Comparing Posteo and Skiff

Posteo is a popular privacy-respecting email service based in Germany. How does it compare to Skiff Mail?

Today, leaving big-tech email services has never been more common, with hundreds of millions of individuals looking for alternatives to Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and less privacy friendly providers.Yahoo, Gmail and Outlook collect a lot of user data, including data about what users are doing on their accounts and what kinds of things they are interested in. Depending on the provider, this data may be used to target ads at users, which can be a major privacy concern because your inbox stores your most private and personal information.Another reason is that Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Outlook have been involved in a number of data breaches, which has led to concerns about the security of these platforms. Finally, there are a number of alternative email providers that offer better privacy protection, including Skiff, Posteo, Proton, and Tutanota.Skiff is a privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted workspace that offers email, real-time collaboration, file storage, and more. It offers native iOS, Android, and Apple Mac apps, as well as business email services for organizations to communicate and collaborate together.Posteo is an email service with a strong focus on privacy and security. It offers a number of features that make it a great choice for those who are looking for a secure and private email service.In this blog, we’ll cover many of the major differences, features, and products offered by Posteo and Skiff, as well as their privacy and encryption policies for protecting personal data. We’ll then offer a balanced recommendation depending on your use case, as well as the best alternatives from other blog entries on choosing a new email provider.

Overview

In this section, we’ll give a narrative background about each email service, including security, encryption, device access, storage space, privacy, end-to-end encryption, paid plans, and more. We’ll also add unique distinguishing features about each one, such as open-source functionality, IMAP support, and other email account features.

Posteo background

Posteo is an email service that has been designed with privacy in mind. Generally, the user interface is quite basic - reminiscent of an older version of Outlook or Hotmail. However, it has most of the core functionality one would need for sending mail, viewing an ad-free inbox, and storing contacts or notes.One of the most important features of Posteo is that all data is stored exclusively on servers in Berlin, Germany. This means that German data protection laws apply, which are some of the most stringent in the world. All data is encrypted both at rest and in transit, and Posteo makes use of a number of security features such as two-factor authentication and PGP encryption.Posteo does not require any personal information from users in order to sign up for an account, and there are no ads. The service is funded by user subscriptions, and there is a free trial available. Posteo also offers two-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security to your account. This means that even if someone knows your password, they will not be able to access your account unless they also have access to your second factor, which can be a physical token or a mobile phone.Posteo does not have built-in end-to-end encryption, but you can add end-to-end encryption using an OpenPGP extension. With end-to-end encryption enabled, your email is encrypted before it leaves your device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient. This means that even if your email is intercepted by a third party, they will not be able to read it. Although Posteo offers TLS protection for connections, this is now considered a basic privacy requirement more than a proactive security protection.Overall, Posteo is an excellent email service for those who are concerned about privacy and security. The service is reliable and easy to use, and the high levels of security and privacy are worth the subscription price. Posteo offers a number of other features that make it a solid choice for those who are looking for a secure and private email service. These include the ability to create disposable email addresses, the ability to set an expiration date for emails, and the option to encrypt attachments. Note that Posteo also does not have the ability to use custom domains.For users who are also concerned about energy use and email provider sustainability, Posteo offsets any carbon emissions using green energy sources.

Skiff background

Skiff is a privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted workspace built to empower more private, free, and creative work. Skiff’s products include Mail (end-to-end encrypted, private email), Pages (end-to-end encrypted collaborative docs and wikis), and Drive (end-to-end encrypted file storage and sharing). Skiff’s products include three tiers: Free, with 10 GB of storage, Pro, and Business. Paid plans - Pro and Business - include up to one terabyte of storage, extra email aliases, custom domains, and more.Every product in Skiff’s full workspace is designed to be end-to-end encrypted and private from the ground up. This includes all files, messages, and collaborative documents. However, Skiff is also designed to have a very simple and intuitive email client, mobile experience, and desktop application - offering many of the convenience features of commonly used platforms, such as link sharing, real-time collaboration, and convenient email sending features (schedule send, undo send, etc.).Skiff also offers sophisticated privacy and inbox management features. This includes many email aliases added inside your inbox, the ability to add your own domain name (with unlimited aliases), and image tracking protection to protect your IP address and other identifying information.Skiff offers mobile apps for Skiff Mail (Android apps and iOS), Skiff Drive, Skiff Pages, and more. Ultimately, Skiff yields an excellent balance of privacy and convenience for a secure email service and cloud storage products.

Privacy and security comparison

Both Skiff and Posteo position themselves as privacy-respecting. Although this may be true, Skiff offers built-in end-to-end encryption, while Posteo offers OpenPGP support for mail users. Generally, OpenPGP is not sufficient for encrypted email today, as only 50,000 people worldwide are estimated to use PGP, which has been “considered dead” by many.Both products are strong in their lack of personal data collection. Skiff requires no personally identifying information to sign up and and can have accounts paid for with a crypto wallet.Posteo, in contrast, requires users to pay on signup at least 1 EUR per month. Although this fee is quite small, it does expose significantly more personal and payment information for individual accounts. In the next section, we’ll revisit support for end-to-end encryption - which is built into Skiff but not Posteo.

