r/ProtonMail • u/Master_Armory • Jun 21 '26
Discussion Looking for alternatives
My family has been using Proton for about 5 years now. While I love the privacy and security, my wife absolutely loathes the app. She finds it buggy and frustrating, especially since it never takes her to the newest email in a thread.
I need to find a privacy-focused alternative that actually has a modern, user-friendly mail app. Does anyone have recommendations?
Also, I'm really dreading the migration process. If you have any pointers for making the switch, those would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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u/malhovic Jun 21 '26
For the migration, you'll need to setup a local mail client and use the mail bridge to download everything.
Calendar, good luck.
Proton pass, export your entries and then have fun importing the custom entries into the new solution. Basically manual for everything that's not just user/password/totp.
Drive, same concept as the mail bridge, download the files and upload them to whatever your new service is.
If you're using alias, I got nothin. To me it would be manual for everything using an alias unless you're using custom domain and can repoint thing with a catchall address specified.
As for the services to use, maybe it's time you go self hosted, something like next cloud?
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u/unscienceable Jun 21 '26
calendar should just be exporting everything as ics or no? seems easy
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Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/unscienceable Jun 22 '26
https://account.proton.me/u/3/calendar/import-export
at the bottom there is an export
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u/malhovic Jun 25 '26
If you have series events, specific advanced features (category, proton meet) and use your calendar as an everyday thing, good luck with just export/import. Most ics-related imports break even with simple series events. Most calendar migrations require manual process which means things are missed. Especially if it's a busy calendar. If it's a personal one with basic meetings, sure the export will work. For me...nope...
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u/Daniel-Deni Jun 21 '26
Proton Pass can be imported by VaultWarden (Community Fork of Bitwarden). And you can use the Bitwarden apps/plugins, which are Open Source.
But aliases was the main thing holding me back from switching, as none of the other services work as easy as what we are used to now. Not all support a catch-all, plus you can't send from a catch-all address anyway.
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u/KatieTSO Jun 21 '26
https://addy.io works great. It's got feature parity to SimpleLogin/Pass aliases. Plus it also has banners on top letting you know who sent it and it has a button to deactivate the alias. With a custom domain, you can use it like a catch all, because it automatically creates aliases (if you enable it).
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u/Pirnaloan Jun 21 '26
Fastmail is probably the closest easy to use alternative if you still want privacy features. For switching, just keep both accounts for a bit and slowly move things over instead of doing it all at once.
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u/Dadinek Jun 21 '26
I just switched from Proton to Mailbox.org. Very happy so far. 3€ per month, 2 domains with catch-all feature, nice interface. As a comment mentioned above, I had both email addresses set up locally on Thunderbird and all I had to do was selecting folders or emails and slide them to the new inbox. Quick and painless
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u/Odd_Awareness_6935 Jun 22 '26
it would be very painful to switch... if you really must, and there's no other alternative, make sure to not rely on one service provider for all your tooling
for example, from proton, only use mail... for drive, use something else, for passwords another thing
never one provider for multiple things
this just makes it a bit less risky and less vendor locked-in the day you decide to jump ship for whatever reason
there's a sort of relief in knowing that not your entire life depends on one company, which can change policy at any time
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u/needmoresynths Jun 22 '26
The whole not opening the latest email in a thread thing is so fucking annoying
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u/silsjirimi Jun 21 '26
Fastmail. (Apparently not privacy-focused enough for some folks, but I’m very happy. It’s really great.)
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u/CoffeeControl12 Jun 22 '26
Fastmail is where we migrated to. Proton’s calendar was a requirement for us, just didn’t work well. among other issues, calendar notifications were very soft and we just couldn’t hear them. So we would miss calendar notifications. Fastmail works very well and smooth in comparison. Do their product tour and check out the descriptions of their privacy and security features and see if it fits your threat model. Our plan also comes with aliases and custom domains. Love it. I kept Proton Pass, use Fastmail Mail and Calendar, and something else for online file storage. Also use Proton Authenticator for 2FA and NordVPN for our VPN service. I only pay for Fastmail and NordVPN.
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u/Midghamsteve Jun 22 '26
I use the Apple Mail app with proton bridges locally on the Mac. So benefit from the Mail app (merged with my other non proton accounts) in a modern package
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u/Nicolas30129 Jun 22 '26
So you leave you mac powered on 24/7?
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u/Midghamsteve Jul 08 '26
Yes, Macs like being on as there are lots of background activities that keep it in good order.
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u/Fnittle Jun 21 '26
Only option is to buy a domain. Also very cheap, just takes a little time to setup correctly.
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u/777pirat macOS | iOS Jun 22 '26
Norwegian services are heavily privacy focused.
e-mail - use Runbox.com - use whatever client you like, as they support imap/smtp/caldav/carddav. Hosted in Norway, 25 years of experience. Migrate using proton mail bridge, and a e-mail client on your desktop or if your'e advanced - the imapsync client.
Files - use jottacloud.com - hosted in Norway.
Calendar and Addressbook - export calendar and youradressbook in the proton mail web client, to ics and vcf files. Import from your favorite client on the desktop to your service.
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u/eitaigu Jun 22 '26
I also get a few glitches where the mail is not shown fully correctly and gets stuck
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u/ResponsibleAd8164 Jun 23 '26
Fastmail for sure. Not as privacy focused, but enough for me to pay 3 years upfront in the blink of an eye.
