What counts as European here

This site draws one line and states it openly, because every alternatives list on the internet is quietly arguing about where that line goes.

What can be listed

Anything you buy or use. This is not a technology directory. Software and cloud platforms are here because that is where the question gets asked most often, but a card is just as valid for mustard, trainers, power tools, nappies, motorbikes or breakfast cereal — and all of those are already on the site.

Most cards pair something with at least one European alternative. Some deliberately do not: where nothing in Europe does the job, the card says so and carries no alternatives at all. Games consoles, monitors and processors are all on the site for exactly that reason. A documented gap is more useful than an absence, because it shows where something is missing rather than merely losing — the gaps are collected here.

The definition

A company, service or product counts as European on chci.eu if it is based in:

an EU member state;
a country working towards EU membership — official candidates and potential candidates;
the United Kingdom;
an EFTA / EEA country — Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The UK left the union; it did not leave the continent. Switzerland and Norway never joined, but Proton, Threema, Mullvad's neighbours, Vivaldi, Hilti and Lindt are unmistakably part of the same European legal and economic neighbourhood — and excluding them made the site less useful without making it more honest.

See the full list of countries →

Who counts as owning something

Ownership, not vibes. A brand with deep European roots that is now controlled from outside Europe does not qualify — which is why you will not find Volvo Cars or Polestar (Geely, China), Salomon (Anta, China) or Pilsner Urquell (Asahi, Japan) among the alternatives, and why Budweiser is not a card at all: AB InBev is Belgian.

It cuts the other way too. Milka, Toblerone, Côte d'Or, Marabou and Oreo all feel European and are all owned by Mondelez of Illinois.

How entries get here

Anyone can suggest a new card, an extra alternative, or the removal of something wrong. Every submission goes into a moderation queue and appears on the site only after one of the two administrators approves it. Rejected requests are kept — they are just hidden from the inbox — so nothing is silently lost.

A card can hold several things on each side. Coca-Cola and Pepsi share one card, because Kofola replaces both of them.

Language

The interface is translated into most European languages and picks one for you from your browser settings, or from your country when that can be determined. You can override it at any time with the selector at the top of every page. Card and entry text stays in English for now — translating over a thousand hand-written descriptions is a content project rather than a code one.

What this site is not

It is not a boycott list, and it is not a claim that European products are automatically better. It is a lookup table for people who would like to know that the option exists before they default to the American one.

Privacy

No third-party analytics, no advertising trackers, no cookie banner — because there is nothing to consent to. Cookies are used for the login session and for remembering your chosen language, and nothing else. Submitter IP addresses are stored as salted hashes purely to enforce rate limits, and are discarded after 30 days. If your country is detected for the language default, it is read and immediately thrown away.