Hi everyone! Since I was absolutely fucked by Skiff (thank fuck I didn’t pay for it) I’m looking for a new email provider :) I’m not sure I like how proton is transforming into a full on suit, I only need email. Any other recommendations or is proton my only choice really?

  • darkmatternoodlecow@programming.dev
    59·
    7 months ago

    A provider having more than 50 users and offering more than one service doesn’t make them evil. Use Proton. They are the best, and they’re not likely to disappear. If you intentionally seek out small services because you think being an underdog is some sort of privacy merit badge, you’ll get “absolutely fucked” over and over again.

    Also, you should consider paying for the products you use to encourage sane and user-friendly business models. But that’s a different discussion altogether.

    • Footnote2669@lemmy.zipOP
      17·
      7 months ago

      It’s not about “using an underdog”, I just like “do one thing and do it well” philosophy you know. I don’t need drives, calendars, vpn, password manager, in one thing. I want a simple email provider that’s it.

      Yeah skiff wasn’t like that but it seemed not too push it as much, just “hey it’s there you can use it” not full on products. Maybe I’m just being stupid about it idk

      • Atemu@lemmy.ml
        23·
        7 months ago

        You can simply ignore all of these other features. Proton offers an email-only plan.

        • Footnote2669@lemmy.zipOP
          3·
          7 months ago

          True… People also recommend having your own domain so I can switch easily in the future. Having my surname seems a bit… un-privacy-like lol Any recommendations for that?

          • Aachen@lemmy.world
            11·
            7 months ago

            Paid subscription of Proton bundles SimpleLogin, an email aliasing service. So you can have your personal email with your surname, and when you want to sign up to some shady corpo site, you give them a randomly generated email address using SimpleLogin. All emails sent to that alias email will be automatically forwarded to your personal email. You can then disable the alias email anytime and stop receiving emails.

          • hertg@infosec.pub
            6·
            7 months ago

            I have both, a personal domain with my name and also an anonymous generic domain. I use the anonymous one for 90+% of my online stuff, and use a random unique address for every service (you can set up a wildcard in proton, so *@domain.org lands in the same inbox). I would recommend that for two reasons: if you own your anonymous domain you can move your mailprovider anytime (as opposed to using some email masking service), using unique addresses for every service enables you to easily figure out which one leaked your address if you start getting spam. Just make sure to use a generic name for the domain and dont get an exotic TLD (just get a .com .org or something). Some of the non traditional TLDs may negatively impact your spam scores, and its easy to find a .com or .org when you can literally choose any domain name you want.

    • voxel@sopuli.xyz
      6·
      7 months ago

      proton requires them to use their software and adds a footer with protonmail ads to all of your emails without an option to disable it without paying up

        • voxel@sopuli.xyz
          3·
          7 months ago

          yes but they shouldn’t be hiding that fact deep in the settings
          also I don’t care about encryption and stuff if it prevents me from using my favorite mail client without installing their bridge software

      • scratchandgame@lemmy.mlTiếng Việt
        1·
        7 months ago

        Ads are harmless. The harmful things is JavaScript.

        requires them to use their software

        And their software doesn’t even have an option to display HTML messages as it is plain text messages.

        • voxel@sopuli.xyz
          1·
          7 months ago

          by software i mean the imap bridge, but i agree that the official client is pretty bad too

  • bugsmith@programming.dev
    29·
    7 months ago

    Another vote here for Fastmail. I also like Posteo, Mailbox and mxroute, but these are not as fully featured - which may be perfect for you if you’re after email only. What I really like about Fastmail is that on top of being a customer-focused business (rather than a customer is the product business), they offer a really snappy web interface with excellent search - and they are extremely compliant with email standards, building everything on JMAP.

    I do not like Proton or Tutanota. I have used both, including using Proton as my main email account for the past two years. I do believe they are probably the best when it comes to encryption and privacy standards, but for me it’s at far too much cost. Encrypted email is almost pointless - the moment you email someone who isn’t using a Proton (or PGP encryption), then the encryption is lost. Or even if they just forward an email to someone outside your chain. I would argue that if you need to send a message to someone with enough sensitivity to require this level of encryption, email is the wrong choice of protocol.

    For all that Proton offer, it results in broken email standard compliance, awful search capability and reliance on bridge software or being limited to their WebUI and apps. And it’s a shame, because I really like the company and their mission.

  • solrize@lemmy.world
    20·
    7 months ago

    I’m happy with fastmail. Remember that must people you email are probably on Google (Gmail) so there is only so much you can accomplish in terms of email privacy whatever you do.

  • totallynotarobot@lemmy.world
    17·
    7 months ago

    What’s your objection to Proton? You don’t have to use any of the other products, and the free tier is perfectly usable last I checked (granted many years ago). Not sure what your concern is

    Edit: downvoting without replying doesn’t tell us what the concern is. Y’all weird

  • muix@lemmy.sdf.org
    15·
    7 months ago

    Let me recommend Migadu, as email privacy is kind of a difficult topic. They offer complete email freedom for a very reasonable price; $20 ($10 for students) a year. They explain my main reasoning why I would avoid Proton:

    When an email provider rations email address of your own domain name-space at a fee, they are asking you to hand them over control of your name-space. There is zero cost associated with additional email addresses and it is time you learn about it.

    When email provider does not offer you standard email protocols that work with standard email clients, they want to lock you in for good. You are tied to using the dedicated applications offered by provider. The freedom of using a better or more suitable application is taken away from you. Protocols were standardized for a reason and today there are hundreds of email clients built for users with different needs.

    When email provider alters messages data in non-standard format, they deny you data portability and with it freedom of changing providers.

    Email is a collective effort of messaging interoperability. It is built around open, public standards and runs mostly on open source software maintained by folks believing in an open Internet, privacy and personal freedoms. Let’s not give away our freedoms for some Kool-Aid.

  • Confound4082@lemmy.ml
    12·
    7 months ago

    Plus one for Proton, I don’t use their password manager, but their other products I’ve been using and been pleased with. I consider it well worth the cost.

  • catculation@lemmy.zip
    8·
    7 months ago

    I recently switched to skiff from proton as the skiff’s free tier is offering what proton’s mail plus plan. And now they are shutting down their services.

    • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      Their free tier storage offering was amazing. I honestly couldn’t see how they could offer so much for free. I was very tempted at the time but chose proton. Although I think I may move to Fastmail when my renewal is due.

      • Moonrise2473@lemmy.ml
        3·
        7 months ago

        I honestly couldn’t see how they could offer so much for free

        We just saw that it wasn’t profitable and the business plan was to find an exit strategy via acquisition