Proton Mail
Swiss encrypted email with zero-access architecture and over 100 million users behind it.
About
Proton Mail launched in 2013 from Geneva, founded by scientists including Andy Yen, and is now the largest encrypted email provider, with the company reporting over 100 million people across its services. It uses end-to-end encryption and a zero-access architecture: mail is encrypted on your device before it reaches Proton's servers, so Proton itself cannot read it, and it is open source and independently audited. It interoperates with PGP for outside users and supports password-protected encrypted messages to non-Proton recipients, plus encrypted calendar, drive, and password manager under the same account.
The free tier is genuinely usable: 1GB of storage, one address, full encryption, 150 messages a day, and basic calendar. Mail Plus costs $4.99 a month ($3.99 billed annually) for 15GB, 10 addresses, one custom domain, and hide-my-email aliases; Proton Unlimited at $9.99 a month bundles the VPN, 500GB storage, and the password manager. The honest frictions: free accounts are purged after a year of inactivity with no recovery, the free storage is thin, and heavy Gmail users will miss some collaboration polish. Proton accepts cash, bank transfer, and Bitcoin through account credits, and it publishes transparency reports on legal requests. No published independent benchmarks for delivery speed or uptime.
What it can do
- End-to-end and zero-access encrypted email
- Password-protected messages to non-Proton users
- PGP interoperability with outside providers
- Open-source clients, independently audited
- Custom domains and hide-my-email aliases on paid plans
- Encrypted calendar, drive, and password manager included
- Cash, bank transfer, and Bitcoin payment options
- Public transparency reports on legal requests
Setup
Create a free account at proton.me (no card); add a custom domain and aliases with Mail Plus or bundle everything with Proton Unlimited.
Prerequisites
None for the free tier; paid plans for custom domains and more storage.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 9/10
Scored 9/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: 2026 reviews confirm the 2013 Geneva founding, Swiss jurisdiction, zero-access encryption, open-source audited clients, the free tier (1GB, 1 address, 150 msgs/day), Mail Plus at $4.99/mo, Unlimited at $9.99/mo, crypto payment options, and the 1-year free-account inactivity purge. Strengths: the reference encrypted email provider with a real free tier and ecosystem. Docked for: (1) free accounts are deleted after a year of inactivity with no recovery; (2) thin free storage and missing Gmail-grade collaboration polish; (3) server-side code is not open source. License: proprietary service; clients open source.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 10.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 9.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 7.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 9.0/10
- · Launched 2013 in Geneva by Andy Yen and team; Swiss jurisdiction
- · Zero-access end-to-end encryption; independently audited open-source clients
- · 100M+ users across Proton services (provider-stated)
- · PGP interoperability; password-protected mail to non-Proton users
- · Free: 1GB, 1 address, 150 msgs/day, basic calendar and Pass
- · Free accounts purged after 1 year of inactivity with no recovery
- · Cash, bank transfer, Bitcoin accepted via account credits; public transparency reports
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.