privacy tools i actually use every day
i'm sick of "top 50 privacy tools" articles written by people who clearly never used any of them. they copy-paste feature lists, add affiliate links, and call it a review. so here's the opposite: every tool on this list, i opened today. not last month, not "i tested it once." today.
tl;dr: this is not a listicle. every tool on this list is one i opened today: NanoGPT for AI ($6-8/month), Mullvad for VPN ($5/month), DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox with uBlock Origin, ProtonMail, Signal, and Bitwarden. total cost: $11-13/month.
key takeaways:
- NanoGPT replaced both ChatGPT Plus ($20) and Claude Pro ($20) for $6-8/month with 50+ models
- Mullvad is the only VPN i trust: no email to sign up, accepts Monero, independently audited, and court-tested
- the entire privacy stack costs less than a single ChatGPT Plus subscription
my total privacy stack costs $11-13/month. that's less than ChatGPT Plus. and i get more AI models, a VPN that doesn't log, encrypted email, and the satisfaction of knowing no one is training on my data.
the daily stack
short answer: NanoGPT, Mullvad, DuckDuckGo, Firefox, ProtonMail, Signal, Bitwarden, NextDNS, SimpleSwap, and Cake Wallet. total: $11-13/month.
| category | tool | cost | how long |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | NanoGPT | $6-8/month | 4 months |
| VPN | Mullvad | $5/month | 14 months |
| search | DuckDuckGo | free | 3 years |
| browser | Firefox + uBlock | free | 4 years |
| ProtonMail | free | 2 years | |
| messenger | Signal | free | 3 years |
| passwords | Bitwarden | free | 2 years |
| DNS | NextDNS | free | 1 year |
| crypto swap | SimpleSwap | fees only | 1 year |
| crypto wallet | Cake Wallet | free | 1 year |
NanoGPT - my AI tool
short answer: NanoGPT replaced ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro for $6-8/month. the killer feature is model switching: Claude for writing, GPT-4o for code, Gemini for research.
i was paying $20/month for ChatGPT Plus and $20/month for Claude Pro. that's $40/month for two services. NanoGPT replaced both for $6-8/month. same models. lower price. better privacy.
my daily usage pattern:
- morning: 5-10 quick questions on GPT-4o-mini (cheapest model, fast answers)
- work: writing and coding on Claude 3.5 and GPT-4o (better quality)
- evening: creative stuff on Claude 3.5 Sonnet (best writer)
the killer feature is model switching. yesterday i used Claude for writing, GPT-4o for code, and Gemini for research. all on one account. ChatGPT Plus can't do that.
what i don't like: the web UI is basic. looks like it was built in 2015. i use Open WebUI instead, so the native interface doesn't matter. no mobile app either. and support is slow - took 3-5 days when i had a billing question.
cost tracking over 4 months:
| month | prompts | cost |
|---|---|---|
| april | ~150 | $6.80 |
| may | ~200 | $8.20 |
| june | ~180 | $7.50 |
| july (so far) | ~100 | $5.40 |
compared to $20/month fixed for ChatGPT Plus. savings: about $12-15/month. $144-180/year.
👉 try NanoGPT - 5% off with my link
Mullvad - my VPN
Mullvad is the gold standard. no other VPN comes close for privacy.
short answer: Mullvad is the gold standard: no email signup, accepts Monero, open source, audited, and $5/month flat with no traps.
why:
- no email to sign up. you get a random account number.
- accepts Monero. anonymous payment.
- open source apps. independently audited.
- Swedish jurisdiction. strong privacy laws.
- $5/month flat. no "70% off for 3 years" traps.
i keep Mullvad on when i'm on public WiFi, doing crypto transactions, or using AI services. at home for general browsing, i turn it off - speed matters less for privacy on my own network.
speed hit: 10-20% reduction. noticeable if you're gaming, invisible for browsing and streaming. the kill switch works reliably. no DNS leaks in 14 months of use.
what i tried before: ProtonVPN (good but more expensive, needs email), NordVPN (marketing-heavy, privacy claims questionable), ExpressVPN (same as Nord). Mullvad is the only one that doesn't make me feel like i'm being sold to.
DuckDuckGo - my search engine
3 years without Google Search. here's what changed:
short answer: 3 years without Google. good enough for 90% of searches. the bangs (!g, !w, !yt) are incredible. local results are weaker.
good:
- no search tracking. no profile building. no filter bubble.
- bangs are incredible.
!gfor Google when DDG fails,!wfor Wikipedia,!ytfor YouTube,!afor Amazon. 14,000+ shortcuts. - results are good enough for 90% of what i search.
- instant answers (like Google's knowledge panels) work well.
bad:
- local results are weaker. restaurants, businesses, maps - Google is better.
- complex multi-part queries sometimes fail.
- image search needs work.
for that 10% where DDG fails, i have Brave Search bookmarked. it uses its own index (not Bing like DDG) and is improving fast. see my DuckDuckGo vs Brave Search comparison.
