Email clients
Betterbird privacy rating
Our pick
Fork of Mozilla Thunderbird that follows its Extended Support Releases and adds extra fixes and features. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Summary
Betterbird scores 89 out of 100 (grade B) on the email clients criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, OpenPGP support, connects directly, blocks remote content and works with any provider. It does not meet independent audit. It is based in Germany: Fourteen Eyes member; EU member (GDPR).
Score 89 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?
Builds are made with telemetry reporting turned off, and the website has no third-party trackers.
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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?
Funded by donations. 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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Yes
OpenPGP support Weight 2 of 3
Can the app encrypt and sign mail with OpenPGP, built in or through an official add-on?
OpenPGP and S/MIME are built in, as in Thunderbird.
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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 mail servers, as Thunderbird does. 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?
Remote content is blocked by default, as in Thunderbird.
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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.