.
When it comes to free email service, it’s pretty hard to find someone who doesn’t have an account with one. As difficult as it is to imagine that they are not a Gmail or Outlook account or their “variants” (hotmail.com, live.com, msn.com).
And there are a number of justifiable and understandable reasons why the vast majority of people opt for Gmail or Outlook when thinking about a free email account.
What few people know – or care about knowing – is that there is a (digital) world beyond the leading services in their segments and, above all, a good set of reasons to “run away” from both.
If you’re curious, we’re going to show you three options that can be much better than the ones you know, are used to and probably use.
Why not use Gmail or Outlook?
If you’re part of the majority group, chances are you’re curious as to why you shouldn’t use either Gmail or Outlook (or Hotmail or Live.com or MSN.com), right?
This is the kind of question you can’t answer with a line or two. Quite the contrary.
Also because being quite realistic, there are a series of situations in which you are obliged to have not only an account in one of the two, but in both, when, for example, you use other Google and Microsoft services, for which the accounts are the passport for its use.
But this condition should not oblige you to always use them, even when not necessary.
Even so, we will try to be as brief as possible, without, however, failing to provide information that is extremely relevant to support a good answer.
1. Gmail and Outlook are for profit
No one is naive to imagine that any company in a capitalist economy does not aim for profit. This is not the issue, nor are we against corporate profits.
But have you ever stopped to think about the cost of Gmail and Outlook email operation? Only the amount paid by Microsoft for Hotmail in 1997 would be equivalent today – without any correction – to approximately 2 billion reais, not counting everything that is necessary to keep the service running since then and which many times exceeds the initial investment.
Yes, investment presupposes return. In this case, it comes in different forms, some more apparent and others not so much.
Very – very much – in short, all the information that circulates through their e-mail accounts serves at some point for different purposes and which, in turn, helps to sustain the business model of both companies.
There is no “free lunch” and the Internet is not free! The truth is that this “democratization of the Internet” no longer serves even as a marketing discourse!
2. Privacy does not exist
Although Google guarantees that it no longer uses – which means that it has already used – the content of your messages to display online advertising, it remains for anyone to just believe. Outlook, on the other hand, doesn’t even bother to deny it.
But the violation of privacy on the Internet does not only occur when its contents are used to display advertising.
Even if there is not one – or several – people “snooping” in your messages to find out what you and your contacts are about, the contents are accessed by algorithms and robots that use them for various purposes, as a basis for other company services, including the paid version of the services. Many of them, for the previous reason – profit.
3. Cyber security
This is another controversial point, not because we are saying that the most used e-mail services in the world are insecure.
In fact, in general terms, both have been shown to be quite safe in many aspects, but not in all. Furthermore, they are not as secure as they could be, which may seem like a paradoxical statement.
For example, they don’t offer end-to-end encryption or zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) based encryption capability, as one of the alternatives we’ll introduce later.
In addition to the fact that given the number of users, they are much more likely targets of attacks, intrusions and data leaks.
Last but not least, privacy, anonymity and Internet security are not matters that can be dealt with individually. Each of the three, when compromised, affects the others on some level.
4. Lack of transparency
Perhaps because most people are not used to reading terms of use for services and privacy policies, but perhaps also for other reasons that are not relevant at the moment, the reality is that both documents are not absolutely transparent and neither guarantee rights that users have. would need to be insured.
There are several places where both services automatically grant themselves rights to content contained in your account.
Furthermore, the use of proprietary systems/software to manage the service does not allow us to know about possible failures or possible abuses.
5. Online advertising
Although Google currently states that it does not use the contents of your email account to display advertising, not only is there an excess of advertising online, it is often related to some of this content.
Just coincidence?
Hard to believe, especially when we remember how much it costs to maintain all the necessary infrastructure, supposedly for free.
Outlook doesn’t even bother to make that kind of statement and when you use an ad blocker, it suggests the paid version of the service to be free of that advertising.
With all that in mind, you now have compelling and well-founded reasons to choose better alternatives.
Free email services that respect the user
Before we present alternatives for free services that show more respect to their users, it is important to highlight some factors:
- The order in which the services are presented does not reflect a ranking or indicate that one is better than another. Any existing differences may mean greater benefits for some than for others, which prevents us from stating that “A” is better than “B”, or vice versa;
- Responsible companies also aim for profit, but the way to obtain it is a little different and less invasive. In everyone’s free version, you can already count on a consistent set of features and benefits;
- There are a wide variety of supposedly free e-mail services, but we have chosen only three that actually present solutions that represent an answer to the criticisms we made earlier;
- Although quite good, these services should not be considered your only or main e-mail account. They are options for those who know the importance and need to have at least two e-mail accounts, normally one for professional use and the other for personal matters.
