About SwitchEU
A directory helping Europeans discover and switch to companies that operate under European standards.
Mission
To make it easy for anyone to find European alternatives.
Vision
A thriving European digital ecosystem where consumers have genuine choices.
Approach
A curated directory, complemented by AI-assisted research where no curated entry exists.
Built in Europe, for Everyone
SwitchEU is created by a European who believes in a stronger, more independent Europe.
Affiliated with no government or political organization.
Technical Infrastructure
Transparency matters – including the technologies behind this site.
Mistral AI
French AI company. Used for classification and structuring of alternatives. Zero Data Retention applies.
Mistral Vibe
French AI coding agent by Mistral AI.
Lovable
Swedish vibe coding platform.
IONOS
German domain and hosting provider.
Backend & Database
Open-source backend and database stack, self-hosted on EU servers.
TanStack Start & Vite
SSR framework (TanStack) with Vite as the build layer. Open-source.
React & UI Libraries
React, Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui. Open-source UI stack.
Brave Search API
Independent web search API, used as fallback when no curated result exists. Data handling is governed by Brave Search API terms.
How Search Works
The search process is privacy-first: every query passes a multi-layer filter before any external service is contacted, and Mistral AI must confirm that the query is a company or product before Brave Search is called. If Mistral is unavailable, no web search takes place. The only exception: you explicitly confirm yourself that it is a company or brand name.
Curated Database Check
First, the system checks a curated database of well-researched European alternatives. If a match is found, no external services are contacted.
Client- & Server-Side Privacy Filter
The browser blocks obvious personal data (emails, phone numbers, personal names) before the query leaves the device. A second regex filter runs on the EU server before any network call.
Classification with Mistral AI (Privacy Gate)
If the query cannot be answered directly from our own database, it is sent to Mistral AI (France) for classification. Zero Data Retention applies. Under this setting input and output are not stored or logged, and are processed only as long as needed to generate the response. If Mistral identifies the query as personal data, it is rejected immediately and no web search is performed.
Web Search with Brave & Structuring with Mistral
Only queries confirmed as company or product names reach Brave Search (USA), governed by Brave Search API terms. The resulting snippets are then structured by Mistral AI into European alternatives with comparison details, under Mistral's Zero Data Retention policy.
Search works best for company names.