Are you worried about your email service and that somebody else is reading your mail?
Well, that’s completely possible if you’re not using a secure email provider. And let me tell you, Gmail doesn’t fall into this category. Neither does Yahoo or Outlook.
So, today I’m going to present to you the four best secure email services for 2021. Keep on reading if you want to protect your privacy.
What to look for in an email service?
Before I get to the four best email services, I want to talk about what makes Gmail and Yahoo so unsuitable if you’re looking for anonymity.
Let’s say that you send an email via regular email servers. Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook do not encrypt your messages. It means that your email is like a postcard and with the right tools, hackers or the government can easily intercept and read your messages.
So, when security is what matters to you, you have to choose an email provider that “seals” your message in an “envelop” so that no one but you can read it. That’s why the most important thing to look for is the level of encryption offered by the email services.
#1 Tutanota
My first suggestion for you is Tutanota - a user-friendly email service with excellent features. It’s based in Germany, and it’s very secure thanks to Germany’s strict privacy laws.
As all secure email providers, Tutanota offers end-to-end encryption, which means that only you can descript your messages. Do not worry that you need any special knowledge about encryption because Tutanota automatically encrypts all emails and generates public and private keys.
In addition to this, Tutanota doesn’t log IP addresses or and no one can access your private key because it’s encrypted with your password. Your password, on the other hand, is salted and hashed, meaning that your browser makes a hash of your password and send it to the server for confirmation.
In other words, your password is not stored on Tutanota’s servers, and they can’t help you restore it if you lose it or use it decrypt your private key and read your messages. It also means that if you forget your password, you probably will have to make a new account.
But what makes it stand out from other similar services is that you can send emails to regular email users. These people will receive a link that prompts them to view their message in a secure environment, and they can even send an answer. You and your recipient just have to agree on a password.
In addition to this, Tutanota is free, and you don’t have to pay anything unless you want to use the premium features like aliases, custom domains, or email support. The free version offers 1 GB storage space which is plenty, in my opinion, and you can also switch to the paid version and extend your storage to 1 TB.
Tutanota is available for IOS and Android so that you can keep track on your emails on your phone or tablet. All you need to register is a username and a password, and you can opt for two-factor authentication if you want even more security.
Of course, I have to mention a few shortcomings, namely that Tutonota doesn’t support IMA and you can’t import contacts in bulk.
Pros:
Open source
Large storage space
Easy to register
Doesn’t keep IP addresses
Automatically encrypts and decrypts
Cons:
Doesn’t support IMAP
The paid account offers features like aliases
You probably have heard by now at least once about ProtonMail. It’s one of the best secure email services for a reason. It has a simple design, which makes it easy for users to navigate, and it offers top-notched security thanks to its encryption technique.
ProtonMail is so secure that if you lose your password, support won’t be able to help you get it back because the decrypting happens when you log into the account. They also don’t have access to the encryption key, so all your emails will be locked if you reset your account.
It means that no one will have access to your messages or know how to decrypt them – not ProtonMail staff, the government, or any hackers interested in your activities.
In addition to this, since ProtonMail doesn’t keep IP logs, no one can trace the emails back to you or find who you are. And it doesn’t require you to provide any personal information to create an account. You have the option to enter a recovery email, but it’s not compulsory.
Another great feature is that you can set an expiration date to the emails you’ve sent so that they will get deleted after a certain period of time has passed. And you can choose two-factor authentication if you’re worried about the security of your ProtonMail account.
The free version of ProtonMail comes with 500 MB storage space, limited email support, and 150 messages per day. However, it doesn’t support messages to external users. If you want that, you’d have to opt for a paid subscription.
However, just like Tutanota ProtonMail doesn’t support IMAP and as I already mentioned, the number of messages you can send a day is limited with the free account.
Pros:
Two-factor authentication
Expiration date feature
User-friendly
Automatically encrypts and decrypts
Doesn’t keep IP addresses
Cons:
Limited messages with the free version
Doesn’t support IMAP
#3 Mailfence
Another secure email service is Mailfence, based in Belgium and subject to EU privacy laws. What makes Mailfence stand among all the other email services we talked about is that you can access it using IMAP and SMTP.
On the matter of privacy, your private key is stored on Mailfence’s servers, but it’s encrypted with your password, so no one has actual access to it. In addition to this, you can digitally sign your emails so that the recipient can be certain that the message comes from you.
What’s more, Mailfence uses OpenPGP standard, which means that you can create, publish, and import your keys with ease. You can also manage your public keys and share them with your recipients.
Unfortunately, you can’t connect with email users who don’t use OpenPGP, so your contacts will be limited. And Mailfence is not open source, which puts it in a disadvantage to the other emails we talked about.
The free version of Mailfence comes with 500 MB storage space, 1000 calendar events, and two-factor authentication. The paid versions come with more features like IMAPs, POPs, STMPs, Android, and IOS.
Pros:
Digital signature
Two factor-authentication
Contacts can be imported
Access to Calendars, documents, contact, and groups
Cons:
Emails can be sent to Mailfence users or OpenPGP ones
It temporary doesn’t take new registrations
#4 Disroot
The last suggestion I have for you is Disroot. It’s another secure email server which employs top-notch encryption to make sure that no one but you can have access to your message. However, unlike other emails, you don’t have control over your secret key, which is one of its main disadvantages.
Nevertheless, unlike regular email services, Disroot promises not to track your activity, read your messages, and display ads. Moreover, Disroot offers a wide variety of services besides emails, for example, Cloud, Social Network, Forums, Chats, Forum boards and so on, which are created especially for those looking for security and anonymity.
On the other side, signing up for Disroot requires a validation email and an answer to a verification question. As a result, you might find the whole process slightly more complicated than the other email services I presented to you. I also found navigating their site to be slightly more difficult than the others.
Pros:
Offers plenty of services
Encrypts/decrypts all messages
SSL/TSL encryption
Cons:
Server-side encryption
Requires validation email
As a conclusion, I would like to recommend ProtonMail as the one I find the easiest to use and the one that offers the best qualities for a reasonable price. But of course, any other of these four options would do a better job than any regular email server that you’ve been using.
What do you think about these best secure email services for 2021? Which one do you use or would consider signing up for? Tell us in the comments.
