ProtonMail is one of the most popular email clients on the market. In 2023, ProtonMail had over 100 million active accounts. Many people choose ProtonMail as their primary email client because of its strong focus on email privacy and security, as well as its email management features.
💡 However, although ProtonMail offers a lot of things users love, it’s not enough for some.
If you’re reading this article, you’re likely a ProtonMail user looking for a better alternative. Maybe it’s because you want a more modern email client with a strong focus on email productivity or simply because ProtonMail isn’t fulfilling your needs.
If so, this article will help you find a suitable ProtonMail alternative, as we’ll review the top 8 ProtonMail competitors with their features, pros, and cons.
Why Do You Need a ProtonMail Alternative?
(Hint: Productivity 📲)
ProtonMail is a business email provider based in Switzerland, founded in 2013. ProtonMail is known for its strong focus on privacy. Unlike other popular email providers, it uses client-side encryption to protect the content of your emails and your data before it is sent to its servers.
ProtonMail offers advanced end-to-end and zero-access encryption for your emails and keeps your email communication private and secure. It also provides access to ProtonVPN for an added layer of security.
Although ProtonMail attracts many privacy-concerned people, some users find its email management functionalities insufficient to support their growing emailing needs.
Here are a few reasons why you may need an alternative to ProtonMail:
- ProtonMail offers limited email productivity features: Although ProtonMail offers some email management features like email filters and advanced inbox search, it lacks more advanced email organization features you can find with other email clients.
- ProtonMail’s interface can be confusing: Some users find ProtonMail’s interface a bit confusing to navigate. What’s more, it can be pretty slow to load.
- ProtonMail offers limited storage: ProtonMail offers only 1GB of storage on the free plan with a limit of 150 messages you can send per day. This can be limiting for users who require more space in their inboxes. The pro version offers more storage, but users complain that its cost is too high.
🛠️ ProtonMail Features
ProtonMail’s main focus lies on the security and privacy of your emails. But aside from its excellent security features, it also comes with other benefits, such as:
- Intuitive web app
- Inbox customization
- Email organization with labels, filters, and folders
- Create multiple alias email addresses
- Advanced inbox search
- Access to ProtonDrive, ProtonCalendar, and ProtonVPN
👍🏻 Pros:
- Advanced security and privacy for your emails
- Mobile app for Android and iOS
- Access to other Proton apps
👎🏻 Cons:
- Limited storage on the free version
- Questionable amount of emails you can send
- Loading time may be slow
💰 ProtonMail Pricing
ProtonMail offers a free forever plan with limited features. Its pricing plans for individuals start at €3.99 per user/month (billed annually), and the pricing plans for businesses start at €6.99 per user/month (billed annually).
💬 ProtonMail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
G2 Rating: 4.4/5
Top 9 ProtonMail Alternatives for a Secure and Efficient Email Experience
If you’re using ProtonMail as your primary email client, you might have chosen it because of its strong email privacy and security focus. After all, that’s what ProtonMail excels at. With its servers based in Switzerland, ProtonMail inspires great trust among its users, who choose it mainly due to its privacy features.
However, if you’re looking for a ProtonMail alternative, you likely find ProtonMail too basic, slow, or simply insufficient to cover your email management needs.
Here are the top 9 ProtonMail alternatives for a secure yet more efficient email experience. If you don’t want to or don’t have the time to read it all, skip ahead to the comparative table at the bottom of the article.
1. Canary Mail – Best ProtonMail Alternative Overall
Canary Mail is the most advanced and secure email client on the market. Just like ProtonMail, Canary Mail puts a strong focus on email privacy to keep your communications secure.
Still, Canary Mail’s email privacy features are more modern than ProtonMail’s. Aside from standard features like end-to-end encryption, Canary Mail also offers modern privacy features like a biometric app lock and impersonation detection.
What’s more, Canary Mail surpasses ProtonMail in terms of email management and organization features. For instance, Canary Mail offers features like an AI email writer, an email snooze option, and one-click unsubscribes for a faster and smarter email experience.
🛠️ Canary Mail Features
All in all, Canary Mail, as an app for all email accounts, helps you stay organized and productive while ensuring that no critical updates go unseen, thanks to the list of its unique features, such as:
- AI-based features, including an AI email writer
- One-click unsubscribes
- Push notifications for important emails
- Email snooze option
- Read receipts
- Compatible with all major email services
- Impersonation detection
- Biometric app lock
👍🏻 Pros:
- AI-based features for writing and managing emails
- Robust security features, like PGP and end-to-end encryption
- Modern and intuitive interface
- 28-day free trial
👎🏻 Cons:
- It may take time to learn
- Some might find the AI suggestions either too intrusive or unnecessary
💰 Canary Mail Pricing
Canary Mail offers a free forever plan for personal use. Our paid plans start at $49 per year.
