Email clients
Alpine privacy rating
Text-based email client derived from Pine, for Unix-like systems and Windows, with built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support and S/MIME encryption.
Summary
Alpine scores 83 out of 100 (grade B) on the email clients criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, connects directly, blocks remote content and works with any provider. It partly meets OpenPGP support. It does not meet independent audit.
Score 83 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- Yes
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Yes
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 telemetry or analytics in the source code.
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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?
Free software distributed at no cost. No ads.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
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Partial
OpenPGP support Weight 2 of 3
Can the app encrypt and sign mail with OpenPGP, built in or through an official add-on?
S/MIME is built in. PGP needs an external display and sending filter such as GnuPG wrappers.
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Yes
Connects directly Weight 3 of 3
Does the app connect directly to your mail server, without passing mail or passwords through the vendor's servers?
Connects directly to IMAP, POP3 and SMTP servers. No vendor service is involved.
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Yes
Blocks remote content Weight 2 of 3
Are remote images and tracking pixels blocked by default?
Text-based client that does not load remote content. When a message is opened in an external browser, links to external images are removed by default.
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Yes
Works with any provider Weight 1 of 3
Does the app work with any standard IMAP and SMTP provider?
Works with any IMAP, POP3 and SMTP provider.