u/aslambava

A r/Secria founder recently posted about vulnerabilities in r/AsterPrivacy Mail’s open source code. That’s appreciated. Most users aren’t developers, so this kind of disclosure is helpful. Always good to see devs take initiative.

Every new email provider has its flaws though. Aster Mail launched with a generous free plan and still is, to be fair. But they recently reduced the free custom domain limit from 3 to 1 without grandfathering existing users. Worse, I once saw a Reddit comment from their team admitting it was just a promotional thing and terms would change. That kind of thing really hurts reliability and trust. Hope they realise this in a positive way.

As for Secria, credit to their dev for auditing a competitor’s code. But when can we expect an audit of Secria itself? Oh wait, Secria isn’t even open source. Interesting. On top of that, Secria’s pricing is nearly on par with Proton. Why would they price it that way? The question is - would you pay for Proton or a new provider with no track record and no open source transparency, both at the same price? Ok. Let’s forget it.

I recently signed up for r/ProxiedMail. The UI isn’t great, but the lifetime plan seemed worth it. I was hoping it’d grow into something like Addy_io or SimpleLogin someday. But right after signing up, errors everywhere - couldn’t use the service or upgrade. I contacted the dev through email, Twitter, and their web chat. No reply. At least I found out early. Account deleted.

The privacy email space is growing, but trust and transparency still remain the biggest challenges for new providers. Generous plans attract users. Deleted comments and broken signups push them away. Not that complicated. r/ProtonMail, r/Tutanota, r/SimpleLogin, r/Addy_io and others have been around for a while and have set the standard. New providers are compared against them whether they like it or not. Hope to see more open audits, honest communication, and reliable services from this space. We deserve better options.

Proton has Mail, Calendar, Drive, Pass, Meet and VPN. The one thing missing? Notes.

Every major email service provider has one - Gmail has Keep, Outlook has OneNote. I know Proton already bundles Standard Notes with some plans, but it still feels like a separate app, separate login flow, and barely connected to the rest of the Proton ecosystem.

The easiest path forward - integrate Standard Notes into the Proton ecosystem. It’s already open-source and end-to-end encrypted. It fits perfectly.

Even a simple notes panel inside Proton Mail webmail would be a great start.

First of all, I want to sincerely appreciate their efforts and commitment toward privacy protection. It is genuinely encouraging to see a new platform built around this mission. I’d like to lay out a couple of suggestions. I hope they take this feedback in the constructive spirit it is intended.

PGP, despite its known limitations, remains a widely recognized standard in email encryption. And its absence is one of the biggest interoperability barriers for privacy-focused providers. r/AsterPrivacy, a relatively new player, with WKD support, their users can communicate end-to-end encrypted with r/ProtonMail users seamlessly. r/Secria could unlock the same cross-platform trust by adopting PGP. I am no expert, but I hope to see them go a step further, finding a way to integrate post-quantum algorithms like Kyber into PGP. It could be a serious differentiator and may attract a much wider audience.

And secondly, the pricing is something worth reconsidering. Their basic plans are on par with Proton and even costlier than Tuta. Think about it- why would someone choose a new, unknown service over Proton or Tuta at the same price? I mean no offence by this, it’s just the reality. I’m not asking for a price cut either. But maybe a lighter plan, something like 5 or 10 GB with one custom domain, at a friendlier price could help bring new people in. Also, a small bump in free storage, maybe 2 or 3 GB, would go a long way. Nothing too generous though, we’ve seen providers go overboard with free tiers and eventually shut down (⛵️). Keep it sustainable, just make it a little more attractive.

I want to reiterate that all of these comes from the perspective of an ordinary user with no agenda. Just someone who genuinely appreciates what they are building. I truly hope Secria grows into a reputable name in the privacy space. Thank you for reading this far. I hope some of these thoughts are useful.