1. ProtonMail
O ProtonMail was born in Switzerland, the result of the desire of scientists from CERN who believed it was possible to use an e-mail service that effectively respected the users’ privacy. Initially made possible thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, in 2014 one of the most well-known and faithful alternatives was born.
ProtonMail Features/Benefits:
- End-to-end encryption. No Proton system/algorithm has access to the contents of your account;
- Encryption based on “Zero Knowledge” or “Zero Knowledge Proofs”, which reinforces the trinomial security, privacy and anonymity;
- As it is headquartered in Switzerland, the services are protected by Swiss privacy laws, which are much stricter, neutral and secure than the US laws of leading services;
- It is possible to access the service through an app on the browser (Windows, Linux, MacOs), through Android or iOS and even through some email clients, always preserving end-to-end encryption;
- The interface is modern, clean and most importantly – free of advertising. Also, it offers customization features;
- It is based on open source systems, which favors transparency regarding strictly doing what is declared, as well as allowing for collaborative corrections and improvements. It is also independently audited by third-party experts;
- 2-factor authentication (2FA), which strengthens security;
- Up to 1 Gb of storage, with sending / receiving 150 messages / day and 25 Mb attachments;
- Encrypted contact data;
- Gmail Importer, which facilitates users who want to migrate from one to another;
- Extras: calendar (Proton Calendar), 1 Gb virtual disk (Proton Drive), VPN (Proton VPN) and password manager (Proton Pass).
2. Tutanota
Another service with a strong appeal for privacy, the marrow was launched in 2011 and prides itself on being the first in the industry to offer end-to-end encryption of the entire voicemail dataset. Although a little less “famous” than the previous one, it offers a set of equally valuable benefits.
Features/Benefits of Tutanota:
- End-to-end encryption, including all message data, not just the content. Thus, your calendar and contacts will also be inaccessible to third parties. No Tutanota system / algorithm has access to the contents of your account;
- As a result of the previous characteristic, in the free plans they are offered in an integrated way to the environment, agenda of appointments and contacts;
- Servers based in Germany and strict compliance with the GDPR, the legislation that regulates the protection of user data. Therefore, focus on privacy;
- No personal information or phone number is needed to create your anonymous email account;
- 2-factor authentication (2FA), which strengthens security;
- The platform is developed based on open source, emphasizing transparency and whenever new code is released, it is audited and undergoes resistance tests to attacks by experts from the SySS GmbH;
- 1 GB of storage. No information about daily send/receive limit;
- Access possible by Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, MacOS and different browsers;
- Modern, clean interface and also 100% free of any advertising. It’s not customizable.
3. Cryptext
Criptext is the “youngest” of the three and also the least popular, which should not be interpreted as worse. It even has particularities that the previous two do not have and that in some scenarios can be seen as important advantages.
Features/Benefits of Cryptext:
- End-to-end encryption. However, Criptext uses a different encryption routine, according to which each message has its own key, in such a way that if it is eventually compromised / discovered, the other messages cannot be decrypted using it;
- Encryption is based on Signal protocolthe same one that serves as the basis for the application of the same name (signal) and which is considered the best and safest alternative to WhatsApp;
- Sent / received messages are not stored on servers, but only on synchronized devices, which means that in the event of an invasion / attack on the company’s servers, there is no user data to be obtained, nor does data leakage occur;
- It also follows from the above characteristic that no body of any government may request access to the content of any account. In fact, you can, but since nothing is stored, nothing can be provided;
- Another direct consequence of the previous feature, there is no storage limit, and this factor is solely determined by the storage capacity of the users’ devices;
- It’s open source like the previous ones, so it values transparency and uses a committed community to take care of flaws and security aspects;
- It has the “unsend” feature, which allows you to undo an incorrect shipment within 1 hour of your shipment;
- Offers application for all major operating system options: Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS and Windows;
- The interface is minimalist and only contains the essentials for everyday use. However, it contains some basic tools, such as a to-do list.
Conclusion
Free email service alternatives that respect the user, operating with transparency and guaranteeing their privacy, security and anonymity.
.
