Trying to de-google and looking for an alternative to Gmail.
Don’t mind if it’s a paid service if it’s robust.
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+1 for Proton. I started with just Mail Plus but got the whole package later. It works well!
I also degoogled to proton. Now one bill for VPN, drive and my own domain email address.
Very happy with runbox.com. Hosted in Sweden, reasonable price, and - unlike proton - you can use your own frigging mail client
Proton is my fav non Google email.
I’m using ProtonMail and paying for it.
It’s decent. The best AFAIK in terms of privacy. Supports labels etc.
The migration process takes so long, I’m split between both still and slowly moving over.
Same. I use my gmail accounts for junk mail and have been moving everything actually relevant to proton through SimpleLogin aliases.
eewwe
I just forward my Gmail and use it as a legacy service while using proton as my new primary. Allows me to very aggressively spam filter in proton.
I’m willing to use that mindset when I’m downhill mountain biking but for email… no way. You’re crazy man.
I kinda get you, but I’m (not oc) using forwarding as a temporary solution until I’ve slowly moved everything away from Gmail entirely. It’s also good to import all past mails over.
That’s what I do too, and any thing that I sign up for or use often I’ve swapped straight to proton
Proton Mail and Tutanota are great free options.
Tutanota has limited features and i dont like the UI. But it is okay.
Try to go for protonmail
Tutanota is a bit more privacy focused, really useful for burners, because by default it will burn the account if you don’t use it for 6 months.
As far the UI, I kinda like it. Little more old school, doesn’t have the toy look so many apps have nowadays. But to each their own.
Protonmails approach to requiring hCaptcha for everything, even their mobile apps, really turns me off. I can’t complete them. And I need another email to get in using their weird and creepy accessibility cookie thing. Nah thanks. If I need a second email to access my email I might as well just use that second email.
Who the hell downvotes a person for saying “I have a hard time with Captchas because they don’t provide accessibility options that allow entry to someone with my conditions” ?
Like, guys, Captchas being ableist is a well known thing. And they’ve only been getting worse, as they’ve been in an arms race with AI, trying to become more and more distorted, and most AI text recognition software is already better at Captchas than most dyslexic people.
You sure you are a human?
Barely!
I just opened my protonmail account for the first time in years and it’s really nice! Lots of great UI stuff now!
Proton Mail just has 5 gigs for the free version. Doesn’t seem like it’s enough for me to switch to it long term.
They also expand your storage every year, so it’s not like it’s stuck there forever. For reference, I’ve been on Proton for about 3 years now (paid plan) and I have a data storage cap of 540GB and I’ve never had to buy more. Also, I all my emails so far only consume 340MB - so even on the free plan I’d still have years to go before I reached even 5GB.
(Also, I’ll admit I don’t email much.)
I’ll be honest, when it comes to online purchases you may find that a protonmail email will require extra processing/fraud checking due to the amount of fraudsters that use it. Combine that with a vpn and it will just be a pain here and there with online purchases like additional ID verification/delayed orders etc…
Been using protonmail for my main email for three years, never had one issue. But I’m in Europe, maybe in the US it’s different?
I’m more talking global purchases. Just the email will probs be ok but if you purchase using that email and a vpn it raises flags.
This has happened exactly once to me, and it was the VPN, and not the email address.
Paid plan folks can also make use of simplelogin.io
Last I checked, the encryption in Proton Mail means you have to use their app, no third party apps allowed. Is that still true?
Yup, and it’s kind if a pain since their mobile apps aren’t great. I’ve been using them for many years, and lately have been considering jumping ship.
Email encryption isn’t something I actually care about. If I wanted to send someone a super private message, I probably wouldn’t use email anyways since it’s just clunky, and it’s unlikely the other person is using proton mail too (which means the message wouldn’t be encrypted anyways). All I really want is to not have my email provider be scanning my messages to profit from my data.
