They have Google analytics on their web, so not so good opinion.
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
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Privacy
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Google 20 Years Ago: "Come get yer ethical email!"
Don't fall for the con. I've come to learn that services like this might make you feel fuzzy on the inside, but it's just virtue signaling. If they're around long enough they eventually do all the shit they promised they'd never do. Just look at Mozilla.
Disclosure: i work at Infomaniak.
I don't think Google was saying "come get your ethical email", more like "get your free email". Infomaniak is making money by selling services. The free tier is just there as a loss leader. Google was already selling ads. So i don't think it compares.
BTW, Infomaniak is already 30 years old :-)
I joined the Gmail Beta during the time it was still being referred internally as Caribou and was still skunkworks--hell, sometime in 2003. There was a recognizable need for an updated email service and Buchheit knew that. Especially considering the alternatives at the time were mainly static HTTP pages with no search features and relied heavily on client-side JavaScript for functionality. The plan was always to have a free tier for private individuals and to sell a non-free version of Gmail to businesses as it was being discussed in that capacity even back then. However, Gmail was always marketed as a socially responsible email provider, just like all of Google products are/were.
It's an oversimplification, but I feel like its still an accurate characterization.
I think it's a good alternative for many people but it's more like an Open-Apple mindset. In the sens that they support and contribute to free and open source software, but they do collect data for their own use. Unlike Apple they do not serve ads yet. They have been here for years and have quite good security practices making it pretty strong.
So it's not the end-to-end encrypted alternative that people on this sub are usually looking for but could be a great fit for some users. Also they are mainly known for web hosting and VPS then they added their collaboration suite of tools named kSuite after many years which is mainly forked from popular free software.