Mailfence

About Mailfence

ContactOffice Group SA says it launched in 1999 and is based in Brussels, Belgium. It previously licensed email and collaboration software to companies and universities, and says it now focuses on privacy and security. The company says it develops Mailfence in-house and manages its own hosting infrastructure. A separate launch year for the Mailfence product has not been confirmed.

Mailfence is known for privacy-focused email with OpenPGP encryption features, alongside an integrated productivity suite. ContactOffice Group SA operates the service; no separate parent company or owner has been confirmed.

Mailfence services

Personal email and collaboration

Personal accounts combine email with calendar, contacts, documents, groups and related collaboration features. Mailfence offers free and paid account tiers. It may suit individuals who want these tools together in a privacy-focused service rather than a standalone mailbox.

Business email and collaboration

Mailfence for Business is available as a hosted cloud service or as a licence for deployment on a customer’s own servers. Its collaboration tools and administration features are aimed at organisations that need email and shared productivity tools for users.

Servers and support

Mailfence says its servers and data centre are in Belgium and that it manages its infrastructure. The exact city and facility address have not been confirmed. Users can access the service through its web interface and iOS and Android apps; some paid tiers also include POP, IMAP and SMTP access for external email clients.

Support is available by email and through a support-ticket route, knowledge base, documentation and in-app help. Mailfence says paying users receive priority support. Some higher-tier plans include telephone support, but the company advises users to call only a number provided directly by its support team.

Who should choose Mailfence?

Mailfence may suit individuals or organisations looking for privacy-focused email with calendars, contacts and collaboration tools in the same service. The business option also gives organisations a choice between hosted service and deployment on their own servers.

Look elsewhere if you need conventional website hosting, or if your choice depends on a particular email-client protocol, billing interval or support arrangement that is not included in your chosen tier. Check those details before signing up.

Read our full Mailfence review, or compare Mailfence with other email hosting services.