this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
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It's me again with another question for recommendation πŸ™ˆ This time I am searching for a new Email-Provider:

Currently I am using mailbox.org (privacy-friendly provider based in Germany). Since my subscription is comming to an end there, I tought about switching to proton mail-plus. What I like about them is, that they have an easy way of creating alias-emails and also support the option to use your own domain.

But maybe you gals and guys have another great provider which offers good features for a good price.

Also: I dont need Cloud-Storage or anything like that, so just mail is fine.

Thx in regards :)

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Personally i use proton with my own domain

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

same here. Proton with own domain!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I use Proton and really like it, but I don’t know how to go about using my own domain (though I am interested in it). How difficult is it for someone without webdev and self hosting experience to get set up?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Step 1. Get your own domain. I bought from porkbun. This was a difficult choice for me, having heard /read cases of domain hijacking by unethical domain sellers. Porkbun had decent reviews. Step2. Follow instructions on protonmail custom domains. Wait for all the greyed out tags to turn green. I was impatient and my domain was marked as spam by Spamhaus. Had to open ticket with them to get off their list step3: enjoy!

additional steps. I moved my dns provider to cloudflare if you wish to go that route.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I only know 2 good providers: Proton and Tuta.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just a reminder: with Proton you can't use IMAP for your email client, you either need their mail client (mobile) or bridge app (desktop).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

While technically true, bridge is ultimately an IMAP server you run yourself ... and they do have good reasons for this design.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Imap and end to end encryption are not possible at the same time.

Bridge exposes an IMAP interface but encrypts everything as Proton would, had you used the web client.

It solves a technical limitation.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Somehow I always end up hating Proton. I was using TOR Browser to create an account and they wouldn’t let me. I had to give either another email or my phone number, and I’m not willing to do either. I even tried creating a throwaway with mailbox.org (works using TOR) and sending the confirmation email there but it never arrived, so I gave up on Proton.

I also tried Tuta and they wouldn’t let me create an account at all using TOR. So eventually I’m sticking with mailbox.org

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This also provides you with more freedom as in freedom as you aren’t forced to use their Clients/Apps.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Yeah I think it’s cool that you can even take control of your private keys. Although I’m thinking it also adds another point of failure / exposure if not done correctly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah. One of the major reasons I never plan to use Proton or Tutanota is that none of my email apps will work and I will rely on whatever interface they provide.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I have both Proton Unlimited and Mailbox. I prefer keeping my Mailbox account for mail, calendar and contacts. With Proton, I'd have to use their apps or some bridge, whereas Mailbox can be used with any app. I also have multiple domains connected with Mailbox and use plenty of aliases, so I don't really see why Proton would be better in that regard.

I don't have any suggestions to add, but as someone who subscribes to both, I was simply wondering what Mailbox lacks compared to Proton in your opinion.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Runbox, a privacy-focused email provider out of Norway. Our family has been using it for many years with zero issues. The prices are very decent.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Another vote for Runbox. Been using them for almost 5 years now with no issues. They are also an employee owned co-op if that is of interest.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Can I open an account with TOR browser and pay with monero without having to give any info like a secondary email or phone number?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Proton, Tuta, Mailbox.org, Posteo

All are equal in terms of their overall quality of service, just different in what advantages they offer (except for Mailbox.org and Posteo. They're just offering standards compliant email servers without any bullshit and let you roll your own encryption)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

They are very cheap, only $1 for 10 aliases and then then $0.1/month for any additional aliases. But can't pay with monero.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I don't think the email alias thing comes with Mail Plus, it's part of Proton Pass. You either need to get Unlimited which includes all of their products or pair mail plus with the paid version of Pass. There's a chance I'm wrong because I have Unlimited and haven't really explored it, but look into it before you commit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

You get 10 aliases on mail+

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hmm... how does one anonymously pay an internet service provider with cash? Mail it in an unmarked envelope, with just your account name? Roll up to the front door and hand it to the receptionist?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

yes. mail

or crypto like monero

or prepaid credit cards

or voucher resellers, etc

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

they have an easy way of creating alias-emails

With mailbox.org and other normal mail providers you should just be able to set a catch-all address, then you don't have to create aliases at all, just type "[email protected]"

If an email provider charges you more to create 'aliases' run far away and pick something else.

I wouldn't switch to Proton personally, they require that you use their own apps or use an IMAP bridge which doesn't work on Android/iOS. Their ecosystem feels very restrictive.

I don't see the point of an encrypted email provider like Proton, since 99% of the emails we all receive aren't encrypted anyways, and sending encrypted emails only easily works to other proton mail users.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

oh ok, I have not tried that yet. I have only set up one address which I use yo send and receive from.

about the encryption: I thought the point with e2ee encryption on proton is mainly, that the mails are stored encrypted one their servers so they can not read them or hand them out to anyone.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Proton and its services have been pretty good. Some things to know about proton mail:

  • Search is only for titles, as content is encrypted
  • You can do search in the body in your browser. It downloads your email into the browser and searchers locally. It takes a while to do this and build up indexes. I haven't had too much issue searching for things though.
  • Since they don't read your email, no automatic calendar events if there isn't a .ics

The VPN had been great

The storage isn't enough for me to be able to move off of my main cloud provider. There also isn't a way to pin a file on Android for it - and the 500gGB of space is less than I use

The Pass app is handy and it's easy to make aliases, though it often doesn't know to fill in, doesn't do it, or something, and I need to open the app to copy paste. Pretty trivial though.

I'm sticking with them. I don't really have a reason to leave. The aliases are really nice, the catch is that it's not easy to have them go to a sub email address that I use - it has to go to your primary email. Not a huge deal though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As a user of mailbox.org myself iam just asking: What dont you like about them?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

i like to have temp-adresses but it is a little to annoying for me to extend them after 90 days πŸ™ˆ with proton this is easier since you dont need to remeber that and you can find this option pretty easy when in tge webbrowser of choice.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I use posteo.de which costs 1€/month. It is simple, but works fine.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I have proton for many years since I started de-googling. Very happy with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Another thumbs up for tuta.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I quite like Fastmail. It's a bit expensive but the service is very reliable and they have a well established reputation. You can create masked emails using their domain or your own from the web interface.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Proton Mail?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Hey, I outlined some tools in my list here! TL;DR is Proton Mail + addy.io is as good as it gets, with Tuta and SimpleLogin as close contenders. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Proton purchased SimpleLogin in 2022 and the creator/dev has been working there ever since. Also, you can easily create random email aliases in Vaultwarden/Bitwarden via the SimpleLogin API.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Proton purchased SimpleLogin in 2022 and the creator/dev has been working there ever since.

I knew this, I'm trying not to keep my eggs in one basket.

Also, you can easily create random email aliases in Vaultwarden/Bitwarden via the SimpleLogin API.

This still requires a SimpleLogin/Proton account, so there's no added benefit. Plus, this is true for Addy as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

i already bookmarked the list, great work btw. I will look into the options you wrote.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fair warning though, using a service like addy.io with randomly generated emails can go bad if they ever shutdown, you'll be left with tons of accounts on email addresses that no longer exist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's better than using the same email for everything, which still runs the same risk. I try to minimize the services I use that require an email for this very reason. I will note, self hosting + addy.io provides much more control with the same benefits and drawbacks.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Was there any controversy with Proton email? I remember hearing everyone shitting on it ywars ago. Did they do something to piss everyone off, but later fixed it?

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