38 alternatives
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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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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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 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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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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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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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 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 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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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“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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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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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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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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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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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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“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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Conny is a Berlin legal-tech company that checks for free whether a rent is above the German rent cap (Mietpreisbremse) and, if so, claims the reduction and the overpaid rent from the landlord as a…
Alternative to paying more rent than the Mietpreisbremse allows
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Energy and heating
Water and sanitation
Household and personal care
Travel and tourism
Waste, recycling and zero waste
Pets and pet food
Digital services, software and devices
Telecoms: mobile, internet and email
Electronics and home appliances
Law, consumer protection and advice
Housing, building and renovation
Banking, insurance and pensions
Education and training
Renting and tenants’ rights
Health, care and wellbeing
Ageing, end of life and funerals
Clothing and mending
Work and cooperative economy
Food and community farming
Shopping: online, marketplaces and local shops
Donations, volunteering and non-profits
Children, family and toys
Office, paper and printing
Garden, seeds and biodiversity
Repair and do it yourself
Mobility, cars and transport
