Onion Mail vs Proton Mail
It is a trade-off. Proton Mail has the higher Safety grade (7.3 against 6.5), while Onion Mail has the higher Privacy grade (7.4 against 7.2).
Onion Mail
Email with an official onion address, PGP storage encryption and anonymous signup
Privacy
7.4/ 10
Strong
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
| Onion Mail | Proton Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ||
| KYC policy | No ID mentioned | No ID mentioned |
| Custody | N/A | N/A |
| Sign-up | No account needed | Email optional |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Tor onion address | Yes | Yes |
| Coins | XMR, BTC, ETH | BTC |
| Pay with | Crypto, Monero, Card | Crypto, Cash, Card, PayPal, Bank transfer |
| Fees | Free plan (receive only, 50 MB); paid plans from $4/month | Not published |
| Limits | Free accounts cannot send mail and are blocked after 3 months of inactivity | Not published |
| Founded | 2017 | 2014 |
| Jurisdiction | United States | Switzerland |
| Incidents on record | 0 | 0 |
| Published tests (180 days) | 0 | 0 |
Only Onion Mail
No email neededNo phone neededAccepts Monero
Both
Tor onion service5+ years operatingLegal entity disclosed
Only Proton Mail
Accepts cashOpen source
Where they sit among email
Questions
Is Onion Mail or Proton Mail safer?
Proton Mail has the higher Safety grade: Onion Mail 6.5, Proton Mail 7.3, out of 10.
Does Onion Mail or Proton Mail require KYC?
Onion Mail is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned). Proton Mail is KYC level 1 (no ID mentioned).
Which has more incidents on record?
Onion Mail has 0 and Proton Mail has 0 documented incidents in the registry.