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I have two (paid) Mailbox.org accounts running for the last several years. No problem at all and they include several features that I use on a regular basis like email aliases (not just a + email, but unique emails), disposable email, contacts and calendar that I can easily sync to my phone, etc.
One uses a custom domain name and the other is just a mailbox.org address.
I prefer tuta over proton, but both are good
I’ve not used Tuta but currently use Proton. What do you prefer from Tuta over Proton? Genuinely curious.
Tuta has a linux desktop app, and their android app is on fdroid and doesn't depend on google play services. Plus they use green energy for their servers
I was tired of proton because their linux vpn app is pretty awful, especially if you use iwd instead of networkmanager like me. Plus they don't even support ipv6. So I was switching to mullvad vpn (which has great linux support and ipv6), and then for the price of just email tuta was cheaper and better on all the things I mentioned without any downsides (to me), so I switched.
I like having email separate from my VPN provider to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket
I don't currently use Proton VPN but have in the past and may in the future
It’s sad to me that the answer can’t be “the one you run yourself.”
There’s theoretically no reason why everyone couldn’t run their own mail service who had a domain name. But with spam practices being what they are, self-hosted mail will get binned in most places.
deleted
You can, but it is difficult. Spam prevention has made life hard for those that want to host email.
Highly recommend protonmail which also has a free tier.
Don’t worry about e2ee: Even if you get the most expensive plan from e.g. Proton, it’s not e2ee unless both parties use Proton. There is a free, “easy” way to realize true e2e: OpenPGP in Thunderbird (convenient), GnuPG (more secure), etc.
As for mailbox.org: I used it before but it showed Google reCaptcha, which was an obvious red flag:
cf. [Security and GDPR Issue] ProtonMail includes Google Recaptcha for Login, every single time. #242
Also, technical score of mailbox.org has been relatively low, not improving: https://internet.nl/mail/mailbox.org/1080449/ (Don’t worry too much about this score, though. It’s only technical; human factors (philosophies, trust, etc.) are more important when it comes to privacy.) This is not a recommendation. DYOR; ultimately, believe your own intuition.
I agree. I use Proton and I have exactly one service which supports GPG. It's a cherry on top but it's not all that useful.
The big thing is to use a trustworthy service that you pay for. It's not bulletproof but at least the incentive is there to keep your email private and away from advertisers.
Actually, Proton + your local key = don’t work very good. Usually you’ll have to use a key pair generated by Proton—sharing your sec with the provider is not good.
Nevertheless, Proton is 100 times better than Google to be sure. Those who are trying to ditch Google, Proton and Tuta are two good options to consider, also recommended by PrivacyGuides. For those who had ditched Big Tech and now starting to wonder if Proton is okay… that’s a bit tricky, still I say Proton is nod bad. I had recommended Proton to my friends until the French activist incident, followed by a few more bad incidents. Yet it’s understandable that Proton must obey it if they get a valid court order… If you’re a normal, daily user, Proton is good enough (if not the best), albeit a bit overpriced.
proton has their own in-house captcha system now :)
Fastmail
I'll throw in protonmail and skiff.
The main downside of Tuta free for me is that you can't create filters for free. The main downside of proton free is that you can't remove their signature...
What kind of privacy are you after?
I am on a grandfathered Tuta plan that costs me about $2 CAD a month. I also pay for Proton's premium plan. Both are worth it to me. I get that everybody has a budget but at the same time 10 Euros a year is a tight one when dealing with privacy friendly alternatives.
Your boundaries on cost make it tough, but aside from Tuta you might have a look at mail.ee which has very basic features (no E2EE for example) and a retro web UI, but very high storage limits. They offer free accounts too, and support SMTP/IMAP/POP3. It's Latvian-based so comes with the "100% GDPR compliance" feature if that's of interest.
Zoho.com is another that comes to mind. It's very feature-heavy/slick (you can tell they're attempting to market mainly to small businesses looking for a cheaper Google Workspace), has been around a long time and I've read positive comments from others about the service. It's an Indian company though so you don't get GDPR protections (or similar) as far as I know. The low-end plans are in your price range and I think they still offer a free plan - that's what I have anyway.
I've been a Fastmail customer for decades now and it's exactly what I want a mail service to be, but it's out of your price range and has no free tier.