DISCLAIMER: I am not paid in any way by Proton Technologies AG to write this article, these are my own views on their products.

I already mentioned Proton products in my Google and Facebook alternatives article, but I figured they deserved a dedicated post, so here it is.

I first heard of ProtonMail when I started looking for secure alternatives for Google products back in 2018, as it was repeatedly mentioned on lists of top alternatives that I could find online.

I was testing Tutanota at the time, and although I liked their encryption level and other aspects of it (I might write a post dedicated to Tutanota later if you're interested), I wasn't a big fan of the interface, among other things. It might seem silly, but we're talking about a tool (inbox) that will be used several times a day, every day, so it needs to be pleasing to use.

So I created a free ProtonMail account and started using it more and more, until I decided to pay for a premium plan and make it my main inbox.

Let's start with a little history: ProtonMail was born in 2014, from the minds of computer engineering and cryptography experts working at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), in Switzerland. Their objective was (and still is) simple: building an internet that protects privacy, starting with email. Since then, it has grown to be the largest secure email provider in the world, with more than a million users. The ecosystem then grew in 2017 with the addition of ProtonVPN, that was created following a "need to better protect the activists and journalists that use ProtonMail", as stated on their website.

So, without further ado, here are the main reasons why I love ProtonMail and the whole Proton ecosystem.

• Encryption

It has to be the main talking point, since it's the whole point of it. All emails are stored and transferred in an encrypted format, using a system of private and public keys, stored on the client side. Even the contact lists are encrypted. This means that the company has no access at all to user data, thus ensuring complete security and privacy. But it also means that they can't recover any data, should you need it. When using Proton products, whether emails or VPN, you can be sure that they won't read, store nor sell any of your data. This level of security is available thanks to the team of world experts on cryptography and cybersecurity working at Proton, and the fact that ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are open source projects.

• Open source

ProtonMail (and VPN) being open source is a huge plus. First of all, as a former web developer, I've always been an advocate of all things open sourced. And second of all, this allows them to get and use user feedback on all things security and design related. ProtonMail relies a lot on its community. Here is the ProtonMail Github page for my fellow programmers: https://github.com/ProtonMail.

• Plans

ProtonMail and ProtonVPN both offer 4 different plans, including a free one. The free inbox gives you 500Mb of storage, which is plenty enough to try it out, and the free VPN service allows you to route your connection through servers located in 3 different countries (US, Japan, Netherlands), with medium speed. What I like is how customisable the paid plans are. Take ProtonMail for instance, the cheapest option gives you 5Gb of storage, 5 custom addresses and 1 custom domain, but you can choose to add more of each option should you need it, without having to switch to more expensive plans. You also get a 20% discount when you subscribe to both a ProtonMail and a ProtonVPN plan, and you automatically get the free VPN if you get an email address.

• Customisable interface

This one is a bonus, but it can matter for some people. You can choose the layout of your inbox (they give you a couple options to choose from), and you can completely change the theme by uploading a different one, or by inputing custom CSS to make it look exactly how you wish.

• New features and releases

 ProtonMail releases new features and updates relatively regularly, and provides a beta testing platform to test all new features to come. The main event coming in 2020 is the release of ProtonCalendar, a fully encrypted calendar integrated in ProtonMail (already available in beta).

So there you have it, this was just a quick overview, feel free to browse their websites to learn more about these great tools trying to make the web a better place.

ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are available as free web, desktop, iOS and Android apps.

Thanks for reading!