Proton Mail Free Plan: What You Can Do Without Paying in 2026

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Is Proton Mail free? The full answer

Yes, and it’s a plan rather than a trial. Proton Free doesn’t expire, and Proton’s pricing page says the service “will always be available for free for those who need them, but can’t pay” (help center, 10/09/2026).

I opened a free account on 10/09/2026 at 4:14 a.m. ET. The form asked for a username and a password. There was no field for a name, a phone number, a card, or another email address.

After the form, Proton asked for human verification: a puzzle CAPTCHA or a one-time code sent to another email address. The code was refused that morning with a “too many requests” message from our network, so I solved the CAPTCHA. Proton’s privacy policy says the verification data is used for that one-time check (last modified 05/12/2026).

No charge can happen on Proton Free, because there’s no payment method on file. The first charge comes only when you choose Mail Plus or another paid plan and enter a card, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay in the checkout.

What’s in the free plan (and what isn’t)

The free plan is a full inbox with less space and fewer addresses. The table is based on our free account and on Proton’s comparison table in USD on 10/09/2026.

Feature	Proton Free	Mail Plus, $47.88/year
Storage	500 MB at signup, 1 GB after a starter checklist	15 GB
Email addresses	1 (@proton.me or @protonmail.com)	10, plus the short @pm.me address
Custom email domain	No	1 domain
Messages per day	150	Unlimited
Folders, labels, filters	3 folders, 3 labels, 1 filter	Unlimited
Hide-my-email aliases (in Proton Pass)	10	10
Password-protected email to Gmail or Outlook users	Yes	Yes
Desktop app	14-day trial	Yes
Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird (Bridge, IMAP/SMTP)	No	Yes
Auto-reply, forwarding, catch-all, schedule and snooze	No	Yes
Easy Switch import from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook	Yes	Yes
Support	Standard	Priority
Card needed	No	Yes

See Proton Mail plans

Two things the free plan does include are the ones most people come for. Password-protected email to a Gmail or Outlook address is “available on all Proton Mail plans, including Proton Free,” per Proton’s help center (10/09/2026). I opened the Encrypt message dialog in the free account’s composer. Hide-my-email aliases are made in Proton Pass with the same login. I made one on the free plan, sent a test email to it from another provider, and the alias card showed “1 forward.”

The storage number depends on where you look. The pricing card says “1 GB storage,” the comparison table says “Up to 1 GB,” and the meter in our new inbox read 500 MB. Proton’s help center explains it: the account starts at 500 MB, and finishing a three-step checklist within 18 days raises it to 1 GB.

Where the free plan ends

The free plan ends at the desktop email app. On 10/09/2026, the IMAP/SMTP page in the free account’s settings read “Included with Mail Plus, Proton Unlimited, and Proton for Business” next to an “Upgrade” button. Proton Mail Bridge, the tool that connects Outlook, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird, “is available only with a paid plan,” per Proton’s Bridge page. The phone apps work on the free plan.

The other walls are quieter. A second @proton.me address, a custom domain, the @pm.me short address, auto-reply, and automatic forwarding were all listed under the paid plans in the comparison table. The daily limit is 150 messages. Within those limits you can read, send, search, and import, and the free inbox gets the same encryption as the paid ones, per the pricing page.

One rule to know: Proton’s terms say it “reserves the right to suspend or delete free Accounts that have been inactive for a consecutive period of 12 months” (last modified 06/23/2026). Paid accounts are exempt.

What you pay after the free plan

• Mail Plus: $3.99 a month, billed as $47.88 for 12 months. Month to month: $4.99.
• Proton Unlimited: $9.99 a month, billed as $119.88 for 12 months. Month to month: $12.99. Adds Proton VPN, Pass, and Drive at their paid levels.
• Tax and renewal: plus sales tax — varies by state. With a New York ZIP the Mail Plus checkout showed $4.25 tax on 10/09/2026. The checkout said the plan auto-renews but didn’t print a renewal price.

Prices verified on 10/09/2026 on Proton’s site. The full table, checkout, and cancel steps are on the Proton Mail pricing and plans page.

Coupons, discounts and extended trials

As of 10/09/2026, I couldn’t find any public coupon or promo code for Proton Mail on Proton’s site, and the checkout had no code field. Two discounts come from Proton itself:

• Referral trial: a new user who signs up through an existing user’s referral link gets a two-week Mail Plus trial, and “won’t have to add any payment information until the trial ends,” per the referral page. Both people get $20 in Proton credits once the new user subscribes.
• Student price: Mail Plus at $2.49 a month, “Billed at $29.88 for the first 12 months,” after a student check through Student Beans. Proton Unlimited is $4.99 a month on the same page.

The comparison table also lists a 14-day trial of the desktop app for free accounts. Every paid plan carries a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase, per the pricing page and the terms.

How to create the free account (short version)

1. Go to Proton’s sign-up page and pick the free plan.
2. Choose a username, set a password, and click “Start using Proton Mail now.”
3. Pass the human check: the CAPTCHA tab or a one-time code to another email address.
4. Open the inbox. The starter checklist in the left sidebar raises your storage to 1 GB.

The full walk-through with screenshots is on the how to use Proton Mail page.

U.S. customer card

Free alternatives on this site

Password-protected email is also something you can do from the account you already have: our encrypted email in Gmail and secure email in Outlook guides show what each service does on its own, and where a free Proton account fills the gap. For a side-by-side look at the paid plans, see the best secure email providers. The full Proton Mail review covers encryption, support, and the checkout in detail.

Is the free plan worth starting with?

Yes. The free plan needed no card, gave me a working inbox within minutes, and included the two features that make Proton different: password-protected mail to anyone and hide-my-email aliases. The limits are space and the desktop app. If you keep years of mail or want Outlook on your desk, Mail Plus at $47.88 a year is the next step.

Try Proton Mail free

What we checked

• Test account: Proton Free opened 10/09/2026 at 4:14 a.m. ET — a username and a password, then a CAPTCHA. No card, phone, or name asked. Inbox, storage meter, and settings captured the same day
• Free limits: the comparison table on proton.me/mail/pricing in USD and the plans article in Proton's help center — captured 10/09/2026
• Function: one hide-my-email alias created in Proton Pass on the free plan; a test email to it was forwarded (1 forward). The Encrypt message dialog opened in the composer
• Wall: Settings → IMAP/SMTP on the free account shows Bridge as “Included with Mail Plus” with an Upgrade button — captured 10/09/2026
• Checkout: Mail Plus for 12 months opened to the card field on 10/09/2026 with a New York ZIP — $47.88 plus $4.25 tax, renewal price not shown
• Coupons: the referral and student pages on proton.me read 10/09/2026 — no general promo code found

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More on Proton Mail

• Proton Mail review →
• Proton Mail pricing and renewal →
• How to use Proton Mail →