this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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Can't say I share your sentiment. I've been quite happy with their rate of progress over the years and the applications they offer. I've been using them since they only offered mail and haven't ever had any issues. I'd rather them take their time to do things right then try to release new things at a frantic pass. While they might not have all the bells and whistles, for the average user I think they provide more than enough value.
Also, your pricing is just completely wrong and off base. Pass by itself is $5/month ONLY if you pay per month. If you pay for 1 year worth it's $4 a month and $3 month if you pay for 2 years. And that's only if you for some reason only want to pay for proton pass.
Likewise, if you're paying $120 year for protonmail then you're most likely on the proton unlimited bundle for $10 per month paying for 1 years worth at a time. In that case you already have access to proton pass (and in fact all of their proton apps and premium features), so I'm not sure why you think you need to pay again for proton pass.
While I agree the proton pass pricing (even at 2 years) is high compared to similar companies, getting the proton unlimited subscription OTOH is (IMO) great value for money: the mail, password, & vpn are all great. The drive seems pretty good and useful but isn't something I normally use anyways, and the calendar is the weakest of their offerings (and also something I normally don't use anyways).
edit: I should also note, you don't have to pay for any of their services. You could get by just using the free versions of everything if you didn't need the extra bells and whistles offered for paying customers.
They redesigned their Android app and missed the promised deadline TWICE and took 2 YEARS to release it. Now they're working on the Android remake, to add threaded view, to finally catch up to year 2023. Already missed the deadline once.
It's $5 when I add it onto my Mail Plus for 12 months. Not sure what country you're from, but it's $5 in my country.
Again, I am on Proton Plus. The second highest tier. The next tier is Proton Business, and it doesn't go higher than that. I need more than 3 measely custom domains, so instead of ProtonMail offering the ability to pay for just more custom domains, they nickel and dime you and force you to pay for the business account. Like I said in my initial comment, they are money grubbing.
Except the features BitWarden hides behind a $1/month subscription, Proton locks behind a $5/month subscription. So unless I want to switch from BitWarden to ProtonPass and LOSE features, then yes, I do.
Looking at their website I still can't figure out what plan you are on while still needing to pay for proton pass. The only plan I see that matches your $120/year (USD, I'm from the US) comment and matches your "more than 3 custom email domains" is the proton business tier which is $13-10/month depending on the number of months you purchase in advance. And in all cases you once again get access to all other proton apps and their premium services for free. Sounds like maybe you're on some legacy plan and would benefit (probably save money?) by going onto one of their new pricing structures? Not sure because I got upgraded to an unlimited plan for free back in the day (since i started when they only offered email) and so I'm still grandfathered in to a better price than is currently possible that includes everything.
It's unfortunate their android app seems to be 2nd class to their iOS offerings; sadly that's fairly commonplace, especially with small teams on tight budgets. I imagine that's also why their proton pass pricing is so expensive.
But once again, I don't see a need to slander and lie about a company that by all accounts is trying to actually do something about the privacy nightmare that the internet has become.
I thought I made it clear? I was on the Proton Mail Essentials ($9.55) and was required to go to Proton Business ($15) to unlock Proton Pass Plus.
An over $5 increase.
Please tell me where I lied? Thanks.
As far as I can tell there is no mail essentials plan that costs $9.55 (talking USD/EUR/CHF which is all I can see). The absolute worst case scenario is $7.99/month per month (Business being $12.99). Furthermore, considering you are on the essentials plan it would seem like you'd save way more money using the individual plan (or family plan unless you have a large number of employees/users?). I suppose it's possible you are on some grandfathered plan that is more expensive because you have more custom domains (I seem to maybe remember that being possible back in the day?). But then I think that also would have applied to the individual plan, so again I'm not quite sure why you are on a business plan when all of your comments seem to imply you're an individual?
And honestly the crux of the issue is you made poor-faith arguments from the very start. You called them a money grubbing company and tried to pass yourself off as a regular user who's paying all this money and then having to get charged more. When in fact, for 99% of users your situation isn't applicable at all; and in fact you are on a weird, old, business plan (to which you'd probably save money switching to a new business regular plan [for $12.99 - $9.99] which supports up to 10 custom email domains + all premium proton services).
And looking into proton pass, it seems like the majority of the cost is because of the email alias service that comes with it. Bitwarden doesn't in fact provide that (though they do support integration of it) and a quick look at other providers that only provide custom emails it shows similar monthly fees (still less than proton pass to be fair).
So to me, it seems like a bit of unwarranted slander and lies (though I suppose, again, you could be on an old grandfathered plan; but it still doesn't explain how the "next step up" is $15) because of some beef you have against them.
Here's when you learn other countries exist. I am Canadian. I don't talk in USD, EUR, or CHF. I talk in CAD. My payment provider doesn't tell me I paid "X USD", it tells me I paid "X CAD".
I am not, but you're correct about Proton offering to add more custom domains without having to change to a whole new tier. Another perfect example of how they nickel and dime. They realized they could squeeze more money by forcing people who need more than 3 custom domains to upgrade to a higher tier, than just to pay for the few extra domains.
Again, they are money grubbing, because they removed the ability to customize your plan, and force tier changes.
I am NOT on an old business plan. I am on THE business plan for $15. Again, not everyone uses USD, EUR, or CHF.
$12.99 USD = $17.65 CAD.
Since Proton loves tiers, offer a more expensive tier for the email alias. They should offer a tier similar to BitWarden with similar pricing, and then offer a higher tier for the email alias, something most people don't care about.
For the third time. Other countries exist. I know it's a crazy concept, but it's true. I didn't slander anyone, thanks.
Sigh...Seems like every time Proton gets criticized, their fanboys always ensure to let you know that you're somehow wrong. I don't know how they managed to get recommended by so many people considering they provide unaffordable services for everyone not on a high income. I would try to migrate if I were you, they're pumping new features constantly despite their users wanting bugfixes and improvements to existing ones to gain more and more ecosystem users. It's a dark pattern. Look at Google and Apple.
"Oh, what about the free-tier?" It's a joke having to use their own clients when powerful open-source ones exist. "Oh, but it's because of the encryption that's protecting you!" I know how to use PGP, thanks. Plus, it only works if you're sending to other Proton accounts, and guess what? I don't even have control over my own key pair! (Edit: and when migrating away, I can't even bulk export my emails!)
Even the comments made by me and Dsklnsadog got vibe-based downvoted because they can't even bother to come up with a response on why our opinions were wrong. I'm glad I stopped using their services before I sent them any money.
Have you considered using just the 3 domains with Proton and hosting the rest yourself? Assuming you have some more important/primary mail domains than others.
I was already hosting them, but it's not worth it. I've been looking into switching to one of the other privacy focused alternatives that provide the ability to pay per domain, so you can add more without having to jump up tiers and pay for crap you don't want.