Element / Matrix

The long-standing open-source implementation of OpenPGP encryption: sign, verify, and encrypt files and email using keys that only you hold. It runs entirely on your machine and underpins how software releases are verified across the open-source world. It is famously unfriendly to use, with key management that trips up newcomers, but there is no operator to trust.

An email aliasing service, now owned by Proton, that gives every website its own forwarding address pointing at your real inbox. When one alias leaks or starts attracting spam, you kill it without touching the rest of your accounts. It is open source and self-hostable, but on the hosted plan the operator handles your forwarded mail.

An encrypted email service from Switzerland where messages are stored in a way Proton itself cannot read. It pairs well with a custom domain, which keeps your address portable if you ever want to leave. Email to outside providers is still exposed in transit by nature, and Proton can be legally compelled to log IP addresses.

A private messenger with no user identifiers at all: no phone number, no username, not even a persistent ID linking your conversations together. Message routing is split across relays so no single server sees both ends of a chat. The cost is convenience, since contact discovery is manual and the network is younger and smaller than Signal's.