I’ve used both ProtonMail and MailFence for years. I pay for my MailFence account, and use a free ProtonMail account.
For my needs, the free services ProtonMail offers suffice. Their encryption seems OK, I don’t store my files with them, and I don’t use their calendar or their a.i. chatbot.
The only reason I pay for MailFence is so I can have SMTP access via a separate email client app. I guess paying for their services also gives more guarantees that my email address will be available longer. I care about the address I have with MailFence - not so much about the one I have with ProtonMail. If that changes, I’ll probably start paying for a professional account.
Recently ProtonMail changed the interface of their iOS mobile app. It now is harder to sign out. I guess that’s in an effort to push for more paid accounts. It’s jarring conduct coming from a company that claimed they went non-profit. Clearly they seek profit.
ProtonMail also continues to email me advertisements about their own services. MailFence never has done that. Not once. In fact I had to look up how to transfer to a paid account.
Both services are fairly easy to operate and fairly user-friendly.





Remember that the Council is meant to protect and enable trade. They only care about citizens for submitting them to exploitation.
If you discuss “the EU” you have to distinguish between Council and Parliament. The Council has no obligation to act according to the Parliament’s wishes. They are not a democracy.