Why does end-to-end encryption matter?

End-to-end encryption is a very important security measure that helps to protect communication from being intercepted and read by unauthorized parties, including the technology provider itself. When end-to-end encryption is used, the communication is encrypted on one device and can only be decrypted on the other device, making it much more difficult for someone in the middle to eavesdrop on the conversation. This is especially important for things like online banking and shopping, where sensitive information is often shared.Even if a database or network connection were compromised, there is no way for anyone to decrypt your emails on an end-to-end encrypted provider. As a result, we highly recommend using an email that offers end-to-end encryption, such as Skiff, Protonmail, or Tutanota.

Ease of use and convenience

While Skiff has 10 GB free out of the box, Posteo supports 2 GB of storage for free. Posteo also charges per gigabyte - 0.25 EUR per month per gigabyte. In contrast, Skiff supports Pro and Business tiers, which can scale to one terabyte of storage per user. At a large scale of data, Skiff’s paid plans are far more efficient (one terabyte on Posteo would cost 250 EUR per month!). However, if you do not need much storage space, or need slightly more than 2 GB, Posteo’s storage may suffice.Skiff has dedicated mobile apps on iOS, Android, Mac, and more; in contrast, Posteo offers IMAP, SMTP, and POP3 support, which offers integration into most mail clients (such as Windows clients, Linux mail apps, Thunderbird, and others) as well as basic mobile integrations.Email mobile apps also allow people to manage their email inboxes on the go, which is important for people who need to be able to keep track of urgent communications or professional work. As a result, Skiff’s dedicated mobile app may provide a more convenient way to synchronize your inbox across multiple devices.

Mail features

Both Skiff and Posteo offer additional filtering addresses by appending + to the end of an email address (such as [email protected]) as well as migration tools from Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and other providers. Posteo also offers location-specific aliasing using other Posteo domains, such as Posteo.co.uk, Posteo.org, Posteo.de, and more; the default alias is Posteo.net. Although these aliases are convenient and may be useful for filtering, appending a + or using a different top level domain (like .de or .org) does not add much privacy to your original email address.Skiff offers much more sophisticated inbox features. In addition to free labels and folders, which can be used to search for and categorize email, Skiff also support schedule sending mail, undo send, wallet based aliases, and custom email domains. All of these features can yield significantly greater privacy for new users and increase your ability to use a single inbox across the web.Skiff is also significantly more well positioned for teams and business use. Skiff’s workspaces allow users to sign up for shared Drives, Pages, and custom domains, allowing organizations to transition fully from Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, or similar products to a completely privacy-respecting solution. To configure a custom domain, check out this blog.

Conclusion

As an encrypted mail client and email hosting solution, Skiff offers significantly more guarantees over your privacy and security due to end-to-end encryption, image proxying for tracker protection, and native multi-device support for mobile and desktop apps.As a result, the privacy and intuitive convenience features on Skiff make it an excellent product for both day-to-day and professional email communications, as well as collaborative documents and file storage. Below, we’ll cover a few more comparisons in a brief FAQ section.Which providers offer end-to-end encryption?Skiff offers built in E2EE; Posteo offers OpenPGP support but not end-to-end encryption. Note that both providers offer HTTPS and SSL, but this is not considered sufficient privacy in current days.Are mobile apps available?Posteo integrates with IMAP providers for mobile. Skiff has dedicated mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as a desktop app for Mac.Are web apps available?Both providers offer web clients for webmail usage.What storage is available?Skiff offers 10 GB for free; Posteo offers 2 GB in its base storage plans. Both providers have higher tier plans for more storage.Are contacts stored?Posteo has a full contacts app; Skiff creates an address book based on past recipients and senders inside your inbox.How does customer support work?Both providers have customer support; Skiff via [email protected], Discord, Twitter, and a web contact form; Posteo has a contact form and email.Can you add custom domains?You can add custom domains on Skiff on Pro or Business tiers. However, this is not possible on Posteo. Email custom domains are useful because they provide a more professional appearance for your email communications, and they can also help to improve deliverability by giving you a more favorable reputation with ISPs. In addition, custom domains can give you more control over your email communications by allowing you to set up custom email via your web hosting provider.What additional products are offered?Skiff offers Skiff Drive, Skiff Pages, and Skiff Calendar for end-to-end encrypted file storage, collaboration, and calendar management. Posteo offers a non-collaborative notes and contacts app.How do they compare to other providers?Check out the articles below for comparisons to Tutanota, Fastmail, Protonmail, and other popular Posteo alternatives. Our blog also covers comparisons among cloud storage providers and encrypted note taking apps.