What is Protonmail and how does it operate? ProtonMail is a secure email service founded in 2013 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. It differs from popular email services like Gmail and Outlook.com by employing client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before transmitting them to ProtonMail servers. Users can access ProtonMail through a webmail client, the Tor network, or dedicated iOS and Android apps. The service is managed by Proton Technologies AG, a company located in the Canton of Geneva, which also operates ProtonVPN, a VPN service. Initially funded through crowdsourcing, ProtonMail offers optional paid services while the basic account setup is free. After being initially invite-only, ProtonMail became available to the general public in March 2016. It had over 2 million subscribers in 2017, 5 million by September 2018, 20 million by the end of 2019, and over 50 million by 2020.
