OpenMailBox: the secure alternative to Gmail with web storage

OpenMailBox secure mail and storage

It's clear: Gmail takes the lead when it comes to mail and file storage. This is because of its history and because it is available on Android devices, which has a market rate of around 80% worldwide. But what is the problem with Google services? The company of the famous search engine gets most of its profits from advertising, so by using them we are giving it all our information. In fact, they have come to recognize that they "snoop" on our emails. If we want something more secure, OpenMailBox is what we are looking for.

OpenMailBox is not a unique service on the market. There are many other services that ensure that all our information is safe with them. The difference is that these other services are usually paid and that payment is usually monthly. At the end of the year we will probably have spent around € 50, so I don't think it is a great option for a normal user; These services are more focused on their use for companies and do not offer any free options. OpenMailBox does offer an option for € 0 / month.

OpenMailBox offers security for € 0 / month

As soon as we check in, the word "security" will return to our heads. At least in my case, the captcha that ensures that we are not a robot will be repeated several times in somewhat complex images. Once we have proven that we are not a robot, we can click on «Create account». The first that we will see are the plans what we can choose:

OpenMailBox payment plans

  • La basic account and the one we started with is free. With this we will obtain all the security and privacy that the service offers, but only 5GB of storage.
  • By € 49 / year o 4.99 € / month We will get a custom domain (such as pablinux@pablinux.com), two-step authentication, external access from other applications and 500GB of storage. The difference between these two plans is that with the annual payment we save € 10.

The creators of OpenMailBox ensure that the service is totally safe, for which they use their redundant system so that everything is repeated at least twice. I don't know if this matches what was mentioned above with the captcha, but it is a possibility. They ensure that this redundant system will work 99.99% of the time, which means that, at most, there will be one security problem every 10.000 tasks. On the other hand, they assure us that they will never use our data for commercial purposes, something we know other companies like Google and Microsoft do.

Minimalist design

OpenMailBox inbox

OpenMailBox inbox

By clicking on the mail icon we will enter our inbox. The first thing we will feel is that everything is very clean and minimalist. It is very similar to what we would find today in any quality mobile application. We will see only what is important: Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Deleted and Spam.

Once we receive a message, something that can happen after clicking on the circular arrow at the top left, appear three columns, as in many desktop mail applications: one for folders, another where we see the emails and a third to see the content of an email. When choosing a message we will see what we can do with it, such as mark it as seen / not seen, reply, forward, mark, unmark or mark as spam. Everything is intuitive and simple for not having more options.

Message in OpenMailBox

Message in OpenMailBox

OpenMailBox offers calendars and contact cards

As other services such as Google or Microsoft do, OpenMailBox also offers us calendars and tokens for our contacts. As you can see in the following image, the calendar interface could not be more minimalist. It is so difficult that the lines that separate the calendar days are hardly visible on my laptop if I don't have the screen at a good angle to me. What I don't like, but we have to bear in mind that everything is still in beta phase, is that to add an event we have to do it from the icon at the top left. I would like there to be the possibility of double clicking on a day.

The contacts section is also very simple and minimalist. But just because it is simple does not mean that we cannot add information and photos. As you can see in the following images, we can add information about:

  • Name and surname.
  • Profession.
  • Photo.
  • Birthday.
  • Email address (logical this).
  • Phone number.
  • Web.
  • Address.
  • Social networks.
  • Custom field.
  • Notes.

OpenMailBox file storage

What also it is very simple is to upload files to OpenMailBox. It's actually all that simple, as long as we look closely at the icons. They are too fine at the moment and I imagine that is something they will change in the future to make them easier to see. Clicking on the plus symbol (+) the window to upload a file will appear, something that we can do either by dragging the file to the window or by searching on our PC. We also have the possibility of creating folders, something essential if we want to have our files well organized.

As we have mentioned before, the free account allows us to upload up to 5GB of storage, multiplying by 100 if we choose any of the paid plans. What we do not lose is the security that OpenMailBox offers and we will make sure that our information is not used for commercial purposes. You know what they say that with companies like Google or Facebook the product is us, right?

OpenMailBox is in beta

Keep in mind that the service is in beta, which means that everyone can already try it, but it is still in the testing phase. It is more than likely that we will run into a problem when using OpenMailBox on some systems or browsers. For example, I have received errors when I have tried to upload a photo from Firefox. Of course, they assure us that if we request support for practically anything they will respond to us very quickly, something that is to be appreciated especially if we have chosen one of the payment plans.

And you? Still not using a secure service like Open mailbox?


8 comments, leave yours

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.

  1.   zicoxy3 said

    I want to leave gmail and I understand that for a free service, creators / maintainers must "trade" with something, that is, my data if I do not want to pay per month.
    But there are many services that promise security and give you an extra in free accounts like this one….
    A comparison between them? I mean Openmailbox, protonmail,… ..
    regards

  2.   Juan Pablo said

    Please. Don't use openmailbox !!! Surely it has nothing !!! A short time ago it stopped working and was down for months and without any information from the owners. Enter the site's twitter and see the comments of the users. Here is an example: https://twitter.com/openmailbox_org/status/1059826261265182720

    1.    July said

      In fact, I just tried to access and it is down.

  3.   user said
  4.   caravan said

    If you send an email and it takes more than 12 hours to reach your inbox, then it is not a recommended service. The best OPENMAILBOX can do is die trying to sell FOSS as a free service.

  5.   Luis said

    But if OpenMailBox has not worked for more than 1 year, what is this article about?

    Do all the articles work so well in UbuntuLog?

  6.   guizans said

    OpenMailBox? Seriously? Apart from malfunctioning, not the following, apart from not being free software, and that the free account does not let you access the mail through a desktop client, the continuous page drops, the fact that an email takes days to arrive or not arrive directly, and so on. If they sponsor the entry I understand it, if not, it is that you have not tried it.
    My recommendation is without a doubt I recommend Disrrot.
    A greeting.

  7.   Marc said

    Don't use openmailbox. Unreliable email service. Every 2 by 3 is down and when it drops the response time to fix the problem is extremely slow. This service is in beta and has been in beta for years. Slow development if not zero. This Post is surely a sponsored Post because in my opinion, no one who has used openmailbox would recommend it.