Hi everyone! Since I was absolutely fucked by Skiff (thank fuck I didn’t pay for it) I’m looking for a new email provider :) I’m not sure I like how proton is transforming into a full on suit, I only need email. Any other recommendations or is proton my only choice really?

55 points

A provider having more than 50 users and offering more than one service doesn’t make them evil. Use Proton. They are the best, and they’re not likely to disappear. If you intentionally seek out small services because you think being an underdog is some sort of privacy merit badge, you’ll get “absolutely fucked” over and over again.

Also, you should consider paying for the products you use to encourage sane and user-friendly business models. But that’s a different discussion altogether.

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12 points
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It’s not about “using an underdog”, I just like “do one thing and do it well” philosophy you know. I don’t need drives, calendars, vpn, password manager, in one thing. I want a simple email provider that’s it.

Yeah skiff wasn’t like that but it seemed not too push it as much, just “hey it’s there you can use it” not full on products. Maybe I’m just being stupid about it idk

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22 points

You can simply ignore all of these other features. Proton offers an email-only plan.

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1 point
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True… People also recommend having your own domain so I can switch easily in the future. Having my surname seems a bit… un-privacy-like lol Any recommendations for that?

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6 points

Proton = No SMTP/IMAP support.

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2 points

You can use Proton Mail Bridge to set up SMTP/IMAP with your email app of choice. Obviously, you’re still stuck with using the bridge app on your device in order to get it working.

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-3 points

Waiting for the day their business team devices the bridge is too much freedom you should get all locked-in.

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1 point

They support IMAP though their bridge but you will have to be on a paid plan.

The free plan is pretty terrible anyways so if you actually want to use proton you will have to pay.

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1 point

Yes and you can’t run a bridge on anything and they might discontinue it at any time and you’ll become hostage. So much for self-hosting, independence and open-source solutions.

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-5 points

proton requires them to use their software and adds a footer with protonmail ads to all of your emails without an option to disable it without paying up

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4 points

I think you need to read up on the reasons why services like GMail and Facebook are free.

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3 points
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yes but they shouldn’t be hiding that fact deep in the settings
also I don’t care about encryption and stuff if it prevents me from using my favorite mail client without installing their bridge software

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1 point

Ads are harmless. The harmful things is JavaScript.

requires them to use their software

And their software doesn’t even have an option to display HTML messages as it is plain text messages.

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1 point

by software i mean the imap bridge, but i agree that the official client is pretty bad too

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30 points

Another vote here for Fastmail. I also like Posteo, Mailbox and mxroute, but these are not as fully featured - which may be perfect for you if you’re after email only. What I really like about Fastmail is that on top of being a customer-focused business (rather than a customer is the product business), they offer a really snappy web interface with excellent search - and they are extremely compliant with email standards, building everything on JMAP.

I do not like Proton or Tutanota. I have used both, including using Proton as my main email account for the past two years. I do believe they are probably the best when it comes to encryption and privacy standards, but for me it’s at far too much cost. Encrypted email is almost pointless - the moment you email someone who isn’t using a Proton (or PGP encryption), then the encryption is lost. Or even if they just forward an email to someone outside your chain. I would argue that if you need to send a message to someone with enough sensitivity to require this level of encryption, email is the wrong choice of protocol.

For all that Proton offer, it results in broken email standard compliance, awful search capability and reliance on bridge software or being limited to their WebUI and apps. And it’s a shame, because I really like the company and their mission.

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3 points

Don’t even need proton for that, just use delta chat.

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20 points

I’m happy with fastmail. Remember that must people you email are probably on Google (Gmail) so there is only so much you can accomplish in terms of email privacy whatever you do.

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15 points
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Check out Posteo. It’s affordable and focuses on privacy.

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8 points
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I’ve been using Posteo for years. I can recommend.

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14 points
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What’s your objection to Proton? You don’t have to use any of the other products, and the free tier is perfectly usable last I checked (granted many years ago). Not sure what your concern is

Edit: downvoting without replying doesn’t tell us what the concern is. Y’all weird

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