# Comparison > Four verifiable features of privymail.eu beside what existing providers state about themselves, with sources and date. > **Note:** privymail.eu cannot be used yet. The "privymail.eu (planned)" row describes our service; all other rows describe services you can use today. Information as of 5 October 2026; later changes by the providers are not reflected. This page sets four features of privymail.eu beside what existing providers state about the same features. It is meant to help you place the approach and is not a rating. What is said here about other providers comes from their own websites, help pages and legal texts; the references are listed under "Sources". ## Four features at a glance ### Where the provider is based | Provider | Provider's own statement | |---|---| | Proton Mail | Switzerland (Proton AG, Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva) | | Tuta Mail | Germany (Tutao GmbH, Hanover) | | mailbox.org | Germany (Heinlein Hosting GmbH, Berlin) | | Posteo | Germany (Posteo e.K., Berlin) | | Gmail | For users in the EEA and Switzerland: Ireland (Google Ireland Limited). According to Google, it belongs to the group of companies of Google LLC, USA. | | Outlook.com | For users in the EU: Ireland (contracting entity Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited). The German imprint of microsoft.com names Microsoft Corporation, USA, as the provider of the offerings under the domain microsoft.com. | | privymail.eu (planned) | Germany (patchletter UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Gelsenkirchen; operator of this website) | ### Access with common mail apps (IMAP, SMTP) | Provider | Provider's own statement | |---|---| | Proton Mail | Through the Proton Mail Bridge app for macOS, Windows and Linux, according to Proton currently only with a paid Proton Mail plan. With a business plan, according to Proton, SMTP can also be set up on business applications or devices. | | Tuta Mail | Not supported. Tuta states that it does not offer IMAP, POP3 or SMTP and points to its own apps and to add-ons for Thunderbird. | | mailbox.org | Native. The pricing page lists IMAP and POP3 in the Light, Standard and Premium plans; the help pages name synchronisation of emails via IMAP/SMTP. | | Posteo | Native: IMAP, POP3 and SMTP | | Gmail | Native. According to Google, IMAP access is always turned on for personal Google Accounts. According to Google, Gmail no longer supports third-party apps or devices that require you to share your Google username and password. | | Outlook.com | Native. According to Microsoft, POP and IMAP access is disabled by default and can be enabled in the settings. For sign-in, according to Microsoft, Outlook.com requires "Modern Auth / OAuth2". | | privymail.eu (planned) | Native (IMAP, SMTP) in the default Compatible mode, in all paid plans. | ### Your own domain | Provider | Provider's own statement | |---|---| | Proton Mail | Yes, with a paid plan | | Tuta Mail | Yes, in all paid subscriptions; not in the Free plan | | mailbox.org | Yes. Standard and Premium plans for private customers (Light only within family accounts) and Business accounts. | | Posteo | No | | Gmail | With Google Workspace: Google's pricing page names "Secure custom business email" for the Starter plan, with an example address under the company's name. The plan comparison on the Gmail product page names "No cost" and "Business Standard" and lists "Custom domain" under Business Standard. | | Outlook.com | According to Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers have not been able to create a new address with a personalised domain for their Outlook.com mailbox since 30 November 2023; existing ones continue to work. For Outlook with a personalised email address, Microsoft points to its Microsoft 365 Business plans. Elsewhere, Microsoft answers the question whether the custom domain of a Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription can be used with Outlook.com with "Yes"; for this, the domain has to be removed from Microsoft 365. | | privymail.eu (planned) | Yes, from the Pro plan | ### Stored mail the provider cannot read (by its own account) | Provider | Provider's own statement | |---|---| | Proton Mail | Default ("zero-access encryption"). According to Proton, nobody else can access messages and attachments in the inbox, not even Proton. Subject lines and sender and recipient addresses are, according to Proton, encrypted but not end-to-end encrypted. | | Tuta Mail | Default. According to Tuta, all user data is stored end-to-end encrypted and the decryption key is available only to the user. Metadata such as sender and recipient addresses is excepted. | | mailbox.org | Option for new messages in the inbox ("PGP-encrypted inbox"). According to mailbox.org, only people with the private PGP key and the corresponding password can then access them; according to mailbox.org, existing messages remain unaffected. | | Posteo | Option ("crypto mail storage"). According to Posteo, the encrypted data is then no longer readable by the provider either; it is decrypted only at the moment of access. According to Posteo, it is no substitute for regular end-to-end encryption. | | Gmail | Option in certain Workspace editions (client-side encryption). According to Google, it helps to keep an organisation's data private with end-to-end encryption that Google servers and third parties cannot decrypt; subject, timestamps and recipients are not additionally encrypted. Otherwise Google refers to "default encryption". | | Outlook.com | No statement. For Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers, Microsoft describes an option to encrypt individual messages. | | privymail.eu (planned) | An option per folder ("Sealed", OpenPGP). In the default ("Compatible"), mail is stored encrypted, but the server processes plain text while you are logged in. | We reproduce what the providers write about themselves; we have not tested the services technically. "Native" is our word for a provider naming IMAP or POP3 for mail apps. "No statement" means that, on the date above, we found no statement by the provider in the sources listed below that stored mail is unreadable to it. It says nothing about the service itself. More about privymail.eu is on the [Security](https://privymail.eu/en/security.md), [Mail apps and open standards](https://privymail.eu/en/standards.md), [Your own domain](https://privymail.eu/en/domains.md) and [Pricing](https://privymail.eu/en/pricing.md) pages; the [Roadmap](https://privymail.eu/en/roadmap.md) shows where things stand. ## What the tables do not show Four features do not describe a mail service in full, and we