Privacy-friendly alternatives to Gmail - Le Alternative (2024)

In this article we will talk about all of them alternatives to Gmail, free and possibly open source. Have you ever wondered why Gmail It's free? Why never Google should give you 15gb of free space and a free mailbox without getting anything in return?
Google through Gmail has access at your emails. By free access we mean that the emails are not zero-knowledge encrypted and consequently Google can read not only i metadata of your email, such as who do you send an email to it's at what time, but it can also light the content of the email itself!

Privacy? Gmail alternatives respect this

We have already addressed the topic of privacy in other articles, especially in alternatives to Google Search. If you use other Google services such as Maps or Chrome Google it will triangulate all this information and add it to everything that receive is that write by email. Did you know that Google for example track all purchases made online? It keeps track of everything and puts it together in one database where you can't even delete them all together, you would have to do it manually one by one. To you Google had ever asked explicitly can you do it? It doesn't seem like it to us.

A private email is possible with Gmail alternatives

That's why in this article we will analyze all the alternatives to Gmail! We recommend that you put your mind to it an important thing. Google bases the most of his earnings on advertising. It is, in fact, an advertising agency. All Google services I am free Why they analyze everything you do online and not only.

Some mail services, such as ProtonMail And Tutanota, they encrypt emails on their servers and have a high management cost. Furthermore, if the company does not earn through advertising profiling it must charge for the services and this is why all alternatives to Gmail that we propose you have to pay for.

When we talk about Zero-knowledge encryption it means that no one, not even those who manage the site, can read the contents of the email. Only and exclusively you with your password, as it should be and as it should be all the information that considered private information.

Alternatives to Gmail: Changing your email address is easy!

Don't let yourself be fooled by laziness or even by the fear of losing emails or "having to tell everyone". In the meantime it is important to do it for all purchases and of trips for example so as to no longer be analyzed and profiled. And this can be done in a very short time: before making a purchase, change the associated email address, it usually takes 2 minutes. We have also created an article on How to leave Gmail where we explain all the necessary steps.

For example, you risk losing emails: just forward them all to the new address: go on Gmail settings. Then in theForwarding and POP/IMAP label. Here you can forward all emails to your new address so you can make sure you don't miss a single one! Then slowly modify the various subscriptions (if you want, you are not even obliged to leave Gmail only for trivialities) and that's it.

For them private conversations instead, an even simpler operation will suffice: always in Gmail settings, in the'Generali label at the bottom you will find the “Automatic answerer“. Write a message informing the person writing to you that you have changed your email address and to change it in their address book as well. Et voilà, in a few minutes you have solved it!

Warning, some explanations needed

As was rightly pointed out to us on Twitter, this article can cause confusion on some points and we think it is important to specify a couple of things. Unfortunately, in trying to summarize many concepts, some things may be explained hastily or poorly:

• only two of the services below offer encrypted emails with zero access from the providers and they are ProtonMail And Tutanota. All other providers potentially They can read and analyze your emails just as much as Gmail but, unlike Google, it's not their job to make money off your data.

• when you send an email from ProtonMail it will only be safe on ProtonMail servers. If you send an email to a Gmail address (or receive an email from a person who uses Gmail) inevitably this email can be analyzed. The point is another: do not allow your provider to analyze your purchases or consumption.

• if you need to have one private conversation emails are not created for this purpose. You can use the PGP encryption if your interlocutor uses it but it is generally recommended to move the conversation elsewhere such as Signal or similar alternatives.

ProtonMail

Open source
servers in owned data centers
Zero-knowledge encryption impossible for ProtonMail to read your emails
no IMAP, only possible on desktop with their bridge
search within messages only paid version otherwise search only in the subject
.onion address available

The first encrypted email service that we recommend is ProtonMail. Born in 2013 Swiss at CERN. Its servers are located in Switzerland, therefore they are outside the jurisdiction of the United States and the EU, and are managed by them precisely to avoid that someone else has to get their hands on them and therefore have to trust third parties. According to Swiss law if a foreign country wanted to put under surveillance there your email inbox must first pass through a Swiss court and is subject to international treaties. ProtonMail and so Safe, encrypted And free from any interference and from any Trackers. A is currently offered free service basic with some limitations, a service Plus with 5GB of space for €4 per month and an alias for the domain is also included pm.me.

