Technology Catalog
Each technology is evaluated on two axes:
- Autonomy Level (A0–A3): operational independence from cloud and internet.
- Transparency Level (T0–T2): architectural openness and auditability.
Cards also include a Philosophical Assessment — Pause, Exit, Recoverability, Visibility — based on the whose.world criteria.
The catalog includes both autonomous alternatives and the mainstream services they replace. The contrast makes the trade-offs visible.
See Assessment Scale for detailed definitions.
150 technologies evaluated.
Network
DNS
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| AdGuard Home | A3 | T2 | Network-wide software for blocking ads, trackers, and malware. |
| Pi-hole | A3 | T2 | Network-wide ad blocker and DNS sinkhole. |
Proxy
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Caddy | A3 | T2 | Fast, extensible, cross-platform web server with automatic HTTPS. |
| Nginx Proxy Manager | A3 | T2 | GUI-based reverse proxy built on Nginx. |
| Traefik | A3 | T2 | Modern reverse proxy and load balancer designed for microservices and container environments. |
VPN
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Headscale | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale coordination server. |
| OpenVPN | A3 | T2 | Battle-tested open-source VPN protocol and implementation. |
| WireGuard | A3 | T2 | Extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state‑of‑the‑art cryptography. |
| Tailscale | A2 | T1 | Mesh VPN built on WireGuard. |
Storage
Backup
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Kopia | A3 | T2 | Fast and secure open-source backup/restore tool with snapshots, deduplication, compression, and client-side encryption. |
| Restic | A3 | T2 | Fast, secure, and efficient backup program. |
Cache
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Redis | A2 | T1 | In-memory data structure store. |
Cloud
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| MinIO | A3 | T2 | High-performance, S3-compatible object storage. |
Database
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| MariaDB | A3 | T2 | Community-developed fork of MySQL created by MySQL’s original author (Monty Widenius) after Oracle’s acquisition. |
| MySQL | A3 | T2 | The world’s most widely deployed open-source relational database. |
| PostgreSQL | A3 | T2 | The world’s most advanced open-source relational database. |
| SQLite | A3 | T1 | The most widely deployed database engine in the world — embedded in every smartphone, browser, and operating system. |
Sync
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Syncthing | A3 | T2 | Peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool that keeps folders in sync across multiple devices — without a central server, wi… |
| Google Drive | A0 | T0 | Cloud file storage and synchronisation service by Google. |
Compute
Containers
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Docker | A3 | T2 | Platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in lightweight containers. |
| Dockge | A3 | T2 | Simple, reactive Docker Compose manager with a web UI. |
| Podman | A3 | T2 | Daemonless, rootless container engine compatible with Docker CLI. |
| Portainer | A3 | T2 | Web-based GUI for managing Docker, Kubernetes, and Swarm environments. |
| Watchtower | A3 | T2 | Automated Docker container updater. |
Inference
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| AUTOMATIC1111 | A3 | T2 | Web UI for Stable Diffusion image generation. |
| ComfyUI | A3 | T2 | Node-based web interface for Stable Diffusion and other image generation models. |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama | A3 | T1 | Dense reasoning models distilled from DeepSeek-R1 onto the Llama-3 series (Llama-3.1-8B, Llama-3.3-70B). |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen | A3 | T2 | Dense reasoning models distilled from DeepSeek-R1 onto the Qwen-2.5 series (1.5B, 7B, 14B, 32B). |
| DeepSeek-R1 | A3 | T2 | Full-size open-weight reasoning model from DeepSeek — 671B parameters (Mixture-of-Experts). |
| Gemma 4 | A3 | T2 | Google DeepMind’s fourth-generation open-weight family, released April 2, 2026 — four sizes (2B, 4B, 26B MoE, 31B dense)… |
| Gemma | A3 | T1 | Google DeepMind’s open-weight model family, built on the same research as Gemini. |
| gpt-oss | A3 | T2 | OpenAI’s open-weight models — gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, released August 2025 under Apache 2.0, the company’s first o… |
| GPT4All | A3 | T2 | Desktop application for running local LLMs by Nomic AI. |
| Jan | A3 | T2 | Open-source desktop AI assistant. |
| llama.cpp | A3 | T2 | C/C++ inference engine for large language models. |
| Llama | A3 | T1 | Meta’s open-weight model family — Llama 3.1 (8B/70B/405B), 3.2 (small on-device + multimodal), 3.3 (70B), and Llama 4 (S… |
| LM Studio | A3 | T1 | Desktop application for running local LLMs. |
| LocalAI | A3 | T2 | Drop-in replacement for the OpenAI API. |
| MiroThinker | A3 | T2 | Open-weight reasoning model from MiroMind (30B and 235B parameter variants). |
| Mistral Medium | A3 | T1 | Mistral’s Modified-MIT tier — Mistral Medium 3.5 (128B dense, 256K context, multimodal, released April 2026) and Devstra… |
| Mistral | A3 | T2 | Open-weight model family from Mistral AI (Paris) under the Apache-2.0 license — Mistral 7B, Mixtral 8x7B/8x22B, Mistral … |
| Ollama | A3 | T2 | Local large language model runtime. |
| Open WebUI | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted web interface for local LLMs. |
| Phi | A3 | T2 | Microsoft Research’s small-but-capable open-weight family — Phi-4 (14B) and its variants (Phi-4-mini, Phi-4-multimodal, … |
| Piper | A3 | T2 | Fast local text-to-speech engine. |
| Qwen3 | A3 | T2 | Open-weight model family from Alibaba’s Qwen team — dense models from 0.6B to 32B plus Mixture-of-Experts models (30B-A3… |