💬 Canary Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.7/5
G2 Rating: 4.4/5
2. Tuta Mail – Best Ad-Free Alternative
Like ProtonMail, Tuta Mail (previously Tutanota) ensures that your email content and user data stay private and secure. Both of these email providers have a strong focus on email privacy, and both are open-source.
Overall, Tuta Mail is very similar to ProtonMail in what it offers. Like ProtonMail, Tuta Mail offers a completely ad-free experience with a set of standard email management features, some email organization options, and a built-in calendar.
Tuta Mail can be a solid alternative to ProtonMail if you’re looking for a green email service, as its servers are run with 100% renewable energy.
🛠️ Tuta Mail Features
Tuta Mail focuses on providing users with an ad-free and secure email experience. Aside from security and privacy measures, here are its other features:
- Register an anonymous email account with no personal information
- Upgrade to paid plans anonymously using Bitcoin, Monero, or cash payments
- Green mail with servers powered with 100% renewable energy
- 1 GB of email storage
- Custom email domain (on paid plans)
- Up to 15 Tuta email aliases (on paid plans)
- Encrypted calendars
👍🏻 Pros:
- Apps for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, and macOS
- A web app you can access from your browser
- Advanced security features for your email, contacts, and calendars
👎🏻 Cons:
- No advanced search function
- Outdated UI/UX
- Loading time may be slow
💰 Tuta Mail Pricing
Tuta Mail offers a free forever plan for personal use only. Its paid plans start at €3 per month (billed annually).
💬 Tuta Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.4/5
G2 Rating: 4.6/5
3. Disroot Mail – Best for Message Encryption
Disroot is a lesser-known email client created in 2015 in the Netherlands. Disroot Mail is a free, decentralized email software with a strong respect for user freedom and data privacy. Disroot Mail is free to use, but it’s open to donations from its happy users.
Disroot Mail provides users with a secure program for their email accounts. It can be accessed via a desktop client or a web interface. The communication between the user and the mail server is encrypted with an SSL certificate, while all the emails sent out from the Disroot servers are encrypted with a TLS certificate.
🛠️ Disroot Mail Features
Disroot Mail’s focus lies in its strong encryption and privacy features. Aside from that, it offers a pretty basic feature suite:
- 1 GB email storage account with email attachments up to 64 MB
- Cross-device compatibility thanks to IMAP/POP3
- A beautiful Disroot flavor skin with multi-device support
- Interface translated into over 80 languages
- Drag-&-drop message management
- Full support for MIME and HTML messages
- Attachment previews
- Threaded message listing
- Email filters and rule
- Email folders management
- Create sub-addresses by using delimiters
- Mailvelope (a browser add-on that encrypts your emails with PGP using Disroot webmail)
👍🏻 Pros:
- Advanced security and privacy for your emails
- Comes with cloud storage and access to other Disroot apps
- Custom domain linking for supporters
👎🏻 Cons:
- Limited storage
- Outdated interface
- Lacks modern email management features
💰 Disroot Mail Pricing
Disroot Mail is free to use with up to 1GB in storage. If you require more storage, you can subscribe to an extended storage plan. These plans start at €11 per year for 5GB of storage.
💬 Disroot Mail Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: N/A
4. Posteo – Best Green Alternative
Posteo is a Germany-based email service that offers encrypted email communication. It’s a paid service, but for those who are okay with spending a little for extra security, Posteo is a solid choice.
Posteo is a privacy-focused, open-source email service based in Germany. It offers an inbox with 2GB of storage, a calendar app, and an address book all in one. Posteo is mainly focused on email privacy, message encryption, and sustainability.
Since 2009, when it was founded, Posteo has been providing sustainable, green email services. This means they use appropriately sized servers to conserve resources, offer employees a sustainable workplace and transportation, and maintain ad-free service.
