Posteo Email

Posteo is an independent email service based in Berlin that has run since 2009. It is funded entirely by its users, with no advertising, tracking or investors, and it is known for privacy and sustainability rather than business features.

An account costs 1 euro a month. That includes a 4 GB mailbox, three alias addresses, calendars, an address book and notes. Storage and aliases can be increased in the settings. Addresses use Posteo's own domains, so this is a personal mailbox rather than hosting for your own domain.

Privacy is the main draw. All saved data, including mail, calendars, contacts and notes, can be encrypted at the click of a button. You can enable inbound encryption with OpenPGP or S/MIME, so incoming mail is stored encrypted with your own key, and login supports two factor authentication with TOTP. Posteo says its product uses only open source software and free protocols, and it only uses JavaScript that is published under open licences.

Mail works with any client over IMAP and POP3, and contacts sync with phones and computers over CardDAV. Calendars can be used across devices, shared with others or encrypted. The webmail lets you choose from 12 colour schemes, handles attachments up to 100 MB for sending and receiving, and has a tool to find and remove large attachments to free space. Delivery status and read receipt requests are supported.

A migration service can bring your existing mail across from selected providers, including AOL, GMX, Hotmail, iCloud, Office 365, Outlook.com, WEB.DE and Yahoo. Forwarding of incoming mail can also be set up.

Sustainability is the other half of the pitch. Posteo describes itself as green, secure and ad-free, publishes a transparency report and lists the organisations it donates to. Support is personal, by email, at no extra charge.