Alternative Email Provider and Cloud Storage Suggestions? [Solved]

I am aware that there is a topic similar to this from 2016, however, my wants are a little different and a lot of things can change in two years (new companies emerge, old companies become unreliable, etc).

I’m just looking for an email service that doesn’t skim through my stuff to feed me ads. I don’t want to use GMail any more, and I don’t trust MS, Apple, or Yahoo.

They need to be web accessible OR have a Mac client (usually not an issue) and a Linux client (sometimes an issue). They also need to have an iOS app.

Right now I’ve looked at:

  • ProtonMail - seen a lot of people mention it. The whole “Swiss Privacy” thing seems overdone to me, but i know what they’re getting at.
  • FastMail - seems simpler and has a free trial.
  • Lavabit - seems like overkill, and doesn’t have an iOS app as far as I’m aware.

I don’t mind having to pay a monthly fee as long as it’s small ( <$5 a month). I don’t need a ton of space. I don’t need end-to-end encryption. I don’t need to have completely anonymous sign-up. I don’t need to be able to pay in Bitcoin. I basically just want a provider who has a good reputation of not collecting and selling user data.

I’m also looking for alternative cloud storage services. Right now I’m looking into SpiderOak. I basically have the same requirements as email. It costs a little more than DropBox or iCloud, but I don’t mind that as long as they have a good reputation for not stealing data. Needs to have an iOS. Needs to have a Mac and Linux client.

The goal here isn’t absolute encryption, I just don’t want Google reading over my shoulder all the time.

https://unseen.is/ works for me. I went with the lifetime subscription to not deal with payments again.
The more important things go via unseen, the less important ones via gmail.

Mini Rant

I hate those ad-infested mail providers that bait you into absurd bills with pop-ups that just jump under your mouse cursor! Firstly that is annoying as hell and secondly: WTF even? First spamm ads everywhere, then try to get me to pay for a free mail account? Stay clear of gmx.de and web.de. Shitty sites with shitty practices…

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Thank you! This looks perfect.

Now to think of a username :tired_face:, and then migrate all my contacts and subscriptions over tomorrow.

Ya some ads are just ridiculous. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even go to sites that require you to disable ad blockers.

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For email you can try Disroot.org the sign up process doesn’t ask for any personal data. UI is pretty conservative. Protonmail has a free option as well.

For could storage I use Mega.nz it’s basically the reboot of MegaUpload by Kim dotcom.

EDIT: Zoltan was also recommending Posteo.de a lot. Apparently they run fully on green eneregy, have no debts and have encryption too. However it is a paid service. 1€/month.

Google doesn’t scan your mail or show ads with GSuite for Business. It costs $10/month/user, and also includes unlimited space on Google Drive. And they mean unlimited-- here’s mine right now:

To secure your data in GDrive, create an encrypted store in RClone. You can then mount that encrypted drive also using RClone.

https://rclone.org/

Of course any data in the encrypted store won’t be available to iOS/Android clients. Spideroak might make that work with their own client, haven’t looked into them for a couple years.

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Thanks, I’ll check those out. I went to start switching my emails over to Unseen this morning and realized you have to have premium in order to get emails there now. I don’t mind paying, but I need to test out their service for a while before I want to cough up for a lifetime fee, and since there’s no way that I’m aware of to receive emails without premium, I guess I won’t be using it.

I actually have one for free through work that I could use. I’m kinda just trying to stay away from Google in general though (for personal stuff). I’ll put my work stuff in there, but I don’t want to pay for any service from them. I only have about 90 GB of stuff to put in the cloud anyways, and it’s not expanding quickly. I was using Amazon drive because it was only like $50 a year for unlimited storage, but their Windows app sucks hard. Every time I restart my computer it asks me to re-login and re-designate which folder I want to sync to the cloud, then it has to re-sync everything.

I can’t recommend any cloud services but an email service you might like is Zoho Mail.
https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html
https://www.zoho.com/terms.html
https://www.zoho.com/workplace/pricing.html

They are US-based, the privacy policy and terms of service should take no longer than 15 minutes to read.

I use them personally and I live in Canada.

I like them because to me it is a balance of usability, security, and privacy for me.

Zoho does have a free option, but I use their paid because of a custom domain.

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I definitely wouldn’t use a work account for personal stuff, even if encrypted, you could lose access to your data at any time.

If you really don’t want to use GSuite, the generally accepted best email service is Fastmail, and if you want end-to-end encrypted filestorage, go with Spideroak.

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I’ll look into them as well.

That’s why I haven’t used it yet. If I lost my job for whatever reason, I’d also lose access to my Google account. My work is very nice about using work stuff for personal use, but I still wouldn’t want to risk it.

I would suggest Nextcloud for cloud storage. Puts you in full control of your data. Can either run it on your own server or host it on a VPS.

Not sure if it has an iOS app, but it definitely supports Linux, Android, and Windows.


I have a nextcloud, I don’t recommend it unless you are willing to put in the work to maintain it.
Because I am willing to maintain the OS and the software, I have a personal nextcloud at home.

So personally, unless OP is willing to maintain such a thing which depending on experience, can take 15 minutes or 2 hours to update every few months and must be willing to self document such a process to speed it up entirely (or script it), I would not recommend it. If I was to recommend it I’d at least put in the caveat of being responsible to maintain it.

I’d rather not. If I had my own server then I would give it a go, but for my current situation I’d rather just stick with something that doesn’t require any maintenance.

I’ve decided to go with mega.nz for cloud storage and ProtonMail for my personal email. May change my mind later on, but for now they seem nice.

I signed up for disroot as well, but not sure if I’ll use it. It seemed more anonymity-focused (the website made me cringe hard, tbh), which I don’t really want because it’s going to be my main email address, but I made an account for funsies.

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There are many services that provided nextcloud hosting/service as well.

That then defeats the argument that you are in “full” control of your data. Also encryption on Nextcloud is off by default and there is no way to know if it is on or not from a normal user’s point-of-view.

At this point, you might be at a bigger risk using a nextcloud service provider than to use something like SpiderOak.

Additional:
I think Nextcloud is great for something like home or office use because you know who or what department is in control of the data. I would not trust any Nextcloud service provider, at that point I am better off paying for Sync.com or something.

There’s essentially zero risk with Spideroak as it uses end-to-end encryption. The only way they could get at your data would be to send out compromised clients to steal your passphrase.

My man!

Why? They seem like a normal activists to me. You should be happy that your email address doesn’t have to end with @cock.li or @rape.lol https://cock.li/
I wonder how many job interviews you would get with an email like that. XDDDD

Guy Fawkes masks, shitty posters, and vandalism. It’s not the site as the whole, just some of the photos that the site chose. Things that make my eyes roll, or make me think “wow, what a buncha assholes”.

I mean technically she’s right. Trump isn’t her pussydent. He’s nobody’s pussydent as far as I’m aware. I didn’t even know that was a title.

I’m not gonna say anything more on it though. That’s for a whole different thread :stuck_out_tongue:.

Screenshot%20at%20Mar%2028%2015-20-39

I got about 25 interviews with tfwno.gf and like 15 with hitler.rocks, my current job is from 420blaze.it so ya know it just depends on HR.

Oh, i misinterpreted you’re other post lol. I thought you were asking why the cringe.

I mean disroot isn’t a bad name or anything, but I wouldn’t want a curious potential employer going and seeing that. Protonmail sounds more normal, and their site looks more professional.

Plus, if I’m going to have something anonymous, I don’t want my name to be on it and I don’t want to have my name tied to another account on their service. It will be something completely separate.