I was using ExpressVPN ($8.33/month if subscribed yearly) with no complaints, until I stumbled upon Proton Unlimited - a comprehensive offering from the company famous for privacy and security. Proton Unlimited includes 500 GB of drive storage, mail, calendar, contacts, password manager, and a VPN - all for just $7.99/month (if subscribed for 2 years).
More services, for less money, and from a company with a noble mission? That sounds like a no-brainer!
Until I dug deeper...
This review was written in July of 2023. Proton services are changing and expanding rapidly so things may have changed since then.
TLDR: The goal of Proton is to match Google's services on the usability front, but without compromising users' security and privacy - this is a very hard challenge and without doubt, Proton is not yet there on the usability front.
The good
Security
If you are someone who is not satisfied with Google's offerings and wants as close to absolute security as practically possible, Proton is definitely the way to go.
With end-to-end encryption, Tor services, a VPN offering, and a no-logging policy, Proton is without doubt stronger than Google on this front.
The Mail web app has nice features like a confirmation before going to an external link to prevent phishing and end-to-end encryption (though might not work if sending mail to a non-proton email address).
Privacy
Proton has a great reputation for respecting your privacy, not mining/selling your data, and doing their best to keep your identity incognito.
In addition to the behind-the-scenes privacy magic, there are nice pro-user features:
- You can have up to 15 email addresses (though, this isn't a big perk as those who own a domain name can get infinitely many aliases, even without Proton).
- Sieve filters are a nice perk too - allow for advanced filtering of mail (Cloudflare is now getting something similar - Email workers)
But to cut a long story short, things are pretty simple:
- If you are a security enthusiast, and don't feel satisfied with Google, and are happy to trade of usability for security and privacy, then Proton is a no-brainer.
- If you feel satisfied with security in Google (2FA, passkeys, security logs, standard encryption, smart spam filters) and love all the integrations and features it provides (one of the best web drive clients, one of the best, if not the best calendars in the world, nice to use contacts system) and are not afraid to trade off some privacy for nice features (AI auto reply and autocomplete, location suggestions, contact suggestions, personalized Google search, Google timeline integration), Google is the way to go.
The bad
Performance
Since all content across Proton apps needs to be encrypted/decrypted, performance suffers. Uploading a file to drive, opening a file, reading an email, or going between weeks in the calendar all feel slower than when using more conventional software.
Usability & Features
Don't get me wrong - Proton looks nice. The user interface is beautiful, but it's severely lacking in features for those coming from Google.
Case in point:
- Can't forward mail from Proton. This is a deal breaker. This means that if you ever wish to migrate off Proton to another email address and forward all your mail, you are out of luck - you are stuck with Proton for life.
- Similarly, there is no ability to send mail from non-Proton addresses (in Gmail you can send email not just from your address, but add a school account, work account, and all other personal accounts too).
- Some websites block Proton emails during registration due to ProtonMail being used for crime/scams.
Additionally, all of Proton's services suffer from a common issue:
Mobile apps, desktop apps, and web apps are not available consistently on all platforms, and there is a lack of feature parity between platforms.
Drive
- Can't edit docx files
- Can't play videos without downloading them first
- Can't navigate between pictures in a mobile app - you have to open each image individually, close it, then open the next one - simply swiping left/right won't work
- The desktop client is not available for macOS (although I personally am a web purist, others would appreciate desktop synchronization)
Calendar
- No keyboard shortcuts
- Limited to 25 calendars even on the paid plan (I am using 16 on Google Calendar, so would be close to the limit)
- Can't set the calendar to an arbitrary color
- Can't set event color independent of calendar color
- No ability to attach files to events
- No year view
- No strong community of browser extensions (i.e. see Calendar Plus)
- No integration with places APIs to provide suggestions when setting a meeting place - autocomplete the city name or the local restaurant name - this was likely done as a compromise to preserve user privacy
- No integration with Zoom/Teams/Meets to create a virtual meeting
Contacts
- No sync with ios/android contracts.
- No standalone web page - just a sidebar in the mail app
- No custom fields
- Setting a contact's picture is not intuitive, and the picture is not even displayed in the list of contacts - you have to click on the contact to see it
- Contact groups and contacts merge are available, but more limited in functionality than what Google Contacts offers
Passwords
Here, I will be comparing against Bitwarden - one of the best password managers, with a generous free plan and a $10/year premium plan.
- No desktop app
- No standalone website (only a browser extension)
- While it allows hiding your email using a random email alias, you can only forward mail to your proton email address - not to an external address, and thus once again, tries to lock you in for life (given that you can't forward mail from Proton to external service, i.e Gmail)
- No password history for an account
- No emergency access (in case the primary account owner dies)
- No secure password and data sharing (though promised to come in the future)
- No ability to configure auto-lock upon computer restart
- No biometrics integration (can't use a fingerprint to unlock your vault)
- Limited list of available password managers for import
- No domain rules (can't tell it that gmail.com and google.com and youtube.com share the same account)
VPN
I will keep this short as there are many excellent existing comparisons (safetydetectives.com, restoreprivacy.com, vpnmentor.com, security.org)
Proton VPN provides slightly fewer servers than Express VPN. Which of the two services is faster is a close call - depends on your location and which server you are trying to connect to.
