HEY vs Proton Mail

HEY

• People ready to move to a new email address and a different inbox routine
• Anyone who wants to approve senders before they can reach the inbox
• Small teams that want email on their own domain with thread sharing

Proton Mail

• People who want an email provider that cannot read their messages
• Anyone moving off Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo who needs to import old mail
• Users who want email, VPN, passwords and storage from one vendor

HEY

• HEY is its own email provider, not a client for Gmail or Outlook; existing mail history is not imported, only forwarded going forward.
• IMAP and POP are not supported, so HEY works only in its own apps.
• HEY for You is billed annually only, and HEY for Domains is billed monthly with no free trial.
• There is no free plan.

Proton Mail

• The free plan is limited to 1 address, up to 1 GB of mail storage and 150 sent messages a day.
• Custom domains and IMAP/SMTP access through Bridge need a paid plan.
• The desktop apps need a paid plan; free accounts get a 14-day trial of them, and the Linux app is labeled beta.
• Buying in the iOS app costs more: the US App Store lists Mail Plus at $5.99 monthly, against $4.99 on Proton's site.

HEY

The Screener

First-time senders land in the Screener, where you approve or block them before any of their email can reach your Imbox.

Imbox, The Feed and Paper Trail

Mail from approved senders goes to the Imbox, newsletters are shown in a feed-style reader, and receipts and confirmations are filed in the Paper Trail.

Reply Later and Set Aside

Move emails that need an answer into a Reply Later pile and work through them in Focus & Reply. Set Aside keeps messages on hand for reference.

HEY Calendar

A calendar is included with HEY for You and HEY for Domains and lives in the same apps as email.

Spy pixel blocker

Blocks tracking pixels in incoming email and identifies the companies trying to track whether you opened a message.

Workflows and Collections

Workflows track an email through stages you define, and Collections bring several related threads together on one page.

Proton Mail

End-to-end and zero-access encryption

Messages are encrypted so that only you can read them. Proton states that not even it can read your email.

Tracker blocking and aliases

Blocks the email trackers that report what you open and click. Hide-my-email aliases keep your real address off sign-up forms: 10 on Free and Mail Plus, unlimited on Proton Unlimited.

Custom domains and extra addresses

Mail Plus supports 1 custom email domain and up to 10 addresses. Proton Unlimited raises that to 3 domains and 15 addresses.

Easy Switch import

Imports existing mail from Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or Apple accounts. The import assistant is included on the free plan.

Proton Mail Bridge

Paid accounts can use the Bridge app to read and send encrypted mail in Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail over IMAP and SMTP.

Calendar and scheduling tools

Proton Calendar is included, with 3 personal calendars on Free and up to 25 on Mail Plus. Mail also supports scheduled sending, undo send and snooze.

HEY

• HEY for You$99

  per year

  A personal @hey.com address with HEY Calendar, 100GB of storage, apps on every platform and a HEY World blog.

• HEY for Domains$12

  per user / month, billed monthly ($10 for the first user)

  Email on your own domain for multiple users, with thread sharing, private team comments and email aliases.

• HEY for Families$179

  per year, in total

  Adds up to 4 additional people, each with their own @hey.com address, calendar and account.

Proton Mail

• Proton Free$0

  1 address, up to 1 GB of mail storage, 150 sent messages a day, the Easy Switch import tool and 3 calendars.

• Mail Plus$3.99

  per month, billed every 12 months ($47.88); $4.99 billed monthly

  1 user with 10 addresses, 15 GB of storage, 1 custom domain, unlimited folders, labels and filters, and Bridge for IMAP/SMTP clients.

• Proton Unlimited$9.99

  per month, billed every 12 months ($119.88)

  500 GB of storage, 15 addresses and 3 custom domains, bundled with Proton's VPN, password manager and cloud storage.

HEY

No public discounts listed.

Proton Mail

• Annual discount

  20% off Mail Plus on the 12-month plan

  Proton's pricing page lists Mail Plus at $3.99 a month when billed every 12 months ($47.88), against $4.99 billed monthly.