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Norway-based Runbox is without doubt one of the main lights for secure email, with over twenty years of expertise within the {industry}.
And it’s not nearly safe e-mail with Runbox, both: this supplier additionally commits to sustainability, with 100% renewable power from hydroelectric sources powering the enterprise.
Runbox: Plans and pricing
Runbox has one of many extra sophisticated pricing buildings you’ll discover while you seek for a safe e-mail supplier, with six pricing tiers and additional customizations past that. Pleasingly, it’s doable to pay with Bitcoin and even money despatched through postal or courier providers.
The Micro plan prices $19.95/£15.98 per 12 months and comes with one e-mail area, 2GB of e-mail storage and 200MB of safe file storage. The $34.95/£27.99 Mini plan upgrades to 10GB of e-mail storage and 1GB of file storage – and 5 e-mail domains.
The Medium plan prices $49.95/£40 and upgrades to 10 domains, 25GB of e-mail storage and 2GB of file storage, and the Max plan prices $79.95/£64.04 and boosts e-mail and file storage to 50GB and 5GB respectively. It’s doable to improve the Max plan to variations with much more storage, too: 100GB for $119.95/£96.08 yearly or 250GB for $179.95/£144.14.
These foremost accounts embody encryption, 100 e-mail aliases, the flexibility to ship and obtain 500 and 5000 messages every day, and 100MB e-mail message sizes.
When you’ve bought that foremost account, you may add subaccounts with their very own e-mail and file space for storing, with costs ranging between $7.95/£6.37 and $99.95/£80.06 per 12 months.
You’ll be able to add additional e-mail or file storage to any plan for $9.95/£7.97 per gigabyte, additional e-mail internet hosting for $4.95/£3.96 per area per 12 months, and extra e-mail aliases for $4.75/£3.80 for 5 addresses yearly.
It’s a sophisticated system, particularly should you’re shopping for for a company and need to add domains, customers, and extra storage. For those who begin doing that, it could get costly, too. And there are not any industry-specific merchandise and no division between private and enterprise plans. As a substitute, in order for you one thing particular, it’s greatest to contact Runbox and work with their specialists to create a bespoke plan.
For those who’re sticking with these base plans and never going additional than that, although, Runbox has cheap pricing – it normally works out cheaper than many rivals, particularly earlier than you get to the Max tier. And should you’re not sure, there’s a thirty-day free trial and 60-day money-back assure.
Runbox: Options
At present, Runbox doesn’t have end-to-end encryption, so that you’ll want to make use of a third-party PGP-based extension like Mailvelope if that is one thing you’d prefer to deploy. Fortunately, although, Runbox plans to introduce native PGP in its Runbox 7 consumer sooner or later, and the group at the moment recommends deploying PGP to ship the strongest doable encryption to your complete e-mail course of.
In the meanwhile it’s doable to make use of the beta model of Runbox 7, too – while you check in, you may select between the secure Runbox 6 launch and the beta model of Runbox 7.
Proper now, Runbox totally encrypts emails with TLS/SSL safety, and removes IP addresses from outgoing emails. You need to present your identify and another e-mail tackle, however you may simply keep away from your actual identify and use a burner e-mail tackle. Cellphone quantity provision is optionally available, too.
If you use Runbox webmail, each e-mail you ship or obtain is encrypted throughout its journey between your gadget and Runbox’s providers, and emails are encrypted throughout switch should you use third-party purchasers.
Emails despatched utilizing third-party purchasers usually are not encrypted whereas saved on Runbox’s servers. Nevertheless, these servers are housed in a safe facility in Oslo and guarded by a few of Europe’s strictest privateness legal guidelines. Runbox can be GDPR compliant.
IP tackle safelisting and two-factor authentication restrict who can entry your account, and Runbox has glorious spam and virus filters.
If you wish to use Runbox with third-party e-mail purchasers like Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird, it makes use of S/MIME encryption, which depends closely on safety certificates to supply its unbiased safety verification. And if you wish to arrange a third-party consumer, Runbox works flawlessly with POP, IMAP and SMTP.
Elsewhere, it’s value noting that a few of your information can be held for as much as 5 years should you pay for a Runbox subscription – that is to adjust to Norweigan privateness legal guidelines. And far of Runbox is open supply, too, with commitments from the group to be much more open supply sooner or later.
Past e-mail, Runbox presents a safe calendar and cloud storage system, a whole contacts system, and straightforward methods to import contacts and emails to your account. However you don’t get every other additional options utilizing Runbox – and if that’s one thing you want, then you may take a look at rivals like Proton or Mailbox.org, which provide VPNs, password managers and phrase processors.
And whereas it’s very straightforward to make use of Runbox utilizing cellular browsers or in cellular e-mail purchasers, there isn’t any native Android or iOS app.
Runbox: Interface and in use
Certainly, your complete Runbox interface feels slightly archaic, with underwhelming fonts and visuals. However that’s a surface-level criticism, and the interface format is tidy and intuitive. It makes use of two- and three-pane layouts with customization out there, and icons ship quick access to your calendar, contacts and account settings.
Runbox: Help
Runbox’s help system is proscribed. Customers can submit a ticket or e-mail Runbox on to obtain technical help, and there’s an in depth information base and a helpful web page that shows service standing.
That’s it, although – there’s no signal of the dwell chat or telephone help you’ll usually discover offered by bigger organizations. That’s disappointing for companies or anybody paying for one of many costlier accounts.
The competitors
That lack of help sees Runbox fall behind rivals like Mailbox.org or Hushmail, which provide various telephone and dwell chat help ranges, particularly at larger tiers. And in order for you additional options, like a VPN and password administration, take a look at Proton as an alternative.
Runbox comes into its personal with regards to pure safety, nevertheless. The service makes use of efficient layers of safety, nice safety for its servers and an eco-friendly strategy. Runbox can be refreshingly sincere about its end-to-end encryption state of affairs, offering simple recommendation if you wish to deploy PGP, too.
Ultimate verdict
That level-headed, eco-friendly strategy to safety is refreshing and reliable, and Runbox presents a wonderful degree of safety for just about each consumer from its base in Norway. Because of its simple design, it’s straightforward to make use of and integrates with a great deal of third-party e-mail purchasers.
The pricing can get complicated and costly, although, and the help choices are missing. So whereas Runbox could also be efficient for people or smaller organizations, it’s difficult to suggest for any enterprise needing extra strong help.