What are the best secure email providers?

Question

5

Options
Considered

33

User
Recs.

Mar 22, 2022

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

4 Options Considered

Best secure email providers	Price	End-to-end encryption	Free tier
-- Tutanota	Free / Premium	-	-
-- ProtonMail	Free / Premium	Yes	Yes
-- Posteo	1	-	-
-- Mailfence	Free/Premium	Yes	Yes

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score 11 · Answer 1

Tutanota

Top Pro

Free

A free account is available. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support PGP encryption

Top Pro

End to end encryption

Client supports end to end encryption between Tutanota users, no users have a web interface to encrypted mails. See More

Top Con

No support for IMAP and SMTP

You can't use your favorite email client. See More

Top Pro

Based in Germany

Tutanota's servers are located in Germany, which has strict privacy protection laws, even stronger than those of Switzerland. See More

Top Con

No IMAP connectivity option

Given that clients exist for most any popular platform, this may not be a con for you, but if you require IMAP access, then ProtonMail may be a better choice. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

See All

score 9 · Answer 2

ProtonMail

Top Pro

Privacy respecting

User data is protected by strict privacy laws because all servers are located in Switzerland. See More

Top Con

Still lacks some useful features

At the moment, there is no calendar feature and contact management is quite poor. They will, however, start to work on it. See More

Specs

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Free tier:Yes

Open source:Yes

Web interface:Yes

Top Pro

Mobile apps

Apps for Android and iOS available. See More

Top Con

Ties to US Investors

ProtonMail takes money from US Investors. See More

Top Pro

Built-in end-to-end encryption

Top Con

Encryption Keys are stored server-side

The keys are generated during account creation. Using your existing keys is prohibited and ProtonMail must store and control the private keys. Encryption cannot be secure unless the user controls the private keys. See More

Top Pro

No personal information needed

To create an account you don't need to give any personal information, just choose username, domain, and password. Even the recovery email address is optional. See More

Top Con

No IMAP and SMTP support for basic accounts

Basic accounts are restricted to the Protonmail web client. Support for IMAP and SMTP is available with a paid subscription only, and as such with basic accounts it is not possible to send and receive email with external applications. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

Top Con

Overly Expensive for Desktop Support

Top Con

Javascript-intensive Webmail

Free accounts are required to use Javascript webmail and encryption is done in the browser. Javascript cryptography is harmful for security and should not be used. See More

Top Con

Requires phone number for login

If you sign up over Tor or a VPN, it will require email or phone number verification. Email verification is disabled if you use an email that isn't from Google or Outlook. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 3

Posteo

Top Pro

No Ads

Posteo is ad-free with no ads when using their email services. See More

Top Pro

No Personal Information required to register

Registration through VPN is allowed and no personal information is required, just a username and password. See More

Top Pro

Very Secure

Posteo does very well on Dismail's server list and it supports end-to-end encryption with PGP. This can be done in the browser or with an email client, and Posteo has a help section on how to set up encryption. See More

Top Pro

Support for IMAP/SMTP

Posteo supports email clients such as Thunderbird and Claws Mail which will allow for greater control over encryption and user's private keys. See More

See All

score 5 · Answer 4

Mailfence

Top Pro

Standard Protocols

Support for standard protocols such as Imap, Pop, SMTP. See More

Top Con

No IMAP and SMTP support for free accounts

MerryEostre's Experience

Very user-friendly. I love the fact that my data is safe. Pretty cheap, what else do you need? See More

Specs

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Free tier:Yes

Supported platforms:Androis/iOS/Web

Open source:No

See All Specs

Top Pro

Mobile App

A PWA mobile app for Android and iOS is available. See More

SmartHel's Experience

Mailfence is my preferred secure email solution. They have great support and can be used with any email client because they support standard protocols such as imap, pop, smtp, Caldav, Carddav,... See More

Top Pro

End to end encryption

Client supports end to end encryption. Both shared password encryption as well as OpenPGP. See More

Top Pro

Based in Belgium

Mailfence's servers are located in Belgium, which has strict privacy protection laws. See More

Top Pro

Free

A free account is available. See More

See All

What are the best secure email providers?

4 Options Considered

Tutanota

My Recommendation for Tutanota

My Recommendation for Tutanota

Free

Doesn't support PGP encryption

End to end encryption

No support for IMAP and SMTP

Based in Germany

No IMAP connectivity option

Open Source

ProtonMail

My Recommendation for ProtonMail

My Recommendation for ProtonMail

Privacy respecting

Still lacks some useful features

Mobile apps

Ties to US Investors

Built-in end-to-end encryption

Encryption Keys are stored server-side

No personal information needed

No IMAP and SMTP support for basic accounts

Open Source

Overly Expensive for Desktop Support

Javascript-intensive Webmail

Requires phone number for login

Posteo

My Recommendation for Posteo

My Recommendation for Posteo

No Ads

No Personal Information required to register

Very Secure

Support for IMAP/SMTP

Mailfence

My Recommendation for Mailfence

My Recommendation for Mailfence

Standard Protocols

No IMAP and SMTP support for free accounts

Mobile App

End to end encryption

Based in Belgium

Free

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Skizzle Email

My Recommendation for Skizzle Email

My Recommendation for Skizzle Email

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