chose them. Storage, calendars, ease of use and support do not appear here; we leave out prices because they change often. Each of the services named has features that are missing from the tables. A few examples from the providers' own information: - **Proton Mail:** apps for the web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux; the download page labels the apps for macOS and Windows "Free trial" and the app for Linux "Beta Free trial". According to Proton, all its apps are open source and have been independently audited by third-party experts. - **Tuta Mail:** its own apps for the web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS and Windows; all clients are published under the GPLv3 licence. According to Tuta, calendars and contacts are encrypted by default as well. - **mailbox.org:** celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2024, by its own account, and refers to a BSI C5 certificate and ISO 27001 certification. The pricing table lists video conferencing in the Light, Standard and Premium plans, and Drive storage and editing documents online in the Standard and Premium plans. - **Posteo:** established in 2009, by its own account. According to Posteo, its crypto mail storage underwent an external security audit, which Posteo's German page dates to November 2014; on its German pages, Posteo also refers to a certification under the BSI technical guideline "Sicherer E-Mail-Transport" (secure email transport). - **Gmail:** according to Google, available on computer, phone, watch and tablet, including at no cost, and connected with Google Meet, Google Calendar and Google Chat. - **Outlook.com:** according to Microsoft, Microsoft 365 subscribers get additional features, including an ad-free interface, 100 GB of email storage and advanced email security. According to Microsoft, these benefits apply only to Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions and only if the subscription is associated with an Outlook.com account; according to Microsoft, the 100 GB is not available to trial subscribers. The features are connected. Tuta gives its end-to-end encryption as the reason for not offering IMAP, and with Proton, according to Proton, the Bridge encrypts and decrypts mail on your own computer. Our default mode takes the other route: common mail apps work without additional software, and in return the server processes plain text during a session. For content that we should not be able to read, there is the Sealed mode. An ordinary mail app does not open Sealed folders directly. We describe the limits of both modes on the [Security](https://privymail.eu/en/security.md) and [Mail apps and open standards](https://privymail.eu/en/standards.md) pages. You can use all the services named today, but not yet privymail.eu. ## One-to-one comparisons We also set each of the six services beside privymail.eu on a page of its own, with further features and its own sources: - [privymail.eu and Proton Mail](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-proton.md) - [privymail.eu and Tuta Mail](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-tuta.md) - [privymail.eu and mailbox.org](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-mailbox-org.md) - [privymail.eu and Posteo](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-posteo.md) - [privymail.eu and Gmail](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-gmail.md) - [privymail.eu and Outlook.com](https://privymail.eu/en/compare-outlook.md) If you want to switch from Gmail, the guide [European alternatives to Gmail](https://privymail.eu/en/gmail-alternatives.md) gives an overview. ## Sources What is said about the other providers is based on the following pages of those providers. The addresses are given as text because this website does not link to other sites. ### Proton Mail Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://proton.me/legal/terms https://proton.me/support/imap-smtp-and-pop3-setup https://proton.me/support/custom-domain https://proton.me/support/proton-mail-encryption-explained https://proton.me/mail/download https://proton.me/community/open-source ``` ### Tuta Mail Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://tuta.com/imprint https://tuta.com/security https://tuta.com/pricing https://tuta.com/support#imap https://tuta.com/support#custom-domain https://tuta.com/support#open-source ``` ### mailbox.org Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://mailbox.org/en/legal-information/ https://mailbox.org/en/prices/ https://mailbox.org/en/about-us/ https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/faq/compatible-web-browsers/ https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/custom-domains/using-emails-with-a-custom-domain/ https://kb.mailbox.org/en/business/custom-domains/using-emails-with-a-custom-domain/ https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/encryption/your-encrypted-mailbox/ ``` ### Posteo Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://posteo.de/en/site/legal_notice https://posteo.de/en/site/features https://posteo.de/en/help/how-do-i-set-up-posteo-in-an-email-client-pop3-imap-and-smtp https://posteo.de/en/site/faq https://posteo.de/en/site/encryption https://posteo.de/site/leistungen https://posteo.de/site/verschluesselung ``` ### Gmail Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en&gl=de https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en&gl=us https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en https://workspace.google.com/intl/en/products/gmail/ https://workspace.google.com/pricing?hl=en https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/security/about-client-side-encryption?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/13317990?hl=en ``` ### Outlook.com Retrieved on 5 October 2026. ``` https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/servicesagreement https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/rechtliche-hinweise/impressum https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-for-outlook-com https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/changes-to-microsoft-365-email-features-and-storage https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/send-encrypted-messages-with-a-microsoft-365-personal-or-family-subscription https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/premium-features-in-outlook-com-for-microsoft-365-subscribers ``` ## Reporting errors If anything on this page is wrong or out of date, please write to the contact address in the [imprint](https://privymail.eu/en/legal.md). --- - This page as HTML: https://privymail.eu/en/compare/ - Deutsche Fassung: https://privymail.eu/compare.md