OurSoftware.EU – A Map of Europe's Software Independence
There's a question that keeps getting louder: who actually owns the software running our daily lives? For most of us, the answer is American Big Tech — Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple. But OurSoftware.EU is making the case that Europe has a strong answer: 169 companies, 17 countries, 30+ categories — and growing fast.
Why Digital Sovereignty Is Urgent Right Now
In January 2026, the European Parliament voted to build a "Eurostack" — a homegrown European stack covering chips, cloud, software and AI. The reason? More than 80% of European digital infrastructure runs on non-EU software. That creates real, concrete risks:
- The CLOUD Act: US authorities can compel access to data held on American servers — even when those servers are physically in Europe.
- Economic drain: Billions in license fees leave the European economy every year, heading straight to Silicon Valley.
- Geopolitical vulnerability: In a trade conflict or political standoff, services can be restricted or switched off overnight.
- GDPR risk: Data flowing through US cloud services is harder to protect, even with strict European rules in place.
Who's Leading? The Map of European Software
OurSoftware.EU features an interactive map showing all 167 companies spread across 17 countries. The standout fact: the Netherlands is the clear leader with 48 companies — more than Germany and France combined.
Top 8 countries on OurSoftware.EU
Source: OurSoftware.EU, March 2026
Fun Facts You Probably Didn't Know
The Netherlands has more software companies on the list than Germany and France combined.
Mastodon (Germany) has 12 million accounts — an open-source alternative to X/Twitter built on decentralised principles.
Proton was founded by CERN scientists and now has over 100 million users worldwide.
Ecosia is building a fully European search index — while planting trees with ad revenue on the side.
The French and German governments both use Element (Matrix protocol) for internal communications.
Mistral AI (Paris) released an open-source model competing with GPT-4 — and it's free to use.
Inspiring European Software Companies
Nextcloud
Europe's answer to Google Drive and Dropbox. Open-source, self-hostable, and used by governments and enterprises across the continent.
Proton
End-to-end encrypted email, calendar, drive and VPN. Founded by CERN scientists. 100M+ users. The privacy-first Google alternative.
DeepL
DeepL out of Cologne beat Google Translate on quality years ago. Its AI translation engine produces results that are often indistinguishable from human work.
Mastodon
Decentralised social media on the open ActivityPub protocol. 12 million accounts, no ads, no algorithm. A real alternative to X.
Ecosia
The tree-planting search engine is now building its own European search index, ending reliance on US engines for results.
Mistral AI
Paris-based AI startup releasing open-source language models that compete with GPT-4. Europe's answer to OpenAI.
Odoo
Fully open-source ERP from Belgium. Accounting, e-commerce, HR, project management — all in one platform. Alternative to SAP and Salesforce.
Vivaldi
Privacy-first browser by the co-founder of Opera. Used by 2M+ people monthly. Built-in ad blocker, tracker blocker, and extraordinary tab management.
Explore all 169 European software alternatives
From AI to cybersecurity, from accounting to social media.
Visit OurSoftware.EUOok beschikbaar in het Nederlands: OurSoftware.EU – Europese software voor een digitaal onafhankelijk Europa
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