Hi everyone! Since I was absolutely fucked by Skiff (thank fuck I didn’t pay for it) I’m looking for a new email provider :) I’m not sure I like how proton is transforming into a full on suit, I only need email. Any other recommendations or is proton my only choice really?
Check out Posteo. It’s affordable and focuses on privacy.
I’ve been using Posteo for years. I can recommend.
Linux, dovecot, postfix and a large quantity of pain medication.
I know you are not interested in proton but they are the absolute best and you possibly cannot get anything better than their services on the privacy and security end (which they are focused on).
Proton = No SMTP/IMAP support.
How would they be privacy-centric if they supported SMTP and IMAP?
Both support encryption and Lavabit probably had much higher standards than Proton when it comes to privacy and still supported those open protocols. What Proton is doing is pushing for vendor lock-in at any possible point so you’re stuck with what they deem acceptable because it’s easier for them to build a service this way and makes more sense from a business / customer retention perspective.
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So you assume that Proton won’t snitch on you whenever the NSA comes around asking for data?.. And I’m sure Lavabit didn’t snitch on Snowden.
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+1 for proton!
I’ve been using it for years, they’ve never let me down!
A provider having more than 50 users and offering more than one service doesn’t make them evil. Use Proton. They are the best, and they’re not likely to disappear. If you intentionally seek out small services because you think being an underdog is some sort of privacy merit badge, you’ll get “absolutely fucked” over and over again.
Also, you should consider paying for the products you use to encourage sane and user-friendly business models. But that’s a different discussion altogether.
proton requires them to use their software and adds a footer with protonmail ads to all of your emails without an option to disable it without paying up
Ads are harmless. The harmful things is JavaScript.
requires them to use their software
And their software doesn’t even have an option to display HTML messages as it is plain text messages.
I think you need to read up on the reasons why services like GMail and Facebook are free.
yes but they shouldn’t be hiding that fact deep in the settings
also I don’t care about encryption and stuff if it prevents me from using my favorite mail client without installing their bridge software
It’s not about “using an underdog”, I just like “do one thing and do it well” philosophy you know. I don’t need drives, calendars, vpn, password manager, in one thing. I want a simple email provider that’s it.
Yeah skiff wasn’t like that but it seemed not too push it as much, just “hey it’s there you can use it” not full on products. Maybe I’m just being stupid about it idk
You can simply ignore all of these other features. Proton offers an email-only plan.
True… People also recommend having your own domain so I can switch easily in the future. Having my surname seems a bit… un-privacy-like lol Any recommendations for that?
You can have your own custom email domain and for the use cases you want to be “anonymous” use simplelogin or addy.io on top of that.
Paid subscription of Proton bundles SimpleLogin, an email aliasing service. So you can have your personal email with your surname, and when you want to sign up to some shady corpo site, you give them a randomly generated email address using SimpleLogin. All emails sent to that alias email will be automatically forwarded to your personal email. You can then disable the alias email anytime and stop receiving emails.
I have both, a personal domain with my name and also an anonymous generic domain. I use the anonymous one for 90+% of my online stuff, and use a random unique address for every service (you can set up a wildcard in proton, so *@domain.org lands in the same inbox). I would recommend that for two reasons: if you own your anonymous domain you can move your mailprovider anytime (as opposed to using some email masking service), using unique addresses for every service enables you to easily figure out which one leaked your address if you start getting spam. Just make sure to use a generic name for the domain and dont get an exotic TLD (just get a .com .org or something). Some of the non traditional TLDs may negatively impact your spam scores, and its easy to find a .com or .org when you can literally choose any domain name you want.
Proton = No SMTP/IMAP support.
You can use Proton Mail Bridge to set up SMTP/IMAP with your email app of choice. Obviously, you’re still stuck with using the bridge app on your device in order to get it working.
Waiting for the day their business team devices the bridge is too much freedom you should get all locked-in.
If that were to happen, nothing is stopping users from exporting their emails elsewhere.
If that were to happen, nothing is stopping users from exporting their emails elsewhere.