| vLLM | A3 | T2 | Production-grade GPU inference engine for large language models. |
| Whisper.cpp | A3 | T2 | C/C++ port of OpenAI’s Whisper speech-to-text model. |
| ChatGPT | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based AI assistant by OpenAI. |
| Claude API | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based AI API by Anthropic. |
| Google Gemini | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based AI by Google. |
| Midjourney | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based AI image generation. |
| Qwen-Max | A0 | T0 | Alibaba’s top-tier proprietary model, available only through the Alibaba Cloud Model Studio / DashScope API — never rele… |
Operating System
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| CalyxOS | A3 | T2 | Privacy-focused Android OS with microG for basic Google service compatibility. |
| Debian | A3 | T2 | The universal operating system. |
| GrapheneOS | A3 | T2 | Hardened Android-based mobile OS focused on privacy and security. |
| LineageOS | A3 | T2 | The longest-running custom Android distribution. |
| Ubuntu Server | A3 | T2 | The most widely deployed Linux server distribution. |
Orchestration
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| K3s | A3 | T2 | Lightweight certified Kubernetes distribution built for edge, IoT, and resource‑constrained environments. |
Virtualization
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Proxmox VE | A3 | T2 | Open-source server virtualization platform. |
Security
2FA
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Aegis Authenticator | A3 | T2 | Open-source 2FA authenticator for Android. |
| ente Auth | A3 | T2 | Cross-platform 2FA authenticator with end-to-end encrypted cloud backup. |
General
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| CrowdSec | A2 | T2 | Open-source intrusion detection and prevention system with crowdsourced threat intelligence. |
Password Manager
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Bitwarden | A3 | T2 | Open-source password manager with end-to-end encryption. |
| KeePass | A3 | T2 | Free, open source password manager that stores credentials in a locally encrypted database file (.kdbx). |
| Vaultwarden | A3 | T2 | Lightweight, self-hosted implementation of the Bitwarden password manager API. |
| 1Password | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based password manager with polished clients for all platforms. |
Secrets
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Vault | A3 | T1 | Secure, encrypted storage for secrets, API keys, certificates, and other sensitive data. |
Observability
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Loki | A3 | T2 | Log aggregation system by Grafana Labs. |
Dashboards
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Grafana | A3 | T2 | Open-source observability and data visualisation platform. |
Metrics
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Prometheus | A3 | T2 | Open‑source monitoring system that collects metrics from targets, stores them locally, and enables powerful querying, al… |
Monitoring
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Netdata | A3 | T2 | Real-time performance monitoring with zero configuration. |
| Uptime Kuma | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted monitoring tool that tracks the availability of websites, services, and network endpoints. |
| Zabbix | A3 | T2 | Enterprise-grade open-source monitoring platform. |
Communication
Email
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| FairEmail | A3 | T2 | Full-featured Android email client. |
| K-9 Mail / Thunderbird | A3 | T2 | Open-source Android email client, now part of the Thunderbird project (Mozilla). |
| Mailcow | A3 | T2 | Open-source, Docker-based email server suite. |
| Stalwart | A3 | T2 | All-in-one mail and collaboration server written in Rust. |
| Gmail | A0 | T0 | Google’s cloud email service. |
| Proton Mail | A0 | T1 | Encrypted email service with zero-knowledge architecture. |
| Tuta (Tutanota) | A0 | T2 | End-to-end encrypted email and calendar. |
General
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Ntfy | A3 | T2 | Simple HTTP-based pub-sub notification service. |
Messaging
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Matrix / Element | A3 | T2 | Matrix is an open standard for decentralized, end-to-end encrypted communication. |
| SimpleX Chat | A3 | T2 | Decentralized messenger with no user identifiers — no phone number, no username, no account. |
| Signal | A2 | T2 | End-to-end encrypted messenger with voice and video calls. |
| Telegram | A1 | T0 | Cloud-based messaging platform. |
| Briar | A0 | T2 | Peer-to-peer encrypted messenger that works over Tor, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. |
| Slack | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based team messaging platform. |
Mobile
App Store
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Aurora Store | A3 | T2 | Open-source client for Google Play Store. |
| F-Droid | A3 | T2 | Catalogue of free and open-source Android applications. |
| Neo Store | A3 | T2 | Modern F-Droid client with Material Design 3 UI. |
Browser
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Brave | A3 | T1 | Chromium-based browser with built-in ad and tracker blocking. |
| Firefox | A3 | T2 | Open-source web browser by Mozilla. |
| Mull | A3 | T2 | Firefox fork with telemetry removed and privacy hardened. |
Camera
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Open Camera | A3 | T2 | Open-source camera app for Android. |
Keyboard
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| HeliBoard | A3 | T2 | Open-source keyboard for Android. |
| OpenBoard | A3 | T2 | Open-source Android keyboard based on AOSP keyboard. |
Navigation
