all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited est une solution tout-en-un respectueuse de la vie privée"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Aucune publicité, le respect de la vie privée comme règle absolue"],"People before profits":["Les individus passent avant les profits"],"Security through transparency":["Notre engagement de transparence"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Les meilleures offres ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } de Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["La seule messagerie au monde soutenue par la communauté"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } heure","${ hours } heures"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Temps restant : ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft }, ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minute","${ minutes } minutes"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } seconde","${ seconds } secondes"],"Limited time offer":["Offre à durée limitée"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Créez plusieurs adresses"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Alias « hide-my-email »"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Désabonnez-vous rapidement des newsletters"],"Use your own domain name":["Utilisez votre propre nom de domaine"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Ils en parlent"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Choisissez une messagerie électronique chiffrée qui protège votre vie privée"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Offre Proton Mail Black Friday - Jusqu'à 40 % de réduction"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Obtenez jusqu'à 40 % de réduction sur les abonnements Proton Mail à l'occasion du Black Friday. Profitez d'offres exceptionnelles sur nos abonnements de messagerie électronique sécurisée et chiffrée de bout en bout."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Offre Black Friday Proton Mail | Jusqu'à 40 % de réduction"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour la première année"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour les 2 premières années"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantie satisfait ou remboursé pendant 30 jours"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour les 2 premières années"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour la première année"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Vous économisez ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["-${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["J'adore mon ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Ma messagerie électronique préférée"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Merci Proton de nous garder en sécurité dans l'univers complexe d'internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Vous avez ce pour quoi vous payez. Avec les Big Tech, si vous ne payez rien, vous êtes utilisé. J'ai arrêté d'utiliser Gmail et je suis passée @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Jours"],"Hours":["Heures"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["Avec en plus"],"Make your inbox yours":["Votre boite de réception sur mesure"],"Safe from trackers":["À l'abri des traqueurs"],"Stay organized":["Bien organisé"],"Black Friday email deals":["Offres Black Friday pour la messagerie électronique"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Ce qu'en disent nos utilisateurs"],"Our story":["Notre histoire"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transférez vos données depuis Google en un clic"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité. Comprend plus de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serveurs répartis dans plus de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } pays, la possibilité de connecter jusqu'à 10 appareils, l'accès aux services de streaming dans le monde entier, un bloqueur de logiciels malveillants et de publicités et d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Partagez facilement votre calendrier avec votre famille, vos amis ou collègues et consultez des calendriers externes."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Comprend la prise en charge de 1 domaine de messagerie personnalisé, de 10 adresses e-mail, de 10 alias « hide-my-email », du partage de calendriers et bien d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Comprend la prise en charge de 3 domaines de messagerie personnalisés, de 15 adresses e-mail, d'un nombre illimité d'alias « hide-my-email », du partage de calendriers et bien d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Jusqu'à 25 calendriers, des applications mobiles, la sécurité avec le chiffrement de bout en bout, l'importation de calendrier en un clic depuis Google..."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec le service Proton VPN."],"Learn more":["En savoir plus"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["En savoir plus"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec le service ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec un ou plusieurs services."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Suggestions"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Sous-catégorie","Sous-catégories"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } minute","${ readingTime } minutes"],"Category":["Catégorie","Catégories"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Vous ne trouvez pas ce que vous cherchez ?"],"General contact":["Contact - Général"],"Get help":["Obtenir de l'aide"],"Legal contact":["Contact - Juridique"],"Media contact":["Contact - Média"],"Partnerships contact":["Contact - Partenariats"],"Reading":["Lecture"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Parcourez le support produit Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["Il n'y a pas encore d'article dans cette catégorie."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Sélectionner ---"],"App version":["Version de l'application"],"Browser":["Navigateur"],"Check if this helps":["Vérifiez si cela vous aide."],"Choose a category for your question":["Choisissez une catégorie pour votre question"],"Choose a product":["Choisir un produit"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["Cela a-t-il résolu votre problème ?