Topics / #privacy-tools

Privacy-tools projects on GitHub

Tools that protect privacy across messaging, storage, and networking.

As of , the most-starred Privacy-tools projects on GitHub are awesome-selfhosted (327.3K stars), vaultwarden (69.2K stars) and searxng (38.5K stars). GitHub.Locker tracks 75 Privacy-tools repositories with 1.3M stars combined. The fastest-growing on October 16 was awesome-selfhosted, with +396 stars in a day.

75Projects
1.3MStars in total
+1.7KStars in a day
Browse in the catalog →github.com/topics/privacy-tools ↗

Hot right now

Most stars gained in a day · Oct 16

+396

awesome-selfhosted

awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted · ★ 327.3K

It is a curated list of free-software network services and web applications that you can host yourself instead of relying on third-party SaaS providers.

+98

codex-auth-helper

zhishile/codex-auth-helper · ★ 19K

Codex Auth Helper is a Chrome extension that exports your logged-in ChatGPT session locally and converts it into an auth.json file matching the Codex CLI's expected credential format.

+90

Winhance

memstechtips/Winhance · ★ 13.8K

Winhance is a free Windows enhancement utility that debloats, optimizes and customizes Windows 10 and 11, combining app management, privacy and performance tweaks, and theming in one GUI app.

+90

Baize

Xu123-Bob/Baize · ★ 557

Baize is an open-source AI coding agent CLI that acts as a drop-in alternative to Claude Code CLI, letting you describe tasks in natural language while it writes, edits, and runs code for you.

The all-time top

75 projects · by stars

  1. #1 · awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted

    awesome-selfhosted

    It is a curated list of free-software network services and web applications that you can host yourself instead of relying on third-party SaaS providers.

    327.3K
  2. #2 · dani-garcia/vaultwarden

    vaultwarden

    Vaultwarden is an unofficial, Rust-written server that implements the Bitwarden Client API, so you can run your own password-manager backend instead of using Bitwarden's official hosted service.

    69.2K
  3. #3 · searxng/searxng

    searxng

    SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine: it aggregates results from various search services and databases into one results page, and users are neither tracked nor profiled.

    38.5K
  1. 4

    web-check

    35.1Klissy93/web-check · TypeScript

    Web-Check is an open-source OSINT dashboard that lets you analyse any website: it pulls IP info, SSL chain, DNS records, cookies, headers, server location, and more into one report so you can understand its tech stack and security posture.

  2. 5

    shadowsocks

    33.5Kshadowsocks/shadowsocks · Python

    An encrypted SOCKS5 proxy for getting private traffic past censorship — that is what the repo's own tags (proxy, socks5, encryption, censorship) describe. It is written in Python, has been on GitHub since April 2012, and holds about 33.5k stars.

  3. 6

    meetily

    31.8KZackriya-Solutions/meetily · Rust

    A privacy-first AI meeting assistant that captures your meetings, transcribes them in real time, and generates summaries — entirely on your own machine, with no data sent to the cloud.

  4. 7

    algo

    30.4Ktrailofbits/algo · Python

    A set of Ansible scripts that spins up your own personal WireGuard and IPsec VPN server on a cloud provider, using the most secure defaults available.

  5. 8

    ente

    29.4Kente/ente · Dart

    Ente is a fully open source, end-to-end encrypted cloud: a place to keep photos, documents and 2FA codes without having to trust the provider. It ships three apps so far: Photos, Locker and Auth.

  6. 9

    GoodbyeDPI

    28.8KValdikSS/GoodbyeDPI · C

    A free Windows utility that bypasses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems ISPs use to block websites. It handles both passive DPI (optical splitter or port mirroring) and active DPI connected in sequence.

  7. 10

    setup-ipsec-vpn

    28.7Khwdsl2/setup-ipsec-vpn · Shell

    A set of shell scripts that turns a fresh Linux server into your own IPsec VPN server in minutes, with IPsec/L2TP, Cisco IPsec and IKEv2 modes. Traffic is encrypted so nobody between you and the server can eavesdrop.

  8. 11

    dns-blocklists

    27.5Khagezi/dns-blocklists · Text

    A set of DNS blocklists that block ads, trackers, telemetry, phishing, malware, scams and other junk domains network-wide. They work for any region and with every common DNS server, ad blocker, and content blocker.

