Posteo vs WEB.DE (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, WEB.DE grades higher than Posteo: 2.8 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Posteo grades higher on value for money. WEB.DE grades higher on the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
WEB.DE
German freemail with a sorted inbox, cloud space and paid MailPlus
Which one is for you
Pick Posteo if
- Fits if you want an ad-free mailbox that you pay €1 a month for directly
- Works for people who'd rather sign up without a name, address or phone number
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want email at your own domain, because custom domains are not supported
- Not for you if you like to try before you pay, as there's no free plan and no trial account
- Too light for anyone who wants cloud storage with their mailbox, since Posteo offers none
- Watch out: you prepay in euros with a €12 minimum top-up, and extra storage is €0.25 per GB a month
- Tight if you want an app of its own: there's no phone or desktop app, so you set up IMAP yourself
Pick WEB.DE if
- Fits if you read German and want a free address with a phone app
- Works for people who want PGP and a calendar in the same account
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you don't read German, as the site and sign-up are in German
- Tight on free: 1 GB of email storage, small next to rivals
- Watch out: FreeMail includes WEB.DE informiert messages, which only MailPlus lets you opt out of
- Watch out: prices are in euros
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAPosteoFair | 2.8GPAWEB.DEGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A€1 a month, prepaid, for 4 GB of storage, 3 aliases, 3 calendars, an address book and notes, where this category's middle is $8 and its cheapest quarter starts at $4. Extra storage is €0.25 per GB a month, and the minimum top-up is €12, about a year's fees. | BFree with 1 GB of email storage, and MailPlus is €3.99 a month, inside the cheaper half of email prices. The free mail space is small. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing is free. There's no free plan and no trial account, so you pay before you see the inbox. Credit is refunded in full if you cancel within the first month, but a refund isn't a trial. | BFreeMail is free with 1 GB of mail, 4 GB of online storage and 2 addresses, which one person could live on. |
| Features | CThe private basics: everything you store can be encrypted, PGP and S/MIME work in webmail through plug-ins, calendars and contacts sync over CalDAV and CardDAV, and login takes passkeys. The gaps are its own, though: no custom domains at all, no cloud storage, and 4 GB to start. | CMail, calendar, address book, PGP and a cashback portal. The gaps are in the listing: only 1 GB of mail storage and fixed WEB.DE informiert messages on the free plan. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. One account at one price means nothing to choose and no name or address to hand over, but PGP in webmail means installing the Mailvelope plug-in, and using your own mail app means setting up IMAP yourself. | BNo store rating on record, but you sign up and start using it with nothing to set up. The site is in German. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWebmail and a web app, and no phone or desktop app of its own on record. It does open in Thunderbird or Outlook over IMAP and POP3, with CalDAV and CardDAV for calendars and contacts and notes that sync with Apple Notes. | BWeb plus iPhone and Android apps. No desktop app or API is listed. |
| Best for | a private mailbox for €1 a month | free German webmail with a sorted inbox |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Posteo and WEB.DE. How we grade
Price against what you get
Posteo starts at about $1.12 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. WEB.DE starts at about $4.46 a month and scores 2.7.
WEB.DE scores higher, and starts $3.34 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email apps on the chart, 17 score higher than Posteo for less, and 6 score higher than WEB.DE for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Posteo is open source and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Posteo also covers notes.
- WEB.DE also covers inbox filtering and file sharing.
At a glance
| Posteo | WEB.DE | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | €1 per month, prepaid (minimum top-up €12) | €3.99 per month (MailPlus) |
| Free plan | None | FreeMail: €0 with 1 GB of email storage, 4 GB of online storage, attachments up to 20 MB and 2 email addresses. |
| Free trial | None listed | MailPlus: first month free |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Posteo e.K. | 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH |
| Price read from | posteo.de | web.de |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
WEB.DE
- The site and sign-up are in German, and prices are in euros.
- FreeMail includes the 'WEB.DE informiert' messages as a fixed part; MailPlus lets you opt out.
- FreeMail storage is 1 GB for email, much less than free tiers of some rivals.
- The €2.47 own-domain plan is for the domain itself; the page does not state a separate price for MailPlus on a custom domain.
Key features
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.
WEB.DE
- Intelligent inbox
- Incoming mail is also shown sorted into five categories such as Social or Newsletter; messages are only sorted, not changed.
- Mail app for Android and iOS
- The app offers push notifications, a personal spam filter, a four-digit PIN lock and one-time setup of email encryption.
- PGP encryption
- WEB.DE has a help page on encrypting email in three steps with PGP, and the app can encrypt selected messages.
- Calendar, address book and cloud
- A calendar and address book sit in the mailbox, and the online storage is reachable from it; Windows and macOS cloud apps are listed.
- Cashback portal
- A free WEB.Cent cashback portal sits in the mailbox; the paid tariffs earn up to double the cashback.
Plans
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.
WEB.DE
FreeMail€0
1 GB email storage, 4 GB online storage, 20 MB attachments, 2 addresses; includes WEB.DE informiert.
MailPlus€3.99
per month
5 GB email storage, +5 GB online storage, 100 MB attachments, 4 @email.de addresses, double cashback.
Eigene Domain€2.47
per month
FreeMail mailbox on your own domain, with up to 500 addresses you create yourself.
Ways to pay less
Posteo
No public discounts listed.
WEB.DE
- Other savings
MailPlus first month free
The tariff comparison page offers MailPlus with the first month free.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Posteo or WEB.DE?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Posteo is cheaper to start with: about $1.12 a month, against about $4.46 a month for WEB.DE. Posteo starts at €1 per month, prepaid (minimum top-up €12), and WEB.DE starts at €3.99 per month (MailPlus).
Which has a free plan, Posteo or WEB.DE?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only WEB.DE has a free plan. Posteo does not.
Which platforms do Posteo and WEB.DE run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only WEB.DE lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.