Yet. You’re delusional, nothing is stopping people at gmail to move to another providers, yet they stay. And trust me gmail has a much better export and supports IMAP.
So your privacy-focused email provider recommendation is Gmail?
Obviously not, but just don’t push proton. They’re a company that resorts to predatory tactics and has zero respect for their users.
For what’s worth Lavabit (back before Snowden) had much higher standards than Proton when it comes to privacy and still supported open protocols like IMAP and SMTP. What Proton is doing is pushing for vendor lock-in at any possible point so you’re stuck with what they deem acceptable because it’s easier for them to build a service this way and makes more sense from a business / customer retention perspective.
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Yes and you can’t run a bridge on anything and they might discontinue it at any time and you’ll become hostage. So much for self-hosting, independence and open-source solutions.
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Posteo or Disroot
I second disroot
In my humble opinion, unless you use your account only to receive emails but also to send them, your provider has limited effect on your privacy. That’s why I personally don’t have a use for Tuta, Proton and other similar, super private services (mind you, I’m not saying they arent good). That said, I’ve been a happy customer of mailbox.org for quite a few years and I found them reliable and cheap (if you don’t need a custom domain). Same for Posteo, I guess. At the moment, I’m a paying customer for Zoho email, with quite a few custom domains abd I’m fairly happy. They have a free tier as well and their privacy policy looks good to me.
Just go with Proton. They are the best and the most likely to not sell out/stay relevant in the business
No SMTP/IMAP support.
That’s because they are encrypted. There’s a bridge
I’ve always considered it for my data not to be read by the company and it’s employees but you bring up an interesting point.
That makes them totally unreasonable and pushed for vendor lockin and proprietary applications you can’t run anywhere.
This is hilarious, people here get all pissed about google and microsoft when it comes to email and then pick an alternative that is less open in all possible ways.
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Been using Tuta for a few years and its great. Can use catch-all with my own Domain
I found http://mxroute.com/ they offer sane prices for unlimited emails and domains. I’m in the middle of switching to them.
Tuta, I’ve had an account with them for years. Since the end of 2023 Proton Mail dropped off my list because of its funding for Bellingcat.
https://propagandainfocus.com/proton-mail-imperialist-stooge/
Proton, known for its privacy-centric email service Proton Mail, announced at the end of 2023 that it would help raise money for controversial group Bellingcat, a documented proxy British intelligence operation, through its annual Lifetime Account Charity Fundraiser.
Damn wtf
I’m happy with fastmail. Remember that must people you email are probably on Google (Gmail) so there is only so much you can accomplish in terms of email privacy whatever you do.
Posteo, mailbox.org, Tuta.
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https://mailbox.org/en/ (can have your own custom domain)
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https://tuta.com/ (can have your own custom domain but like Proton you cannot use K9-mail app and similar)
Another vote here for Fastmail. I also like Posteo, Mailbox and mxroute, but these are not as fully featured - which may be perfect for you if you’re after email only. What I really like about Fastmail is that on top of being a customer-focused business (rather than a customer is the product business), they offer a really snappy web interface with excellent search - and they are extremely compliant with email standards, building everything on JMAP.
I do not like Proton or Tutanota. I have used both, including using Proton as my main email account for the past two years. I do believe they are probably the best when it comes to encryption and privacy standards, but for me it’s at far too much cost. Encrypted email is almost pointless - the moment you email someone who isn’t using a Proton (or PGP encryption), then the encryption is lost. Or even if they just forward an email to someone outside your chain. I would argue that if you need to send a message to someone with enough sensitivity to require this level of encryption, email is the wrong choice of protocol.
For all that Proton offer, it results in broken email standard compliance, awful search capability and reliance on bridge software or being limited to their WebUI and apps. And it’s a shame, because I really like the company and their mission.
Don’t even need proton for that, just use delta chat.
I 💜 Protonmail. I generally like proton as a company.This video has really gained my trust for them as a privacy focussed services provider.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Proton, Tuta, or mailbox.org are good choices.
