Looking to leave GMAIL and am currently testing Proton for a $1 a month. So far it’s pretty good and the issue I have is not with Proton, but with who I’m sending messages to. If I send an email to a gmail account my information is still sitting on a Google server. So is Proton worth it? Is something like Fastmail just as good over all due to how email works? With Fastmail I can get email for my whole family for $14 a month. I won’t have the VPN, ProtonPASS and other Proton apps, but are they worth the $12 a month for one person?
I’m happy with Fastmail, no idea about Proton, but the Proton CEO’s antics are a bit too tech-bro for me.
For me, the main reason for the switch was to get my own domain. It’s surprisingly easy. This way, if I start to dislike the service handling my emails, I can easily switch it without changing my email address. Leaving gmail and getting somewhat more privacy is nice, but getting control was the main reason.
For me, yeah, it sucks knowing if you send an email to a gmail user then your message is in google still. But, I take comfort in knowing I’m not signing into or using google myself. Just be aware your emails aren’t protected at all. I agree with the other commenter - use whatever is convenient. Emails are never a very private communication form, either way. I also use proton but have been a bit conflicted since they continue pushing AI integration and I’m not pleased knowing my money is helping fund that for them.
I like Tuta more than Proton since they don’t try to get more info. But really you want to hook all the Tuta accounts up to Murena emails (they actually work with apps etc unlike Tuta & Proton etc) then add those to Addy.io, Firefox Relay, and Simplelogin. Bam infinity emails, they’re all searchable and you can archive them offline (since you’re using Arcane Chat or K-9 Mail or whatever)
I’m not paying for a service people force me to use lmao
I think you should at least donate if you can. It’s not about whether you are forced to use it, but whether you appreciated the service (which you probably did if you used it over all the other services available). If the service goes away due to lack of funding, you’re still forced to use email, but you’ll just be forced to use a worse email service.
I’m not falling for the old smol bean give me donations trick from large nonprofits supported by shit like the Open Technology Fund of the OSS. I have actual developers to support, after the genocide most of the countries they live in are committing is dealt with (https://lifeline4gaza.com/). I have more local providers but they don’t always play nice abroad.
There is also a tutanota mail, worth to consider as well.
Not sure if this helps you, but here’s my experience with email providers.
After leaving gmail, I went to proton, was a paid user of proton for 2 years. I left it for a few reasons, the major one was lack of linux support in their services, like no drive app, late updates, even in VPN app. Some other small reasons were that it didn’t allow many custom domains, harder/complicated SMTP, since I like using Thunderbird. Later, I felt I am paying too much since I don’t need a lot of these services.
Now, I am using mailbox.org with a €3 plan. I manage my own encryption keys. This means I cannot use the webUI, and I can only access my email on devices where those keys are stored. For my use case, this is really good. I can get so many aliases, I can connect so many custom domains. Considering it just as an email service, it is a lot cheaper than others.
+1 for mailbox.org
+1 for mailbox.org so far so good, managing own encryption key is a plus
You could use pgp or s/mime.
You could email a link to a discussion that’s hosted elsewhere.
I’d love if people in my circles would get onboard with privacy and do that. I tried getting family on Signal and no one seemed to care about their privacy. I could see people simply not joining the discussion due to friction.
If I send an email to a gmail account my information is still sitting on a Google server. So is Proton worth it?
Due to the nature of email, assume privacy is impossible and just use whatever is easiest (yea, Gmail). Like you mentioned, the message will be in their servers anyways. That is, unless you explicitly only email other Proton users.
If you are concerned about your information getting on a Google server when you send an Email to a Gmail account, is the issue still the same no matter what provider you use? Or am I misunderatanding? You are still to a Gmail address no?
No you’re understanding me. It’s impossible to avoid Google as over almost everyone uses them. My thought really is if it’s worth even trying. I can use a better service, but Google will still get my emails as most of my circle uses Google.
Do you know what personal info gets landed on their server when you send an Email to a Gmail account? Presumably Email address and name, but is there much more, hidden stuff?
I never actually thought about it from this angle. Moreso about how much they have access to by having a Google account, but not the exposure if yiu Email someone on their servers.
Yes the shortcoming is always with the weakest link.
But most of my mail is inbound, so I have control over that. Plus I created sieve filters to automatically tag and organize my mail, including deletion of unimportant stuff like newsletters. Top that with a personal domain and I have everything how I like it.
Anecdotally, in the many years I’ve been with Proton I’ve gotten maybe 2 or 3 spam emails, and they went to the spam folder.
I did it that last month, not because I have any expectations of privacy (I wish we could move away from emails entirely), but because I don’t want to be so much at the mercy of what google decides, especially with their recent push on id verification left and right, and ties to this dystopian government. I’m gradually moving away from other of their products too.
If I was browsing options today, I’d also look into calendar and contact management / importing. Proton makes it easy to import existing calendars and they are kept in sync. They’re still improving the calendar features though, so maybe you’ll miss a thing or two there. Contacts are also easy to import, but there’s no feature to keep them in sync with what google has, if you need a transition period. There is a merging/deduplication feature though.
And if you’re using google workspaces, I couldn’t figure out how to send an email from proton using the work domain, so that’s something I still need to use the gmail web client or e.g. thunderbird.
If you don’t want anyone to read your emails the best method is just to encrypt the main text with PGP keys, note you cant really encrypt the email’s metadata though . If you’re looking for a good email experience I would 100% recommend buying a custom domain I love mine.
There are not a lot of choices. People in the US typically either use Google, Microsoft, Apple, or their ISP. Beyond that you have to go to a hosting provider or host your own. One of the most important things of a mail provider is that it support MTA-STS. There are many providers in the EU that do. Not many in the US. It is also important to pay for an email product, rather then be the product.
Regarding MTA-STS. Fastmail did not the last time I checked, you should check if that has change. Google does. Microsoft was testing it but I don’t know how that turned out. There are EU providers that do including Proton does support MTA-STS last time I checked.
I actually use Namecheap cpanel email. They don’t do MTA-STS but the do allow opportunistic transport encryption. Technically I should be able to configure incoming MTA-STS but I’ve not gotten it to work. Maybe just does not, or maybe I’ve not put enough effort in to do it.
