On GreyCoder, I test privacy-friendly services and alternative interfaces. I also cover search engines and AIs.
Here are some of my recommendations:
- VPN: Private Internet Access
- Email: Protonmail
- Password Management: Bitwarden
- Private Customizable Search Engine: Kagi
- AI Search Engine Replacement: Perplexity AI
- Private YouTube Browser: FreeTube
- Web Browser: Firefox
- Cloud Provider: pCloud
- Usenet Provider: Newshosting
- Home Media Streamer: Plex
- Usenet Index: NZB.SU
- Phone/SMS Aliases: Cloaked
- Virtual Private Servers: Vultr
Contact
You can contact the editor at “greyone @ greycoder.com”. Note that we do not accept advertising on this site.
About The Website
These are the tools I use to run this website:
- WordPress Host: WPX (WordPress hosting with a Content Delivery Network included)
- WordPress Theme: Astra (fast and versatile)
- Web Analytics: Fathom Analytics (privacy-friendly web statistics)
- Image Sources: Unsplash, Behance, Pexels
- Image Editing: Photoscape X (a straightforward image editor)
- Text Editor: Sublime Text (a nice text editor)
Disclaimer
All articles published on this website are provided solely for educational purposes. Please consult local laws before using any apps or services listed on this site.
Affiliate Statement
According to new FTC blog guidelines (PDF File), bloggers and webmasters must disclose that they are financially compensated for including certain products or services in their blog posts. This page is GreyCoder’s disclosure page.
This website uses affiliate links to many companies listed in our reviews. These are a type of commission program on the web. If you buy a product or service after clicking on these links, I will receive a commission on the resulting sale. However, I only link to services that I’d recommend to a friend 🙂
I was trying to leave a comment on your article: https://greycoder.com/the-best-blocklist-for-torrents/
Fantastic article, thank you. I will be adding 6+ blocklists to my transmission program enabled by your contributions 🙏🏼💻👨🏻💻
But got this in response:
“There has been a critical error on this website.
“Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.”
Sorry I don’t know why you got that error.
Hi…
I been reading you articles for awhile now and love the content. Really like the VPN and security service reviews the most. I wanted to ask you’re opinion on https://safing.io Portmaster. As far as their SPN claims go. Was wondering if you ever looked into them? Thanks
Curious as to why did you go for Plausible for tracking over Fathom Analytics?
https://usefathom.com/ Would love to read your review!
I hadn’t seen Fathom Analytics before — looks promising.
You’re the best!!!
Hi,
What dou you think about Session? http://getsession.org/
I haven’t tested it, but it looks interesting.
Your article on how to pay anonymously online seems inaccurate. I think I was unable to use an anonymous prepaid card on a Pay Pal account. Many places will not allow them. Patreon and Amazon are some examples. Also, in my experience the common anonymous Visa cards you buy in the US at supermarkets and drugstores cannot be used to buy things in located in other countries.
Greetings,
Very informative site and great info ..great work
Superb work, keep it up!
Great website and very inspiring. Thank a lot for sharing. Last year I read online that StartPage is compromising the privacy now, so I switched over to Duckduckgo.
Hi and thanks for the great information. One question: In your opinion which service has the slowest take downs? Thanks
I just wanted to say thanks for assembling and keeping this site current – I refer to it often.
Hello;
Currently using Bitwarden on your advice.
How do I know if passwords are “strong enough”
I see websites that will tell you how many bits of security you have or how long a brute force attack will take.
Naturally I’m reluctant to put my password into any website.
Are you able to recommend any site or method?
Thanks in advance.
A password is strong enough if it has 12 characters mores and contains special characters. This kind of password would take about 200 years to crack.
Dear Grey Coder
Both Safari and Firefox warn me (not to proceed) when I click on the links for Blackphone in your article.
SLR 2019-07-01
Looks like that link is out of date, here is the current one: https://www.silentcircle.com/products-and-solutions/blackphone2/
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We are reinventing the to-do list by making it simple, flexible, and collaborative. Instantly create lists, share notes, and video chat, all in real-time. 👨💻👨💻👨💻
Open to any feedback and happy to get you and your team upgraded to Taskade PRO for free! Hope you will give us a try.
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Cheers 🥂
John from Taskade / Co-founder & CEO
First of all, thank you very much for this wonderful blog.
Like the most, I’ve recently become more aware of the importance of internet privacy as many “information companies” are profiting from people’s personal information and misleading or misinforming both private and public sectors on what people need, want, and dislike, based on a lot of BS metadata analysis.
To me this poses a lot of risks to the people in general as they could end up being collateral damages through illogical business practices, needless and unnecessary consumer product designs, and heartless political campaigns without putting people first instead of “metadata analysis.”
I just would like to request an article from you that could help me out and hopefully many others as well.
It would be great if you could write a comprehensive article on how exactly the popular electronic devices could leak our privacy data through the proprietary OSs and 3rd party applications in terms of hardware and software functionalities.
Many articles I’ve encountered so far just use many words that scare people but don’t quite get into how we can be compromised from hardware and software perspectives.
Again, thank you very much for you blog. I’ve learned a lot and would love to learn more.
Kindly consider reviewing Windscribe VPN’s paid service. I have been using their free service and it’s very good. However, I am curious about their paid service as I am looking for a permanent solution and for servers in India which they do not provide in the free version.
I just started using Express VPN. Their Mumbai server didn’t work but the one in Chennai works fine. This is my first time using a paid VPN so curious to see how it goes.
A comment online spoke against Windscribe saying that they run a cryptocurrency miner in the background (Monero) if you are using their service. Is there some way we can verify this claim? I would be grateful.
Also, what is your opinion on VPN companies that offer lifelong/bulk service? Is it a good idea to go for such a plan or should we stick to more realistic price points like the one Express VPN offers?
Lastly, I am looking for a VPN service that has a dedicated bunch of servers in India. Most people seem to want to tunnel into other countries so that they can watch Netflix and iPlayer but I am primarly interested in Indian content and having an Indian IP. From your experience of using VPNs, which company offers the highest number of reliable servers in India?
Thanks, your site has been really helpful to me.
Hi:
Do you have updated addon recommendations for Firefox 57+ as it changing to run on only web extensions?
Apps like Self-Destructing Cookies will not longer be available “This add-on is no longer maintained. It is incompatible with Firefox 55+ and this will never change. Also, it will not be rewritten as a WebExtension.”
Thanks!
There’s a substitute for “Self-Destructing Cookies” called “Cookies Autodelete” (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-autodelete/ )which seems to be working quite well in the latest Firefox.
Scanned days-long to find good router upgrade. 20% VPN for $$ transactions, the rest I don’t care if the “neighborhood watches” my online enjoyments. My RV Lifestyle works OK with old Linksys WRT54-GL repeater, but getting nervous about neighbors’ ability to snoop my signal. What do you suggest new router (one website sez “Get two” for toggle-between VPN or regular WiFi) dual band, medium speed, MIMO OK but not MU demands, really need to run coax from router to outdoors antenna – – avoid indoors, cooking my brain.
What router is OK to manage one antenna? All the “beam forming” products I see worries that the router chipset will get annoyed if I terminate most of the RF jacks, just run one cable to outdoors.
yes
Hi,
I use landline for my home phone, eg whenever I need to call a company/institution that requires me to provide my private information (instead of using my cell phone). How secure is VOIP phone service vs. landline phone?
Thank you.
Tony
VOIP services tend to be more secure than landline phones because they are not as commonly used. If you combine them with a VPN, they are even more secure.