Mailfence vs Proton Mail
Proton Mail has the higher grade on both axes: Safety 7.3 against 6.5, and Privacy 7.2 against 5.9.
Mailfence
Belgian OpenPGP email suite with a free tier and Bitcoin or Litecoin payment
Privacy
5.9/ 10
Fair
Safety
6.5/ 10
Fair
No ID mentioned KYC 1 Docs reviewed Full review →
Proton Mail
Swiss end-to-end encrypted email with a free tier; paid plans payable in Bitcoin or cash
Privacy
7.2/ 10
Strong
Safety
7.3/ 10
Strong
No ID mentioned KYC 1 Docs reviewed Full review →
Side by side
| Mailfence | Proton Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ||
| KYC policy | No ID mentioned | No ID mentioned |
| Custody | N/A | N/A |
| Sign-up | Email required | Email optional |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Tor onion address | No | Yes |
| Coins | BTC, LTC | BTC |
| Pay with | Card, Crypto, PayPal, Bank transfer | Crypto, Cash, Card, PayPal, Bank transfer |
| Fees | Free plan available; paid plans billed in advance (monthly, quarterly or yearly). Subscriptions are not refunded. | Not published |
| Limits | Free accounts are suspended after 7 months of inactivity and deleted 5 months later. | Not published |
| Founded | 1999 | 2014 |
| Jurisdiction | Belgium | Switzerland |
| Incidents on record | 0 | 0 |
| Published tests (180 days) | 0 | 0 |
Only Mailfence
Requires emailNo phone needed
Both
5+ years operatingLegal entity disclosed
Only Proton Mail
Tor onion serviceAccepts cashOpen source
Where they sit among email
Questions
Is Mailfence or Proton Mail safer?
Proton Mail has the higher Safety grade: Mailfence 6.5, Proton Mail 7.3, out of 10.
Does Mailfence or Proton Mail require KYC?
Mailfence is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned). Proton Mail is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned).
Which has more incidents on record?
Mailfence has 0 and Proton Mail has 0 documented incidents in the registry.