But the effort to switch to something else is making me stay…
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Same here. It’s pretty barebones but fully functional.
Just off the top of my head: on iOS, the app is frequently slow to download new messages, occasionally (but not frequently) crashes or freezes up, opening a message from a notification is unreliable, it doesn’t support landscape mode, the search feature sucks (no filtering, sorting, etc), and it has some questionable design choices. Like, why does it include spam in the “All Mail” category? And why is it that swiping a message right sends it to the trash when doing that exact same interaction in the iOS mail app marks it as read? I’ve adapted to the difference after all these years, but it’s clearly a bad design.
Overall it’s not terrible; I’d give it like 4/5 or 3.5/5 stars, however with the price I’m paying for this (IMO overpriced) service I’d expect something a little better. I will say that the experience today is much better than it was a year ago, so even though it takes a long time, it does seem to be improving.
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I’ve had zero issues with the mobile app for mail.
You don’t use encrypted emails only to communicate privately. If they are not encrypted, your e-mail provider will probably scan them, whether it is for profit or under request from the NSA. That’s what Snowden uncovered.
That’s a good point, but also the more I think about it the more I realize it’s futile. Google is 100% going to scan the messages I send to gmail users, and match it to me somehow.
With Tutanota the Gmail user only gets a link (optionally password protected). Google can’t scan the actual content of the mail.
Same with Proton if you enable encryption for emails to non-proton addresses
Phone app? Yes you have to use their own app. On a computer besides the browser version you can use Thunderbird and other applications if you download ProtonBridge.
Is that GitHub issue where the bridge just starts deleting emails still open? I am pretty sure it was open for over a year.
To clarify, this is a paid feature and not included with the free tier
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Yes, that’s still true. If you want to be able to use a third-party mail app, I would look at Fastmail or Mailbox.org. They don’t have free plans though.
I am always suspicious of free. How do they make money? Have to pay for things in life, and I’ve learned that you are either the customer, or the product. If your the customer, pay up. If your the product, your data is being dished out to somebody OR ad-a-palooza. If the free option is just ads, I can live. If every time I log on I feel like I am getting a vitual colonoscopy, pass.
Proton is freemium. You can use the basic package but you only get 500 MB drive storage. Expanding that is cheap, which is how they draw you in.
They also offer package deals, like their VPN stuff.
Your doubts are warranted, but with Protonmail and Tutanota there is no reason be suspicious. They are basically feemium products and their goal is to respect user’s rights
How do they make money?
Buy selling a subscription that comes with more perks. For example, more storage for your email, custom email domain, etc.
Pre-paying for 2 years upfront is the most cost effective.
The Proton free tier is pretty limited compared to Gmail, in particular for me, you’re only allowed 1 label. The basic paid tier opens up a lot more. They definitely want you to upgrade to the paid tier.
Proton mail!
When I was doing the same research a few years back Fastmail was recommended to me and I’ve been very happy with it. It was fairly easy to set up with an email address from my own domain too.
- Tutanota
- Protonmail
- Mailbox.org
- Posteo.de
- Runbox
- Fastmail
I would recommend either Mailbox or Posteo simply because they cost 1€/m. For email I find that anything more than like $2 is a waste of money, but that is my opinion.
Both Tutanota and Protonmail offer freemium versions of their services.
The most important part of Posteo and Mailbox.org is its easy to send and receive emails with non technical users
Do either of them support forwarding messages from another domain? I’ve worked places that blocked my personal email, so I’ve mostly used Gmail to forward my personal domain.
Which ones? I mentioned more than 2 lol
Idk I’m still using my Hotmail that I got in 1995 so…
Me too! Pretty close to moving to proton though. Might wait for Black Friday rates.
What made you adamant on getting proton? Curious, cause I could mention some cheaper, but very competent email services.
oh I wouldn’t say I’m “adamant” - but to answer your question I was looking to unGoogle my Google Drive and GMail, and Proton popped up pretty quick for having both. I’m currently paying for Private Internet Access VPN, but once that expires I could also get a 3rd function out of Proton with their VPN. I also want my new mail service to allow custom domains, which Proton also does.
