Who Else Is Reading Your Company’s Email?

Email is where much of a company's day-to-day business happens. Contracts are exchanged, invoices arrive, meetings are arranged and conversations with clients, employees and partners can remain in an inbox for years.

That means a company's email account often holds an enormous amount of sensitive information. Proton's pitch is fairly simple: businesses should be able to use email without giving their provider and integrated tools unnecessary access to what's inside.

The Cost of a Data Breach

Quick gut check. Where does your team keep their most sensitive, private, data?

If you're like most businesses, the answer is "in Google or Microsoft." And here's the part most teams never stop to think about: those providers hold the encryption keys to all of it. That means they (and integrated third-party and AI tools) can access your files, and use it to whatever their privacy policy says today.

Meanwhile, the cost of data breaches are climbing to over $4 million per incident on average.

That's the gap Proton Workspace is built to close: a full business suite that does what your team needs, keeps your data locked to you alone, and doesn't blow up the budget.

What Is Proton Workspace?

Think Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, minus the part where your provider can see everything. Proton launched Workspace to bundle its privacy-first apps into one suite, and it's built for teams that move fast and handle sensitive info daily.

Here's what's in the box:

• Mail + Calendar: Business email on your own domain, plus built-in appointment scheduling (handy for interviews, demos and vendor calls).
• Drive: Encrypted cloud storage for offer letters, contracts and board decks.
• Docs + Sheets: Write and crunch numbers together, without your forecasts becoming someone else's data.
• Meet: Encrypted video calls for 1:1s, QBRs and the conversations that shouldn't leak.
• Pass: A team password manager, so shared logins stop living in a spreadsheet called "passwords_FINAL."
• VPN: Network protection for remote and traveling staff.
• Lumo (Premium): A private AI assistant that doesn't train on your data.

Same workflows your team already knows. The big difference is who can see the work: you, and nobody else.

The Problems Proton Workspace Actually Solves

Every team has its own flavor of "please don't let this leak." Here's how it plays out across the people who keep the business running.

For HR: you're holding everyone's secrets. Comp data, performance reviews, medical leave notes, I-9s, investigations. HR stores more PII than almost anyone, and one misdirected email or forever-open share link can become a compliance nightmare. Proton encrypts it all by default and supports HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA requirements, so privacy isn't something you bolt on later.

For RevOps: your pipeline is your competitive edge. Pricing models, deal terms, commission plans, customer lists. That's exactly the kind of info you don't want feeding someone else's AI. Proton can't use your data for AI training, because it can't read it in the first place.

For Ops: tool sprawl is a security problem. Email here, files there, passwords in a shared doc, VPN from yet another vendor. Every extra tool means another bill, another login and another gap. Proton Workspace rolls the essentials into one admin console and one invoice.

For everyone: people click things. A convincing phishing email, an unlocked laptop, a file sent to the wrong "Sarah." Encryption alone can't fix human error, which is why Workspace adds account protection, breach alerts and dark web monitoring on top.

And the big one: switching feels scary. Years of email, contacts and habits keep teams stuck on tools they've outgrown. You can migrate them with Proton.

Who Holds the Keys? (The Question Most Comparisons Skip)

Here's the simplest way to think about it. With Google, Microsoft and most other providers, the company holds the encryption keys. If they can unlock your data, so can anyone who breaches them, subpoenas them, or changes their privacy policy next year.

Proton flips that. Your data is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches Proton's servers, so Proton never holds the keys. In practice, that means:

• Proton can't read your files or email. Not won't. Can't.
• A breach at Proton doesn't expose your content, because attackers can't decrypt what Proton itself can't.
• Your data can't be used to train AI. That goes for Lumo too, which keeps saved chats encrypted.
• It's verifiable. Proton's code is open source and independently audited, so anyone can check that there are no backdoors.

Proton Workspace vs. Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365

Sticker prices look similar. The real cost doesn't. Here's how they stack up.

Do the math on a 25-person team. Full Copilot adds $30/user/month to Microsoft 365, which comes to an extra $9,000 a year before you've bought a password manager or VPN. Proton bundles both.

Where Big Tech still wins: Microsoft's desktop apps are hard to beat. Proton doesn't have a presentation app yet or deep legacy ERP integrations, so if your team lives in complex third-party connections, map those out before you switch.

Security That Covers the Human Side, Too

Encryption protects your data. These features protect your accounts, which is where most real-world breaches start.

