February 15, 2022 / Lily Collins

TuTanota vs ProtonMail: Which One to Choose?

If you are having confusion between choosing Tutanota and ProtonMail service, you can go through the comparison provided between TutanotavsProtonMail. Going through the information will help you determine better whether to go with the ProtonMail or Tutanota email service.

About Tutanota Email Service

Tutanota is a freeemail provider developed in Germany and is known for offering secure emails service. The email service is known for boastingexcellent end-to-end email encryption, U2F, and SHA256 password hashing features.Tutanota claims itself as the most secure and private mailbox provider in the world.

About ProtonMail Service

ProtonMail is also a free secure email service but is a Swiss-based company. The email service is based on Open Source and zero-knowledge architecture, which allows it to offer robust security which even the company itself can breach. One interesting thing about ProtonMail is that their servers are hidden under almost amile of granite (in a former military bunker). This factor itself shows how secure the email service the company is providing.

Tutanota vs. ProtonMail Comparison

Privacy

Beginning with the data laws under which these email service providers companies function,Tutanota is a Germany based provider( counted among the Fourteen Eyes countries). On the other hand,ProtonMailis known for using its Swiss location to reap the benefits of the DPA and DPO acts.

Tutanota:AlthoughGermany is one of the countries under 14 Eyes,it is protected by the Protection Act of the German Federal Data, which is a modification of the general EU GDPR law. This Act allows Tutanota to prevent the collection and use of personal information unless special permission is provided.

ProtonMail: Switzerland is well known for being a non-aligned territory – neither following US nor EU jurisdiction. Providing some of the potent privacy protection, their Federal Act on Data protection (1993) strictly prohibits the processing of any sort of personalinformation without explicit agreement.

Security

Both ProtonMail and Tutanotaare known for encrypting messages, leaving absolutely no room for any sort of interception. Bothe email services are known for encrypting email while:

• Kept on their servers.
• Transmitting within their secure networks.
• Transmitting between servers and user devices.

Combining AES 128-bit and RSA 2048-bit protocols, Tutanotaoffers you end-to-end protection, securing email subject, body, and all attachments. Their stronger key schedule makes it even more secure compared toAES 256-bit. When emailsare sent to non-Tutanota users, they are encrypted using AES-128-bit. Also, the passwords are hashed with bcrypt and SHA256.

ProtonMailprovidesalmost the same level of end-to-end encryption,however, it does NOT encrypt email subject lines. What is more appreciable is its usability: group sending, conversation views,self-destructing emails for enhanced security. However, don’t consider full-text searches to be encrypted.

Sending emails to non-users

ProtonMailallows you to select an “Encrypt for Outside” option which then enables end-to-end encryption between ProtonMail and non-ProtonMail users. Nothing from the email messages between you and the recipient can be read.The email messages of ProtonMailare encrypted with TLS (all popular email service providers use TLS). These encrypted emails are not secured end-to-end, meaning that the service provider can read your messages.

It is to be noted that ProtonMail does not provide end-to-end encryption on subject lines or email addresses of the recipient/sender. This implies that email messages sent to knownemail service providers who do not support end-to-end encryption are likely to retain a copy of the email.

Tutanota

Whether you are sending email from your Tutanot email account to Tutanota user or non Tutanota users, the company ensure the utmost security of your email messages. In Tutanota, for end-to-end encryption between both Tutanota users and non-users, it is a must to exchange a password securely before one can access the message. This way the email service ensures that the messagesare only read by the intended and verified recipient.

Although choosing one of these email services depends on your requirements, the above-mentioned comparison of Tutanota and ProtonMail should help you choose the right email service provider for meeting your email related obligations.