Tutanota review

zinneken · 4 Nov 2016, 06:16 AM

Is Tutanota a service worth paying for?

The all shiny web site vindicates things too good to be true, which usually means they are. So here is my experience after trying the free for a while and signing up for premium for a while.

The free gets you support in about a week. The premium gets you support usually within 1 business day.

It is a multiple of 12 euro service.
The first 12 euro gets you 1 user with 5 aliases, a domain name and 1 GB.
In all logic, the second 12 euro should get you the same again, but it does not. The next 12 euro only gets you 1 leecher, as this 1 user will eat in your already paid 5 aliases and 1 GB.
That's not all. If you add 5 users, meaning 6 users in total, you still only have 5 aliases for your domain. This means the 6th user doesn't get an alias under your domain any more, while you're by then paying a whopping 72 euro for 1 user and 5 leechers on what the 1st user had to begin with.

Solution? Pay even more, because tutanota likes to force you into putting more money on the table. 12 more euro for 20 aliases, 12 more euro for more GB. So, let's calculate. If you want for everyone to get their equal share you end up with the need of 6 GB and 35 aliases total.

6*12 for users = 72 = euro
5*1 extra GB = 2*12 = 24 euro
25 extra aliases = 1*2*12 = 24 euro
Or a whopping total of 120 euro ... for 6 people. Or 20 euro per person. The original 12 euro suddenly seem very unfair. You get tricked into 12 and end up paying 20 per user.

We have a family domain @lastname.com in the understanding that everyone in the family can get an address for personal use. We're a total of 25 users (brothers & sisters, kids).

So let's do the tutanota business model again:
25*12 for users = 300
24 extra GB = 3*2*12 = 72
24*5 extra aliases = (4 + 1) * 12 = 60
So the 25 users cost 432 euro, or 17.28 euro per user. That's a long way more from the advertised 12, but actually considerably less per user then if you're only 6 people.

Tutanota seems very unfairly priced, but it gets better.

Coming to aliases, somewhere deep hidden in a few posts you can read an alias from one of their own domain names in your premium paid for account can not be removed from your account. Somewhere deep hidden on their site you can read the benefit from using an @tutanotadomain alias (for temporary or spam sensitive situations, like subscribing to a mailing list). So whenever you have an alias you no longer need, you can deactivate it (byebye spambox), but you will keep paying for the deactivated alias you're no longer using, forever after. Fair? Don't think so.

A business may not mind paying money for an employee that's left the business ages ago in order to get the better "security and privacy". But in a family, paying more because nephew screwed up is bound to bring comments, maybe even arguments over Christmas dinner ...

Take our example of a family of 25 people who are not always very tech minded. A few deactivated aliases can quickly turn into a long lasting paying nightmare.

Why would a service charge you money for something you no longer need/want, but because you had it once you'll need to keep on paying for it? Tutanota confirmed, you can not remove an alias from one of the tutanota domains from your premium paying account, yet they motivate the use in a disposable way. Consume aliases so you pay more, forever after!

What about space? If you're 1 home user the standard space should not really be an argument. But if you're several users you quickly will need to add more euro packs. No sweat if you can export emails and archive them locally, but there is no export feature at tutanota (ok, there is, one message at a time, who has the time to export 1 message at a time to fee space of 1 GB?) Well thought out service to force you into paying more.

Tutanota claims it is the best deal out there combining transparency, user friendliness, security and privacy.

Transparency: yes, you can find all information burried in blog posts and a FAQ that is hosted at uservoice. You don't get the info up-front, you have to dig for the details. So much for transparency, if you don't take the time (believe me, plenty of time to go through all the tutanota scribbles) to dig and search and puzzle together how the service really works ...

You can read for example you can get free coupon codes on their google, facebook, twitter accounts from time to time. Security and privacy anyone? You have to give up security and privacy in order to get a better deal. If you don't give up security and privacy by going on public sites that screw your privacy and security in a very open way as soon as you visit them, you don't get access to the coupon codes. Anyone see the picture?

The blog is hosted at tutanota, good. The FAQ not, you have to let uservoice know you're interested in knowing more (or are a user of) tutanota. Not too happy about being forced into disclosing to a third party in order to get the necessary information about the service.

The web site also loads 1 or 2 third party links which the firewall warned about, but when you go straight to the login page there is nothing of that happening. Happy face! At least they got this bit right.

My verdict after a few weeks of tutanota trying? If you're 1 person, I am sure it makes sense to use the service, and for 1 user it seems relatively fair. If you're more users, stay away from tutanota. You'll end up going much deeper in your pockets, paying forever for things even if they are deactivated/no longer needed.

Lastly, if they do a crowdfund to finance the service and/or growth, I'll ship in! But if they look at making money the way they do by shading area's and tripping customers long term... With that mentality, wait till the 3 letter acronyms come along with the dearly wanted $. The whole tutanota set-up currently just doesn't feel totally right (yet).

Just Bill · 7 Nov 2016, 11:55 PM

I have just a single user Premium account. I was using Protonmail, but I almost exclusively access my mail from iPhone and the Protonmail app locked up my phone twice to the point that I had to re-install the entire OS. Goodbye Protonmail.

I find that Tutanota's iPhone app works flawlessly and therefore I chose it over Protonmail. As for the service itself, I find that I got what I paid for and am satisfied with it.

