Email backup tools
Forward Email Backups privacy rating
Built-in mailbox backup and export for Forward Email accounts. Mailboxes are backed up as encrypted SQLite files, optionally to the user's own S3-compatible storage, and can be downloaded as encrypted SQLite or password-protected EML or MBOX archives with contacts and calendars.
Summary
Forward Email Backups scores 85 out of 100 (grade B) on the email backup tools criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales and independent audit. It partly meets no trackers or telemetry. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act.
Score 85 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
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Yes
Open source Weight 3 of 3 Source-available
Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
All code is public, as part of the Forward Email service code. Core mail storage and protocol code is MPL-2.0 and the rest is under the source-available Business Source License 1.1 (BUSL-1.1), which becomes MPL-2.0 four years after each release.
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Partial
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
No third-party analytics. First-party anonymized analytics of page views and service usage is on by default.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Included with paid Forward Email plans. No ads, and the privacy policy states user data is not shared with third parties.
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Yes
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
Cure53 audited the Forward Email service code, including the encrypted mailbox storage and the S3 backup storage settings.