Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview
(2017-06-16) Due to time constraints (kids, work, life, etc), the feature matrix is no longer actively maintained. To get up-to-date information, I suggest you visit one of the many other similar sources on the internet. Good starting points are privacytools.io, prism-break.org, and That One Privacy Site.
It’s been almost two years now since I started to move my online presence away from the big, closed source, tech behemoths to open and more privacy focused companies. I’m now using Firefox (open source) for browsing, DuckDuckGo for anonymous internet searches, I’m syncing all my bookmarks to a private Firefox Sync Server, and I’m using a private OwnCloud server for online storage. You can read about how I did all that in my PRISM Break series of posts.
But I’m still stuck with Gmail. The main reason is that there are few, perhaps no, other companies that can provide the same kind of service Google does for free. But you know the saying: “If you’re not paying for it; you’re the product.” So I’ve realized that I have to pay a few bucks a year for a similar service somewhere else. And I’m fine with that. The upside is that I can start using an e-mail provider that focuses on encryption and privacy, something that might not be Google’s top priorities.
To get an overview of which providers are currently available and what kind of services they provide, I found six e-mail providers that on the surface seemingly can deliver what I’m looking for. All information in the table is provided to the best of my ability and is based on what I could dig up on the various provider’s sites. Pricing has been omitted because the different providers offer very different packages and the table would have grown way too large if I was to include all that information. All information should be correct as of the “last updated” date below, but always consult the latest information from the service provider. Note that some of the features only are available with paid premium accounts.
(2020-04-13) I have removed the feature matrix. It’s now so terribly outdated that keeping it online should be considered misinformation. Instead, use one of the better maintained sources mentioned in the first paragraph above.
Some words on trust
As long as you don’t self host, encrypted and private e-mail is a matter of trust. You basically have to trust that the provider is actually running the service in the manner that they advertise. Do they encrypt like they say? Are they servers indeed located in a country out of reach of overzealous government agencies? If they state that their software is open source, is the code you see really the code running on their servers? All this might sound somewhat paranoid, but if you want true encrypted and private e-mails, and not just the illusion of it, you have to be a bit paranoid and look at the possible scenarios.
Self-hosting
The only way to be absolutely sure that your e-mail stay encrypted and private is to self-host, that is to host your own e-mail service on a server that you control physically, and encrypt with keys you control. For most people, that would mean on a server located where they live, but setting up something like that is not for Average Joe. You also have to use an ISP that allows privately hosted mail servers and in a world where most of us only have one or two ISP operating in our area, that might not be possible. If you’re tech savvy enough to set up and maintain an e-mail server, and your ISP allows you to host it on their network, you’re still at the mercy of your internet connection’s uptime and availability. Some times your internet connection will go down, and in my experience, ISPs don’t actually scramble to get it fixed. An e-mail server being offline can be a major inconvenience when you’re trying to check in at the airport and your ticket is in an e-mail on your unavailable e-mail server.
If you want to give self-hosting a try, though, the Mail-in-a-box project might be something you should consider having a look at.
Other great sources for privacy tools and information about how to opt out of global data surveillance programs are privacytools.io, prism-break.org, and That One Privacy Site.
Feedback
Do you have any thoughts you want to share? A question, maybe? Or is something in this post just plainly wrong? Then please send an e-mail to vegard at vegard dot net with your input. You can also use any of the other points of contact listed on the About page.
@vegardskjefstad Great writeup. Please note that we plan to implement 2FA :) http://t.co/W0rmfBpXgj
Thanks, I’ve updated the feature matrix accordingly.
@vegardskjefstad Some inaccuracies there regarding protonmail, if you get in touch at security@protonmail.ch, we’ll be happy to clarify.
I’ve sent you an email. The more accurate information I’ve got the better.
mailbox.org is running completely on Open Source Software (OX AppSuite, Postfix, Dovecot and some Linux Basics). We’re using storage encryption and our own App is planned to be released during the next few weeks. Please fix. ;-)
I’ve been using your Help/FAQ page as basis to gather the information about mailbox.org in the feature matrix. From there, I can’t really find any link to the source code repository. Neither any mentioning of the app. Can you please provide links?
I’ve updated the storage encryption feature in the matrix based on the information provided on the mailbox.org page about encrypted mailboxes.
@vegardskjefstad Great overview.
Some inaccuracies regarding mailfence:
- Users can import their existing mail in Mailfence (from .eml or through imap)
- We will be launching 2FA very soon as well as openpgp encryption through the webbrowser
- Storage encryption is in our roadmap
If you get in touch at [e-mail removed] , we’ll be happy to give you more info.
Tx,
Patrick
Thanks a lot for providing this information. It’s really hard to find it on your website. I think I read through pretty much everything and there is, for instance, no information about importing e-mail (only contacts).
I’ll update the feature matrix based on you comment above, but also mentioning it on your website would probably be of a lot of help to potential users.
Thanks
You’re right we need to add this information on our site.
Open-Xchange is totally an Open Source Company ("Stay Open"). Have a look here: http://oxpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=SourceCodeAccess
Thank you for the link.
