Before you compare EU email providers, get your own domain. It is the single change that lets you switch providers later without redoing the painful migration.
I’m still being lazy about actually making the jump myself but I’d probably go with proton. They’re not perfect and already showing signs they might enshittify in the future but for now it’s still miles ahead of giving all the data to the Americans. In September when I’m back from holidays…
My main issue with proton is the forced encryption and so the lack of IMAP. The mails I receive are not sensitive, and I much prefer to use my own client rather than being forced to use theirs
I’m still being lazy about actually making the jump myself but I’d probably go with proton. They’re not perfect and already showing signs they might enshittify in the future but for now it’s still miles ahead of giving all the data to the Americans. In September when I’m back from holidays…
My main issue with proton is the forced encryption and so the lack of IMAP. The mails I receive are not sensitive, and I much prefer to use my own client rather than being forced to use theirs