this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
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Proton

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Empowering you to choose a better internet where privacy is the default. Protect yourself online with Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive. Proton Pass and SimpleLogin.

Proton Mail is the world's largest secure email provider. Swiss, end-to-end encrypted, private, and free.

Proton VPN is the world’s only open-source, publicly audited, unlimited and free VPN. Swiss-based, no-ads, and no-logs.

Proton Calendar is the world's first end-to-end encrypted calendar that allows you to keep your life private.

Proton Drive is a free end-to-end encrypted cloud storage that allows you to securely backup and share your files. It's open source, publicly audited, and Swiss-based.

Proton Pass Proton Pass is a free and open-source password manager which brings a higher level of security with rigorous end-to-end encryption of all data (including usernames, URLs, notes, and more) and email alias support.

SimpleLogin lets you send and receive emails anonymously via easily-generated unique email aliases.

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I moved over to Proton from Google because I liked the idea of having an alias for each service. After two months and a Mail Plus trial, I now pay for Proton Unlimited. I use Mail (due to alias linking), Calendar, and Pass often. I don't really use VPN that much (although it is useful sometimes), and Drive is just too slow. I didn't have any issues with Google, and I liked using Gmail and Calendar. Proton also doesn't have watch apps, so I have to add my calendars through iCal to Google Calendar for my watch. It feels to me like I'm just overpaying now. Should I move back to Google for mail and calendar? I'm probably going to keep Pass (it seems just a bit too expensive compared to Bitwarden, though).

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

I don't find it likely that Proton will be adding Watch apps any time soon. So if that's killer for you, then you might want to look for alternatives. Can't vouch for Google though, it's just a massive data harvester.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Being real, after the debacle that is Google happened, I refuse to put all my eggs in one basket again. Proton is great at mail, so that's what I use them for. The only other thing I've considered using is their calendar because there's really no great option for me other than Google, because of the need to have an account that everyone can use on any device. Since that includes my dad, it limits things a hell of a lot. Proton's calendar is still something he struggles with for some reason.

Bitwarden works well for me, so I ain't moving.

Proton VPN is good, but mullvad is better imo, or air if I ever need port forwarding again.

And, there is the money factor. I'm fixed income, so proton is bloody expensive for me. I can't justify the extra any given service would cost, even if I wanted a single provider for everything.

Don't get me wrong, their fee scale is solid. Enough that it shouldn't run dry for them and need more monetization, but not so much that it isn't affordable for most. It's just outside of my personal budget.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Why not use Firefox Relay? It's a mail forwarding service with 5 aliases in the free version, and unlimited in paid. I'm using that in combination with my gmail account and it works beautifully.

If you only occasionally need a vpn, the free tier in proton is probably sufficient (but you can't select servers, they will be assigned at random), and you could use windscribe as a backup (you can select servers in the free tier yourself, but traffic is limited to 10GB per 30 days).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I liked Windscribe so much I ended up paying for it. With a discount code I found the price to be reasonable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I don’t know you. I don’t know how much money you make or if you can afford to keep paying for proton. But; yes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I moved over to Proton from Google because I liked the idea of having an alias for each service.

You can pay less than $1/month for domain (i.e. on Porkbun or Cloudflare) and have unlimited email forwarding for services. Just set up catch all and forward that to your Proton/Gmail. And your own domain might be useful for you in future.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been using unlimited for the past 4-5 months and questioning the same. the email is ok, but I can't commit to switching 20 years of stuff over. the pass is pretty bad at autofill and making new passwords unless I'm just missing something. the vpn works, but I don't really need it. I want to like and use the service but it's all just eh.

[–] tester1121 1 points 4 months ago

I'm in somewhat of the same situation. I would happily pay for just Mail and Pass, but I am required to pay Unlimited pricing.

[–] Echo5 2 points 4 months ago

I haven’t paid for proton yet but am considering it, and the VPN is the big selling factor currently. I’d use the email, drive, and VPN. Bitwarden or KeePass are good free password managers. Other VPNs have comparable pricing to Proton’s whole one-person suite, so I figure it’s more bang for the buck.

[–] Echo5 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I haven’t paid for proton yet but am considering it, and the VPN is the big selling factor currently. I’d use the email, drive, and VPN. Bitwarden or KeePass are good free password managers. Other VPNs have comparable pricing to Proton’s whole one-person suite, so I figure it’s more bang for the buck.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

@Echo5 @tester1121

if you factor in the pricing of just a competitors VPN then Proton beats them hands down.

Using their unlimited bundle and the password manager works very well.