Pro/Con of “Private” Email

Protonmail
Pro: Allows Tor, Many use it so network effect of proton to proton encryption
Con: Huge increases in data handoffs to governments makes you question how much data they can get, some question if it’s a honeypot.   Even if not, you’re potentially targeted for even being there, and they have a bad track record.

Tutanota
Pros: Better track record than Protonmail
Cons: Bans Tor and many VPNs.  Severe Browser fingerprinting annoyance when signing up.  They auto-delete your account if you don’t login for 6 months, but you can get around this by adding 2-factor authentication TOTP with KeePass XC

Skiff
Pro: Fast sign-ups, very easy to get a burner account
Con: They use Cloudflare.  Cloudflare intercepts all traffic, so 0% private.  This company is essentially propaganda.

Mail in a Box (software)
This is self-hosting using open source software on a VPS
Pro: More private than any provider.  It does most of the setup work for you
Con: Requires $5 to 15 a month on a VPS (but can be split among friends).  VPS provider can still access emails by snapshots of memory.  Unless you put it in a docker container, you can’t do anything else on the VPS

Luke Smith Scripts (software)
Pro: Fast way to get an email VPS setup
Con: Requires it to be put directly on the server, which can mess up OTHER things you got going on there, like using aaPanel

aaPanel (software)
Pro: Easy to manage a lot of services going on, including WordPress or databases with your email
Con: Not worth setting up this whole thing up for JUST email.

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