Proton Mail or Gmail: which should you choose?
Proton Mail, if privacy is your priority: end-to-end encryption, hosted in Switzerland, zero ads. Gmail keeps the edge on free storage (15 GB versus 1 GB) and search. To leave Google without losing comfort, Proton Mail is the most direct replacement.
Information verified on July 10, 2026
This topic is chapter 4 of the book
Gmail & Contacts: Reclaiming Your Email
Here, the big picture. In the book: the full method and the detailed walkthrough.
Forthcoming 22/10/2026 from Éditions Eyrolles
Gmail is free, fast, and you may have been using it for fifteen years. So why compare? Because the price doesn’t show up on any bill. Your Google account feeds an advertising profile, and your messages stay readable by the machine: receipts, invoices and bookings are analyzed to feed the other services. Proton Mail makes the opposite bet: an inbox that nobody but you can read, not even the company hosting it.
The match in one table
| Criterion | Proton Mail | Gmail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (1 GB). Mail Plus at €3.99/month (billed annually) | Free (15 GB shared with Drive and Photos) |
| Encryption | End-to-end by default | Encrypted, but Google holds the keys |
| Targeted advertising | No | Yes (Google advertising profile) |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland | United States (Cloud Act) |
| Source code | Open (apps published on GitHub) | Proprietary |
| Migration from Gmail | Automatic import tool | Not applicable |
What Proton Mail does better
Privacy, no contest. End-to-end encryption means your emails are unreadable on Proton’s servers. If there’s a breach, a request from an advertiser or a foreign administration, there is nothing to read. The company is based in Switzerland, one of the most protective legal frameworks in the world.
The business model changes the relationship too. Proton lives on subscriptions, not on your personal information. You are the customer, no longer the product. And if you want to go further, the lineup covers calendar, storage, VPN and passwords, which lets you replace several Google services in one move.
What Gmail does better
Gmail is still an excellent inbox, let’s say it plainly. Its 15 free gigabytes crush the 1 GB of Proton’s free plan. Its search is the most powerful on the market, as you’d expect from Google. And its ties to Calendar and Drive save time for anyone who lives in Google’s tools.
That’s precisely the trap. Every comfortable integration is one more thread tying you to your Google account. The comfort is real, and so is the dependence.
The real cost of switching
I made this migration. The import tool does the heavy lifting without you (on a well-filled inbox, let it run, mine took its time), and Gmail forwarding catches the stragglers. The only real work is updating the address on your important accounts, bit by bit, over several weeks. Nothing breaks during the transition: both inboxes run in parallel.
The overview of the steps is in the guide to leaving Gmail, and the full profile of the service is in the alternatives catalog.
Verdict
Choose Proton Mail if you want your emails out of the advertising economy, with the smoothest path from Gmail. It’s the best choice for most people, and the one I recommend in the book.
Stay on Gmail if your absolute priority is free storage and integration with Google’s tools, and the privacy of your conversations is not a concern for you. In that case, one question is worth asking: what would happen if your Google account closed tomorrow?
Other options exist, such as Infomaniak Mail or Tuta: the full tour is on the page of alternatives to Gmail.
Where do you stand?
24 questions to measure how much you depend on Google services. Free, no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Is Proton Mail free?
Yes, with 1 GB of storage and one address. The Mail Plus plan (€3.99/month billed annually) adds 15 GB, a custom domain and extra addresses. For everyday use, the free plan is enough to try it out, and often enough to stay.
Can you transfer your emails from Gmail to Proton Mail?
Yes, Proton Mail has an automatic import tool that brings over your emails and contacts in a few clicks. Then set up forwarding in Gmail: messages sent to your old address will keep arriving.
Is Proton Mail really more private than Gmail?
Yes. Your emails are end-to-end encrypted: Proton cannot read them, even on its own servers. Gmail encrypts your messages too, but Google holds the keys and your account feeds a global advertising profile. Then there's jurisdiction: Proton is in Switzerland, Google is subject to the US Cloud Act.