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A practical guide to leaving google workspace.

Google

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Google Workspace – including tools such as Google Meet, Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Calendar, Google Chrome and other proprietary services from Google – is widely used within the Wikimedia Foundation and across the wider Wikimedia movement.

It is not a secret that Google products are used not only for internal coordination, but also as a default way to engage with community members. This creates a strong dependency on a single proprietary ecosystem, and it raises important questions about alignment with our values and long-term strategy and about the privacy protection of volunteers.

How to abandon the Google products individually

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Every staff individual can already use something else Open/Libre if they want to reach the community (some teams already avoids proprietary Google products - especially opinionated technical teams when they reach technical volunteers). So this is do-able right now even without any massive migration. If you are already helping in this point, thanks! ❤️

Quick hints to avoid Google proprietary software

❌ Google Form
→ LimeSurvey (lot of features, somehow advanced, available to WMF)
→ CryptPad Forms (easy, no account needed) (https://cryptpad.fr/)
→ Nextcloud Forms
→ Framaforms
❌ Google Docs
→ CryptPad (simple, no account needed)[1]
→ Nextcloud and Collabora (maximum compatibility with old documents)
❌ Google Meet
→ Jitsi Meeting
https://meet.jit.si/ - demo version by the official company
Note: the first moderator needs to do a social login on proprietary social network like GitHub.
→ EduMeet
https://edu.meet.garr.it/ - by Italian consortium
→ BigBlueButton
https://bbb.ch-open.ch/ - by a non-profit association in Switzerland
→ Nextcloud Talk
❌ Google Calendar
→ Nextcloud Calendar (simple and complete)
❌ Google Chrome
Google Chrome is proprietary software.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Google Chrome has been defined a "surveillance software" and with "pervasive and hidden tracking technique" by newspapers.[12][13][14][15]
Google Chrome heavily relies on open source software but the result is a proprietary software.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
For example, Google Chrome cannot be inspected by independent experts ("reverse-engineer") since this invalidates Google Terms of Services.[1]
Google Chrome is bundled (pre-installed) in millions of Google Android phones, together with Google Play Store etc. - and the majority of these phones do not allow to uninstall Google Chrome.[25]
Google Chrome is just one browser web and can be easily replaced with:
→ Mozilla Firefox[26]
Mozilla Firefox can import Google Chrome data, supporting add-ons to remove more advertisings than Google Chrome,[27][28] it supports the "Enhanced Tracking Protection", cross-device bookmark and password syncing (encrypted), and privacy customization. Includes tools for developers, etc.
Mozilla Firefox is listed as the 1st alternative in AlternativeTo.[29]
Mozilla Firefox is curated by the non-profit organization Mozilla Foundation.
Mozilla Firefox (or browsers based on Mozilla Firefox) is often pre-installed in popular software distributions, including Ubuntu desktop because Mozilla Firefox is open source (unlike Google Chrome - in fact, Google Chrome is respectively much more difficult to be installed in these systems, as it's not compatible with the main and official distribution repositories).
Mozilla Firefox is officially supported and tested by MediaWiki developers. See the mw:Compatibility#Browser support matrix.
Mozilla Firefox on desktop, since the last 10 years (up to 2026), is more used than Safari on desktop, and more used than Opera on desktop [30]
→ Chromium
Note that every Google Chrome version is based on Chromium, so, by adopting Chromium you have max compatibility and max speed, without Google peculiarities. The only difference is basically the icon color.
You probably won't want to watch a movie on "Disney Plus" or this kind of platforms during a Wikimedia event! so there's not much point in using Google Chrome (which has embedded support for "Hollywood protections" like DRM etc).
[31]
❌ Google reCAPTCHA
Google reCAPTCHA is a proprietary tool arguably effective in blocking bots but very effective in potential mass surveillance.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]

How to abandon the Google products in your organization

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  1. Organization statement: help your organization to prepare a clear statement about proprietary software and user control. So, that proprietary software cannot be the primary (and/or unique) tool to reach the Wikimedia community.
  2. Organization transparency: It would be useful to share how much the organization is investing for the Google Suite every year. Maybe there is also a chance to save money by offering a better product, and better data protection, etc.
  3. Organization budget: The organization can dedicate a budget to be invested proactively in this area to Free the organization. Often we are really talking about "small" amounts (e.g. 50-200 USD/month for professional support - not millions...) to get help from professional providers of a complete Free/Libre suite like NextCloud+BigBlueButton or similar well-known Free/Libre solutions widely supported by many independent providers around. The next step is to get quotes from these already-existing nice providers, and compare them. Bonus point: get nice training to staff, get migration support, etc.

Current status

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Status in WMF about the Google products

  • 2023: the CTO confirmed the situation. No B plan in action.

External links

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  1. ↑ https://policies.google.com/terms - «reverse engineering our services or underlying technology, such as our machine learning models, to extract trade secrets or other proprietary information, except as allowed by applicable law»
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