When I initially set out to change mail providers, I considered both Fastmail and ProtonMail.
Ultimately, my decision was based on the fact that ProtonMail is a Swiss company, a country whose privacy laws are stronger than Fastmail’s country of origin, Australia.
So far I’m really happy with ProtonMail as a replacement for Gmail, as a mobile-first user. The only issue is saying “ProtonMail” to people who have never heard of it (surprisingly prone to misspelling).
I think Fastmail is more honest - if you're using email and communicating with 90% of the rest of the world that uses gmail then the 'privacy' provided by proton mail is irrelevant.
They're also based in [edit: I thought Protonmail was Russian based, but they're not]. I think that's probably worse from a country level.
Encrypted email is a bad way to do private communication - services that pretend otherwise set off alarms for me.
The main advantage of Fastmail vs. Google is that it's a separate service focused on providing you a good experience with custom domain support. The business model is not ad driven so incentives are more aligned and it lets you leave Google services.
The privacy people's faith in proton is misplaced (imo).
I like both FastMail and Protonmail. Take note of where the infrastructure is hosted for both however, if your privacy concern is one of nation-state actors.
I use ProtonMail and I am quite satisfied so far. Servers being in Switzerland is a huge plus in my book, compared to Gmail and fastmail which seems to be suggested so often.
I use both. Fastmail is more compatible with clients and has a good per-client security model. However it is based in Australia, which has increasingly insane digital privacy laws.
Proton mail has more advanced cryptographic features and my understanding is that your email is encrypted so they can't offer it up to third parties without your consent (or at least stealing your password.) The usability is not as good: search often does not work very well (I believe this is due to the encrypted nature of it) and there are only a handful of local clients you can use via their bridge. The mobile app is pretty good, the web app is acceptable but clunky.
I use fastmail for day to day stuff I don't care too much about and protonmail for my more important/personal stuff. Both support custom domains so you can move your email to another provider if you get sick of one.
They represent vastly different philosophies. Fastmail is direct alternative to Gmail with good UI and UX but they're based in Australia and against message encryption as it impacts their UX (for example it's not possible to index encrypted messages). Protonmail is an OpenPGP company (they directly invest in OpenPGP.js) but have issues supporting other standards. For example IMAP/SMTP is available only through a bridge.
I use fastmail because at the time it had calendar and contacts, and proton at the time didn’t. Otherwise I’d use proton for the extra privacy (Eg, company isn’t in Australia)
I haven't used ProtonMail, and I don't have much of substance to say about FastMail except that I'm a happy customer. The recent Australia backdoor thing concerns me, but I'll wait to see what the company does. FastMail already has access to all of my data anyway, but I didn't sign on for silent government access at the same time...
Edit: I use Gmail at work and much as it pains me, I have to say that I prefer Gmail's interface.
I used fastmail for a bit but kept with gmail. I recently switched everything to protonmail. The key advantage of protonmail over fastmail is that protonmail doesn't have the private keys to your email storage.
I was/am contemplating ProtonMail from Fastmail. I've been using it for a couple years now and it's been awesome. I was hoping to gain additional security with ProtonMail but maintain the flexibility I need with multiple accounts and shared addresses that Fastmail does very well.
I finally switched from Gmail to ProtonMail this month as a New Year's resolution to make my privacy better bit by bit. Haven't tested Fastmail, but I like ProtonMail's simple webmail and the Android client a lot. Happily paying them for the service.
What are your experiences with Fastmail? Do they encrypt all your emails and in which country are their servers located?
I really like ProtonMail. I switched last month. Protonvpn is good too. I’ve had no problems at all.
The security/privacy stuff is what does it for me. Just knowing that they are serious about redundancy and are in a bunker in Switzerland makes it feel like a Swiss bank account with that famously Swiss sense of privacy and security. Love it.
Ultimately, my decision was based on the fact that ProtonMail is a Swiss company, a country whose privacy laws are stronger than Fastmail’s country of origin, Australia.
So far I’m really happy with ProtonMail as a replacement for Gmail, as a mobile-first user. The only issue is saying “ProtonMail” to people who have never heard of it (surprisingly prone to misspelling).
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