4 Nov 2016, 06:16 AM	#1
zinneken Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 136	Tutanota review Is Tutanota a service worth paying for? The all shiny web site vindicates things too good to be true, which usually means they are. So here is my experience after trying the free for a while and signing up for premium for a while. The free gets you support in about a week. The premium gets you support usually within 1 business day. It is a multiple of 12 euro service. The first 12 euro gets you 1 user with 5 aliases, a domain name and 1 GB. In all logic, the second 12 euro should get you the same again, but it does not. The next 12 euro only gets you 1 leecher, as this 1 user will eat in your already paid 5 aliases and 1 GB. That's not all. If you add 5 users, meaning 6 users in total, you still only have 5 aliases for your domain. This means the 6th user doesn't get an alias under your domain any more, while you're by then paying a whopping 72 euro for 1 user and 5 leechers on what the 1st user had to begin with. Solution? Pay even more, because tutanota likes to force you into putting more money on the table. 12 more euro for 20 aliases, 12 more euro for more GB. So, let's calculate. If you want for everyone to get their equal share you end up with the need of 6 GB and 35 aliases total. 612 for users = 72 = euro 51 extra GB = 212 = 24 euro 25 extra aliases = 1212 = 24 euro Or a whopping total of 120 euro ... for 6 people. Or 20 euro per person. The original 12 euro suddenly seem very unfair. You get tricked into 12 and end up paying 20 per user. We have a family domain @lastname.com in the understanding that everyone in the family can get an address for personal use. We're a total of 25 users (brothers & sisters, kids). So let's do the tutanota business model again: 2512 for users = 300 24 extra GB = 3212 = 72 245 extra aliases = (4 + 1) 12 = 60 So the 25 users cost 432 euro, or 17.28 euro per user. That's a long way more from the advertised 12, but actually considerably less per user then if you're only 6 people. Tutanota seems very unfairly priced, but it gets better. Coming to aliases, somewhere deep hidden in a few posts you can read an alias from one of their own domain names in your premium paid for account can not be removed from your account. Somewhere deep hidden on their site you can read the benefit from using an @tutanotadomain alias (for temporary or spam sensitive situations, like subscribing to a mailing list). So whenever you have an alias you no longer need, you can deactivate it (byebye spambox), but you will keep paying for the deactivated alias you're no longer using, forever after. Fair? Don't think so. A business may not mind paying money for an employee that's left the business ages ago in order to get the better "security and privacy". But in a family, paying more because nephew screwed up is bound to bring comments, maybe even arguments over Christmas dinner ... Take our example of a family of 25 people who are not always very tech minded. A few deactivated aliases can quickly turn into a long lasting paying nightmare. Why would a service charge you money for something you no longer need/want, but because you had it once you'll need to keep on paying for it? Tutanota confirmed, you can not remove an alias from one of the tutanota domains from your premium paying account, yet they motivate the use in a disposable way. Consume aliases so you pay more, forever after! What about space? If you're 1 home user the standard space should not really be an argument. But if you're several users you quickly will need to add more euro packs. No sweat if you can export emails and archive them locally, but there is no export feature at tutanota (ok, there is, one message at a time, who has the time to export 1 message at a time to fee space of 1 GB?) Well thought out service to force you into paying more. Tutanota claims it is the best deal out there combining transparency, user friendliness, security and privacy. Transparency: yes, you can find all information burried in blog posts and a FAQ that is hosted at uservoice. You don't get the info up-front, you have to dig for the details. So much for transparency, if you don't take the time (believe me, plenty of time to go through all the tutanota scribbles) to dig and search and puzzle together how the service really works ... You can read for example you can get free coupon codes on their google, facebook, twitter accounts from time to time. Security and privacy anyone? You have to give up security and privacy in order to get a better deal. If you don't give up security and privacy by going on public sites that screw your privacy and security in a very open way as soon as you visit them, you don't get access to the coupon codes. Anyone see the picture? The blog is hosted at tutanota, good. The FAQ not, you have to let uservoice know you're interested in knowing more (or are a user of) tutanota. Not too happy about being forced into disclosing to a third party in order to get the necessary information about the service. The web site also loads 1 or 2 third party links which the firewall warned about, but when you go straight to the login page there is nothing of that happening. Happy face! At least they got this bit right. My verdict after a few weeks of tutanota trying? If you're 1 person, I am sure it makes sense to use the service, and for 1 user it seems relatively fair. If you're more users, stay away from tutanota. You'll end up going much deeper in your pockets, paying forever for things even if they are deactivated/no longer needed. Lastly, if they do a crowdfund to finance the service and/or growth, I'll ship in! But if they look at making money the way they do by shading area's and tripping customers long term... With that mentality, wait till the 3 letter acronyms come along with the dearly wanted $. The whole tutanota set-up currently just doesn't feel totally right (yet).

7 Nov 2016, 11:55 PM	#2
Just Bill Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 192	I have just a single user Premium account. I was using Protonmail, but I almost exclusively access my mail from iPhone and the Protonmail app locked up my phone twice to the point that I had to re-install the entire OS. Goodbye Protonmail. I find that Tutanota's iPhone app works flawlessly and therefore I chose it over Protonmail. As for the service itself, I find that I got what I paid for and am satisfied with it.