I've been looking into this new email service. It looks promising, yet the blog posted by Tutanota kind of worries me: https://tutanota.com/skiff-mail
Their servers are run in AWS? I really don't want to have my unencrypted emails in the hands of Amazon. And it is also mentioned that they're US based. I mean, Germany is also in the 14 eyes, but US is a much much more anti-privacy country.
I did, their free plan is too limiting if you ask me and I know that they had some shady decisions in the past. I am pretty well satisfied with Tutanota. I just wanted to switch to Skiff because at first glance, I thought it was as good as Tutanota and on my Samsung phone, the notifications worked. Whereas Tutanota's became either very delayed or did not come at all. I don't mind checking the Tutanota app every now and then but why should I when notifications are a thing. I sure as hell will switch to a different phone since Samsung seems to be very badly rated in https://dontkillmyapp.com/. Unfortunately, turns out they're US based (big red flag already) and they are hosting their servers in AWS (another big red flag).
The reason Proton is more expensive is because you get access to more of their other services too, like cloud storage, vpn, calendar and now password manager. It's really worth it in my opinion, services are mature and stable. Although not sure what you're referring to with "shady decisions in the past"?
But if all you need is a mail provider then it seems like you're already satisfied enough with Tutanota.
"I also know that they had some shady decisions in the past." I am assuming this is a reference to responding to a legal order to hand over details for a user. Any company would have to do the same. The problem is with the law, not the company.
If you need better protection than the average internet citizen, then maybe it's a bad idea to use a US service. Non US citizen don't have the same data protect in the US.
You just have to stay active. Even Google will be deleting inactive Gmail accounts. If you pay Tuta you don’t have to stay active, true, but it’s not the extortion you seem to want it to be. I don’t care if you use it or not but lots of people make this silly claim and it’s never as hard hitting as they think. I’ve paid for Tuta for awhile yet I remain active. It’s almost as if there are other benefits to being a paying customer.
I never seen Google removing accounts. Nor Proton Mail.
I don’t care about downvotes. If I claim an email address there and can’t use it after 6 months, that service is shit. What if I used that email in critical service I needed? At least remove mails but let me use the email. Right now it just like a paywalled blog article.
If free plan is not affordable for your service, just don’t let people to that plan.