  9. 12

    ChromeAppHeroes

    25.9Kzhaoolee/ChromeAppHeroes · JavaScript

    It is a curated Chinese-language guide (手册) to excellent Chrome extensions, where each entry gets a short write-up explaining what the extension does and why it is useful.

  10. 13

    invidious

    25.5Kiv-org/invidious · Crystal

    Invidious is an open source alternative front-end to YouTube: you browse and watch YouTube videos through its web interface instead of youtube.com.

  11. 14

    SpotX

    22.7KSpotX-Official/SpotX · PowerShell

    SpotX is a patcher for the official Spotify desktop client on Windows: it blocks banner, video and audio ads and changes some hidden client features. It ships as a set of install scripts you run once.

  12. 15

    personal-security-checklist

    22.5Klissy93/personal-security-checklist · TypeScript

    A community-maintained checklist of 300+ tips for protecting your digital security and privacy, curated by Alicia Sykes (Lissy93) and kept current for 2026.

  13. 16

    FreeTube

    22.1KFreeTubeApp/FreeTube · Vue

    FreeTube is an open source desktop YouTube player built with privacy in mind: watch YouTube without ads and without Google tracking you through cookies and JavaScript.

  14. 17

    Atlas

    21.9KAtlas-OS/Atlas · Batchfile

    Atlas is an open-source modification for Windows that optimizes an existing install for performance, privacy and usability: it strips telemetry, debloats the system and applies tweaks — no custom ISO involved.

  15. 18

    hosts

    20.6Kgooglehosts/hosts

    GoogleHosts is a project that provides a hosts file mapping Google and other blocked domains to accessible IP addresses, so Chinese-speaking users can reach these services without DNS censorship interference.

  16. 19

    V2rayU

    20.2Kyanue/V2rayU

    V2rayU is a macOS client built on the v2ray/xray core, used for circumventing internet censorship ('scientific internet access'). It's written natively in Swift.

  17. 20

    universal-android-debloater

    20K0x192/universal-android-debloater · Rust

    A cross-platform desktop GUI written in Rust that uses ADB to remove or disable preinstalled bloatware on non-rooted Android phones, improving privacy, battery life and security.

  18. 21

    awesome-privacy

    20Kpluja/awesome-privacy · Python

    A curated awesome-list of free, open-source and privacy-respecting alternatives to mainstream services that harvest your data — from mail and messengers to VPNs, browsers and AI.

  19. 22

    codex-auth-helper

    19Kzhishile/codex-auth-helper · CSS

    Codex Auth Helper is a Chrome extension that exports your logged-in ChatGPT session locally and converts it into an auth.json file matching the Codex CLI's expected credential format.

  20. 23

    rdpwrap

    16.9Kstascorp/rdpwrap · Pascal

    RDP Wrapper Library enables Remote Desktop Host support and concurrent RDP sessions on Windows editions that normally restrict it (like Home editions), for home use.

  21. 24

    linsa

    16.9Klinsa-io/linsa · TypeScript

    linsa.io is a service for storing any kind of digital content with end-to-end encryption, so only you can access it, with extra features promised on top.

  22. 25

    lantern

    16.3Kgetlantern/lantern · Dart

    Lantern is a free, open-source censorship circumvention tool — a VPN focused on speed, privacy, and getting around internet blocks.

  23. 26

    cryptomator

    16.3Kcryptomator/cryptomator · Java

    Cryptomator is a free, open-source app that encrypts your files on your own device before they reach cloud storage, so your provider only ever stores data it cannot read.

  24. 27

    KeepChatGPT

    14.9Kxcanwin/KeepChatGPT · JavaScript

    KeepChatGPT is a free userscript that boosts ChatGPT's data security and efficiency, adding features like auto-refresh, staying active, sensitive-data masking, response-cutoff bypass, and tracking interception.

  25. 28

    opensnitch

    14.2Kevilsocket/opensnitch · Python

    OpenSnitch is an interactive application firewall for GNU/Linux, inspired by macOS's 'Little Snitch', that lets you see and approve or block each app's outgoing connections in real time.

  26. 29

    portmaster

    13.9Ksafing/portmaster · Go

    Portmaster is a free, open-source application firewall for Windows and Linux that intercepts all network traffic on your machine, letting you monitor and block connections per app, filter DNS, and block trackers and malware with good defaults out of the box.

