EuroStack

EuroStack: European Privacy-First Alternative to Google Workspace & Microsoft 365

Europe's alternative to Big Tech: collaboration and productivity apps with data protection by design. Champions like Fileverse are leading this shift.

Fileverse Intern

23 Jul 2025 — 4 min read

Why Businesses Are Replacing Big Tech With Fileverse's ddocs.new & dsheets.new

TL;DR: Fileverse is building a European alternative to Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 & Notion, but with privacy by design, no vendor lock-in, and data portability. Try ddocs.new and dsheets.new instantly with no signup required.

Feature	Fileverse	Google / Microsoft / Notion
Privacy	✅ End-to-end encryption on your device	❌ You trust them to encrypt on their server
Data ownership	✅ You own it completely	❌ They own it
Vendor lock-in	✅ Export anytime. Bring your own account.	❌ Extremely difficult / Proprietary formats
Compliance	✅ GDPR-optimised design for data portability	⚠️ Limited or Basic
Censorship resistance	✅ Impossible to censor	❌ Can delete accounts

The Digital Sovereignty Imperative

Over 4 billion people depend on Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Notion for their digital lives. Their services are ubiquitous, convenient, and deeply entrenched. Yet, this convenience comes at a profound cost: the erosion of digital sovereignty, the commodification of personal data, and the stifling of innovation within a monopolistic framework.

It is not merely desirable, but existentially necessary for Europe to cultivate its own technological ecosystem – a "EuroStack" – built on fundamentally different principles. And emerging champions like Fileverse, with its privacy- "ddocs.new" and "dsheets.new," embody the very essence of this sovereign future.

The Trillion Dollar Problem with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Notion

Every day, millions of businesses hand over their most sensitive data to Google and Microsoft. Financial reports, strategic plans, customer lists, legal documents… all stored on servers you don't control, governed by terms you can't negotiate, located in jurisdictions out of reach and subject to surveillance laws you can't escape.

The hidden costs are quite staggering:

The Sovereignty Deficit: Reliance on foreign tech stacks means critical European infrastructure, sensitive citizen data, and even democratic processes (e.g., election integrity, public discourse platforms) are subject to extraterritorial laws and opaque corporate policies. The Schrems II ruling starkly highlighted the legal incompatibility of US surveillance practices with EU fundamental rights. EuroStack is a necessary shield for European values and autonomy.w
Unavailable services: Regular outages are common in cloud-based apps. Last summer (2024) tens of billions of dollars were wiped out from the global economy because Microsoft released a broken update to millions of devices running their software.
Monopolies’ Innovation Tax: When a handful of giants control the foundational layers (productivity suites, advertising, cloud, OS), they set the rules. They dictate APIs, pricing, and acceptable business models (primarily surveillance-based advertising). This creates an environment where true European innovation is either absorbed, crushed, or forced into niches that serve the platform's interests, not Europe's societal needs. EuroStack must foster an open, interoperable ecosystem where European innovators can thrive without gatekeepers.
Vendor lock-in: Moving 10+ years of Google Docs/Sheets costs enterprises $500K+ on average
Compliance nightmares: GDPR fines totaled €1.2 billion in 2024. Google has already received $4.1bn in anti-competition fines
Zero ownership: Google and Microsoft can and have deleted or kicked out people from their accounts based on arbitrary decisions that can sometimes be reverted through a painstaking appeal process

Meet Fileverse: The Privacy-First Alternative That Actually Works

Fileverse isn't just another "Google Workspace alternative" it's a completely new take on how collaborative tools and data ownership should work in 2025.

ddocs.new: Docs That Only You Control

Instant access: No signup, no downloads – just visit ddocs.new and start writing
End-to-end encryption: Your documents are encrypted before they leave your device
Real-time collaboration: Multiple users can edit simultaneously, just like Google Docs
Zero data collection: Fileverse literally cannot read your content or train AI models on it
Built on open standards: Markdown, LaTeX, PDF, WYSIWYG
Darkmode: No more burning your eyes during late night writing
Works offline: Edit without internet, sync when you're back online
AI with privacy: ddocs.new gives you the option (opt-in) to have fully privacy-preserving LLM assistance in your writing by enabling Ollama and your local AI model (eg Mistral) to connect to the app

dsheets.new: Excel & Google Sheets Without the Surveillance

Full spreadsheet power: Formulas, charts, pivot tables – everything you expect
Lightning fast: Built on modern web technology, faster than Google Sheets
Team collaboration: Share and edit with colleagues in real-time
Your data stays yours: No corporate spying on your financial models
Built on open standards: Import/export .xlsx, .csv, .json
Works offline: Edit without internet, sync when you're back online

How Fileverse Actually Works

🔐 Client-Side Encryption

Documents encrypted on your device (i.e., end-to-end encryption)
Collaboration happens through cryptographic protocols like UCANs
Zero plaintext content data ever touches Fileverse servers

🌐 Secured Storage

Content is securely stored locally on users' devices without any hassle or download
For extra storage security and cross-device syncing users can create an account to also store their data securely on decentralized networks (IPFS & Ethereum) instead of centralized servers
No single point of failure or control
Automatic redundancy and availability
Real-time collaboration leverages WebRTC

⚡ Modern Web Architecture