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Pros
Pro Anonymous
No tracking or logging of personally identifiable information
Unlike competing services, we do not save any tracking information. By default, we do not record metadata such as the IP addresses used to log into accounts. As we have no way to read encrypted emails, we do not serve targeted advertisements. To protect user privacy, ProtonMail does not require any personally identifiable information to register
Pro Open Source
Open Source Cryptography
Time-tested and trusted encryption algorithms
We use only secure implementations of AES, RSA, along with OpenPGP. Furthermore, all of the cryptographic libraries we use are open source. By using open source libraries, we can guarantee that the encryption algorithms we are using do not have clandestinely built in back doors. ProtonMail's open source software has been thoroughly vetted by security experts from around the world to ensure the highest levels of protection.
Pro ProtonMail 2.0 to the world. We are happy to announce that we are also releasing ProtonMail 2.0 as open source software!
From the beginning, we have been strong proponents of open source software and the core cryptography libraries that we develop and use have been open source from day one.
Today, we are happy to take the next step and completely open source our webmail interface. This means all the ProtonMail code that runs on your computer is now available for inspection. We hope that by opening up our platform, we will encourage additional contributors to help us make ProtonMail the world’s most secure email service.
Our move to open source has actually been coming for a long time. While it would have also been possible to open source ProtonMail 1.x, we felt that such a move was not appropriate given that the code was intended to be deprecated. By open sourcing ProtonMail 2.0, we are open sourcing the future of ProtonMail. As we continue to expand our private email service with mobile apps, you can look forward to more open source announcements as our code base matures.
ProtonMail 2.0 can be viewed online on Github at the link below. As a nod to our CERN and MIT roots, we are releasing under the permissive MIT license. Let us know if you do something cool with our code.
Pro Zero Access to User Data
Your encrypted data is not accessible to us
ProtonMail's zero access architecture means that your data is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to us. Data is encrypted on the client side using an encryption key that we do not have access to. This means we don't have the technical ability to decrypt your messages, and as a result, we are unable to hand your data over to third parties. With ProtonMail, privacy isn't just a promise, it is mathematically ensured. For this reason, we are also unable to do data recovery. If you forget your password, we cannot recover your data.
Demo showing email cryptography End-to-end encryption means that no one but the intended recipient can read the message
Open Source Cryptography
Time-tested and trusted encryption algorithms
We use only secure implementations of AES, RSA, along with OpenPGP. Furthermore, all of the cryptographic libraries we use are open source. By using open source libraries, we can guarantee that the encryption algorithms we are using do not have clandestinely built in back doors. ProtonMail's open source software has been thoroughly vetted by security experts from around the world to ensure the highest levels of protection.
Pro Self Destructing Messages
With ProtonMail, emails are no longer permanent
You can set an optional expiration time on ProtonMail’s encrypted emails, so they will be automatically deleted from the recipient’s inbox once they have expired. This technology works for both emails sent to other ProtonMail users, and encrypted emails sent to non-ProtonMail email addresses. Similar to SnapChat, we’ve added a way for you to have ephemeral communication.
Pro Built-in end-to-end encryption
Messages are encrypted at all times
Messages are stored on ProtonMail servers in encrypted format. They are also transmitted in encrypted format between our servers and user devices. Messages between ProtonMail users are also transmitted in encrypted form within our secure server network. Because data is encrypted at all steps, the risk of message interception is largely eliminated.