Proton Mail

Proton Mail is a privacy-focused email service developed by Proton AG, a Swiss company headquartered in Geneva. Founded in 2014 by scientists who met at CERN, Proton Mail has grown to become the world’s largest secure email provider with over 100 million users and 50,000 businesses trusting their communications to the platform.

What sets Proton Mail apart is its zero-access encryption architecture. All emails are encrypted on the client side before reaching Proton’s servers, meaning that not even Proton employees can read your messages. This technical design ensures that your private communications remain truly private, protected by both cryptography and Switzerland’s strong privacy laws.

Proton operates its own infrastructure exclusively in Switzerland, Germany, and Norway—countries with some of the strongest data protection regulations in the world. Unlike major tech companies that monetize user data through advertising, Proton’s business model is based entirely on paid subscriptions, ensuring that your data is never sold or used for targeted advertising.

The service offers a comprehensive feature set that rivals mainstream email providers: a clean web interface, native apps for iOS, Android, and desktop, calendar integration, and seamless migration tools for switching from Gmail or other providers. Privacy features include email tracker blocking, PhishGuard for phishing protection, password-protected emails with expiration dates, and hide-my-email aliases for protecting your real address.

Proton Mail is fully open source, with its code publicly available for security researchers to audit. The company regularly commissions independent security audits and publishes transparency reports, demonstrating their commitment to accountability. For privacy-conscious individuals, businesses handling sensitive data, journalists, activists, or anyone who believes email should be private by default, Proton Mail represents the gold standard in secure email communication.

Key Features

• End-to-End Encryption: All emails encrypted before leaving your device, unreadable even to Proton
• Zero-Access Architecture: Proton cannot decrypt your messages, even with a court order
• Email Tracker Blocking: Automatically blocks tracking pixels and protects your privacy
• Hide-My-Email Aliases: Create unlimited email aliases to protect your real address
• PhishGuard Protection: Advanced spam and phishing detection to keep you safe
• Multi-Platform Support: Web, iOS, Android, and desktop apps with seamless sync
• Easy Migration: Import emails from Gmail, Outlook, and other providers with Easy Switch

Privacy Highlights

Proton Mail exemplifies privacy-by-design principles. The service collects minimal data—only what’s technically necessary due to SMTP protocol requirements (sender/recipient addresses, timestamps, subject lines). Message content is always encrypted and inaccessible to Proton.

All servers are wholly owned and operated by Proton, located exclusively in Switzerland, Germany, and Norway under EU/EEA/Swiss jurisdiction. Offline backups are retained for up to 30 days and remain fully encrypted. The company is fully GDPR compliant and subject to Swiss privacy laws, which are among the strictest in the world.

User data is never used for advertising purposes. Proton’s revenue comes entirely from paid subscriptions, aligning their business interests with user privacy rather than data exploitation.