• Proton Sentinel: AI plus human security analysts flag sketchy sign-ins, throw extra challenges at suspicious logins and escalate anything worrying. Proton says it protects some of the most highly targeted users in the world.
• Proton Pass: Shared vaults make onboarding and offboarding cleaner. Grant access on day one, pull it on the last day, and stop passing passwords around in Slack.
• Breach alerts + dark web monitoring: Get a heads-up if a third-party tool you use is breached, or if your company's data shows up for sale.
• Proton VPN: Keeps your road warriors safe on airport, hotel and coffee shop Wi-Fi.
• Two-factor authentication: Supported across accounts.

For Ops, that's fewer vendors to manage. For HR, it's a cleaner offboarding checklist. For everyone, it's fewer cracks for attackers to slip through.

Can You Switch Without a Six-Month IT Project?

Yep. Proton clearly knows migration fear is the #1 reason teams stay put, and it's built around that.

1. Keep your email addresses. Bring your custom domain, so customers, candidates and vendors don't notice a thing.
2. Bring your history. Proton's Easy Switch imports email from Gmail, Outlook and others, plus calendars and contacts depending on the provider.
3. Go self-serve or get help. Simple moves are DIY. Bigger or more complex migrations can be fully supported by Proton's team.
4. Skip the training sessions. The UX is familiar enough that most teams can jump right in. Prefer Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird? Proton Mail Bridge connects them.
5. Manage it all centrally. Admins add and remove users from one console, which HR and IT will both appreciate on start dates and exit days.

Not ready for the whole suite? Start with Proton Mail Essentialsfor email and calendar, then upgrade when you're ready to move files, docs and meetings.

Already on Proton Business Suite? You get a free upgrade to Workspace Standard, Proton Meet included.

See Proton Workspace plans and start a free trial

How Much Does Proton Workspace Cost?

Short answer: $12.99/user/month for the full suite on annual billing, with no surprise add-ons for the security basics.

Two things finance will like. First, Proton says it's never raised prices on existing customers in over a decade, so no annual price-hike surprises at renewal. Second, there's a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can pilot it with one team before rolling it out.

Who Is Proton Workspace Built For?

Any team where "confidential" is part of the daily workload. That especially includes:

• HR and People teams handling PII, comp data, benefits and employee relations
• RevOps and Sales Ops protecting pricing, pipeline and commission data
• Operations and IT looking to consolidate tools, vendors and invoices
• Regulated industries like legal, finance and healthcare that need HIPAA, GDPR or CCPA support
• SMBs and startups that want enterprise-grade privacy without enterprise-grade pricing
• Distributed teams working from anywhere, on any network

The company behind it has serious credentials. Proton was founded in 2014 by scientists who met at CERN and is headquartered in Switzerland. Over 100 million people and 100,000+ businesses use Proton, including UN agencies and Fortune 500 companies, according to the company. Its primary shareholder is the nonprofit Proton Foundation, which is designed to keep the mission (privacy first) ahead of profits.

Ready to give it a try?

Start a 14-day free trial with up to 20% off Proton Workspace.

FAQ

Is Proton Workspace a good alternative to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365? For teams that put privacy and cost control first, yes. It covers email, calendar, storage, docs, sheets, meetings and passwords, and adds a VPN and password manager that Google and Microsoft don't include. It doesn't yet offer a presentation app or deep legacy ERP integrations.

Can Proton read my company's data? No. Zero-access encryption means your data is encrypted before it reaches Proton's servers, and Proton doesn't hold the keys.

Does Proton use my data to train AI? No, and it can't. Even Lumo, Proton's AI assistant, keeps saved chats encrypted and doesn't train on them.

Is Proton Workspace HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA compliant? Yes. Proton Workspace simplifies compliance with HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA, and it's ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified.

Is Proton subject to the US CLOUD Act? No. Proton is headquartered in Switzerland, so it can't be compelled under the CLOUD Act to hand over data, and it couldn't decrypt your data anyway.

Can we keep our company email domain? Yes. Proton supports custom domains, so everyone keeps their current addresses.

How hard is it to migrate from Gmail or Outlook? Easy Switch handles email, and depending on the provider, calendars and contacts. Simple moves are self-serve, and Proton's team can support complex ones.

Does it work with Outlook? Yes. Paid users can connect Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird through Proton Mail Bridge.

Is there a free trial? Yes. There's a 14-day free trial, and paid plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The Bottom Line

You'd never leave the office unlocked with the company files on the desk. But that's basically what happens when your provider holds the keys to everything.

Proton Workspace gives teams the tools they already use, locks the data to your team alone, bundles the security extras Big Tech charges for, and does it all for about the same price (often less). The value of that peace of mind is hard to measure, right up until the day you need it.

Start with one team. Run the 14-day trial. See if anyone even notices the switch, aside from your security lead.

Compare plans and start your free Proton Workspace trial

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