Proton Mail vs. Gmail: A detailed comparison

For many people who use email daily, Gmail is the go-to choice for its helpful features and integrations. Proton Mail, on the other hand, has emerged as a compelling alternative for users looking for email services with uncompromising privacy and security. 

While both tools stand out in their respective domains, users often discover they’re not always comprehensive enough. Gmail users crave alternatives that offer greater control over their workflow, while Proton Mail’s rigid emphasis on privacy usually presents limitations with features and usability.

In this article, we look closely at Proton Mail vs. Gmail, digging into their key differences to help you find which service truly fits your needs. We will answer key questions like: 

• What are the main differences between these email services?

• How do they compare in terms of productivity and usability?

• Are the offered features sufficient for your needs and workflow?

When choosing between any two email platforms, you should look at five criteria:

1. User interface

2. Features

3. Storage and attachment limits

4. Pricing

5. Workflow enhancement

There are significant differences between Gmail’s and Proton Mail’s approach to these factors, as you’ll see in the below breakdowns of each.

Gmail’s simplicity is one of its main selling points. Both the web and mobile apps are intuitive and easy to navigate. The familiar design features a left-hand menu with categories and labels, which can be collapsed for a clearer overview of the inbox. 

Proton Mail’s interface looks similar at first glance. Composing a new email opens a new window obstructing the inbox, which is the main complaint users have had about Gmail as well. There aren’t any significant issues besides this as all the features are laid out clearly.

One notable difference lies in the tab view above the inbox. Gmail offers three main tabs you can use to filter your mail:

• Primary

• Promotions

• Social

Proton Mail takes a different approach, letting users choose between seeing read, unread, and emails with files.

Overall, both offer sufficient functionality for users who don’t require advanced productivity features or highly specialized workflow tools.

Gmail and Proton Mail offer various features to help keep your inbox clean, search through your emails, and make emailing efficient. 

As for email organization, Gmail uses categories with labels and sub-labels. You can create custom labels to associate emails with any criteria you want. You can also use multiple labels per email if they don’t fit into a single category.

The aforementioned Primary, Social, and Promotions categories rely on various algorithms to recognize which email belongs in which category and sort them appropriately, keeping your inbox neat. 

Proton Mail uses similar features, except it offers labels and folders. An email can only be in one folder at a time, but it can have any number of labels. The main drawback is that the free plan only includes three folders and labels, which may not be enough if you receive a lot of mail.

Email search is another important function that Gmail makes easier. It lets you use advanced filters to find emails based on various criteria, including the following:

• Labels

• Subject lines

• Senders

• Dates

Proton Mail lets you browse emails through similar categories, but the free version lacks an important feature Gmail has—text search. You can’t search emails’ contents unless you upgrade to a paid plan, which is quite inconvenient.

Both providers also have a few time-saving features, though Gmail is more robust. It lets you set custom message alerts, schedule email sending, and snooze incoming mail. Smart Reply uses AI to suggest responses based on what you’re most likely to write back, though there have been some privacy concerns around this feature.

Gmail offers 15 GB of storage with the free plan. Note that the platform’s storage is shared between Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos, so it might fill up quite quickly if you use Drive to back up your files.

Proton Mail’s free account only includes 1 GB of storage, which is quite low. If you’re an advanced user, you might have to delete emails regularly or subscribe to one of the platform’s paid plans. Even this might not be enough as the highest tier caps the storage at 500 GB.

As for attachment sizes, both services let you upload files of up to 25 MB. Gmail will automatically turn any larger attachments into Google Drive links, so this may be a decent way to circumvent the limitation. Proton Mail does not support such an option, so you might need to zip large files before sending them.

Gmail and Proton Mail are free to use but limited in features unless you subscribe to paid tiers. To upgrade Gmail, you can choose from four Google Workspace tiers:

Proton Mail offers an individual Proton Unlimited plan starting at $12.99/month, as well as three business tiers:

Gmail’s premium plans are more expensive, but they include up to 5 TB of storage, compared to Proton Mail’s aforementioned 500 GB. All Gmail’s paid plans also provide features like custom domains, video and voice conferencing, and group policy controls.

Proton Mail’s tiers also include custom domains, unlimited folders and labels, and access to Proton’s other products:

• Calendar

• Drive

• VPN

With email being a big part of modern work culture, you want to choose an email service that adapts to your workflow and makes task management easier. 

Gmail integrates with the Google Workspace suite to provide seamless access to other work tools, including Calendar, Drive, Docs, etc. Other features like Smart Compose and Smart Reply also speed up email composition. However, even with these tools, many users have reservations—some say Gmail’s interface feels too cluttered, while others find its inbox customization features lacking for more advanced workflows.