Proton Mail
🇨🇭Proton
📖Open source✓Free plan
Replaces
freemium
Email providers from European companies, as alternatives to Gmail and Outlook, from end-to-end encrypted services such as Proton Mail and Tuta Mail to classic webmail.
Quick answer: There are 22 European alternatives in Email Services from 8 countries. 2 are open source, 10 have a free plan and 1 can be self-hosted.
Our assessment, based only on the checked statements above.
We checked 11 of the 12 alternatives on this page against each company's own website in September 2026. Every line in the grey panels comes from that company’s own site, and a second check tried to disprove it before we kept it. A dash in the table means we could not verify that detail. "Pick it if" lines are our own assessment, based only on those checked statements.
| Product | Country | Pricing | Free plan | Open source | Self-host | Replaces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton Mail | 🇨🇭Switzerland | Freemium | Yes | Yes | No | Outlook, Gmail +1 |
| mail.de | 🇩🇪Germany | Freemium | Yes | No | No | Outlook, Yahoo Mail +1 |
| Kolab Now | 🇨🇭Switzerland | Subscription | No | Not verified | No | Yahoo Mail, Outlook +1 |
| netim | 🇫🇷France | Paid | Yes | No | No | Yahoo Mail, Gmail +1 |
| eclipso | 🇩🇪Germany | Freemium | Yes | Not verified | No | Yahoo Mail, Outlook +1 |
| Posteo | 🇩🇪Germany | Subscription | No | No | No | Yahoo Mail, Gmail +1 |
| Runbox | 🇳🇴Norway | Subscription | No | No | No | Yahoo Mail, Gmail +1 |
| Mailo | 🇫🇷France | Freemium | Yes | No | No | Outlook, Yahoo Mail +1 |
| mailbox.org | 🇩🇪Germany | Subscription | No | No | No | Gmail, Yahoo Mail +1 |
| inbox.eu | 🇱🇻Latvia | Freemium | No | No | No | Outlook, Gmail +1 |
| Soverin | 🇳🇱Netherlands | Paid | No | No | No | Outlook, Yahoo Mail +1 |
| Migadu | 🇨🇭Switzerland | Paid | No | Not verified | No | Outlook, Yahoo Mail +1 |
A dash means we have not verified that attribute. Details and sources are on each product page.
The same word covers different things. Tuta says all user data is stored end-to-end encrypted, except metadata such as the addresses of senders and recipients, which the email protocol needs; it does not use PGP but its own implementation, and you can send an encrypted email to someone outside Tuta by setting a password. Proton Mail says end-to-end encryption makes messages accessible only to you and your recipients. Mailfence, mailbox.org and eclipso build on OpenPGP in the webmail (mailbox.org and eclipso also on S/MIME), so you create or import keys without installing anything; eclipso includes this in its free plan. Posteo offers inbound encryption with PGP or S/MIME. At GMX, end-to-end encryption is an option you choose per email.
Sources: Tuta: security, Proton: trust, Mailfence, mailbox.org: security, eclipso, Posteo, GMX: security
Tuta states that it does not offer IMAP, so you use its own apps. Proton Mail lists email client support via IMAP and SMTP. Posteo, mailbox.org, Mailfence, Migadu, Soverin, inbox.eu, Mailo and eclipso all name IMAP access on their own pages.
Sources: Tuta: security
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Posteo says own domains cannot be used with it. Most others allow it, usually on a paid plan: mailbox.org on its Standard and Premium plans, Proton Mail from Mail Plus with one custom domain, Tuta with unlimited aliases and a catch-all on the Revolutionary and Legend plans. Runbox, Mailfence and Soverin also support your own domain, and Hostpoint sells email on your own domain name bundled with a drive and a calendar.
Sources: Posteo: FAQ, mailbox.org: private, Proton: pricing, Tuta: pricing, Runbox: pricing, Mailfence, Soverin, Hostpoint
Most free plans give about 1 GB: Proton Mail, Tuta, Mailfence and Mailo all state 1 GB, and Proton's free plan has one address. eclipso Freemail has 4 GB, one address and no aliases, and may show ads. mail.de has two free options: FreeMail with 1 GB and advertising, or FreeMail Zero without advertising, with 500 MB and a limit of 25 sent emails a day. WEB.DE can be used free of charge if you consent to advertising tracking and personalised advertising, and it may delete the contents of free mailboxes not logged into for more than 180 days. Among paid plans, mail.de starts at €0.99 per month.
Sources: Proton: pricing, Tuta: pricing, Mailfence, eclipso, mail.de, WEB.DE: Datenschutz, Mailo, eclipso: European Gmail alternative
SimpleLogin is not a mailbox. It forwards mail sent to your aliases to an inbox you already have, and replies go out from the alias so your real address stays hidden. Its free plan has 10 aliases and one mailbox.
Sources: SimpleLogin, SimpleLogin: pricing
Checked in September 2026 against the sources linked under each answer.
Notable
Pick Proton Mail if you want encryption by default on all emails exchanged within your business, no plugin required.(our assessment)
Checked against Proton Mail's homepage, security page, privacy policy, pricing page and about page.
mail.de
Replaces
Notable
Pricing: from €0.99 per month (homepage)
Pick mail.de if you want to log in with a fingerprint or Face ID.(our assessment)
Checked against mail.de's homepage, sicherheit page, legal notice and datenschutz page.
netim
Replaces
Notable
Pick netim if you want storage space distributed among email addresses as needed.(our assessment)
Checked against netim's homepage, comparison chart page and legal notice.
eclipso Mail Europe
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from 1.49 € per month (homepage)
Pick eclipso if you want to send physical mail, faxes and SMS from the browser.(our assessment)
Checked against eclipso's european gmail alternative page, homepage, .
Posteo
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from 1 EUR per month (homepage)
Pick Posteo if you want migration of up to three external email accounts, including folder structures.(our assessment)
Checked against Posteo's about page, faq page, .
Runbox Solutions AS
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from €19.95 per year (pricing page)
Pick Runbox if you want import tools that move all or part of existing email, contacts and calendars.(our assessment)
Checked against Runbox's homepage, pricing page.
Mailo
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from €1.50 / month (homepage)
Checked against Mailo's homepage, legal notice.
mailbox.org
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from € 1 per month (pricing page)
Pick mailbox.org if you want disposable addresses to protect your main address from spam and unwanted contacts.
inbox.eu
Replaces
Notable
Pricing: from €9.99 / year per user (pricing page)
Pick inbox.eu if you want single sign-on with LDAP and SAML2.(our assessment)
Checked against inbox.eu's homepage, secure file storage page, pricing page, inbox eu mail page, privacy policy and .
Soverin
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from €3.25 per month, billed annually (pricing page)
Pick Soverin if you want email headers without your personal IP address.(our assessment)
Checked against Soverin's homepage and pricing page.
Migadu
Replaces
Notable
Where it falls short
Pricing: from $ 19 / year (pricing page)
Pick Migadu if you want no hard storage quotas, so mail never bounces back.(our assessment)
Checked against Migadu's homepage, pricing page, legal notice, privacy policy and about page.
Checked against mailbox.org's private page, homepage, security page, t cs cancellation policy page, pricing page, legal notice and certified quality page.