It might seem daunting, but switching email providers is actually a relative easy step. Whether you’re using Gmail (Google), Hotmail or Outlook (Microsoft), iCloud Mail (Apple), or Yahoo Mail (Yahoo) - all of these belong to American Big Tech cooperation. The good news is that switching to a privacy-friendly alternative is relatively simple. Friends, colleagues, and acquaintances will still be able to easily find and reach you. You don’t need to convince your entire family to switch at the same time, like with a messaging app like Signal.

As you can see in the chart below, many European providers offer email accounts for just a few euros per month. Compared to Big Tech, you won’t lose much: these providers include calendar functionality, storage, and in most cases, the option to import your old emails.

Note: here we are explicitly talking about mail providers, not mail programs. A mail provider (what you recognize by the name after the “@” sign) is separate from the program you use to read your email (such as Thunderbird or Outlook).