Posteo vs StartMail

Posteo

• People who want a low-cost, ad-free mailbox they pay for directly
• Signing up without handing over a name, address or phone number
• Buyers who care about green energy and a company financed only by its users

StartMail

• People who want a paid, ad-free mailbox hosted in the Netherlands
• Using a separate alias for every sign-up to limit spam
• Sending encrypted mail to people who do not use PGP themselves

Posteo

• Custom domains are not supported; addresses use Posteo's own domains such as posteo.de, posteo.net or posteo.com.
• There is no free plan and no trial account, though credit is refunded in full if you cancel within the first month.
• Payment is prepaid in euros, with a minimum top-up of €12, which is about one year's fees.
• It is used through webmail and a web app or through other mail apps over IMAP or POP3, and it offers no cloud storage.

StartMail

• There is no free plan, and the 7-day trial asks for a credit card or PayPal account at sign-up.
• The only app is for Android; the iOS app is listed as coming soon. Elsewhere it runs in the browser or in other mail apps over IMAP.
• Personal accounts are limited to one custom domain; unlimited domains and shared aliases need the Business plan.
• The feature list covers email and contacts only and does not mention a calendar or file storage.

Posteo

One flat-priced account

€1 a month covers email with 4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, an address book and notes. Storage can grow to 75 GB and aliases to 25 for small monthly add-on fees.

Encryption of stored data

Crypto mail storage encrypts saved email, attachments, metadata and notes, and the address book and calendar can each be encrypted with your own password at the press of a button.

End-to-end encryption in webmail

PGP through the Mailvelope plug-in and S/MIME through Posteo's own plug-in work inside the webmail interface, and incoming mail can be encrypted with either.

Sign-up without personal details

Registration asks for no name or address, payment data is kept separate from email accounts, and credit can be added by bank transfer, PayPal, credit card or cash.

Calendar, contacts and notes

Calendars sync over CalDAV and can be shared read-only by ICS link, contacts sync over CardDAV, and notes can be synchronized with Apple Notes.

Passkeys and login protection

Login supports two-factor authentication (TOTP), up to 5 passkeys and up to 5 app passwords. An extra protection mode blocks access from external programs over IMAP.

StartMail

Unlimited aliases

Extra addresses can be created and deleted at any time, on the StartMail domain or your own, and one-click burner aliases disappear on their own after an hour.

PGP encryption

One click encrypts a message with PGP or adds a PGP signature, and an IMAP mail client can be set up for end-to-end encryption with OpenPGP.

Password-protected email

Encrypted messages can be sent to people who do not use encryption: the recipient reads and answers them with a password you set.

Tracking and phishing protection

External images are hidden by default to block tracking pixels, a warning shows the full address before an external link opens, and your IP address is kept out of sent mail.

Custom domains and group subscriptions

Personal accounts can use one custom domain and Business accounts any number. Extra accounts for family or team members are 25% off, and Business groups can share aliases.

IMAP access and migration

Full IMAP and SMTP access for Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail and similar apps, plus a migration tool that imports email and contacts from other providers.

Posteo

• Email account€1

  per month, prepaid from account credit

  4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, address book and notes. Extra storage costs €0.25 per GB a month and extra aliases or calendars €0.10 each.

StartMail

• Personal$4.99

  per month, billed annually ($59.88); $6.99 billed monthly

  An address on the StartMail domain or one custom domain, unlimited aliases and 20 GB of storage. Annual plans can be paid in Bitcoin.

• Business$6.99

  per month, billed annually ($83.88); $8.99 billed monthly

  An address on your own domain, unlimited domains, 30 GB of storage and shared aliases on a custom domain within a group subscription.

Posteo

No public discounts listed.

StartMail

• Annual discount

  Save $24 a year with annual billing

  Personal costs $59.88 a year ($4.99 a month) against $6.99 a month when billed monthly, and Business $83.88 a year against $8.99 a month. The pricing page puts the saving at $24.

• Other savings

  25% off additional accounts

  Any number of extra accounts for family members or colleagues can be added to a subscription as a group, each at 25% off the regular rate.