I’m a power user of Gmail, Drive, Docs and Google Apps Script. For years that made Chrome the obvious choice. It’s tightly integrated, predictable, and guaranteed to work well with that stack. Over time, I’ve also come to rely heavily on fully separated browser profiles to keep my private life, company work and client projects cleanly apart. That setup isn’t a preference, it’s how I stay focused and sane.

For a long time, I never thought twice about using American software. The coolest, best and newest tools reliably seemed to come out of California, and for years I never looked back. Lately, that comfort is being offset by growing geopolitical tensions, the increasingly erratic and aggressive behaviour of the US, and the far-reaching scope of its jurisdiction. Laws like the CLOUD Act make it clear that reliance on US tech is becoming a growing liability. As a result, I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable with my tech stack and am actively looking for alternatives that are not subject to the whims of authoritarian-leaning governments.

Before switching, I forced myself to write down what actually mattered, instead of optimising for familiarity or hype.

The must-haves were clear

• Fully separated browser profiles with their own logins, cookies, extensions and bookmarks
• No forced account or cloud dependency
• A strong extension ecosystem
• European legal jurisdiction
• Privacy as a product choice rather than a marketing layer
• Power-user ergonomics
• Solid support across operating systems, including Linux
• A solid community to ensure continuity
• Advertisement-free business model

Nice-to-haves

• Built-in tools that reduce extension sprawl
• UI features that improve focus
• Optional sync with sensible defaults
• A clear long-term product vision

With those criteria in mind, I switched my default browser to Vivaldi. What tipped the balance wasn’t a single feature, but the fact that it met all of the must-haves without breaking how I actually work. I briefly considered Mullvad Browser for privacy reasons, but the lack of profiles made it impractical for daily use.

The switch itself was straightforward, though I’m still settling in. I’m experimenting with the right balance between Vivaldi’s built-in functionality and my existing 1Password setup, especially around password management and daily flow. I know 1Password also needs to go at some point, but for now I still depend on it. There’s some tuning involved, but nothing disruptive.

What genuinely surprised me is that this wasn’t a downgrade or even a like-for-like replacement. Vivaldi adds things I didn’t know were possible, like panels, which turned out to be immediately useful. I’m not fully done optimising yet, but the direction feels right: more deliberate control, clearer separation of contexts, and fewer invisible assumptions.

Still adjusting, but this already feels like a step forward.
Cloud storage is next, and I suspect that will be a harder trade-off.