My testing results (located near Los Angeles, using Spectrum Internet ultra - "up to 500mbs", connecting to nearest/fastest/recommended server in all cases, all settings are optimized for max performance, no other devices using the network intensively during this time):
| Without VPN | Google Speed Test | speedtest.net (by Ookla) | fast.com (by Netflix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download | 125.2mbps | 134.15mbps | 120mbps |
| Upload | 12.6mbps | 17.43mbps | 17mbps |
| Latency | 13ms | 22/155/32ms | 22/120ms |
| ProtonVPN | Google Speed Test | speedtest.net (by Ookla) | fast.com (by Netflix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download | 116.3mbps | 117.35mbps | 110mbps |
| Upload | 11.4mbps | 17.65mbps | 16mbps |
| Latency | 1ms | 27/141/34ms | 95/195ms |
| ExpressVPN | Google Speed Test | speedtest.net (by Ookla) | fast.com (by Netflix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download | 122.8mbps | 111.47mbps | 110mbps |
| Upload | 8.67mbps | 17.23mbps | 15mbps |
| Ping | 9ms | 32/126/35ms | 54/142ms |
Google measures download latency only
speedtest.net measures 3 latency types: idle latency, download latency, and upload latency
fast.com measures 2 latency types: unloaded and loaded
Recommendations
Given the many shortcomings of Proton services, here are the alternatives I settled on - they provide much better usability, while not compromising on security too much or at all.
If you need something simple and reliable, go full in on Gmail.
If you want extra features and privacy, unlimited email addresses, advanced analytics, and fancy email rules, purchase a domain name (as low as $8/year) and add it to Cloudflare (free) - Cloudflare allows you to set up a catch-all (meaning any email sent to your domain will be redirected properly, regardless of which address it was sent too - this is essentially like having infinitely many mail aliases).
Cloudflare also has advanced identity protection and security features (DMARC, SPF, DKIM).
Best of all, you can simply forward all emails from Cloudflare back to Gmail, to get the best of both worlds - all the simplicity, stability, and integration of Google apps, coupled with the advanced features and security of Cloudflare - all for free (minus the cost of a domain name, which could be as low as $8/year or less)
Passwords
Bitwarden would be my recommendation. With a generous free plan, and a $10/year premium plan, this open-source password manager is focused on privacy and security, while also leading the industry with advanced features (2FA autofill, passkeys integration, password leak checks, emergency access, secure password, and data sharing).
1Password might be a good choice too but I never tried it.
LastPass was a great option 5 years ago, but not anymore given it's been hacked several times and had its price increased (and free plan pretty much killed).
Summary
Proton might be great for privacy and security for enthusiasts, but it's likely not worth the usability and convenience cost for most users. If you know exactly what security features of Proton you need, and can't get them elsewhere (i.e. in Google), then Proton is for you, for all other cases, sticking to a more mainstream option will leave you happier.
Proton chooses to compromise convenience whenever the question is between privacy (and security) or convenience.
Personally, I don't value my privacy at all (in fact, prefer it when Google and Facebook can learn my interests better and personalize content accordingly, rather than serve me toilet paper ads or trashy videos) and as far as safety, I feel that Google provides more than adequate security for my needs (2FA, passkeys, security keys, encryption, activity logs, takeout, recovery emails, inactive account management)
I would love to hear your opinion on this in the comments - do you feel comfortable giving your information to Google?
Proton Calendar is also not on par with even the free Google Calendar (Proton Calendar has a limit of 25 calendars even in their paid plan, and they don't support keyboard shortcuts)
All this is to say, while Proton's mission is noble, they fall short on convenience and I don't know if they would ever match Google on that. Given that I don't value the additional privacy/security benefits they provide, they aren't a great match for me.
The only two remaining benefits:
- Proton Unlimited, which includes ProtonVPN, is just slightly cheaper than ExpressVPN (which is only a VPN)
- The other benefit is that 500 GB of storage, while far from being as user-friendly to access as Google Drive, is still provided, so could be useful for long-term archival.
Conclusion
I will switch from ExpressVPN to Proton Unlimited (and save $0.34/month lol) but am not as excited as I was at first. The VPN service is compatible with quality. The 500 GB of secure storage, while not very convenient to use, would be perfect for long-term archival and rarely needed files. The ProtonMail is a nice option as a recovery email for the most important services.
But beyond that, I don't see myself using any of the Proton services other than ProtonVPN as a daily driver due to many missing critical features and usability issues.
Update:
Since writing this post, I have settled on a better option: Switch to Surfshark VPN, which would cost just $2.39/month. The saved money can be used to buy Google One (and shared with my family effortlessly) once I run out of free Google Storage.
Top comments (2)
It's hard to put a real value on privacy for some people, and I understand when some people prefer convenience over some platform which offers E2E encryption and 10 more terms which to 98% don't really care about to be honest.
I myself have invested into Proton services for email, drive and calendar. And while I do miss some features of Google Calendar and Drive offerings I've come to the conclusion, maybe that convenience was the price I paid for my information, which is not that interesting anyway, but then I imagined Google as a person next to me following each step and looking at my content and it was kinda eerie.
In conclusion: I respect if anyone goes to Google or any other offerings like Microsoft, etc, convenience is time, and we're short of time. But also Privacy has a different value for each of us and I congratulate everyone who prefers privacy.
Great summary overall!
Thank you for your comment. If you don't mind, I would like to question you on your privacy stance to understand it better.
That kind of sentiment doesn't make sense to me - what's wrong with google knowing you better - don't you want to see more interesting ads, rather than toilet cleaning supplies ads?
same applies for personalization - having content and services be more tailored to your liking makes things more enjoyable and more efficient.
privacy and security are separate IMHO - I am careful to not disclose my physical location to services I don't trust and to keep all online accounts secure - that is different from not wanting google to learn you favorite chocolate flavor and start serving you better ads