  27. 30

    Winhance

    13.8Kmemstechtips/Winhance · C#

    Winhance is a free Windows enhancement utility that debloats, optimizes and customizes Windows 10 and 11, combining app management, privacy and performance tweaks, and theming in one GUI app.

  28. 31

    RemoveWindowsAI

    13.4Kzoicware/RemoveWindowsAI · PowerShell

    RemoveWindowsAI is a PowerShell script that force-removes Copilot, Recall, Image Creator and other AI features Microsoft keeps adding to Windows 11, to improve privacy, security and user experience.

  29. 32

    LuLu

    13.3Kobjective-see/LuLu · Objective-C

    LuLu is a free, open-source firewall for macOS: it watches the network connections apps on your Mac try to make and lets you allow or block them.

  30. 33

    user.js

    12.9Karkenfox/user.js · JavaScript

    arkenfox user.js is a community-maintained Firefox configuration template that hardens privacy and security settings, aiming to reduce tracking and fingerprinting as much as possible while trying to keep the browser usable.

  31. 34

    Signal-iOS

    12.3Ksignalapp/Signal-iOS · Swift

    Signal iOS is the free, open source messaging app for private communication with friends on iPhone, part of the Signal family which also ships for Android and Desktop.

  32. 35

    bandwhich

    12Kimsnif/bandwhich · Rust

    bandwhich is a CLI utility that shows current network bandwidth usage broken down by process, connection, and remote IP/hostname, right in your terminal.

  33. 36

    whoogle-search

    11.6Kbenbusby/whoogle-search · Python

    Whoogle was a self-hosted metasearch engine that fetched Google search results and stripped out ads, JavaScript, AMP links, cookies, and IP tracking. As of July 2026 it is officially dead: Google closed off the last way to fetch results without JavaScript, so the app no longer returns any search results.

  34. 37

    android-foss

    11.5Koffa/android-foss · Python

    A huge categorized index of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Android, covering dozens of categories like browsers, messaging, security, file managers, and games, so you can replace proprietary Android apps with privacy-respecting alternatives.

  35. 38

    presidio

    11.4Kdata-privacy-stack/presidio · Python

    An open-source framework (SDK) that detects, redacts, masks and anonymizes sensitive data (PII) — names, credit card numbers, SSNs, phone numbers — in text, images and structured data.

  36. 39

    Betterfox

    10.9Kyokoffing/Betterfox · JavaScript

    Betterfox is a curated user.js file of about:config tweaks that makes Firefox more private, secure, and performant without installing third-party code.

  37. 40

    anti-AD

    10.9Kprivacy-protection-tools/anti-AD

    anti-AD is a curated ad-blocking and privacy filter list for the Chinese internet, built by merging and deduplicating major hosts/EasyList/adblock lists to block ads, telemetry and tracking domains at the network level.

  38. 41

    optimizerDuck

    10.5Kitsfatduck/optimizerDuck · C#

    A free, open-source Windows optimization app that gathers performance tweaks, privacy settings, bloatware removal and cleanup tools in one place, so you don't have to dig through the Registry, Group Policy or PowerShell.

  39. 42

    DnsServer

    10.1KTechnitiumSoftware/DnsServer · C#

    Technitium DNS Server is an open source, self-hosted DNS server that works as both an authoritative server and a recursive resolver. Its headline use is blocking ads and malware at the DNS level for an entire home or organization network, with configuration done in a web console.

  40. 43

    dashbeam

    9.9Ktonyantony300/dashbeam · TypeScript

    A free, open-source file transfer tool: files go directly between devices over peer-to-peer connections, encrypted end to end, and are never stored on a cloud server.

  41. 44

    pdfcraft

    9.4KPDFCraftTool/pdfcraft · TypeScript

    A free, privacy-focused suite of 90+ PDF tools that runs entirely in your browser: merge, split, compress, convert, edit, OCR and secure files without anything being uploaded to a server.

  42. 45

    FluentCleaner

    6.5Kbuiltbybel/FluentCleaner · C#

    FluentCleaner is a free, open-source alternative to CCleaner for Windows. It cleans junk files, browser cache, and temp data using the community-maintained winapp2.ini rule database, built with a modern WinUI 3 interface and no ads, upsells, or dark patterns.

