It's a corporation, so, no.
You need to specify what you want an alternative to, as Proton hosts a lot of services.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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Privacy
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OK then, what alternative do i have to Proton Mail?
Tuta are better, but not much. They've been getting worse every year.
I switched to Disroot early this year and it's been smooth sailing. They're not a corporation, and I can talk to them directly and not some dumb outsourced support staff.
Ty for sharing. This like something I can get behind! ✊
OK, will switch to Disroot now. I wonder what my adress will be now...
Your best bet is to purchase your own domain name for email and learn how to switch DNS / MX records, so if you need to switch email providers you aren’t constantly changing your email address
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That depends on your risk tolerance, which is a decision you have to make yourself.
The real question is, where do you draw the line. You can even make a convincing case that gmail can be trusted with your data. Actually, many people feel that way, so it’s not a bizarre or rare stance. Alternatively, you can also say that self hosting everything is the only way to be sure.
Yup. I've weighed the costs and benefits, and I'm still using Gmail myself.
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Depends on your threat model. What are you defending against?
I am defending against anyone that uses my data for non-essential purposes. Well, not all non-essential purposes; i mean ads, personalization, AI, selling it for profit, etc.
Then Proton should be fine. As far as I know, they don’t sell user data.
Of course as soon as you send an email or receive it from someone else, there’s a chance it will be mined, but while it’s ”at rest” on Proton servers it should fulfill your model just fine.
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To my knowledge Proton doesn’t sell your data and there were no leaks in the past. It is also true for a lot of its competitors though.
Note: I use Proton for some things.
But, here's the twist: there's a controversy because of the recent AI and the CEO being Pro-trump.
I don’t think that controversy about Trump is concerning in any way. The AI could be interesting instead.
I trust Proton's privacy aims as much as I can trust any corporation, which is to say very little but way more than Google. I do feel the company prioritizes privacy and eg. bases itself in countries with privacy respecting laws (hence leaving Switzerland after their recent legal changes that risk privacy). I think this is a more important signal than the CEO's tweet supposedly favorable to Trump (which I dont like but also dont find damning enough to override their commitment to privacy).
When I researched alternatives after leaving Google I ended up choosing Proton (I also considered Tuta) for Mail & Calendar. For me they are the best option for privacy and usability, and something my non-tech family can use, which is a major win because otherwise they would not be able to leave Gmail.
I dont use their other services because I don't want to put more eggs in the same basket.
It’s fine, closed source is fine. Trust us bro
All Proton apps and services are OpenSource.
This article is somewhat biased, yes, they handled out an IP of an to the authorities, this is mandatory for every service in a criminal investigation if there is an court order present, they must give the data which they have about the user, even Lemmy must do it if there is an court order about an user. Any service in the web must fullfit the laws of the country in which it's operating. This has nothing to do with privacy or trust about the service, also not if it is OpenSource or Proprietary. A service also can't avoid that it is used by republicans in the US, or that one of the employees is a right winger. The CEO of the Brave Browser (FOSS) as example. Can Lemmy avoid that an Nazi use it in a own instance?