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Il suffit de quelques clics pour obtenir une assistance plus rapide, faites votre sélection."],"No, contact support":["Non, contacter le support"],"Proton account":["Compte Proton"],"Proton Bridge":["Proton Bridge"],"Proton Calendar":["Proton Calendar"],"Proton Drive":["Proton Drive"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Proton Mail":["Proton Mail"],"Proton Pass":["Proton Pass"],"Proton VPN":["Proton VPN"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Nous vous remercions pour votre commentaire."],"Troubleshooting":["Dépannage"],"What can we help with ?":["Comment pouvons-nous vous aider ?"],"Yes":["Oui"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Recherche"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Rechercher"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Je recherche des informations sur..."]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Pour que le problème soit résolu plus rapidement, vous pouvez le signaler à partir de l'application Bridge : Aide > Signaler un bug."],"Information":["Informations"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Sécurité du compte"],"Contacts":["Contacts"],"Custom email domain":["Domaine de messagerie personnalisé"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Distribution des messages et indésirables/spam"],"Encryption":["Chiffrement"],"Login and password":["Identifiant et mot de passe"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Fusion des alias et des comptes"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migration vers Proton"],"Notifications":["Notifications"],"Other":["Autre"],"Plans and billing":["Abonnements et facturation"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Inscription"],"Storage":["Espace de stockage"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Utilisateurs, adresses et identités"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Choisissez un sujet"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Basé en Suisse"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Récompenses"],"Customers":["Clients"],"Featured":["Ils en parlent"],"Go to testimonial source":["Accéder aux commentaires"],"Reviews":["Avis"],"Videos":["Vidéos"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Trouvez l'abonnement adapté à vos besoins"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Si vous avez besoin d'aide, consultez notre ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["La page recherchée a peut-être été retirée ou le lien utilisé n'est plus valide."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Sur cette page"],"Related articles":["Articles similaires"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Partagez ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["Merci !"],"this page":["cette page"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Plus d'informations"]},"tooltip_calendar":{"Create up to 20 custom & shareable encrypted calendars. On top of that, add up to 5 calendars from friends, family, colleagues, and organizations.":["Créez jusqu'à 20 calendriers chiffrés personnalisés et partageables. Ajoutez jusqu'à 5 calendriers d'amis, de membres de votre famille, de collègues ou d'organisations."]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité. Comprend plus de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serveurs répartis dans plus de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } pays, la vitesse VPN la plus élevée, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } connexions VPN, l'accès aux services de streaming dans le monde entier, un bloqueur de logiciels malveillants et de publicités et d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, 10 VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité. Comprend plus de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serveurs répartis dans plus de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } pays, la vitesse VPN la plus élevée, 10 connexions VPN, l'accès aux services de streaming dans le monde entier, un bloqueur de logiciels malveillants et de publicités et d'autres fonctionnalités."]},"version_history_label":{"Version history":["Historique des versions"]},"version_history_tooltip":{"Store up to ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions of each file for up to ${ years } years":["Conservez jusqu'à ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions de chaque fichier pendant ${ years } ans."]},"vpn_features_link":{"View VPN plans":["Voir les abonnements VPN"]},"vpn_features_useCase":{"Access blocked content and browse privately":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité"]}}},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
// We need to import data (the framework context) from the server
// This Astro feature with define:vars works well but creates an inline script
// So we can't directly import the initFramework helper, we have to store the context
window.frameworkContext = frameworkContext;
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Since email was invented, it has become a crucial form of communication in our private and professional lives. Even with the growing popularity of other communication platforms, such as instant messaging and video conferencing, email continues to hold the keys to our digital identities. Over 300 billion emails were sent and received per day in 2020(new window), and that figure is expected to rise steadily in the coming years.
Since email is not going away any time soon, it is important to understand how it works. In this article, we explain how email functions, its limitations, and the factors to consider when picking a free email provider.
How email works and its limitations
Email has played a big role in how people connect to each other today. However, considering that emails now contain plenty of sensitive information about users, not enough thought is given to how secure it is. The bad news is that email was never designed to be secure in the first place, as it was built during a time when the internet was a much smaller place. The good news is that it can be secured — with the right encryption protocols.
A common misconception about email is that it travels directly from the sender to the recipient once it has been sent. In fact, an email travels across multiple networks and servers along the way before arriving at its intended inbox. As it progresses from one point to the next, there is a chance it could be intercepted or read by an unauthorized party.
