Proton

About Proton

Proton AG is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and was founded in 2014 after a public crowdfunding campaign. The company says it was founded by scientists who met at CERN. Proton Foundation is Proton AG’s primary shareholder; Proton says employees hold most of the remaining shares, with other shares held by FONGIT and Proton users.

Proton is best known for Proton Mail and Proton VPN, but its wider suite includes apps for storage, passwords, calendars, video meetings and documents. It is a privacy-services provider, not a conventional website-hosting company.

What Proton offers

Email hosting

Proton Mail offers individual and business email, including Mail Essentials. Our comparison lists features such as custom domains, aliases, webmail, import tools and business administration options. It may suit people or teams looking to move email to a privacy-focused service. Compare email hosting.

VPN

Proton VPN has consumer and business options, including VPN Plus. The listed plan features include apps for major desktop and mobile platforms, multiple connection protocols, a kill switch and support for simultaneous devices. It is for people who want a VPN rather than a server to host a website. Compare VPN services.

Cloud storage

Proton Drive offers individual, family and business plans, including Drive Professional. Depending on the plan, features include file synchronisation, link sharing, automatic photo backup and online document editing. Compare online storage.

Other privacy and productivity apps

The wider range includes Proton Calendar, Pass, Meet, Docs, Sheets and Authenticator, plus SimpleLogin email aliases, the Lumo AI assistant, Proton Scribe and Proton Wallet. Business and workspace subscriptions bundle some Proton services.

Data centres and support

Proton says its data centres are in Switzerland, Germany and Norway, with Zurich as its primary data-centre location. It says Proton Drive data is stored on its servers in those countries; the locations should not be confused with Proton VPN’s separate global VPN network. Proton does not confirm a guaranteed country assignment for each customer’s data.

Support is available through a web contact form, email and an AI-assisted chat that can pass unresolved conversations to a human advisor. Ticket response times may vary by plan.

Who Proton suits

Proton is worth considering if you want privacy-oriented services across email, VPN and storage, or a business subscription that brings several tools together. Look elsewhere if your main requirement is conventional web hosting for a website, or if you need a confirmed data-centre country for every account.

Read our full Proton review for the trade-offs. You can also compare Proton’s email hosting, VPN and online storage options.