---
layout: page
permalink: /providers/email/
title: "Best Secure Email Providers for Privacy"
description: "Find a secure email provider that will keep your privacy in mind. Don't settle for ad-supported platforms. Never trust any company with your privacy, always encrypt."
---

<div class="card border-danger">
  <div class="card-header text-danger"><i class="fas fa-exclamation-circle fa-fw"></i> Warning</div>
  <div class="card-body">
    <p class="card-text text-danger">Even when using end-to-end encryption technology like GPG, email is inherently insecure and should not be trusted for sensitive communications. Metadata is always communicated in plaintext, and even when encryption is used correctly it is very easy for either party to accidentally respond to or forward a previously encrypted message in plaintext in many clients. GPG also does not easily support modern crypto functionality such as key rotation and forward secrecy.</p>
    <p class="card-text text-secondary">We recommend the following email providers for routine notifications and messages from other services that require an email address. For communications that <strong>need</strong> to be safe and secure, you should use a dedicated instant messaging tool, such as Signal.</p>
    <a href="/software/real-time-communication/" class="btn btn-outline-secondary">Recommended Instant Messengers</a>
  </div>
</div>

{% include sections/email-providers.html %}

<h3>Related Information</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.wired.com/2011/10/ecpa-turns-twenty-five/">Aging 'Privacy' Law Leaves Cloud E-Mail Open to Cops</a> - Data stored in the cloud for longer than 6 months is considered abandoned and may be accessed by intelligence agencies without
    a warrant. Learning: Use an external email client like Thunderbird or Enigmail, download your emails and store them locally. Never leave them on the server.</li>
  <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/may-firstriseup-server-seizure-fbi-overreaches-yet-again">With May First/Riseup Server Seizure, FBI Overreaches Yet Again</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://www.autistici.org/ai/crackdown/">Autistici/Inventati server compromised</a> - The cryptographic services offered by the Autistici/Inventati server have been compromised on 15th June 2004. It was discovered on 21st June 2005. One year
    later. During an enquiry on a single mailbox, the Postal Police may have tapped for a whole year every user's private communication going through the server autistici.org/inventati.org.</li>
</ul>