🛠️ Posteo Features
Posteo’s feature suite is pretty basic, but it can be enough for some users. Here are some of its core features:
- Customizable webmail interface
- 2GB of storage
- Attachments up to 100MB
- Email synchronized with all devices
- Customised filters
- Two alias addresses included
- Unlimited filter addresses
- Highly efficient spam and virus filter
👍🏻 Pros:
- Comes with an inbox, calendar, and address book
- 100% open-source
- Free, personal support
- Very cost-effective
👎🏻 Cons:
- Limited storage
- Extra storage comes at a cost
- Can be too basic for some users
💰 Posteo Pricing
Posteo offers a subscription-based email service at €1 per month.
💬 Posteo Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: N/A
5. Mailbox.org – Best Secure All-in-One Email Client
Mailbox.org is a German secure email service with a focus on encryption and anonymity. Founded in 2014 in Germany, Mailbox.org uses a standard PGP encryption system like most other email clients.
Mailbox.org comes with an integrated suite of tools like office and task management apps, address books, a calendar app, and a video conferencing feature. Overall, Mailbox.org aims to compete against Microsoft’s Office 365 suite and Google’s GSuite. Yet, it’s not as advanced as Office 365 or Gsuite.
🛠️ Mailbox.org Features
Since Mailbox.org competes against tool suites like GSuite, it comes with an integrated online office, which includes apps for calendars, contacts, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Aside from that, Mailbox.org offers the following features:
- Up to 25 @mailbox.org aliases
- Access to an online office
- Video conferencing tool
- Disposable e-mail addresses
- Aliases for your custom domain name
- Spam and virus protection
- Incoming e-mail push notifications
- Mailvelope: PGP in the browser
- Team accounts with up to 10 users
👍🏻 Pros:
- Secure, ad-free, and anonymous
- Access to an online office
- Servers exclusively based in Germany
- Free 30-day trial
👎🏻 Cons:
- No free plan
- The cheapest plan comes with limited features
💰 Mailbox.org Pricing
Although Mailbox.org offers a free 30-day trial, it doesn’t offer a free plan. Its paid subscription plans are pretty cost-effective, though, starting at just €1 per user per month.
💬 Mailbox.org Reviews
Capterra Rating: N/A
G2 Rating: 4.0/5
6. Mailfence – Best for Advanced Email Privacy
Mailfence is a privacy-focused email service provider based in Belgium that offers OpenPGP encrypted emails. It offers robust security features to protect your email privacy, with no ads, no trackers, and no government surveillance. It also has advanced spam filters and message encryption to prevent any privacy slip-ups.
Overall, Mailfence is a comprehensive and secure email solution that stands as a strong alternative to ProtonMail. Yet, Mailfense is a bit more basic than ProtonMail in terms of email management and organization features.
🛠️ Mailfence Features
Without a doubt, security and privacy features are Mailfence’s main focus. The free version also comes with an integrated tool suite with calendars, documents, and groups. Aside from that, it offers the following features on its paid plans:
- Web, POPS, IMAPS, SMTPS, and mobile accesses
- Email aliases
- Your own domain name
- Access to third-party mailboxes
👍🏻 Pros:
- Advanced security and privacy features
- Message encryption
- Access to a calendar feature
- Digital signatures and OpenPGP keys
👎🏻 Cons:
- Basic inbox that lacks personalization
- The web app isn’t very intuitive
- Features on the free plan are limited
💰 Mailfence Pricing
Mailfence is free to use. There are paid plans starting at $3.50 per month (billed yearly) if you need access to advanced features and more storage.
💬 Mailfence Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.3/5
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
7. SpamTitan – Best for Spam Protection
SpamTitan is an anti-spam email filter enhanced with AI-driven threat protection to keep your email communication safe from various cyber threats, like spam, phishing, spoofing, zero-day attacks, and malware.
Overall, SpamTitan is designed to help businesses block various email threats. It effectively blocks 99.9% of spam, malware, ransomware, phishing, and viruses that may land in your inbox.
SpamTitan is a more business-oriented solution compared to ProtonMail, and it’s designed to be fully compatible with the Microsoft Office 365 suite.
🛠️ SpamTitan Features
Without a doubt, SpamTitan’s focus lies on email security, protection, and filtering. Here are some of SpamTitan’s main features:
- Advanced phishing protection
- Advanced threat protection
- Protection from zero-day attacks
- Double anti-virus protection
- Whitelisting, blacklisting, and greylisting
- Additional protection for Office 365
- Data leak prevention
- Dedicated RBLs
- Email content filtering
- Security against infected attachments
- Sandboxing
👍🏻 Pros:
- Quick and easy setup
- 99.99% spam catch rate
- Advanced email protection
- Free 14-day trial
👎🏻 Cons:
- Lacks email management features
- No free plan
- Pricing isn’t transparent
- Can be pricey
💰 SpamTitan Pricing
SpamTitan’s pricing is tailored to IT service providers and end users, such as businesses and organizations. The final price will depend on your field and how many users you need to protect. The pricing for businesses for 10 users starts at $585, billed annually.