The best alternative to Gmail

• • • • |

Tutanota

green servers
server in Germany
End-to-end encryption impossible for Tutanota to read your emails
Open source
no IMAP
search within messages (although a little slow)

• • • •

Posteo

green servers

Open source
yes IMAP

•

Mailbox

green servers
server in Germany
yes IMAP

Mailbox.org is a German company that offers a complete alternative suite to counter Google. Safe, anonymous and totally free of advertising and trackers. Plus its servers are all in Germany and, last but not least, run on green energy at 100%. In short, the The conditions for a large email inbox are all there. The email is in fact encrypted and secure. Plus, Mailbox has its own ecosystem that really competes seriously with Google. With Mailbox you will have an email inbox, calendars and address books can also be shared with users who do not have a Mailbox account. Plus there's a great and secure encrypted cloud service where you might want to put your photos, videos and documents.

• • •

Infomaniak

green servers
Swiss company and server in Switzerland
servers in owned data centers
yes IMAP

AGAINST
It is not a completely cheap product, especially if you want to combine it with the service kDrive even if in reality, according to our table, And the most convenient one when talking about €/GB price. Basically it is a professional email that is unlikely to disappoint you.

• •

ServerMX

Italian company with servers in Europe
yes IMAP

Italian company with servers in Europe ⁶ which offers paid emails with free domains they own (example: servermx.it) or to use with a your domain. They also offer a calendar and contact service thanks to CardDAV and CalDAV protocols. An interesting thing is that you are not limited to having only one webmail but you can read your mail on it Roundcube, on Squirrel Mail, on SOGo 2 And SOGo 5, on AfterLogic and of course using the IMAP protocol therefore on whatever email program you want is on desktop what up smartphones.

•

StartMail

server in Holland
yes IMAP

•

Disroot

Open source
server in Holland
yes IMAP

•

More alternatives to Gmail

These alternatives, however, we know a little less about but are still generally recommended to those who want to find them an alternative to Gmail.

• Runboxes, has servers in Norway and his annual plans are very interesting indeed. They offer encrypted emails and its servers all run on hydroelectric power. They don't have their own application but you can read it on any app you want such as K-9 Mail or FairEmail;

• Mailfence, another very interesting European provider based in Belgium. Encrypted emails and compatible with keys OpenPgP. The price is not high and they also offer free space for 500MB of emails. They also don't offer their own application but you can use it K-9 Mail or FairEmail; It recently became a partner of Mozilla Thunderbird ⁹ and you can create an email address directly from the application;
• Eclipso, is a European provider based in Germany. Its webmail is really very simple and essential and the free plan is quite limited: it is not possible to use IMAP and it contains advertising. However, just €1 a month is enough to switch to a paid plan with some interesting features such as access to a personal drive with a 10GB CalDAV/WebDAV connection, the elimination of advertising and 10GB for your emails. You can choose different domains in addition to the default one which is eclipso.eu.

• Kolab Now, we have already known them for alternatives to Google Calendar. It is a very interesting provider with server in Switzerland. The cost is quite high and they only work with software Open source. As we said, they also offer other services such as calendar and contacts;

• Thexyz, a Canadian provider that offers encrypted emails. Very interesting and not too high priced. They also offer a lot of space, in fact in the Premium version you will have 25GB at your disposal;

• Soverin, if you want to buy a personal domain Soverin it may be right for you. They don't have their own email address but you can use your own domain and receive 25GB with the possibility of also using IMAP at €39 per year. Their servers are in Holland and their policy is decent;

• Migadu, another interesting option that does not offer its own email address but can only be used with its own domain. Created in Switzerland but with servers in France ¹⁰ It has a good policy and is only very good if you plan to use email little. In fact, it allows you to have almost infinite domains and addresses but you will only be able to send and receive a few emails a day. For example in Micro version you can only receive 200 emails and send 20;

• Swisscows, The Search engine Swisscows offers a free email inbox (expandable for a fee) with domain @swisscows.email. The email is not end-to-end encrypted as Tutanota or ProtonMail but it allows you to use your own PGP key easily. Webmail is a classic client Roundcube.

• Gandi.net, French provider for registering domains. Also in this case if you want a personal email address with your own domain use Gandi can be a smart choice. Free emails are no longer offered ¹¹ but you can choose some for a fee (currently starting from €4.87 per month each).

1. A new visual universe for Proton[↩]
2. The Open source email service Tutanota fights for your right to privacy.[↩]
3. Can I use Posteo with my own domains?[↩]
4. Ecological paper[↩]
5. kMail on GitHub[↩]
6. Data Storage[↩]
7. Disroot FAQ[↩]
8. Microsoft hostility[↩]
9. Mailfence Encrypted Email Suite in Thunderbird[↩]
10. In Switzerland, but servers are not[↩]
11. New Mailbox service and management of your current mailboxes[↩]

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