Maskmail vs Proton Mail

Proton Mail is one of the most trusted names in email privacy. But if your main goal is email aliasing rather than switching your entire inbox, the two products serve very different needs. Here is how they compare.

What is Proton Mail?

Proton Mail is a full end-to-end encrypted email provider based in Switzerland. Email aliasing is one feature among many in the broader Proton privacy suite, which includes Mail, Calendar, Drive, VPN, Pass, and Wallet. Aliases are powered by their SimpleLogin acquisition and integrated through Proton Pass.

What is Maskmail?

Maskmail is an email mask firewall. You create one mask per website or app, forward messages to any inbox you already use (Gmail, Outlook, Proton, iCloud, or anything else), and disable any mask the moment it gets abused. Threaded two-way replies show who sent the email at a glance. No inbox migration required.

Feature comparison

Pricing

Maskmail charges $0.99/month plus $0.006 per email. A focused aliasing layer at a fraction of the cost.

Proton Mail free gives you 1 GB storage and 10 aliases. Mail Plus is ~$4/month with 10 aliases. For unlimited aliases, you need Proton Unlimited at ~$10/month, which bundles Mail, Drive, Calendar, VPN, and Pass.

Where Proton Mail is stronger

• End-to-end encryption. Proton cannot read your emails. If your threat model requires zero-access encryption, nothing in the aliasing space competes with this.
• Swiss legal protection. Strong privacy laws, outside the Five Eyes surveillance alliance.
• All-in-one suite. Email, storage, VPN, calendar, and password manager under one roof.
• Brand trust. One of the most recognized names in privacy, used by journalists and activists worldwide.
• No forwarding dependency. Your mail lives in Proton's encrypted servers, not passed through a forwarding layer.

Where Maskmail is stronger

• No inbox migration. Keep using Gmail, Outlook, or any provider you already like. Maskmail sits in front of your existing inbox.
• Dramatically cheaper for aliasing. If all you need is aliases, Maskmail's $0.99/month beats paying $10/month for an entire privacy suite.
• Threaded replies with sender context. Forwarded emails show the original sender's name in your inbox. Hit reply, and the conversation threads naturally for both sides while your real address stays hidden.
• Delivery history. See exactly which masks received mail, when, and spot issues before they matter.
• Simplicity. One product, one purpose. No bundled services you may not need.
• Provider flexibility. Forward each mask to a different inbox if you want. Your work masks can go to Outlook while personal masks go to Gmail.

Something to consider

A common frustration with Proton Mail is that unlimited aliases require the ~$10/month Unlimited plan. The cheaper Mail Plus plan caps you at 10 aliases, the same limit as the free tier. So if aliasing is the main reason you are looking at Proton, you end up paying for a VPN, cloud storage, and a password manager you may never use just to get unlimited masked addresses.

If your inbox already works fine and you only need the aliasing layer, Maskmail gets you there at $0.99/month without asking you to switch providers or buy a bundle.

Who should pick which?

Choose Proton Mail if you want to move your entire email life to an encrypted provider and want aliasing as part of a broader privacy ecosystem.

Choose Maskmail if you want email aliasing without changing your existing inbox, and prefer paying only for what you use.

Bottom line

Proton Mail is a fantastic privacy-first email provider, and its alias feature (via SimpleLogin) is a genuine bonus. But it solves a much bigger problem than aliasing alone. If your goal is to keep your real address private without migrating away from your current inbox, Maskmail gives you that at a fraction of the cost.