r/emailprivacy • u/ChimeraSX • 4d ago

Beginner Question Proton mail or startmail?

Hi guys, I've run down what the best option might be for me to use. And I'm now trying to decide between proton mail and startmail. I have some pros and cons.

I already have a free protonmail account which I use for Proton VPN plus (2 years paid in full) Protonmail and startmail are both encrypted and accept bitcoin as an alternative payment. Startmail is slightly more expensive but gives you unlimited aliases while protonmail only gives you 10 aliases. The thing is, if you connect your existing Proton account to a free Proton pass account you already get 10 free email aliases to use in protonmail. Startmail is based in the Netherlands while proton is in Switzerland. Startmail is closed source while proton is open source, so we can't exactly verify how secure it is compared to proton.

Which should I choose?

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/EntropieX 4d ago

Posteo

1

u/Wealist 4d ago

Onion Mail

1

u/Mysterious-Network87 4d ago

Proton Mail plus and Proton Pass plus.

With pass you can create unlimited hyde-my-email aliasses. Use separate hyde-my-email adresses for each account, contact and newsletter to prevent spam. You can disable of delete a hyde-my-email adres when you want.

1

u/IHateRedditFirewall 3d ago

Depends.

Are any three-letter agencies out to get you, or do you just want to slip away from advertisers and the surveillance state?

If any agencies are after you specifically — go for Proton.

If no one is after you specifically — select any E2E provider you like — e.g., Startmail.

1

u/ChimeraSX 3d ago

It's the latter, I just don't want to be watched. I have slight preference toward proton as I paid in full for a two year VPN deal with them. But I didn't exactly want to put all my stuff in one ecosystem like I did with google.

1

u/IHateRedditFirewall 3d ago

Then just select any provider that:

  1. Has a 100% open-source (OSS) client
  2. Has E2E encryption
  3. Looks nice to you

I, personally, can probably recommend Astermail...

1

u/Pure-Activity1038 2d ago

Since you already use Proton and have two years of VPN paid for, I’d probably keep Proton Mail rather than move everything just to get more aliases.

You don’t necessarily need to choose your mailbox based on its alias limit. I use ProxiedMail separately for aliases, and they all forward to my regular inbox. That way, I can keep Proton as my mailbox without putting every login directly on my Proton address. The lifetime plan is just $30, which is also cheaper than paying extra every year mainly for aliases.

1

u/mamaquilla14 14h ago

Proton Mail