Tuta
The German encrypted email that encrypts your subject lines too, with post-quantum cryptography and the cheapest serious paid plan.
About
Tuta, renamed from Tutanota in 2023, is an encrypted email and calendar provider from Hanover, Germany, run by Tutao GmbH since 2011. Its signature claim is that it is the only major provider to encrypt email subject lines by default, and it has implemented post-quantum cryptography ahead of its competitors. The clients are open source under the GPLv3 and have been since 2014, with code on GitHub at tutao/tutanota, and it was the first email provider available on F-Droid. Encrypted calendars, an encrypted address book, and password-protected emails to outside recipients round out the privacy story.
Pricing is the friendliest among serious encrypted providers. The free plan includes 1GB storage, a calendar, and full encryption; Revolutionary costs EUR 3 a month for 20GB, 15 aliases, 3 custom domains, and unlimited calendars and labels; Legend runs EUR 8 a month for 500GB and 30 addresses. The tradeoffs are the proprietary protocol (no PGP support and no IMAP, so no third-party clients), the server code staying closed, and Germany's 14 Eyes membership, although Tuta has fought and won legal battles defending user privacy. No published independent benchmarks for delivery or uptime.
What it can do
- End-to-end encryption including subject lines
- Post-quantum cryptography implementation
- Open-source GPLv3 clients since 2014, on F-Droid
- Encrypted calendar and address book
- Password-protected emails to non-Tuta users
- Custom domains and aliases on paid plans
- No ads, no tracking, GDPR-compliant German hosting
- Free plan with 1GB storage and full encryption
Setup
Create a free account at tuta.com; upgrade to Revolutionary (EUR 3/mo) for aliases and custom domains.
Prerequisites
None for the free tier; use the official apps since IMAP is not supported.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: 2026 reviews confirm the 2011 German founding, the 2023 rename from Tutanota, subject-line encryption, post-quantum cryptography, GPLv3 open-source clients since 2014, the free 1GB tier, and Revolutionary at EUR 3/mo. Strengths: unique subject-line encryption, cheapest serious paid plan, and fully open clients. Docked for: (1) proprietary protocol with no PGP and no IMAP, locking you into the official apps; (2) server code closed and Germany is a 14 Eyes member; (3) smaller ecosystem and fewer integrations than Proton. License: proprietary service; clients GPLv3.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 8.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 6.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 8.0/10
- · Tutao GmbH, Hanover Germany; founded 2011; renamed from Tutanota in 2023
- · Only major provider encrypting email subject lines by default (provider-claimed)
- · Post-quantum cryptography implemented
- · Clients open source GPLv3 since 2014 (tutao/tutanota); first email provider on F-Droid
- · No PGP support; no IMAP/POP3 (proprietary protocol, official apps only)
- · Server code remains closed source
- · Germany is 14 Eyes; Tuta has won legal battles defending user privacy
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.