Proton Mail: Get a private, secure, and encrypted email account | Proton (2024)

FAQs

Does Proton Mail encrypt email? ›

Proton Mail protects the contents of all your messages with zero-access encryption, meaning no one can read them except you and your recipients. Messages you send to other Proton Mail accounts are always end-to-end encrypted, as are emails sent to non-Proton Mail accounts when you use Password-protected Emails.

From newsrooms, activists, and international organizations to academics, Nobel Prize winners, and movie characters, Proton Mail is the trusted choice for secure and private communication. Join over 100 million people worldwide who believe their online privacy is worth protecting.

Any mail send between Protonmail users is in concept, secure or encrypted. However, outside mail sent to a Protonmail account is going through a router in plain text. Mail sent from your company address to Protonmail is NOT secure. That is the majority of most mail.

ProtonMail vs Gmail: Using Different Email Providers

Gmail offers a wider variety of features for more personal use, whereas Proton Mail is strictly a secure email service, sending mail with end-end encryption. If security is number one on your list of email service properties, maybe Proton Mail is the one for you.

Why sites block Proton Mail. Proton Mail can sometimes be blocked by accident because we're not yet as well known as some of the largest email providers. For example, to reduce spam, some forums only allow registration from well-known email providers like Yahoo, Outlook, Gmail, etc.

Possibly the biggest limitations on users of the free edition are the caps on storage space and messages per day. Without spending anything, you get 500MB of storage and 150 messages per day.

Proton AG — the Swiss company behind Proton Mail, the popular encrypted email service — came under fire in April for complying with a request from Spanish police for information about one of its users — a Catalan pro-independence activist. It's obvious why that was a controversial move.

Proton believes your data belongs to you. That's why we use end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption to ensure that only you can read your emails. We cannot read or give anyone else access to your emails.

Yes. End-to-end encryption is king when it comes to data protection. All data stored on Proton Mail is encrypted, so neither hackers nor ProtonMail employees can read the contents of your messages. Meanwhile, Gmail has logs of your every login and can access every single email in your mailbox.

Is Proton Mail safe for banking? ›

Keep your financial documents secure

Proton Mail's end-to-end encryption (E2EE) keeps both your attachments and your emails secure. However, if you or your recipient uses an email provider that doesn't have E2EE, your attachments won't be encrypted.

Proton Mail protects all your email messages and contacts with end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption. This means only you have access to your inbox. Gmail, on the other hand, is based in the United States and subject to government data requests.

Proton Mail does not encrypt email subject lines

All ProtonMail data at rest and in transit is encrypted. However, subject lines in ProtonMail are not end-to-end encrypted, which means if served with a valid Swiss court order, we do have the ability to turn over the subjects of your messages.

Canary Mail – Best ProtonMail Alternative Overall

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.

Location and security

Both Proton Mail and Proton VPN are located in Switzerland. The company claims that it is also located in Switzerland because of its strict privacy laws.

There's not a single hint of it being a secure email service, but it is. In fact, ProtonMail is loaded with security features. Even Proton Mail Free already comes with a password manager, an encrypted calendar, and a VPN. You won't find those in other secure email services.

Emails sent between Proton Mail users are automatically end-to-end encrypted (E2EE). If you send an email to someone not on Proton Mail, it won't be E2EE encrypted by default. But you can send an end-to-end encrypted email to a non-Proton Mail user using Password-protected Emails or PGP.

Find the email address(es) for which you want to turn off end-to-end encryption and click the dropdown menu under the Actions column. Select Disable E2EE mail.

No user data is ever shared with third parties, but we do analyze reports from third parties any time they find leaked information or data stolen in a hack from a third-party online service that's tied to a Proton Mail email address or a Proton Pass alias.