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Organic Maps | A3 | T2 | Fast, lightweight offline maps. |
| OsmAnd | A3 | T2 | Offline maps and navigation based on OpenStreetMap. |
Analytics
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Plausible Analytics | A3 | T2 | Lightweight, privacy-friendly web analytics. |
| Umami | A3 | T2 | Simple, fast, privacy-focused web analytics. |
| Google Analytics | A0 | T0 | Cloud-only web analytics platform by Google. |
Applications
Automation
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Home Assistant | A3 | T2 | Open-source home automation platform that puts local control and privacy first. |
| n8n | A3 | T1 | Source-available workflow automation platform. |
| Node-RED | A3 | T2 | Flow-based visual automation tool built on Node.js. |
| Zapier | A0 | T0 | Cloud-based workflow automation platform. |
Bookmarks
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Linkding | A3 | T2 | Minimal self-hosted bookmark manager. |
CI/CD
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Gitea Actions | A3 | T2 | Built-in CI/CD for Gitea and Forgejo. |
| Jenkins | A3 | T2 | The most widely deployed open-source CI/CD server. |
| Woodpecker CI | A3 | T2 | Community fork of Drone CI after Harness acquired it and moved it toward a commercial model. |
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Homepage | A3 | T2 | Highly customizable, self-hosted application dashboard with Docker auto-discovery and over 100 service integrations. |
| Nextcloud | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted cloud platform providing file sync, calendar, contacts, email, office documents, video calls, and more — all… |
Documents
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Paperless-ngx | A3 | T2 | Document management system that transforms your physical and digital documents into a searchable, organized archive. |
| The Autonomous Stack (TAS) | A2 | T2 | An open-source decision framework for evaluating and building infrastructure you control. |
| Notion | A0 | T0 | All‑in‑one workspace for notes, documents, databases, wikis, and project management. |
Documents & Wiki
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| BookStack | A3 | T2 | Open-source, self-hosted wiki platform built with PHP and Laravel. |
| Docmost | A3 | T2 | Open-source, self-hosted documentation and wiki platform. |
| Confluence | A0 | T0 | Proprietary wiki and collaboration platform by Atlassian. |
Downloads
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| qBittorrent | A3 | T2 | Open-source BitTorrent client with a web UI. |
Files
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| File Browser | A3 | T2 | Web-based file manager. |
Finance
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Actual Budget | A3 | T2 | Local-first personal finance and budgeting app. |
Household
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Grocy | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted grocery and household management. |
| Mealie | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted recipe manager and meal planner. |
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| AntennaPod | A3 | T2 | Open-source podcast player for Android. |
| Bazarr | A3 | T2 | Automated subtitle manager for Radarr and Sonarr. |
| Jellyfin | A3 | T2 | Free software media server that streams your personal media collection without cloud dependencies. |
| NewPipe | A3 | T2 | Lightweight YouTube frontend for Android. |
| Overseerr | A3 | T2 | Media request and discovery tool. |
| Prowlarr | A3 | T2 | Indexer manager for the *arr stack. |
| Radarr | A3 | T2 | Automated movie collection manager. |
| Sonarr | A3 | T2 | Automated TV series collection manager. |
| Piped | A2 | T2 | Privacy-friendly YouTube frontend. |
| Plex | A1 | T0 | Media server that organises and streams your personal media collection. |
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| FreshRSS | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted RSS/Atom feed aggregator. |
Notes
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Joplin | A3 | T2 | Open-source note-taking app with end-to-end encryption. |
| Logseq | A3 | T2 | Local-first outliner and knowledge graph. |
| Standard Notes | A3 | T2 | End-to-end encrypted notes app. |
| Obsidian | A2 | T0 | Local-first knowledge management app based on plain Markdown files stored on your device. |
Photos
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Ente Photos | A3 | T2 | End-to-end encrypted photo storage and backup. |
| Immich | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted photo and video backup solution with a focus on user experience, automatic organisation, and machine learnin… |
| PhotoPrism | A3 | T2 | AI-powered self-hosted photo management. |
| Simple Gallery | A3 | T2 | Offline photo and video gallery for Android. |
Reading
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Wallabag | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted read-it-later service. |
Remote Access
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Apache Guacamole | A3 | T2 | Clientless remote desktop gateway. |
| RustDesk | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted remote desktop application written in Rust. |
Search
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| SearXNG | A3 | T2 | Privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from 70+ search engines without tracking users. |
Version Control
| Technology | Autonomy | Transparency | Description |
| Forgejo | A3 | T2 | Self-hosted Git service with a focus on lightweight operation, open governance, and built-in CI/CD via Actions. |
| Gitea | A3 | T2 | Lightweight self-hosted Git service. |
The catalog grows. Add a technology → or see CONTRIBUTING.
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