ProtonMail vs Tuta: The Battle That Privacy Nerds Actually Care About

I’ve had both ProtonMail and Tuta accounts since 2020. ProtonMail as my primary, Tuta as a backup.

Last month, I ran an experiment: I used only Tuta for 30 days. I wanted to know if the grass was actually greener.

Spoiler: It’s not greener. It’s just… different grass.

The 30-Second Answer

Both encrypt your emails end-to-end. Both keep you safe from Google reading your thoughts. Both are legitimate privacy tools used by journalists, activists, and paranoid normal people.

The differences are in the details. And the details might not matter to you.

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What They Agree On

Before we fight about differences, let’s acknowledge the similarities:

Feature	ProtonMail	Tuta
End-to-end encryption	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Zero-access encryption	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Open source	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Can read your emails	❌ No	❌ No
GDPR compliant	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Free tier	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Mobile apps	✅ iOS, Android	✅ iOS, Android
Custom domains	✅ Paid	✅ Paid

If your only question is “which encrypts my email?”, flip a coin. They both do it well.

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Where ProtonMail Wins

1. The Ecosystem

This is the big one.

ProtonMail isn’t just email anymore. It’s Proton—a whole privacy suite:

• ProtonMail – Email
• Proton Calendar – Encrypted calendar
• Proton Drive – Cloud storage
• Proton VPN – VPN service
• Proton Pass – Password manager

Tuta has email and calendar. That’s it. No VPN, no drive, no password manager. If you want an all-in-one privacy ecosystem, Proton wins by default.

2. The User Base

ProtonMail: 100+ million users. Tuta: 10+ million users.

Does this matter? Maybe.

Larger user base means:

• More funding for security research
• Less likely to go bankrupt
• More integrations with other tools
• More people have heard of it (easier to explain to contacts)

3. PGP Compatibility

If you’re a privacy purist who uses PGP keys to communicate with other privacy purists, ProtonMail plays nicer.

ProtonMail supports importing and exporting PGP keys. You can email anyone using PGP, regardless of their provider.

Tuta uses their own encryption protocol. It works great—for communicating with other Tuta users. For external PGP users, it’s more complicated.

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Where Tuta Wins

1. The Price

Plan	ProtonMail	Tuta
Free	500MB, 1 address	1GB, 1 address
Entry paid	€48/year (15GB)	€36/year (20GB)

Tuta gives you more storage for less money. That’s straightforward.

The free tier is also more generous: 1GB vs 500MB. If you’re trying to avoid paying anything, Tuta stretches further.

2. Calendar Encryption

Both have encrypted calendars. But Tuta’s calendar encryption includes event metadata—not just the content.

ProtonMail encrypts calendar event details. Tuta encrypts calendar event details and timing information.

In practice: Proton can theoretically see that you have something scheduled at 3 PM on Thursday. Tuta can’t see that either.

3. All-In Encryption

Tuta encrypts everything by default:

• Email subject lines (ProtonMail does this too now, but Tuta did it first)
• Sender/recipient addresses (encrypted in their system)
• IP addresses (stripped from emails)

ProtonMail has caught up on most of this, but Tuta has historically been more aggressive about encrypting every possible piece of metadata.

4. German vs Swiss

Neither is “wrong.” Both are dramatically better than US jurisdiction. Some people prefer the EU; some prefer Switzerland. It’s a matter of trust and personal threat model.

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The User Experience Difference

After 30 days of Tuta-only, here’s what I noticed:

ProtonMail Feels Like Gmail

Not a criticism. The interface is familiar. Search works well. Threading makes sense. It feels like email software from a major company.

Tuta Feels Like… Tuta

The interface is unique. Not bad, just different. Takes a few days to adjust. Some things (like search) feel less polished. But it works.

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What About Mailbox.org?

Some comparisons include Mailbox.org. It’s German, it’s privacy-focused, and it’s popular in tech circles.

But it’s different. Mailbox.org uses standard IMAP/SMTP. It’s server-side encrypted, not end-to-end. The provider can technically access your emails if compelled.

For most people, Mailbox.org is “good enough” privacy. For the ProtonMail/Tuta crowd, it’s a compromise.

	ProtonMail/Tuta	Mailbox.org
Encryption type	End-to-end	At-rest
Provider access	Impossible	Possible
Works with any email client	Limited	Full
Price	€36-48/year	€36/year

If “provider can’t read my email even if court ordered” matters, stick with Proton or Tuta. If “works with Thunderbird” matters more, Mailbox.org is a reasonable choice.

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My Recommendation

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The Migration Reality

Switching email providers sucks regardless of which you choose.

What you’ll deal with:

• Updating every account that uses your old email
• Missing emails during the transition
• Explaining your new address to everyone
• Running both accounts for 6+ months

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After 30 Days of Tuta

I went back to ProtonMail as my primary.

Not because Tuta is bad. It’s genuinely good. But the Proton ecosystem (especially Calendar and Drive integration) had become part of my workflow. Going Tuta-only felt like missing pieces.

If I were starting fresh today with no ecosystem lock-in? Honestly, it would be a coin flip. Both do the core job—private email—extremely well.

The differences are real, but they’re smaller than the marketing wants you to believe.

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Quick FAQ

Can ProtonMail/Tuta users email each other encrypted? Yes, but only if both users initiate the exchange correctly. It’s not seamless like messaging within the same service.

Is Gmail actually reading my emails? Google’s AI processes your emails for features and advertising. Whether “reading” is the right word is philosophical. But yes, Gmail has access to your content in ways ProtonMail/Tuta don’t.

Can I use my own domain? Both support custom domains on paid plans.

Which is better for business? ProtonMail has more explicit business features and admin tools. Tuta’s business offerings are catching up.

What if I need to search old emails? ProtonMail’s search is more capable. Tuta’s search works but feels limited. Both encrypt in ways that make server-side search impossible—a privacy tradeoff.

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Try Them

• ProtonMail – 500MB free, €48/year for 15GB
• Tuta – 1GB free, €36/year for 20GB
• Mailbox.org – 30-day trial, €36/year

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Related:

• EU Alternatives to Gmail
• EU Cloud Storage Compared
• Why EU Software Matters

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Last updated: January 2026