Mailbox.org would probably benefit from making this information easily available on your website. Right now, I can’t find it anywhere, not even in the blog post "At last: Comprehensive browser-based PGP encryption for e-mails and files" (https://mailbox.org/en/at-last-comprehensive-browser-based-pgp-encryption-for-e-mails-and-files/), which clearly states that you are open source, but which doesn’t provide a link to the actual code.
MaxWhats up with
www.posteo.de ?
Thanks for letting me know about this provider, I’ve now added them to the feature matrix.
A few quick clarifications (I work for FastMail):
1. I think our privacy policy discloses the data you’re looking for in the transparency report: https://www.fastmail.com/about/privacy.html (namely, we only return data in response to Australian court orders for specific accounts, and as a guideline, in the last year we disclosed information on fewer than 50 accounts.)
2. All data is stored on fully encrypted drives see https://www.fastmail.com/help/technical/architecture.html)
3. We also have servers in Amsterdam as well as the US.
4. We don’t have a warrant canary, as we have yet to see any sound legal basis for these (the main legal advice we’ve had is that using a warrant canary would essentially be violating any law prohibiting disclosure of a court order).
5. We use (and contribute) an awful lot of open-source software (for example we are the major contributors to Cyrus, one of the two big open-source email servers), however we have proprietary software as well.
Cheers!
Thanks a lot for this information. Here are my thoughts:
1. I’m not sure if I agree that the information in the privacy policy qualifies as a transparency report, at least not compared to the transparency reports presented by a lot of other companies. Yes, it contains some information about the number of accounts you disclosed information on, but it’s well hidden inside the privacy policy.
2. I’ve upgraded the feature matrix accordingly.
3. How can I make sure my e-mails are stored in Amsterdam and not in the US?
4. I’ve added this information as a footnote.
5. I’ve added this information as a footnote.
Messages are replicated between data centres to ensure redundancy. There is no user control over this at the moment.
Thank you, I’ve updated the feature matrix accordingly.
ThomasThere’s a similar list like this over here, in case you want to merge them: http://thesimplecomputer.info/free-webmail-for-better-privacy#scramble
^ Although many on the list above I had never heard of before
Thanks for the link. Right now it’s timing out, but I’ll have another look later.
Hello,
@vegardskjefstad: As a follow-up to my previous post, I would like highlight following updates.
2FA: Yes
Built-in E2EE: Yes
Transparency report: Yes
Warrant Canary: Yes
Bitcoin payment: Planned
For more details, you can contact us at support@mailfence.com, and we’ll be happy to address any of your further queries.
Thanking you for your time.
- Mailfence Team
Thank you for providing this information, the feature matrix has been updated accordingly. As an observation, you should perhaps consider linking directly to the transparency report and warrant canary from your home page or somewhere else so it’s a bit easier to find. I had to use Google to find it.
Thank you for updating the feature matrix. We are currently going through an update cycle and will soon redefine various elements of our homepage (which will surely include linking our warrant canary & transparency report).
Hello,
Under the same notion - this to inform you that we now support bitcoin payments as well (https://blog.mailfence.com/2016/06/14/mailfence-accepts-bitcoins-for-payment/) and request you for an update.
- Mailfence Team
Thank you for providing this information. The feature matrix has been updated.
Thank you for updating the feature matrix. We’ll keep you posted with the relevant updates in the future as well.
Apologies for frequent messages. Though, this is to point-out that we’ve recently planned a mobile app & code-release (open-source).
Kindly change their respective status’s as planned in your feature-matrix.
Once again, thank you for this information. The feature matrix is updated accordingly.
JimHi Mailfence,
We want to know if your email provides calendaring which can be shared between team members?
Can one team member see the others calendar or be able to invite them?
Also what do you mean by groups in your offering? What is a group and why does one need multiple groups?
Hi, Jim. I doubt that Mailfence is monitoring this thread. A better option would be to contact them directly with your questions.
Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview https://t.co/AQRSVUOUCS
Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview. https://t.co/ivt9UbcVdl
Updated "Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview"
https://t.co/Np11Indzmt https://t.co/eie4ovY0Ru
RT @vegardskjefstad: Secure, Private E-mail: A Provider Overview @tutanota_de @ProtonMail @mailfence @mailbox_org @LavaboomHQ @FastMailFM h…
RT @vegardskjefstad: Secure, Private E-mail: A Provider Overview @tutanota_de @ProtonMail @mailfence @mailbox_org @LavaboomHQ @FastMailFM h…
Secure and Private E-mail: A Provider Overview. https://t.co/Wua1wQvtkE
Secure & Private email overview - Updated !
https://t.co/hMJ1pAAloe #bitcoin #privacy #infosec https://t.co/YHFFf7hWxq
Max TGreat list. I was putting my own together and came across yours. A few things that may be worth adding to the grid…
1) Support of OpenPGP/GPG - I know you have a box about not having to have this but actually supporting this is quite crucial. Email providers that do support this allow e2e encryption between two different services. Protonmail for example can only receive and not send, Tutanota doesn’t support this at all whereas users of Mailbox.org and Posteo could do this.