  43. 46

    leak-check

    5.9Kgarinasset/leak-check · Python

    Leak-check (厘查, by 嘉林数据/Jialin Data) is a Python tool for checking whether your personal information shows up in data that has been widely leaked and circulated on the internet. It's a self-hosted checker, not a public lookup website.

  44. 47

    awesome-android-root

    5.2Kawesome-android-root/awesome-android-root · Markdown

    A community-curated knowledge base covering over 650 root apps, Magisk/KernelSU/APatch modules, and LSPosed (Xposed) modules for rooted Android devices, plus step-by-step rooting guides.

  45. 48

    RemoveMacAI

    4.8Komlahore/RemoveMacAI · Swift

    RemoveMacAI is a macOS 27 tool that turns off Apple Intelligence features (Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, image generation, and more), deletes the AI models already downloaded for them, and blocks macOS from downloading those models again, with every change reversible.

  46. 49

    privacyguides.org

    4.3Kprivacyguides/privacyguides.org · Markdown

    Privacy Guides is a non-profit, community-run website and knowledge base that explains digital surveillance threats and recommends privacy and security tools to help people protect their data online.

  47. 50

    zen-desktop

    4.3Kirbis-sh/zen-desktop · Go

    Zen is an open-source, system-wide ad-blocker and privacy guard for Windows, macOS, and Linux that blocks ads, trackers, and malware across all applications, not just a browser.

  48. 51

    Fieldwatch

    3.9KOffGridPete/Fieldwatch · Kotlin

    Fieldwatch is a receive-only Android app that passively listens for nearby Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth LE advertisements, so you can see what wireless devices are around you.

  49. 52

    russia-mobile-internet-whitelist

    3.8Khxehex/russia-mobile-internet-whitelist

    A community-maintained list of domains and IP ranges that stay reachable in Russia even when mobile internet gets throttled or filtered, meant to be fed into VPN or proxy clients so their traffic blends in with what the government allows through.

  50. 53

    CCBaga

    2.4Kliseami/CCBaga · Rust

    CCBaga is a native macOS toolkit that bundles two apps to clean Claude-related data, rotate your browser fingerprint, align system region settings, and verify your real network exit with measured checks.

  51. 54

    tendedero

    2.2Kalejandrobujan/tendedero · Swift

    Tendedero is a tiny native macOS app that hangs every screenshot you take on a line just below the menu bar, instead of letting it pile up on your Desktop.

  52. 55

    untidetect-tools

    2KTheGP/untidetect-tools

    A curated markdown list maintained by the author of their own anti-detect project, tracking anti-detect/humanizing browsers, browser-automation and fingerprint-spoofing libraries, captcha solvers, SMS-activation services, and proxy providers used to avoid bot and fingerprint detection.

  53. 56

    LocationSpoofer

    1.9KHuangZhuoRui/LocationSpoofer · Kotlin

    LocationSpoofer is an Android system-level location spoofing and wireless-environment simulation framework built on KernelSU + LSPosed. It fakes GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth and sensor data together so that apps cross-checking mock-location flags against real-world wireless signals get a consistent fake environment.

  54. 57

    macos-sysdata

    944Jarvis322/macos-sysdata · Swift

    It's a free macOS menu bar app that opens up the vague 'System Data' bucket in Storage settings and shows exactly what's filling it (simulator runtimes, Xcode caches, package manager stores, VM disks, logs, per-app data) so you can delete items one by one instead of guessing.

  55. 58

    chat-archive-guard

    858MaxHu-xuan/chat-archive-guard · Python

    ChatArchiveGuard is a local, read-only CLI auditor you run on an AI chat export before sharing, migrating, or archiving it. It flags likely secrets and personal-data patterns, finds malformed UTF-8/JSON/JSONL, checks SQLite integrity, and reports scan coverage gaps.

  56. 59

    glasshouse

    681rorygallagher2024/glasshouse · JavaScript

    Glasshouse is a self-hosted server that runs directly on a rooted LG webOS TV, giving you a live dashboard for remote control, privacy controls, debloating, an ad/telemetry blocker, and custom screensavers, plus an optional MQTT bridge for Home Assistant integration.

  57. 60

    Baize

    557Xu123-Bob/Baize · JavaScript

    Baize is an open-source AI coding agent CLI that acts as a drop-in alternative to Claude Code CLI, letting you describe tasks in natural language while it writes, edits, and runs code for you.