Firefox + uBlock Origin - my browser
Chrome is made by Google. their business model is tracking you. using Chrome for privacy is like hiring a fox to guard your henhouse.
Firefox is open source, made by a non-profit. what i use daily:
short answer: Chrome is made by a tracking company. Firefox is open source and non-profit. add uBlock Origin and you block 90%+ of ads and trackers.
- Enhanced Tracking Protection (blocks trackers by default)
- containers (isolates sites from each other - work, personal, shopping)
- uBlock Origin (blocks 90%+ of ads and trackers, including YouTube ads)
- about:config for deep privacy tweaks
downsides: some sites work better in Chrome (maybe 2%). Firefox on mobile is slower than Chrome. i keep Chrome installed for those rare cases. everything else goes through Firefox.
ProtonMail - my email
Gmail reads your email. they claim they stopped scanning for ads in 2017, but they still scan for other purposes. your emails sit on US servers subject to government subpoenas.
ProtonMail is end-to-end encrypted, based in Switzerland. free tier: 1GB storage, one email address, E2E encryption between Proton users, no ads.
short answer: end-to-end encrypted, based in Switzerland. free tier is enough for personal use. i use a separate alias for AI tools.
i use a ProtonMail alias specifically for AI tools. this breaks the link between my AI usage and my real identity. takes 30 seconds to set up.
paid tier ($4/month) adds more storage and custom domains. i haven't needed it yet. the free tier is enough for personal use.
alternatives: Tutanota (similar, German jurisdiction), mailbox.org (Germany, more features). ProtonMail has the best UX in my experience.
Signal - my messenger
WhatsApp uses the same Signal protocol but is owned by Meta. Meta gets your metadata - who you talk to, when, how often. Signal doesn't.
i've used Signal for 3 years. open source, E2E encrypted, minimal metadata, disappearing messages. voice calls are better quality than WhatsApp in my experience. group video calls work well.
the hardest part: convincing people to switch. i got my 5 most-contacted people on Signal. everyone else gets WhatsApp. it's not ideal, but it's better than nothing.
short answer: 3 years of use. open source, E2E encrypted, minimal metadata. the hardest part is convincing people to switch.
Bitwarden - my passwords
reusing passwords is the #1 security risk. Bitwarden generates and stores unique passwords for every site.
open source, works on every platform (browser, mobile, desktop), free tier is generous. i use it for auto-fills on every site and store 2FA codes (paid feature, $10/year, worth it).
UI isn't as polished as 1Password. auto-fill occasionally misses fields. but it's free, open source, and cross-platform. that beats everything else.
SimpleSwap + Cake Wallet - my crypto
when i need to move money privately:
- buy Bitcoin (from wherever)
- swap BTC → XMR on SimpleSwap (no KYC, no account)
- store XMR in Cake Wallet
- spend or swap as needed
SimpleSwap: 900+ coins, 5-30 minute swaps, 1-2% fees, no account needed. i've done 30+ swaps with zero failures.
Cake Wallet: clean Monero wallet with built-in exchange. multi-coin support (XMR, BTC, LTC). user-friendly.
the point: break the chain. Bitcoin is traceable. Monero isn't. if you're paying for anything where you don't want spending tracked, swap to XMR first.
👉 swap on SimpleSwap - no KYC
NextDNS - my DNS
uBlock Origin blocks trackers in the browser. NextDNS blocks them on the entire network - every app, every device.
configured on my router (all home devices) and phone (mobile data). blocks 30-40% of tracking requests network-wide. free tier: 300K queries/month. detailed analytics showing what's being blocked.
occasionally breaks an app or website. easy to whitelist. worth the trade-off.
what i tried and dropped
| tool | why i tried it | why i dropped it |
|---|---|---|
| Brave Browser | built-in privacy | too much crypto promotion, Chromium-based |
| ProtonVPN | from ProtonMail | Mullvad is better for privacy |
| Tutanota | ProtonMail alternative | ProtonMail has better UX |
| Joplin | note-taking | Obsidian is better |
| Tor Browser | maximum privacy | too slow for daily use |
not everything sticks. the important thing is i tested them and made a decision based on experience, not marketing.
the honest truth
this setup isn't perfect. DuckDuckGo isn't as good as Google for complex queries. Firefox is slower on mobile. convincing friends to use Signal is exhausting. NanoGPT's UI is ugly.
but here's the thing: you don't need perfect privacy. you need better privacy. every tool you switch is one less company collecting your data. you don't have to go off-grid. you just have to stop giving everything away for free.
$11-13/month. that's what it costs to not be the product. less than a single ChatGPT Plus subscription. try switching one tool this week. then another next week. in a month, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
short answer: this setup is not perfect, but you do not need perfect privacy. you need better privacy. every tool you switch is one less company collecting your data.
last updated: july 2026
disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. if you use them, i earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. this helps keep the site running. i only recommend tools i actually use and pay for with my own money.