2) Support for symmetric encryption. Protonmail, Startmail, Tutanota and Mailbox.org allow users to send links to a message whereby the recipient inputs a password
3) You have a lot of providers here but possibly KolabNow could be added to?
4) In addition to POP and IMAP, how about adding those that support ActiveSync? For those users that wish to move away from Gmail etc, they may find the lack of push email a disappointment if not supported by some of the above providers.
Many thanks
All great suggestions. Unfortunately, gathering all this information, extending the feature matrix, and adding a new provider, will require a lot of time that I don’t have now.
Will your own list be available online? I’d like to link to it if possible.
I hadn’t intended to but I will look at doing so. I will do some further research first. To be honest your catalogue is the most complete! I need to look further into ActiveSync. The support for it is somewhat limited in providers such as Mailbox.org when you use aliases. Fastmail has support for push IMAP which achieves much the same and they seem to stand out with this compared to the competition.
IgnacioI’d suggest you to add digitalEnvelopes: https://digitalenvelopes.email/
(I’m not related to that service)
Thanks
Thanks for the tip, I’ve added the provider to the matrix.
blahyou might like to add, under ‘some words of trust’ that google to actually provide a way to cross check the end to end encryption of a couple of these providers - specifically posteo and protonmail. it’s over here:
https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/saferemail/?hl=en#search=posteo.de&region=002
Thanks a lot for the information, I’ll look into the data.
Lee Hon FuiLike the comparison table. Since you commented about gmail (yahoo included, in my case) which is the reason of your work, why not you include gmail and/or yahoo into the comparison table? This is to show where gmail/yahoo in comparison with these "privacy/security" oriented mail services. Thanks.
This is a brilliant idea. All the major e-mail providers should be included for comparison. I’ll see what time permits me to actually get done.
Hi
Please take a look at Fossa Guard provides S/MIME support on top of Gmail supplied with free X.509 certificate. Does it fit your survey?
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fossa-guard/dgieialkiekjbocjiekgghpkggjppnfe
While this is an interesting concept, I’m not sure if it fits in the feature matrix. Good luck with your service.
It has also a backend at https://fossa.me which serves as free Certificate Authority (CA) and online registry for X.509 certificates so can be interesting as a solution which delegates identity to Google, email transport to Gmail.
We try to build a solution with a focus on usability and a minimal possible security compromise for our users.
Sagar BehereCould you include countermail.com in your list, to show how it stacks up? I’m not affiliated with countermail, but came across them when doing my own search for more private email.
CounterMail is now added to the feature matrix.
I used to have a Countermail account and the server is encrypted, you can read it says "encrypted data storage for emails" here: https://countermail.com/?p=services
Thanks a lot for the information. I’ve updated the feature matrix accordingly.
JamesVery good article, thanks.
I found this interview of their founder pretty interesting: https://anonymster.com/mailfence-patrick-de-schutter/
MyreThis is a very cool article - the feature matrix that is!! Please keep updating it! Thank for creating it.
lil johi,
apparently runbox now supports 2fa (https://blog.runbox.com/2017/03/new-account-security-features-launched/)
cheers
Great stuff, thanks for the information. I’ve updated the feature matrix. I wish they’d taken the time to announce this on their Twitter account, though.
ReaderSome additional info on ProtonMail. ProtonMail’s back end server is proprietary whereas its front end being open source.
AnonymousAnother Alternative email provider of privacy enhanced email services is msgsafe.io https://www.msgsafe.io
Finding information about what features MsgSafe.io supports was not trivial. I’ve opened a support ticket with MsgSafe.io, if they ever reply, I’ll add them to the feature matrix.
AnonymousWell if it can be of any help, their benefits page provides a great deal of information: https://www.msgsafe.io/benefits#top
MsgSafe.io was also listed on this comparison chart which might provide you with more of what you’re looking for: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/email-comparison-chart/
AnonymousYou’ve got some interesting options for provider here - some which are hard to find. My own research has been drawing me towards LuxSci. Any chance they could make it into the matrix, please?
Maybe you could review migadu.com.
I use their service and they are great.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. The guide is focused on e-mail providers that promote themselves with a focus on privacy and security. As far as I tell, Migadu.com’s main focus is that they use an uncommon business plan to differentiate themselves from the competition. Because of that, I’ve decided not to add them to the feature matrix.
utistici / inventati ?
Sorry to add to the work load but your info seems to be the most detailed and complete of any available .. Could you consider adding u/i … Many many people seem interested to be matching out of big bizz email traps. Your efforts are really commendable!
Do you mean Autistici/Inventati? I can’t find any information about utistici/inventati anywhere.
Andreaslook at scryptmail - if I were to trust a webapp - this would be it.
open source. Tor ready. easy encryption. import certificate option. disposable adresses. Really like it.
nooneTutanota doesn’t have an outlook plugin https://tutanota.uservoice.com/forums/237921-general/suggestions/32083063-where-i-can-find-plugin-for-outlook-thanks
mailbox doesn’t have half of the green squares.
digitalenvelopes doesn’t seem to exist.
Thank you for your input. As stated in the box on the top of this page, the feature matrix is no longer maintained. So the information will be outdated and wrong.
