Pensions Service. It helps people decide whether they need…
Alternative to advice from brokers and comparison sites paid on commission by health insurers
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NosParlementaires is a free website that tracks the work of the 577 French MPs and 348 senators: their votes, amendments, written and oral questions, bills, reports and declared interests. It is…
Alternative to what MPs, senators and parties say about their own work in parliament
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Which?, the UK consumer association, rates private medical insurers by what their customers say after making a claim. Price comparison sites rank policies by price and are paid by the insurers they…
Alternative to health insurance comparison sites and lead generators that sell your details to brokers
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The Fédération FDN brings together about 30 non-profit internet access providers run as associations, almost all in France, plus Neutrinet in Belgium and SNN in Switzerland. Seven associations…
Alternative to big commercial internet providers such as Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues
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HI France is the French network of Hostelling International youth hostels: about 80 hostels with some 5,000 beds in cities, by the sea and in the mountains, with beds in shared rooms from about…
Alternative to hotel chains and holiday rentals for a cheap night
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MesAidesVélo is a free French website that lists the public subsidies for buying a bike: after entering where one lives, it shows which aids from the town, the intercommunality, the department and…
Alternative to searching every town hall and regional website for bike purchase subsidies
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momox is a Berlin company that buys used books, CDs, DVDs, games and clothes from private people and resells them online, in Germany through its shop medimops and in France through momox shop. Buying…
Alternative to buying new books, CDs, DVDs and video games
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nebenan.de is a German neighbourhood network where only verified residents of the same area see each other’s posts: they lend tools, give things away, ask for help, recommend tradespeople and…
Alternative to Facebook groups and classified ad sites for local exchanges
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Spareka is a French website that helps people repair their own household appliances: free fault diagnosis, more than 900 free tutorials, video help from a professional technician and spare parts for…
Alternative to throwing away a broken appliance or paying for a call-out
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Visorando is a French hiking website and app listing tens of thousands of walking routes in France, its overseas territories and abroad, each with a map, duration, elevation and step-by-step…
Alternative to paid hiking guidebooks and American apps such as AllTrails
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Wimoov is a French non-profit network of mobility centres for people who struggle to get around, mostly people in social and professional integration: a personal mobility assessment, advice and…
Alternative to losing a job or training for lack of transport
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Yuka is a free French app that scans the barcode of a food or cosmetic product and gives it a score out of 100, with healthier products suggested in its place. It takes no advertising and no money…
Alternative to trusting the marketing on food and cosmetics packaging
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Ethical Superstore is a British online shop that sells only products with at least one ethical credential, such as fair trade, organic or eco-friendly, from food and cleaning products to clothes…
Alternative to Amazon for gifts, food and household goods
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Jean Bouteille is a French system of reusable deposit glass bottles for liquids sold loose in shops, such as oil, vinegar, wine, beer and detergents: customers fill the bottle from a dispenser and…
Alternative to single-use bottles of oil, vinegar, wine and detergent
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Olvid is a French end-to-end encrypted messenger that needs no personal data at all, no phone number, e-mail or name, and never asks for the address book; contacts are added directly, person to…
Alternative to WhatsApp and messengers that upload your address book
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Worn Wear is Patagonia’s programme for used and repaired clothing: the outdoor brand buys back its own garments, resells them second-hand and repairs them under its Ironclad Guarantee, so that a…
Alternative to buying new outdoor clothing and gear
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Qwant is a French search engine that says it keeps no search history and shows ads without profiling users, and that is building a European search index with Ecosia; Qwant Junior is a version for…
Alternative to Google Search and its tracking of what you search
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Selency is a French online marketplace for second-hand and vintage furniture and decoration, where antique dealers and private sellers list items that its team checks by hand before they go online.
Alternative to buying new furniture and decoration from chain stores
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Threema is a Swiss end-to-end encrypted messenger that can be used without a phone number or e-mail address, for a one-time price, with open-source apps and servers in Switzerland.
Alternative to WhatsApp and messengers that require a phone number
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Tierheimhelden is a German website that brings together animals from shelters looking for a home, so that people who want a dog, cat or small animal can search many shelters at once instead of…
Alternative to buying a pet from classified ads or a breeder
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Vilac is a French wooden-toy maker in Moirans-en-Montagne, in the Jura, that has turned, sanded, lacquered and decorated toys in its own workshop since 1911, using beech, hornbeam, alder and box from…
Alternative to plastic toys from global toy groups
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Viva con Agua is a Hamburg charity for drinking water and sanitation that also has its own mineral water brand, sold in German supermarkets, whose licence fees and profits fund its projects.
