The 7 Most Secure Email Services for Better Privacy - 56juqingba: How-to instructions you can trust

Spread the love

Tired of prying eyes scanning your emails before you even get a chance? Switch from the common big names to more secure email services for better privacy.

Content

Table of Contents

1. Most Compatible Service: Disroot

Platforms: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

Pricing: Free with premium options

Disroot was born in Amsterdam in 2015 as a desire to break free from services controlled and monitored by corporations. The team wanted to create a variety of communication and storage services that were respectful of users’ freedom and privacy, decentralized, open, and federated.

Disroot is ad-free, non-tracking, and doesn’t snoop around asking for your personal information, such as your address or favorite color of boxer shorts. You even get 1 GB of storage for free. Its browser-based client, Roundcube, is easy to look at and use, but secures messages with PGP encryption. Or, use it with a variety of email clients.

Disroot’s partnered with all the right companies, too, offering secure cloud storage with Nextcloud and a cloud word processor in the form of EtherPad.

2. Best for OpenPGP Encryption: Mailfence

Platforms: Web, Android, iOS

Pricing: Free with premium options

Mailfence does the whole business of privacy a little differently from other services on this list. It uses OpenPGP public key encryption, which offers end-to-end encryption based on a key that you share with the recipients of your emails. This whole feature is optional, of course, so you don’t have to go through the whole rigmarole for every mundane email you send.

Mailfence can’t see into or scan your emails because of the encryption. This service, which also offers calendar, cloud storage and collaboration features, was made in the wake of the Snowden revelations by a group of developers who are passionate about your rights to online privacy.

Enjoy up to 1 GB of storage completely free, with support for 500 MB of emails and 500 MB of documents. I, personally, like the premium Base plan that gives you 10 aliases and 11 GB of storage.

3. Best All-in-One Solution: ProtonMail

Platforms: Web, Android, iOS

Pricing: Free with premium options

ProtonMail is one of the most popular secure email services on this list. Its servers are located in Switzerland, which means the U.S. government cannot forcibly shut them down or order them to produce information. In any case, the emails are encrypted end to end, which makes it impossible to intercept and decipher them. Also, ProtonMail does not log IP addresses, so you are truly anonymous using this service.

Creating a ProtonMail account is free, though you can upgrade to a premium account to access more features. As with similar free services, you get 1 GB of storage.

Premium plans include access to other apps, such as calendar, cloud storage, VPN, and password manager.

4. Best Overall Open Source: Tuta Mail

Platforms: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Pricing: Free with premium options

Tuta, formerly Tutanota, is a completely open-source and free email service that offers end-to-end encryption of emails. Unlike many competitors, all email clients and services are completely open source. The team even created an Android app on F-Droid for those who want to avoid Google, though you can encrypt email in Gmail.

For non-Tuta users, once the intended recipient receives your encrypted email, they will not be able to view the subject, attachment or message unless they can produce a password (which both must have agreed upon previously) that will unlock the contents of your message.

For free accounts, you get 1 GB of storage and no aliases, but you can upgrade to get 15 aliases, custom domains, and more. You can send unencrypted emails, but only do this with emails that aren’t private or important.

5. Best for Businesses: Hushmail

Platforms: Web, iOS, Windows, macOS, Custom setups

Pricing: $50/year for personal, Business starts at $10.79/month

Hushmail’s been around for a while, making it one of the more well-known secure email services. The platform never has access to the content of your email, which is protected by encrypted passwords – so no prying eyes. It’s designed with small businesses, healthcare companies, and law firms in mind, but personal plans are available.

Send emails normally or encrypt them. For those who don’t use Hushmail, they can only read encrypted messages on a secure page. They’ll have to set up a passcode to access secured messages. All of the usual spam-filtering, blacklisting and anonymity options are in place, too, including an unlimited number of email aliases to keep your identity private.

Unfortunately, Hushmail doesn’t have a free version anymore, although there’s a 60-day money-back guarantee. Storage starts at 10 GB for personal accounts.

6. Best Green Provider: Posteo.de

Platforms: Web

Pricing: $1/month

Posteo.de is a Berlin-based company that takes its security features seriously. Easily encrypt everything, including contacts. The platform uses TLS encryption for sending, receiving, and during transmission. If the recipient’s email provider doesn’t support encryption, the message won’t arrive in their inbox, and you’ll be notified.

Sign up anonymously and set up 2FA to further protect your account. While there is no mobile app, a web interface and web apps are available, and you can add it to your favorite POP3 and IMAP email clients. While there is no free plan, you get 2 GB of storage, with each additional gig costing just $0.25/month.

Not only is Postseo.de open-source, but it’s 100% green. You get privacy and that warm, fuzzy feeling of helping the environment, too.

7. Kolab Now

Platforms: Web

Pricing: $5.50/month

Kolab Now is another of the open-source secure email services, with its servers completely hosted and managed in Switzerland, just like ProtonMail, so your private data is never crawled. The service targets small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those who want to pass privileged information through email.

It offers full end-to-end encryption, though you don’t have to use it for all messages. For businesses, it’s HIPAA, PCI, and GDPR compliant. While it’s not free, you get 5 GB of storage, which you can increase up to 100 GB if you need it. Access your mailbox via the web interface or your favorite IMAP, SMTP, ActiveSync, and CalDAV and CardDAV email clients.

The base plan is email only. Or, upgrade to get other features, such as an integrated note-taking app, email-tagging support, contacts and calendar, shared folders and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do recipients need to use the same service?

No senders do not need to use the same service as recipients. Secure email services typically let you send unencrypted messages to other users. Plus, many offer other encryption options for sending to other services.

Is there a way to secure my current email account?

Most services offer import options to help you transfer your email to another account, but if you just want to keep your current account, consider SecureMyEmail. It offers encryption for most popular email services and is free for one account.

How can I protect my privacy while messaging?

You deserve privacy while messaging, too. For Android users, try these SMS apps focused on privacy. Or, try these privacy-focused WhatsApp alternatives.

Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Crystal Crowder.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up for all newsletters.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe

Crystal Crowder –
Staff Writer

Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.