How to set up a private email account

What you need before you sign up, why the recovery code decides whether you keep your mail, which two-factor options the four providers offer, and on which devices they run.

Key points

Private providers encrypt your mailbox with keys that your password unlocks. If you forget the password and have no recovery code, your old mail can be lost for good.
Save the recovery phrase or code right after you sign up, for example on paper in a safe place.
Turn on two-factor sign-in. Proton Mail and Tuta also accept security keys.

Before you start

You need two things: a password manager for the new password, and a safe place for a recovery code, such as a sheet of paper in a drawer at home.

Why the recovery code matters

With a regular provider, a forgotten password is a small problem: the provider resets it. Private providers often cannot, because your password also unlocks the keys to your mail.

Proton Mail: a reset by email or phone gives you back the account, not the old data. Proton states: “If you have a password reset method and no data recovery method, you’ll lose access to everything that was on your account before the password reset.” A recovery phrase of 12 words or a recovery file brings back the data too.
Tuta: the recovery code works like your password and can decrypt your private key. Tuta says that it deliberately has no way to reset your password.
Posteo: if you turned on the “forgotten password” feature beforehand, you get a new password by text message or at another email address. With crypto mail storage on, this does not work: you can only open your encrypted mail again if you remember your password.
Hushmail: it states that it “can’t recover or reset your password if you have lost it.”

	Authenticator app	Security key	Other options
Hushmail	yes	not named	code by text message, or by email to a backup address
Posteo	yes	hardware such as a YubiKey	passkeys for sign-in without a password
Proton Mail	yes	yes, up to four	–
Tuta	yes	yes, several	–

Proton offers two-factor sign-in on all plans, including the free one.

Devices

Proton Mail and Tuta have apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhone, and Android, and work in the browser. Posteo works in the browser and with email programs. Hushmail works in the browser and has an iPhone app.

What you can do

Choose a provider, for example on the page Private email providers compared.
Create the account with a new, long password from your password manager.
Save the recovery phrase or code right away. Print it or write it down, and keep it in a safe place.
Turn on two-factor sign-in, with an authenticator app or a security key.
Send a test email from your old address to the new one and back.

Next step

How to bring your old mail along and change your address on your accounts is explained in the guide Switch email providers without losing mail.