1. You shouldn't "trust" as a basis for security or privacy. Eg for protonmail, Proton can still read your incoming emails if they arrive unencrypted; the only way to avoid that is to send E2EE email, which unfortunately most email is not. You should assume that if they can, then they are.

2. If you have to use proton for whatever reason (can't afford to pay to self-host things, don't know how to and don't have time to learn, etc), it's perfectly fine for everyday use for things that are not particularly sensitive ie you don't have a highly resourced state actor actively trying to obtain that data. Just always keep the first thing in mind. Too many people treat anything that calls itself "encrypted" as a silver bullet.

If you're using Gmail, and you're considering alternatives for privacy reasons, then 100% without a doubt, objectively and unequivocably, Proton is the better choice of the two.

There are other email providers with privacy assurances, and yes, you can self-host, but don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.

To address the trustworthiness of Proton directly: I've been a Proton user for about 10 years. It gets the job done. I have complaints, but privacy is not among them.

I was actively looking to move my family over there.

When the CEOs spouted his Trump BS it made me look a little harder.

I see that they've doxed an activist.

They claim to be open source and then as you drill down you find out that some of their stuff is open source and some is not.

Switzerland looking at amending their privacy laws to further force companies to log and dox VPN users. Proton claim they would be willing to move the company outside of Switzerland if these laws take effect but will have to wait and see I guess.

There's a crap ton of either PR or fanboying going on for this company. I really want to see them get their shit together but you can't just discount this stuff like it's not happening. 400 people running around going I have never had any trouble with them privacy wise, and I don't think they all sell any of my data, It's not a good indicator of a company's privacy prowess.

I think we have good enough reason not to trust the CEO from his Twitter, and I think their marketing department is slimy as shit. I think the country they're based out of is going to force them to comply with too many court orders.

I'd say there less likely to market your data than Google/Microsoft. But they're also less likely to anonymize it correctly if they do so. Since Google runs their own ad network they don't need to sell your private data to other people to use it to market against you.

If Trump called up Andy Yen and asked him for a name, home address, IP address, phone number, and credit card mapping for all of his users he would fall over himself to provide that for hopes of a government contract. That doesn't sit well with me for a privacy concept.

If you're not worried about being doxed by a state agency, and would just prefer your data not be sold rather than it being a absolute critical thing because they might not sell your data, there definitely good enough.

If you're a little worried about putting all your eggs in one basket and want to be able to move from company to company without turning the world over, I would look at tuta and disroot, mulvad and backblaze. Or maybe even self-hosting nextcloud for the storage component on one of those services that allows you to just spin up nextcloud on a vps with single click.

Proton just completed their SOC 2 Type II audit:
https://proton.me/blog/soc-2

Accomplishments like this are why I continue to trust Proton and remain a paid user.

I think you can trust the operational side of it. I don't think they've had many detrimental oopsies, the services work. I used them for a year and then jumped ship. One reason is the favorable comments by their CEO about the 47 administration, which I didn't like. Another reason is the nitty gritty - they don't clearly advertize what's part of what package and I felt that was by design to get you to upgrade. And they definitely see themselves as a basket for all of your eggs. If you are moving there because you want to degoogle your life you end up just protonizing it. It's better to spread around your stuff so you're not dependent on one provider. If you just want a good VPN and don't care about the rest of their services and the politics, you could make worse choices.

For what ? Security or anonymity ? Likely yes for the first but no for the second. For example

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/6/22659861/protonmail-swiss-court-order-french-climate-activist-arrest-identification

Swiss have one of the strongest privacy laws and Proton is pretty save to use.

run mailbox.org bring your own encryption

the ceo is potentially fascist. they might be ok now, but there's no way to trust it long term if that's what you are hiding from.

if you are coming from gmail or hotmail its gonna be better, but that's kind of a low bar.

It's a corporation, so, no.

You need to specify what you want an alternative to, as Proton hosts a lot of services.

That depends on your risk tolerance, which is a decision you have to make yourself.

Depends on your threat model. What are you defending against?

I think they are trustworthy and the sexy alternative to Gmail. I've been testing both Proton and Tuta as my replacement. Proton is more expensive, but provides more services. Tuta is smaller, cheaper and gives off a user centric vibe. Proton seems to be emulating bigtech a bit too much with their release of a privacy chatbot today. I'm personally leaning towards keeping Tuta over Proton.

I trust Proton's privacy aims as much as I can trust any corporation, which is to say very little but way more than Google. I do feel the company prioritizes privacy and eg. bases itself in countries with privacy respecting laws (hence leaving Switzerland after their recent legal changes that risk privacy). I think this is a more important signal than the CEO's tweet supposedly favorable to Trump (which I dont like but also dont find damning enough to override their commitment to privacy).

When I researched alternatives after leaving Google I ended up choosing Proton (I also considered Tuta) for Mail & Calendar. For me they are the best option for privacy and usability, and something my non-tech family can use, which is a major win because otherwise they would not be able to leave Gmail.

I dont use their other services because I don't want to put more eggs in the same basket.