Proton Mail

What hackers pick instead

• FastmailA paid email service praised for its fast web app, custom domain and alias support, easy migration and responsive human support, though critics worry about US legal reach.388recommend
• Tuta MailRecommended for privacy-focused end-to-end encrypted email with no ads or tracking and a generous cheap tier, though critics say it lacks IMAP and needs its own client.49recommend
• Rootshell email serviceRecommended as an independent, non-corporate end-to-end encrypted email service that passed an email privacy tester. Critics say emails are decrypted on the server, undermining the E2EE claim.7recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 519 comments. Each links to the original.

1. It's not perfect, and for all I know they're sharing my info with baby-seal-clubbing pedophiles, but it sorta feels good to have escaped the thousand-year-data-reich.

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Google explains why some new Gmail accounts only get 5GB storage”

2. it's just the best available commercial clearweb host that still has to follow all the laws and comply with warrants, but won't be arbitrarily selling your metadata

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

3. Maybe Proton’s copy needs some work, but another page on their website very clearly explains that emails aren’t encrypted when an email leave the ecosystem.

   Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Leaving Proton Mail”

4. I've used Proton for a couple of years and have never had problems before today, so I think their engineering is of a high standard.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Proton AG Services is currently experiencing some issues”

5. I left Fastmail for Proton and am very happy with it. It improves/changes in fits and starts sometimes, but support is always great

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

6. Proton does offer more privacy than mainstream providers, because they have less information to hand over when courts compel them.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”

7. I do like Proton Mail. The main thing I hate is how often the app and web versions get out of sync for read and archive states.

   Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Migrating to the EU”

8. Proton makes safer, more private (than, say, Gmail) email a possibility for people who don't have much technical knowledge

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Proton Meet”

9. your emails are E2EE at rest in your inbox, so in the event of seizure or a subpoena they can't hand over anything usable

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”

10. I'd pick Proton over Google or Microsoft, and that's not only a political choice but a product quality choice as well.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Leaving Proton Mail”

11. The way ProtonMail works in the browser is a nice way for Proton to minimise the data they collect, but it's not E2EE

    Mixed · Oct 2026 · in “Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen”

12. they’re the only credible game in town for an email/drive service in the cloud that doesn’t have AI data mining risks

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Mount Proton Drive on Linux using rclone and systemd”

13. this should be a point in favor of proton, seeing as how the only data they were able to hand over was payment data

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Proton is funding the French far right on YouTube”

14. the main trade-off for me is that you are forced to use their apps on mobile, and those apps are pretty barebones

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “The Future of Email”

15. I'd rather pay a few US dollars a month to a company that at least doesn't seem based on selling more-more-more

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Life Without Google”

16. There are plenty of problems with Proton but AFAIK not genuinely encrypting customer data is not one of them.

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)”

17. I've had no issues with the app lately, but it's still missing the feature of building a local search index

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)”

18. paid service that dont have ads and giving privacy is non existent either, we have proton mail for example

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Europeans' health data sold to US firm run by ex-Israeli spies”

19. I use protonmail now -- I think the "free" model enables providers to shrug and go "hey you don't pay us"

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Google is 'gradually rolling out' option to change your gmail.com address”

20. I use the second one as well, but I use it so I can use VPN on some common devices the family use as well

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)”

21. At least the information that they have access to (and is therefore discoverable) is limited by design.

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “You may loose your company email, but never lose your emails and contacts again”

22. Considering how much I get for my Proton subscription I doubt I'll look for an alternative for a while.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

23. it's cheaper to pay for a family plan and get a VPN, password manager, and storage along with the email

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Gmail AI gets more intrusive”

24. They say that the contents of your emails, calendars, notes, passwords, etc are not accessible to them

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”

25. I've always had a very good experience with them. It's cheap, fast and their spam filter works well.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

26. No access via standard protocols. Supposedly this is because they E2EE your emails as soon as they receive them, meaning you need a special client to read the emails.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

27. Their end-to-end encryption is pointless because the vast majority of any recipients will just leak the plaintext emails via their own account providers anyway.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

28. Yes, paying by crypto prevents Proton from disclosing your identity that way. Is there anything preventing Proton from disclosing the email content or metadata?

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”

29. it absolutely should be news when the company who heavily promoted themselves to normies as safe, encrypted, and private is sharing customers data

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

30. Proton Mail not supporting filters for message bodies is brutal, I understand why they don't do it but that really lowers its usability for me.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “I Moved My Digital Stack to Europe”

31. Protonmail is widely believed to be compromised and some evidence supporting this has come forth in two separate incidents in the last year.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data”

32. When a CEO calls people "losers" for caring about security, and when the CEO considers it a failure that they don't have hockey stick growth

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'”

33. ProtonMail also does this. Someone actually told me they got an email from me and when I checked it said “this mail was AI generated”.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Gmail AI gets more intrusive”

34. But people subscribe to Proton because they want to move away from big tech. What's the point of paying them if they get as bad.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

35. They really haven't improved Mail in a long time now. Still can't use your own keys, still can't have a clean unmangled export

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

36. Proton encrypting your inbox is basically useless since they could read your email in between TLS termination and encryption.

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'”

37. Yen said this is the last year that Proton will hire engineers at all, and instead only hire people to build things with AI.

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning”

38. I stopped being a ProtonMail customer once they began chasing side projects instead of polishing their actual offering.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier”

39. They are moving to Germany, but will quickly find that they are going to face the same surveillance and privacy issues

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

40. Proton is one of the very very few who do not tie a new email account to your identity via phone number, payment info or alternative email

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”