💬 SpamTitan Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
G2 Rating: 4.6/5
8. Zivver – Best for Sensitive Email Communication
Zivver is an email client from the Netherlands that focuses on helping businesses keep their sensitive email communication safe. It offers automated email security that helps prevent human error by alerting users to potential security risks and sensitive data in their emails.
Although Zivver focuses on email privacy, its security proposition is entirely different from ProtonMail’s. Zivver is a business-oriented solution that would be a great ProtonMail alternative for companies that handle large amounts of sensitive data in their email communication.
Zivver is suitable for any industry, but it best serves companies in healthcare, legal, finance, public sector, and education.
🛠️ Zivver Features
Zivver is a unique email provider that focuses on automating email security for businesses. Here are some of its core features:
- One-click email encryption
- Send up to 5TB in files
- Sign and send sensitive documents from your inbox
- Revoke access to emails
- Add an expiration date to emails
- Legal proof of delivery
- Exportable insights
👍🏻 Pros:
- Human error prevention
- Automated email security
- Integrates with Outlook, Microsoft Office 365, and Gmail
- Email compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and more
👎🏻 Cons:
- No free plan
- Issues with retrieving older emails
- Limited customization
💰 Zivver Pricing
Zivver’s paid plans start at €8.37 per user per month (billed yearly).
💬 Zivver Reviews
Capterra Rating: 4.1/5
G2 Rating: 4.4/5
Email Clients Like ProtonMail, The Bottom Line
While ProtonMail has set a high standard in the realm of secure email services, there are several alternatives out there that offer unique features and capabilities. Whether you’re an individual looking for a secure email client or a business in need of a comprehensive security solution, there’s an alternative to ProtonMail that can meet your needs. Remember, the best secure email service for you depends on your individual needs and preferences. So, whether you’re currently using ProtonMail, considering the ProtonMail login for the first time, or exploring other options, it’s important to choose the service that best aligns with your requirements.
Best Alternative to ProtonMail, a Comparative Table
| Features | Canary Mail | Tuta Mail | Disroot Mail | Posteo | Mailbox.org | Mailfence | SpamTitan | Zivver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Version |  | | |  | | | | |
| Storage | – | 1GB | 1GB | 2GB | 2GB | 1GB | – | – |
| Pricing | Canary Mail pricing page | $3/month | $11/year | $1/month | $1/month | $3.5/month | – | $8.37/month |
| AI | | | | | | | | |
| Read Receipt | | | | | | | | |
| Snooze Option | | | | | | | | |
| Biometric App Lock | | | | | | | | |
| Push Notification for Important Emails | | | | | | | | |
ProtonMail Competitors, the Bottom Line
Although ProtonMail is a great email provider for privacy-concerned users, it can fall short in terms of email management features, speed, and storage. What’s more, while ProtonMail may be enough for individual and personal use, businesses and larger companies may quickly find it insufficient for their needs.
Luckily, there are several great alternatives to ProtonMail available on the email client market. Whether you’re looking for a secure ProtonMail alternative with modern email management needs or a more robust solution for your business, there’s a suitable ProtonMail alternative for you.
ProtonMail Alternative, the FAQs
❓ What is ProtonMail?
ProtonMail is a privacy-focused email client founded in Switzerland as an independent company by scientists who met at CERN and MIT. All of ProtonMail’s servers are based in Switzerland, benefiting from the country’s strong privacy laws. In 2023, ProtonMail reported having over 100 million active accounts.
❓ Why is ProtonMail not accepted?
Although ProtonMail is widely recognized for its security and privacy features, there may be instances where it’s not accepted for various reasons. For instance, some platforms or services may not be compatible with ProtonMail or have not integrated it into their accepted email providers. What’s more, some regions or organizations may have regulations or policies in place that prevent the use of ProtonMail.
❓ Is ProtonMail better than Gmail?
ProtonMail is a better alternative to Gmail in terms of privacy. Since ProtonMail focuses strongly on email privacy, it doesn’t track your data for advertising purposes. ProtonMail is free from ads, tracking, spying, and data collection.
