Looking to leave GMAIL and am currently testing Proton for a $1 a month. So far it’s pretty good and the issue I have is not with Proton, but with who I’m sending messages to. If I send an email to a gmail account my information is still sitting on a Google server. So is Proton worth it? Is something like Fastmail just as good over all due to how email works? With Fastmail I can get email for my whole family for $14 a month. I won’t have the VPN, ProtonPASS and other Proton apps, but are they worth the $12 a month for one person?
I think this is a poor mentality. You’re essentially giving in and increasing Google’s network effect, making privacy harder for everyone. Choosing to use a more private service where possible will shift the power slowly, and there’s really no downside with email. You can do this with a free tier, no money required until it’s worth it for yourself.