Alternative to mineral water brands owned by food multinationals
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Waterwise is a British not-for-profit organisation that gives free advice on using less water at home, with figures for each use, a water calculator and guides, and campaigns for water efficiency…
Alternative to water-saving gadgets sold with marketing claims
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Yarrah is a Dutch brand of organic dog and cat food, made with certified organic ingredients, including vegetarian and vegan food for dogs.
Alternative to industrial pet food from multinationals such as Mars and Nestlé Purina
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Couchsurfing is a website and app that connects travellers with locals who put them up for free, on a sofa, in a spare room or on a mattress. Hosts may not charge for the stay, and they decide whom…
Alternative to hotels and holiday rentals such as Airbnb
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“Énergie moins chère ensemble” is the group purchase of electricity and gas run by UFC-Que Choisir, France’s largest consumer association, through its subsidiary Que Choisir Ensemble. Households…
Alternative to negotiating alone with energy suppliers, or staying on an old, expensive contract
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Geev is an app and website for giving things away between neighbours: furniture, clothes, toys, appliances and food that would otherwise be thrown away. Givers post an ad with a photo, and the…
Alternative to throwing away furniture, clothes and toys, or buying them new
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The Renault 5 E-Tech is a small electric car built at Douai in northern France since October 2024, with a range of 300 or 410 km depending on the battery. For households that can’t do without a car…
Alternative to petrol and diesel cars, and large electric SUVs imported from China or the United States
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Too Good To Go is a free app that sells the day’s unsold food from bakeries, supermarkets, restaurants and caterers as “surprise bags”, at about a third of their stated value. Customers book and pay…
Alternative to bakeries and shops throwing away the day’s unsold food
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Vinted is a website and app for selling second-hand items between private people: mostly clothes, but also shoes, children’s things, books, homeware and electronics, usually at prices far below new…
Alternative to buying new clothes from fast-fashion chains
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Imprim’Vert is a French environmental label for print shops, created in 1998, which nearly 2,000 production sites hold; it checks how they dispose of hazardous waste, store dangerous liquids, replace…
Alternative to print shops with no environmental commitment
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INCI Beauty is a French app and website that reads the ingredient list (INCI) of a cosmetic from its barcode, colours each ingredient by its level of concern and gives the product a score out of 20.
Alternative to choosing cosmetics on the brand’s own claims, without reading the ingredient list
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Pickawood is a German online shop for made-to-measure furniture: tables, shelves, sideboards, wardrobes and beds configured on the website to the centimetre, in solid wood or in panels, and built by…
Alternative to standard-size flat-pack furniture that doesn’t fit the room
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Startpage is a Dutch search engine that sends your query to Google and shows Google’s results without passing on your IP address or other identifying data, with an “Anonymous View” proxy to open…
Alternative to searching Google directly and being tracked by it
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Back Market is a French online marketplace for refurbished electronics: smartphones, laptops, tablets, game consoles and household appliances, restored and sold by professional refurbishers rather…
Alternative to buying a new smartphone, laptop or tablet
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BlaBlaCar is a French carpooling platform: drivers publish a trip and sell the empty seats in their car to passengers going the same way. Booking and payment go through the website or the app.
Alternative to driving alone, or to expensive train tickets between poorly connected towns
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Donnons.org is a website and app for giving objects away between private people in France: you post an ad for something you no longer want, or pick up for free what someone nearby is giving. Its…
Alternative to taking usable things to the tip
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Workaway is a website that connects travellers with hosts in more than 170 countries: the traveller helps a few hours a day and gets board and lodging in exchange. Hosts are families, farms, hostels…
Alternative to package holidays and paid accommodation when travelling for a long time
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CodeCheck is a German-language app and website that scans the barcode of a cosmetic, food or household product and rates its ingredients, with special ratings from BUND for microplastics and parabens…
Alternative to trusting the front of the pack for cosmetics and food
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PAP, short for De Particulier à Particulier, is a French property listings site and magazine where private landlords and sellers advertise homes directly to tenants and buyers, without an estate…
Alternative to estate agents and their fees for renting or selling a home
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