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Add to SafariWhen comparing GNU Privacy Guard vs ProtonMail, the Slant community recommends GNU Privacy Guard for most people. In the question“What are the best tools/apps/extensions to help keep my data private?” GNU Privacy Guard is ranked 3rd while ProtonMail is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose GNU Privacy Guard is:
GPG works on OS X, Linux, and Windows with [extensive selection of wrappers](https://www.gnupg.org/related_software/frontends.html).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Cross-platform
GPG works on OS X, Linux, and Windows with extensive selection of wrappers.
Pro Multiple types of encryption algorithms
GPG supports public key cryptography (RSA EIGamal, DSA), symmetrical key algorithms (Blowfish, AES, IDEA, etc), cryptographic hash functions (RIPEMD, SHA), and compression (ZIP, ZLIB, BZIP2).
Pro Excellent but...
Open source (the free version of openPgp), other similar products are offered for other platforms (Gpg4win for Windows for example). It is the most secure way to send emails today, close to military encryption. Some negative points: not all mail clients support it and when a key is not only on your hard disk but also on a server (pgp.mit.edu for example), it is complicated to remove it.
Last positive point: it can also be used other than for emails, to encrypt and sign documents. Bitcoin releases are signed with the GPG keys of the developers ;)
Pro Supports paired keys
Allows for encrypted communication.
Pro Volume and individual file encryption
With GPG you can encrypt you whole volume or files individually.
Pro Supports expiring signatures
GPG keys by default expire after a set amount of time. The amount can be changed and this feature can be turned off.
Pro Both CLI and GUI versions available
GPG can be installed as a command line tool, or you can choose between several different GUI frontends available for it.
Pro Open-source and battle-tested
GPG is the oldest and most reliable encryption software available.
Pro Built-in end-to-end encryption
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.
Pro Privacy respecting
User data is protected by strict privacy laws because all servers are located in Switzerland.
Pro Open Source
Pro Mobile apps
Apps for Android and iOS available.
Cons
Con It may be hard to find a GUI frontend that suits your needs
If you decide not to use the CLI version of GPG, it may be hard to find a GPG GUI version that suits your needs simply because of the sheer number of different versions available.
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.
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.
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.
Con Ties to US Investors
ProtonMail takes money from US Investors
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.
Con Overly expensive for desktop support
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.
Con Not fully Open Source