Most mail providers solve this problem by encrypting emails sent from your computer to their servers using Transport Layer Security (TLS). After receiving your email on their servers, your email provider encrypts it with your public key. However, your email provider also holds the private key that can decrypt your email. Your messages are therefore vulnerable to eavesdropping and manipulation by your email provider, hackers, and hostile governments. To go a step further, if your email provider encounters a security breach on their servers, all of your emails could be exposed publicly and put your personal information and data at risk.
How encryption can help secure your data
Fortunately, the right encryption protocols can encrypt your emails from end to end, meaning your email is protected from spying eyes the moment you hit “send” to the moment it reaches your recipient. Only end-to-end encryption(new window) can guarantee the total privacy of your communication, restricting access to the contents of your email only to its sender and recipient.
Additionally, there is zero-access encryption that encrypts all data at rest and prevents your service provider from reading your emails. Only the recipient of an email can decrypt the data locally on their device with their private encryption key. Since the email is not decrypted on a server, your service provider does not have access to it and cannot read its contents.
What to look out for in a free email account
While encryption and security are two of the most important factors to picking an email account, here are other factors to consider.
Features
Email providers have evolved over time, and the number of features has expanded to become more sophisticated. Although some providers offer basic email functionality, others boast several advanced features. In addition to sending emails, a good provider should enable you to:
Organize and label your inbox
Archive old emails
Attach files
Storage space
A user’s email account can be an important asset to their private and business lives, but it is vital that their account has sufficient storage space to store it all. While some people may use a free email account for their personal communication, others use the space to send company emails, establish business deals, and store big files. Whatever the reason, it is crucial to select an email service provider that offers enough space to meet all of your storage needs.
Usability is key to ensuring you have a great experience. The best free email accounts should be easy to register and optimized for daily use with different labels, filters, and a search function. The interface should also be clutter-free, intuitive, and require little to no learning curve.
Choosing an email provider with mobile apps also increases your mobility, enabling you to check your inbox on the go.
Ads
While free email accounts may sound appealing, most email providers offset the costs of operating them by displaying ads. Through the use of web cookies that track browsing behavior, these ads are specifically targeted at you based on your internet activity, physical location, and what you’ve searched for online.
Even if your email provider is not serving you ads, they are still collecting payment in the form of your personal information. Even though Google has stopped reading your emails(new window) for advertising purposes, it still allows third-party apps to scan your emails(new window) for information that helps them build new product features. While data collection may seem mundane on the surface, it enables third parties to profile you and sell your information to advertisers and marketers without your knowledge. As the saying goes, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product itself”.
Why Proton Mail provides the best free email account
At Proton Mail, we believe that privacy should be the default online, and we began that journey with email because it is one of the oldest and most widely used technologies in the world. We want everyone to have easy, reliable access to email and encryption technology without having to trade sensitive and valuable personal information for it.
Proton Mail is also based in Switzerland, a country outside of the 5 Eyes and 14 Eyes surveillance networks and known for its strong privacy laws. We offer both end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption, hiding the contents of an email at all stages of mail delivery until it is safely dispatched to the intended recipient. We own and invest heavily in our server infrastructure, and all of our code is open source.
If you believe only you should have full access to your private information, you can sign up for a free email account. Our free accounts are funded by our paid users, and we will never profile you or collect your data. With our free account, you can:
Send up to 50 emails per hour and 150 emails per day
Store up to 500 MB worth of files and attachments
Use our short domain email (@pm.me) to receive emails
Create up to 3 folders/labels
Sign up without sharing personally identifiable information
Send end-to-end encrypted emails to non-Proton Mail users
Set emails to self-destruct after a specified length of time
When it comes to free email accounts, there are many options out there. However, if you care more about privacy than cost or features, Proton Mail offers the best free email account with end-to-end encryption. We will never profile our users, spy on your emails, or sell your data to advertisers.
Which email is best for personal use?
For personal use, it is best to pick an email provider with ample storage space, as well as anti-spam and anti-phishing technologies to prevent spam and malware attacks. An email provider that offers secure encryption technologies is also a good choice if you don’t want your data to fall into the wrong hands.
Is Gmail the best free email?
Gmail is the world’s biggest email provider with lots of great features to offer. However, Google funds its free email accounts by collecting its users’ data and using them for targeted advertising. If you think the internet should be for people and not for profit, this might not be the best solution for you.
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