Proton Mail

Encrypted email from Switzerland.

proton.me
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Price
FreemiumFree plan starting at 500 MB (up to 1 GB after setup steps); paid plans from €3.99/mo billed yearly add storage, custom domains and aliases.
Works on
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Web
Based in
Switzerland
Source code
Open source
Encryption
End-to-end encrypted
Payment
Accepts crypto

If you want private email and don't want to think too hard about it, start here. Proton Mail uses zero-access encryption, which means not even Proton can read your mailbox. The apps are open source and audited. The free tier is usable rather than a teaser. There are desktop apps for Windows and Mac, plus a Linux beta, on top of strong web and mobile ones. The one bit of friction is hooking up other mail clients over IMAP, which needs the paid Proton Bridge.

Strengths

  • Zero-access encryption of your mailbox
  • Open source and audited
  • Usable free tier, easy onboarding

Considerations

  • IMAP/SMTP needs paid Proton Bridge
  • Search is limited on encrypted mail
  • Who you email and your subject lines are not end-to-end encrypted
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Proton Mail alternatives

Tuta MailLightweight encrypted mail with its own encryption scheme.PosteoGerman email that minimizes data and can encrypt metadata too.Mailbox.orgGerman email with PGP and an office suite, a notch below Posteo.StartMailDutch email that encrypts all stored mail by default.