If you are a regular reader of ours, then you know that Proton is one of the privacy-focused services we usually vouch for. I have been using their various services personally for quite a while now, and I can confidently say that they know what they are doing.
Of course, I am just a random person on the internet yapping about how good it is. If you haven't ever tried their offerings, then you can decide for yourself, as they have launched two new services that could make your move away from Big Tech easier.
Two Big Launches
Proton Workspace is a comprehensive suite that pulls all of Proton's services together under one roof, aimed at businesses and teams that want a privacy-first alternative to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
It brings together Mail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, VPN, Pass, Lumo, and the newly launched Proton Meet (more on it later). Businesses (both small and big) that want Proton's full suite without having to manage a separate subscription for every service and team member can go for this.
As an added bonus, being on a Swiss platform means the US government can't compel Proton to hand over your data the way it can with Google or Microsoft under the CLOUD Act.
If Proton Workspace interests you, then you can opt for one of the two paid plans.
Workspace Standard, at $12.99/month per user on an annual plan or $14.99/month per user if you pay monthly, gets you Mail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, VPN, and Pass. It also includes 1 TB of storage per user and support for up to 15 custom email domains.
Workspace Premium bumps that up to 3 TB of storage per user, 20 custom email domains, higher Meet capacity (250 participants vs. 100 on Standard), access to Lumo, and email data retention policies at $19.99/month per user annually or $24.99/month per user on a monthly plan.
Large organizations can also reach out to Proton directly for a specially tailored Enterprise plan, and if you are already a Proton Business Suite member, then you get a free upgrade to Workspace Standard.
On the other hand, Proton Meet is their new end-to-end encrypted video conferencing tool, and it goes up directly against the likes of Zoom and Google Meet.
Every call, including audio, video, screen shares, and chat, is encrypted using the open source Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. Thanks to that, not even Proton can see what goes on in your meetings, and there are no logs either.
As for the pricing, the Free tier lets anyone host calls with up to 50 participants for up to an hour without requiring a Proton account. For more headroom, the Meet Professional plan costs $7.99/user/month and raises the participant cap to 100, with meeting durations of up to 24 hours.
Teams that want Meet bundled with the rest of Proton's suite can opt for Workspace Standard or Premium instead, which is the better deal if you are already switching over from Google or Microsoft.
You have many options to use Meet. It is available on the Web, but also ships with native apps for Linux (yeah, you read that right), Android, Windows, macOS, and iOS.