  58. 61

    supvpn

    527supvpn/supvpn

    This is a Chinese-language comparison article reviewing five VPN services — 白菜云 (Baicai Cloud), Proton VPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, and Surfshark — aimed at people who need to bypass censorship, get free SS/V2Ray/Trojan nodes, or run AI tools reliably.

  59. 62

    bare-browser

    517BareBrowser/bare-browser · Python

    Bare is a de-Googled Chromium build for Android that strips Google tracking, telemetry, and AI integration while keeping browser extensions and uBlock Origin working, and adds things like background video playback and media saving.

  60. 63

    SU_IMD

    473soul-99/SU_IMD · Python

    A supercharged fork of Geto: an Android app that manages and hides phone settings/services and auto-disables or re-enables them so restrictive apps (banking, payments) keep working.

  61. 64

    3X-UI_KIT

    450itsnotkubrick/3X-UI_KIT · Shell

    A script that turns a clean VPS into a ready VPN server in minutes: it installs the official 3X-UI panel, sets up 11 popular protocols, a certificate and a firewall, and gives you one subscription link. No domain needed.

  62. 65

    instagram-private-graph

    4400x6rss/instagram-private-graph · Python

    It's a local research tool for authorized Instagram OSINT investigations: using an authenticated session it collects data visible to that account, scores candidate relationships to a target, and produces a network graph, target summary, signal summary, and human-readable report.

  63. 66

    OhMyKeymint

    438ITxiao6666/OhMyKeymint · Rust

    Oh My Keymint (OMK) is a custom Android Keystore implementation that fully mirrors the AOSP AIDL interface, designed to spoof key attestation and make app behavior harder for detectors to distinguish from a genuine AOSP device.

  64. 67

    Arachnidium

    392p2r3/Arachnidium · Python

    Arachnidium is a self-hosted HTTP(S) optimization and compression proxy powered by mitmproxy, meant to run on a spare computer at home and be reached by your devices through a WireGuard VPN tunnel.

  65. 68

    macspace-releases

    3861architect/macspace-releases · Swift

    MacSpace is a free, open-source macOS menu bar app that shows what fills your disk's System Data, frees what's safe to delete, and can turn off Apple Intelligence (deleting the on-device models) plus Apple's background analytics and data-collection features.

  66. 69

    greenbubbles

    383bojieli/greenbubbles · Rust

    GreenBubbles is a Mac command-line tool (with an optional app and an agent skill) that reads your own WeChat chat history directly from the database files WeChat already keeps on your Mac, letting you browse, search, back up, or ask a coding agent to turn chosen conversations into cited Markdown notes.

  67. 70

    GoLiveBypass

    271bezumiya/GoLiveBypass · TypeScript

    GoLiveBypass is a tool that restores Discord's Go Live screen share and camera for users connecting from Brazil, by routing the Discord process through a non-Brazilian exit (Tor, a tested free proxy, or a private WireGuard/ProtonVPN tunnel) so Discord's servers no longer see a Brazilian IP.

  68. 71

    zhoop

    269hackyguru/zhoop · Swift

    Zhoop is an iPhone app that pairs with a WHOOP fitness strap over Bluetooth and tracks your daily calorie deficit, weight-loss goal, sleep and heart rate. It's a personal fork of the NOOP app, stripped down and rebuilt entirely around hitting a goal weight by a date.

  69. 72

    WhiteAestherMobile

    262WhiteDNS/WhiteAestherMobile · Rust

    WhiteAestherMobile is the native Android client for the Aether encrypted route engine. It probes for a working path out of restrictive or censored networks and routes your device's traffic through it.

  70. 73

    ambient-context

    205dragthelake/ambient-context · Rust

    Ambient Context is a macOS menu bar app that silently records what you work on throughout the day and turns it into plain markdown files your AI assistant can use as context.

  71. 74

    telegram-mtproto-proxy-list

    191tgmtproxy/telegram-mtproto-proxy-list · HTML

    A continuously refreshed catalog of free public MTProto proxy servers for Telegram, rebuilt every hour with real handshake verification.

  72. 75

    claude-watermark-cleaner

    151mikiane/claude-watermark-cleaner · Python

    An experimental Python CLI that tries to strip Claude's statistical text watermark: it removes suspicious invisible Unicode characters, then has a non-Claude model rewrite the text. It doubles as a critical demo arguing such watermarks are easy to circumvent.

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