# Forward Email privacy rating

Email service whose paid plans include outbound SMTP, which can send newsletters and mailing lists from a list tool such as listmonk. Newsletter sending needs approval for each domain. Subscriber lists and campaigns are managed in the separate tool.

> **Disclosure:** Privacy Ratings is maintained by the team behind Forward Email. This entry is scored by the same criteria as every other entry in this category, and changes to it are reviewed under the published conflict-of-interest rules.

## Summary

Forward Email scores 84 out of 100 (grade B) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales, independent audit, tells users about requests, TLS configuration and security headers. It partly meets no trackers or telemetry and transparency report. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade A+.

- Website: https://forwardemail.net
- Source code: https://github.com/forwardemail/forwardemail.net
- Jurisdiction: United States. Five Eyes member. Subject to the US CLOUD Act.
- Platforms: Web
- Home page trackers: none found
- Category: [Newsletter platforms](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/)
- Also rated: [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/email-providers/forward-email/) (Email providers), [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/email-forwarding/forward-email/) (Email forwarding and aliases), [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/email-clients/forward-email/) (Email clients), [Forward Email Webmail](https://privacyratings.com/webmail/forward-email-webmail/) (Webmail), [Forward Email Backups](https://privacyratings.com/email-backup/forward-email-backups/) (Email backup tools), [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/mail-server-software/forward-email/) (Mail server software), [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/email-sending/forward-email/) (Email sending services), [Forward Email Calendar](https://privacyratings.com/calendars/forward-email-calendar/) (Calendars)
- Grade: B (84/100)

## Criteria

| Criterion | Answer | Note | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes | All code is public, including the outbound SMTP servers that run the service. 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. | https://github.com/forwardemail/forwardemail.net/blob/master/LICENSE.md |
| No trackers or telemetry | Partial | No third-party analytics. First-party anonymized analytics of page views and service usage is on by default, and Cloudflare Turnstile loads on sign-in and sign-up forms. | https://forwardemail.net/en/privacy#analytics |
| No ads or data sales | Yes | Funded by paid plans. No ads, and the privacy policy states user data is not shared with third parties. | https://forwardemail.net/en/private-business-email |
| Independent audit | Yes | Two independent Cure53 audits of the code and the infrastructure are published. | https://cure53.de/pentest-report_forward-email.pdf |
| Transparency report | Partial | The technical whitepaper (section 9.3) publishes the government request policy and commits to transparency reports with request counts. A report with counts is not published yet. | https://forwardemail.net/technical-whitepaper.pdf |
| Tells users about requests | Yes | Users are notified of requests when legally allowed, with notice after disclosure when advance notice is prohibited. | https://forwardemail.net/technical-whitepaper.pdf |
| TLS configuration | Yes | Grade A+ | https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=forwardemail.net&hideResults=on |
| Security headers | Yes | Grade A+ (125/100+) | https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory/analyze?host=forwardemail.net |
| Modern web standards | Not tested yet | Not tested yet. |  |

Newsletters and mailing lists are sent over Forward Email's SMTP service ([FAQ](https://forwardemail.net/en/faq#do-you-support-newsletters-or-mailing-lists-for-marketing-related-email)). Each domain is reviewed manually before newsletter sending is approved. Subscriber management, sign-up forms and campaign scheduling come from a separate tool, such as [listmonk](https://forwardemail.net/en/guides/newsletter-with-listmonk).

Source: https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/forward-email/
Edit: https://github.com/privacyratings/privacyratings.com/edit/main/ratings/newsletters/forward-email.md