When some of the best apps and services in the freedom tech space are free to download and use, it can be easy to use them and forget about supporting the people working behind the scenes on these projects. While there is never any obligation to donate, the survival, growth, and spread of freedom tech depends heavily on funding from users like yourself. We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite tools and projects below that accept donations, so if you have some time and some spare Bitcoin, Monero, or fiat consider helping to drive the cause of freedom tech directly.
Don’t have money to spare? Then take a minute and share one of your favorite projects on social media, with friends and family, or see if you can contribute to the project directly in your spare time!
Pro-privacy Organizations
- The Tor Project, a privacy-preserving network protocol and multi-platform browser: https://donate.torproject.org/cryptocurrency/
- Techlore, a privacy advocacy and guidance organization that works to simplify and clarify the privacy journey: https://techlore.tech/support.html
- Open Privacy Research Society: https://openprivacy.ca/donate/#donatecrypto
- Riseup, a privacy-centric non-profit organization, building and running secure means of communication: https://riseup.net/donate
- Calyx, a privacy-centric non-profit organization that builds CalyxOS: https://members.calyxinstitute.org/donate
- Privacy Guides, a privacy-oriented community, educational resource, and service provider: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/about/donate/
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Online Anonymity: https://anonymousplanet.org/donations.html
Privacy-preserving services
- Tails, a privacy-preserving and portable Linux OS: https://tails.boum.org/donate/index.en.html
- QubesOS, a privacy-preserving Linux-based OS: https://www.qubes-os.org/donate/
- Whonix, an anonymity-focused virtual machine: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Donate
- Nitter, a privacy-preserving Twitter front-end: https://github.com/zedeus/nitter
- Piped, a privacy-preserving YouTube front-end: https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped#donations
- Invidious, a privacy-preserving YouTube front-end: https://invidious.io/donate/
Mobile Operating Systems and Applications
- GrapheneOS, a privacy-preserving and hardened Android OS: https://grapheneos.org/donate
- CalyxOS, a privacy-preserving Android OS: https://members.calyxinstitute.org/donate
- F-Droid, a free and open-source app catalog for Android: https://f-droid.org/donate/
- Signal, a widely used end-to-end encrypted chat app: https://signal.org/donate/
- SimpleX, a powerful privacy-preserving chat app: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat#help-us-with-donations
Desktop Operating Systems
- Pop!_OS, an easy to use and intuitive Linux distro: https://pop.system76.com/
- Linux Mint, an easy to use linux distribution. https://linuxmint.com/donors.php
Bitcoin
- OpenSats, a Bitcoin-centric non-profit organization supporting open-source Bitcoin and Nostr projects: https://opensats.org/
- BTCPay Server, an incredible payment processor that supports Bitcoin, Monero, and other cryptocurrencies: https://btcpayserver.org/donate/
- Sparrow Wallet, an incredibly powerful and approachable desktop wallet for Bitcoin: https://www.sparrowwallet.com/donate/
- Samourai Wallet, the best wallet for Bitcoin on-chain privacy: https://samouraiwallet.com/donate
- RoninDojo, an easy to use Bitcoin node and Samourai Wallet backend: https://donate.ronindojo.io/
- Zeus, a powerful mobile companion for your Lightning node: https://zeusln.app/sponsor
- SeedSigner, a Bitcoin hardware wallet that can be assembled from commodity hardware: https://seedsigner.com/donate-now/
Monero
- The Monero Community Crowdfunding System (CCS) where all native funding for Monero projects and contributors occurs: https://ccs.getmonero.org/funding-required/
- Feather, a Tor-native Monero desktop wallet: https://docs.featherwallet.org/guides/donate
- Monerujo, a mobile Monero wallet for Android: https://funding.monerujo.app/
- Anonero, a privacy-focused Monero wallet for Android: http://anonero5wmhraxqsvzq2ncgptq6gq45qoto6fnkfwughfl4gbt44swad.onion/#donate
Others
- FOSSHub, a FOSS-centric software download hub: https://www.fosshub.com/crypto.html
- VideoLAN, makers of VLC Player: https://www.videolan.org/contribute.html
- Music Caster, a FOSS music player that can cast files and URLs: https://github.com/elibroftw/music-caster/#donate-or-translate
Join the Conversation
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