If you are using a web service hosted in the US, they are probably using your data to make money. It wont be personally identifying, but it's not really free, or secure.
Swiss and German hosted email services, on the other hand, are highly regulated with what they can do with a customer's information.
So about free...why not pay for the service. Most providers come in at about $30-35 per year. with the exception of protonmail.
Aide from price, the other thing to consider is what information you have to give up to get the service. i.e.- do you have to provide your real name, address, phone number, etc.
First recommendation. Get a PayPal account. It's easy, free, secure, and it will convert purchases for services to euros when you pay for the service.
Three options:
Protonmail.com- This is swiss-based. You can get one free email address. The down side is you cannot access from a web browser, or an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook. This is because is its truly end to end encrypted, server side, during transmission, and when you access it in their app on a device. If you want more email addresses, you have to pay. I do not use this service because I can't access via a web browser.
Posteo.com - This is a german-based company. Lowest tier is 1 euro per month. You get a primary email address, and two aliases. There is no dedicated app, and uses SMTP/POP server so it can be accessed from the web, or traditional email programs on Mac or PC. I use this service as it is cheap, and does what I need t to with end to end encryption, and no data sharing by the company. Added bonus is the ability to change the domain tag to make it look like you originate from outside the US. ie- abcdef@posteo.de rather than abcdef@posteo.com
Tutanota.com - This is a german-based company. Lowest tier is 25 euros (~$35) per year. You get a primary email address, and four aliases. It is basically the same as posteo, above. This one, though, does have an app, and can be accessed via web browser. I also have an account with this service.
So why do I have two paid accounts with two different services? Well, one is a backup in case I forget a password for the other. Also, one is for serious stuff, and the other for fluff. I also have aliases set up for junk website sign-ups and stuff, and I'll just delete the alias at the end of the year and start fresh with a new alias for 2022.
Why PayPal? With each of the services above, using PayPal allows you to make a payment without providing any information on my real identity to the email provider companies. Even if someone wanted to reveal who is using my email, they cant. The provider doesn't record IP traffic, and the emails are encrypted. And, the bill is paid anonymously. Now of course, they could trace forward to see that I have paid for the service, bu not backward starting with the email address.
Anyway, screw the free-mail providers. Stop being a cheapskate and shell out a few bucks to a company who respects your privacy.
I use tutanota as #1
Protonmail #2
Happy with both of them.
They once sat on a $30 payment to Skype and refused to process it for 10 days. I needed the Skype service immediately, only for a few days. They finally processed the payment after the service was no longer needed. So no to Paypal.
They were an early adopter of cancel culture. They may have even invented it.
I use Protonmail and access from a web browser, just have to log in with name and password and the site opens up.
Protonmail.com- This is swiss-based. You can get one free Proton email address. The down side is you cannot access from a web browser, or an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook. This is because is its truly end to end encrypted, server side, during transmission, and when you access it in their app on a device. If you want more email addresses, you have to pay. I do not use this service because I can’t access via a web browser.
Um....Yes you can. I access it from Brave browser all the time.
Thanks!