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The collaborative privacy advocacy community.

Privacy Guides is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run project that hosts online communities and publishes news and recommendations surrounding privacy and security tools, services, and knowledge.

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Why should I care?

“I have nothing to hide. Why should I care about my privacy?”

Much like the right to interracial marriage, woman's suffrage, freedom of speech, and many others, our right to privacy hasn't always been upheld. In several dictatorships, it still isn't. Generations before ours fought for our right to privacy. Privacy is a human right, inherent to all of us, that we are entitled to (without discrimination).

You shouldn't confuse privacy with secrecy. We know what happens in the bathroom, but you still close the door. That's because you want privacy, not secrecy. Everyone has something to protect. Privacy is something that makes us human.

Why Privacy Matters

What should I do?

First, you need to make a plan

Trying to protect all your data from everyone all the time is impractical, expensive, and exhausting. But don't worry! Security is a process, and, by thinking ahead, you can put together a plan that's right for you. Security isn't just about the privacy tools you use or the software you download. Rather, it begins by understanding the unique threats you face, and how you can mitigate them.

This process of identifying threats and defining countermeasures is called threat modeling, and it forms the basis of every good security and privacy plan.

Learn More About Threat Modeling

Trustworthy Privacy Software Reviews

Privacy Guides has a dedicated community independently reviewing various privacy tools and services. Each of our recommendations comply with a strict set of criteria to ensure they provide the most value to most people, and provide the best balance of privacy, security, and convenience. As part of a non-profit public charity, Privacy Guides has strict journalistic standards and policies to ensure our recommendations are free of conflict of interest, and we do not partner with providers or affiliate programs that could sway our reviews and recommendations.

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  • Non-Profit & Open Source
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Top 3 Private Email Providers

  • Proton Mail logo Proton Mail

    Proton Mail is an email service with a focus on privacy, encryption, security, and ease of use. They have been in operation since 2013. Proton AG is based in Genève, Switzerland. The Proton Mail Free plan comes with 500MB of Mail storage, which you can increase up to 1GB for free.

    Read Full Review

  • