{
  "slug": "posteo",
  "category": "email-providers",
  "name": "Posteo",
  "description": "Paid, ad-free email service from Germany that runs without collecting names or addresses and accepts anonymous payment.",
  "website": "https://posteo.de/en",
  "license": null,
  "platforms": [],
  "jurisdiction": {
    "code": "DE",
    "name": "Germany",
    "eyes": "Fourteen Eyes",
    "eu": true,
    "gdpr": true,
    "cloud_act": null
  },
  "pick": false,
  "pick_reason": null,
  "disclosure": null,
  "grade": "C",
  "score": 62,
  "coverage": 100,
  "summary": "Posteo scores 62 out of 100 (grade C) on the email providers criteria. It meets 9 of 19 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, transparency report, TLS configuration, encrypted mailbox storage, open protocols, sign up without personal data, IMAP support and POP3 support. It partly meets independent audit, security headers, end-to-end encryption and SMTP submission. It does not meet open source, tells users about requests, custom domains, mail transport security, Sender Rewriting Scheme and ARC sealing. It is based in Germany: Fourteen Eyes member; EU member (GDPR). Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B+.",
  "url": "https://privacyratings.com/email-providers/posteo/",
  "markdown": "https://privacyratings.com/email-providers/posteo/index.md",
  "answers": {
    "open_source": {
      "title": "Open source",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/encryption",
      "note": "Closed source. The crypto mail storage plugin for Dovecot is published, but the rest of the service code is not."
    },
    "no_trackers": {
      "title": "No trackers or telemetry",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/privacy_policy",
      "note": "The privacy policy states that the website and webmail have no tracking, no Google products and no third-party captchas."
    },
    "no_ads": {
      "title": "No ads or data sales",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/privacy_policy",
      "note": "Funded by paid accounts. No ads and no advertising partners."
    },
    "independent_audit": {
      "title": "Independent audit",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "partial",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/encryption",
      "note": "Cure53 audited the crypto mail storage feature, but the report is not published."
    },
    "transparency_report": {
      "title": "Transparency report",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/site/transparenzbericht",
      "note": "Publishes yearly counts of authority requests by type, legality and outcome. The German version is the most current."
    },
    "user_notice": {
      "title": "Tells users about requests",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/transparency_report",
      "note": "Posteo states that German law does not allow it to inform affected users."
    },
    "tls": {
      "title": "TLS configuration",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=posteo.de&hideResults=on",
      "note": "Grade A+"
    },
    "security_headers": {
      "title": "Security headers",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "partial",
      "evidence": "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory/analyze?host=posteo.de",
      "note": "Grade B+ (80/100+)"
    },
    "web_standards": {
      "title": "Modern web standards",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "pending",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Not tested yet."
    },
    "e2ee": {
      "title": "End-to-end encryption",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "partial",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/encryption",
      "note": "PGP, S/MIME and password-encrypted mail are built into the webmail, but must be set up by the user."
    },
    "encrypted_storage": {
      "title": "Encrypted mailbox storage",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/encryption",
      "note": "Optional crypto mail storage encrypts all stored mail with a key protected by the user's password. It is off by default."
    },
    "open_protocols": {
      "title": "Open protocols",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/help/how-do-i-set-up-posteo-in-an-email-client-pop3-imap-and-smtp",
      "note": "IMAP, POP3 and SMTP work with any client."
    },
    "custom_domains": {
      "title": "Custom domains",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/faq",
      "note": "Posteo does not support custom domains."
    },
    "anonymous_signup": {
      "title": "Sign up without personal data",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": "https://posteo.de/en/site/privacy_policy",
      "note": "No name, address, phone number or other email address is required to register."
    },
    "mail_standards": {
      "title": "Email security standards",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "pending",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Not tested yet."
    },
    "imap_standards": {
      "title": "IMAP support",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "posteo.de:993 (implicit TLS). IMAP4rev1 advertised with IDLE."
    },
    "pop3_standards": {
      "title": "POP3 support",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "yes",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "posteo.de:995 (implicit TLS). CAPA: CAPA, TOP, UIDL, RESP-CODES, PIPELINING, AUTH-RESP-CODE, USER, SASL."
    },
    "smtp_standards": {
      "title": "SMTP submission",
      "weight": 2,
      "answer": "partial",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "posteo.de:465 (implicit TLS). Missing: SMTPUTF8."
    },
    "transport_security": {
      "title": "Mail transport security",
      "weight": 3,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "Passes: SPF, MTA-STS enforce, TLS-RPT, DNSSEC, DANE all. Missing: DMARC none."
    },
    "srs": {
      "title": "Sender Rewriting Scheme",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "No published documentation on SRS for forwarded mail."
    },
    "arc": {
      "title": "ARC sealing",
      "weight": 1,
      "answer": "no",
      "evidence": null,
      "note": "No published documentation on ARC signing or validation."
    }
  },
  "tests": {
    "ssllabs": "A+",
    "observatory": "B+",
    "internetnl_web": null,
    "internetnl_mail": null,
    "trackers": [],
    "tested_at": "2026-10-01T07:46:26.442Z"
  },
  "last_modified": "2026-10-01T07:47:04Z"
}