mello vs Proton Mail
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Proton Mail and mello are both mail services run from Switzerland, and both keep ads out of your inbox. They make different choices, though. Proton is built around encryption: it stores your mail so that even Proton can’t read it. mello is built around standard protocols and a quiet assistant. Here is what that means in practice.
At a glance
What the table says about Proton comes from Proton’s own pages, as of October 2026.
| Proton Mail | mello | |
|---|---|---|
| Based in | Geneva, Switzerland | Switzerland |
| Encryption | End-to-end between Proton users; stored mail has zero-access encryption; subject lines aren’t end-to-end encrypted | TLS on every connection, MTA-STS and DANE between servers; not end-to-end encrypted |
| Other mail apps | Through Proton Mail Bridge, on paid plans | IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV, directly |
| AI | Proton Scribe, a writing assistant, on some plans | On by default, and each part can be switched off: follow-ups, reply reminders, suggested to-dos, reply drafts, translation |
| Aliases | Hide-my-email aliases, with Proton Pass | Private addresses, built in |
| Plans | Free and paid; open to everyone | Free and paid; invite only for now |
When Proton Mail is the better choice
- You need end-to-end encryption. This is the main difference. Mail between Proton users is end-to-end encrypted, and the mail in your Proton inbox is stored with zero-access encryption, so Proton can’t read it. To write securely to someone outside Proton, you can send a password-protected email. mello doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption: if that is why you’re looking, choose Proton.
- You want your own domain. Proton’s paid plans include custom domains. In mello, you can’t add your own domain yourself yet.
- You want an AI that can run on your device. Proton Scribe can run on Proton’s servers or download a model to your device, so your text never leaves it.
- You want an account today. Proton is open to everyone, with a free plan. mello is invite only for now.
Where mello is different
- Any mail app, directly. mello speaks IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV, on every plan, with nothing to install in between. Apple Mail and Thunderbird find the settings on their own, and Settings → Accesses → Download profile sets up mail on an iPhone or Mac in a minute.
- An assistant that reads along, unless you switch it off. It is on from the start, and it can suggest a follow-up when a message you sent gets no reply in 3 days, bring back mail waiting on your answer after 7 days with a reply drafted, and suggest to-dos from new mail. This is a real trade-off: to do it, the assistant sends the text of those messages to an AI provider (Anthropic or OpenAI). Switch it off under Settings → AI, and nothing is sent. More in AI for email, without giving it everything.
- Your own AI, connected. You can connect Claude or ChatGPT to your mailbox. It can only prepare drafts unless you allow it to send.
- Mail that waits. Snooze, send later, undo send and follow-up reminders run on the server, so they work in every mail app, even with all of them closed.
- More than mail. Tasks, booking links, shared mailboxes, and a command-line client.
What mello does for your privacy
mello’s privacy rests on what it does and doesn’t do with your mail, rather than on encryption at rest:
- Connections use TLS, and mail between servers is protected with MTA-STS, and DANE where the other server publishes it.
- Remote images stay blocked until you ask, so senders can’t tell when you read.
- Messages are cleaned on the server and shown in a sandbox, where scripts never run.
- mello doesn’t sell your data, show ads or read your mail. You can switch the assistant off in Settings → AI.
- Private addresses keep your real address away from the sites you sign up to.
How to switch
mello has no importer, and Proton’s mail is only reachable from other apps through Bridge, on a paid plan. If you have Bridge, add both accounts to Thunderbird or Apple Mail and drag your folders across, as described in how to move from Gmail. Proton can also export your contacts as a .vcf file, which you import in mello under Contacts → Import.
mello is invite only for now: request an invite. You can take everything with you again at any time: Settings → General → Download all my data.