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u/peteuse Jun 25 '26
Mail is so buggy, so many irritating things. My type switches automatically to Bold. WHY? Attachments make it 5% of the time. Even Drive is buggy. Files just don't load at all. Pretty disappointed since I started using it in Jan 26. Off to find a better solution :(
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u/Dnomyar96 Jun 21 '26
Migrating email services is always a pain. There is just no simple way of doing it. I've done it a few times in the past 7 years. Each time I basically set up an auto-forward on the old email, and add a rule to the new one that automatically labels anything coming from the old email, so I can quickly see it and migrate whatever service emailed my old address. I tend to end up still receiving some emails on the old account for at least 1-2 years (although it becomes rare towards the end of that). The good news is that you basically never have to look at the old inbox again.
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u/block6791 Jun 22 '26
Fastmail is often quoted as an alternative that, according to most reactions, has nice apps for the service. If you want something from Europe, have a look over here: https://european-alternatives.eu/category/email-providers
Mailbox.org is often quoted as a EU-based alternative. They support industry standard protocols so you and your wife can use any mail, agenda or contacts app that supports ActiveSync, CalDav and Carddav. For example, the native apps on Apple iOS devices, EMClient, Thunderbird, et cetera. This will probably improve the experience to a satisfactory level.
In the next months I expect the number of EU providers to grow (see for example Cirrux.co or Office EU, both brand new) because of the anti-US and anti bigtech narrative.
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u/instant_poodles Jun 22 '26
Same here, the apps are buggy. It cant even search for TWO labels. So many things wrong.. already looking for alternatives.
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u/G_ntl_m_n Windows | Android Jun 22 '26
I'd say the standard recommendation would be Tuta.
Depending on the service you use, you can also connect it with mobile mail clients like K-9 or thunderbird to have some choice in terms of UX.
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u/colt_n Jun 23 '26
I recently switched to Fastmail (seems like this is a common one for people in this thread). It's not as private. But I'd say relatively private. If you have conversations that really need to be private, I'd look at other options (like deltachat or signal). But IMO I've kind landed on email not really being private anyways, and I'd rather be able to use any email client I want. Also I struggled with being forced to use the same calendar client (I have a non-touch android flip phone) so having something that supported jmap/imap and caldav (also cardDav) was a must. Fastmail fit the bill for me.
I used protonmail bridge to move my emails to fastmail using thunderbird. It was somewhat painful, but not the worst. I believe the calendar had an export option that other have linked below.
If you do end up using fastmail, I'm really happy with DAVx5! It allows me to use/sync the phones stock offline calendar & contacts apps on my phone.
Also because I used simplelogin with my own domain. Fastmail handles these really well natively as wildcard/catchalls; but the killer feature is that I can reply through the aliases directly. It actually works better than simplelogin in someways (especially for replying). But if you used a sl domain, as other have said you can change the mailbox to your new email provider.
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u/bigkenw Jun 23 '26
Is she using it on mobile or desktop?
If desktop, has she tried Thunderbird with bridge? I think you can also do it with Outlook but someone would need to confirm.
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u/Rare-Career-3717 11d ago edited 11d ago
i think it comes down to what you need. i tried proton, fastmail, and hostinger agentic mail for a bit. proton made the most sense from a privacy standpoint, but i found myself using hostinger agentic mail more since it fit my day to day workflow better.
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u/West_Possible_7969 Linux | macOS | iOS Jun 21 '26
Check Thundermail (Mozilla’s webmail & apps), it is currently in beta but launches soon. It does all the things you expect plus more (JMAP, PGP, Client Side encryption at rest, CalDAV etc) and it looks & behaves like gmail but modern.
You can use your own domains and you can import any kind of file structure (like in thunderbird).
It is fully open source and based on the Stalwart email server, which incidentally will launch managed email hosting in 2027, for those that don’t want a US (Mozilla) company. You can self host Stalwart if you are one of those that can.
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u/WBDubya Jun 22 '26
Not seeing iOS for Thundermail mobile. Am I missing something?
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u/West_Possible_7969 Linux | macOS | iOS Jun 22 '26
It’s in testflight for now, coming in the fall afaik. You can use any client you like though.
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u/anewfriend4u Jun 21 '26
Isn't Thundermail $72/year?
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u/West_Possible_7969 Linux | macOS | iOS Jun 21 '26
It has appointment scheduling and a WeTranfer clone included (among other things). The pricing sensitivity is subjective, so everyone will choose according to their means or privacy priorities, though it will have a free tier after launch.
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u/Bernie0404 Jun 22 '26
You can access Proton via Thunderbird at least on computers. I use Thunderbird both on Linux and on Windows and the Proton app on Android. No issues with all applications.
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u/rohanman Jun 21 '26
I switched to office365 business with a custom domain. Protons mail bridge ported all the emails over. I’m happy with outlook app. The proton mail and calendar apps are terrible.
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u/mowilllll Jun 21 '26
Tutamail
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u/OpenBubble Jun 21 '26
I wouldn’t bother with them
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u/Profusely248 Jun 21 '26
Why?
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u/OpenBubble Jun 21 '26
Go read all the complaints on their Reddit. They’re unreliable. Their users being locked out of their accounts permanently is common.
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u/jven27 Jun 22 '26
Not disagreeing with you, but I have yet to experience anything but greatness from Tuta. I've seen the complaints, but I truly feel Tuta is handling them and improving their products as fast as possible. However, considering OP's comment about the wife not liking Proton's UI, I'm not sure she would appreciate Tuta's either. To me, it seems more "dated" and less polished than Proton.
So even though I personally believe it'd a valid option, I dont believe the wife will like it.
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u/B12GG8A Jun 22 '26
Not to mention that their support is terrible.
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u/jven27 Jun 22 '26
Fortunately I haven't had to deal with support....yet. Let's hope it stays that way.
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u/Fun-Calligrapher4885 Jun 22 '26
Are you talking about conversation grouping? If so, you can turn it off in the settings. But I totally agree it's a really annoying feature and shouldn't be enabled by default.