Yeah drive is a pretty good feature. Do be warned though, proton’s overall Linux support is bad, including the VPN and drive. $8 for unlimited (which comes with everything you mentioned) a month is a little steep, but if you’ll use the VPN and the email it’s definitely worth it. Enjoy man.
Thanks! Fortunately (unfortunately?) I’m all Windows atm. Other than my pihole and photoframe.
I also use Windows. I get the attraction of Linux, I use it for my selfhosting, but I absolutely hate it for day-to-day operations or work. So, don’t feel too bad about it, people love shoving shit down others throats.
My hotmail account is my oldest still in use online account.
I’m still using an AOL email address that I got in the 80’s, so…
I thought I was cool because I recorded the ring from my flip phone and used it on every subsequent phone until I somehow lost the recording around the late aughts, but that beats me by miles.
Damn you just reminded me that I haven’t fed my Neopet in years. They don’t die, do they??
Oh yeah?? Well I tattoo my messages onto my servant’s scalps and send them out when their hair has grown, so…
I am happy with Proton.
Do all or any of these options offer filtering?
I moved to Fastmail last year and it’s been entirely unremarkable which is exactly what I want. Mail in and out works, it’s reliable, I have my custom domains.
It really depends on the level of privacy you’re going for and what features you want. For me I needed custom domain support with catchalls. The only other requirement I had was to not be Google. I debated between Fastmail and Proton for a while (Fastmail for features/price, Proton for the “better” privacy.) Ultimately I ended up on Fastmail because I would have had to pay for a higher than necessary account at Proton for what I wanted.
I have been using Fastmail for a few years. No complaints. No issues. Entirely unremarkable.
I’ve been on Fastmail for 10 years. It’s a great service.
Been with Fastmail for a year. Love their integration with 1password. Nobody gets my real email address. Even my 6th grader knows how to obfuscate email now. Too easy.
They have a similar integration with Bitwarden that I’ve used a bit. I ended up stopping though because I rely on a catch-all and just give out companyname@ or something generic like work@ or family@. Sure it’s easy to guess but I haven’t had any spam issues in the ~15 years I’ve been operating this way.
Nobody actually gets my Fastmail login address though. I picked a random string on one of their domains that’s literally only used to sign in. A fun little added obscurity feature.
I used fastmail with a custom domain but random stuff from specific senders would disappear into the ether and never go through to my mailbox. Everything else worked fine though, but it was enough to switch me back to gmail for a while at least. LDAP is a requirement for me and most of the other popular providers now don’t have it.
Yeah I suppose I could be missing email and not know (because it never got delivered) but I get everything I expect to receive and I haven’t had anyone reach out asking why I haven’t responded to an email I never received. It’s good enough for me for now though.
LDAP support isn’t something that’s ever crossed my mind for mail, definitely a legit reason to stick with the Googs.
After checking out most of these services I think I’ll go with Fastmail, has what I need, plenty of storage, can use third party apps without any hassle.
Also since most other people aren’t using encrypted email, you kinda don’t really benefit from the Proton encryption afaik. I personally don’t understand the point.
Would using proton keep the ads away?
I assume some since i assume gmail scans my inbox to serve me ads. But you’d get other ads from browsing history etc still. But Fastmail does the same thing i believe
Ive not used proton, but Tutanota sends a link to the receiver if they don’t use Tutanota themselves. They have to click the link and enter a predetermined password to read the content
Yep. It was a fun ooh look what I can do that I have exactly zero people to communicate with using those features.
In the same vein, not using Google is similarly silly. Most of my personal contacts use Gmail or o365 so they still get a copy of my email anyway. But at least this way my money isn’t going to them and nobody’s scanning my inbox to advertise to me (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
