Proton Mail
Proton AG
Encrypted email without ads, which Proton itself cannot read
Proton Mail costs €3.99/mo for the Mail Plus (annual) plan. There is also a free version.
Price
From €3.99/mo · Free version available
Last checked
September 2026
Best for
Anyone leaving an ad-funded inbox
Category
Private AI and encrypted apps
About Proton Mail
Proton Mail keeps your inbox out of reach of the company that runs it. Zero-access and end-to-end encryption mean Proton cannot read your messages on any plan, and the business earns from subscriptions, not from ads built on what you write. Hide-my-email aliases let you sign up for shops and newsletters without giving out your real address, so less spam and phishing reaches you. Paid plans add Dark Web Monitoring, which warns you when your address shows up in a data breach. A good fit for anyone leaving an ad-funded inbox. The downside: the free plan is small, with 1 GB and a single address.
Proton Mail pricing
On the Mail Plus (annual) plan, Proton Mail costs €3.99 a month or €47.88 a year. A free version exists too. Proton Unlimited (annual), the highest plan listed here, comes to €119.88 a year. Read on the provider’s pricing page on September 22, 2026; a monthly subscription can cost more than the yearly rate.
Each plan as the provider lists it, in the currency it showed us, with the date we read it.
“A sensible pick if you want email that is never scanned for ads. Encryption covers every plan, the free one included, and the AI writing help stays off until you switch it on. The catch: the free tier's 1 GB and single address fill up fast.”Editorial team, via AISafeCheck
Where to get it
From €3.99/mo
You sign up and pay on the provider’s own site.
Prices last checked on
Where we earn from a click, it says so under the button.
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View allFrequently asked questions
Can Proton read my emails?
No. Proton Mail uses zero-access and end-to-end encryption, so Proton itself cannot read what is in your inbox, whichever plan you use. The company makes its money from subscriptions rather than from ads based on your messages, which leaves it no commercial reason to look at what you write.
Does Proton Mail use AI on my emails?
Only when you ask it to. Proton Scribe, the optional writing assistant, is off by default. If you turn it on, Proton says your prompts are "encrypted in transit and deleted immediately after use". You can switch it off again under Settings, in the Messages and composing section.
Is there a free version of Proton Mail?
Yes. Proton Free costs nothing and gives you 1 GB of storage, one user and one encrypted address. The paid plans, Mail Plus and Proton Unlimited, add Dark Web Monitoring, which alerts you when your address appears in a data breach. The price table on this page shows what each plan costs.
Where we earn from a click, it says so under the button. Prices are what the provider showed on its own pricing page on the date given; its checkout has the final word, including tax.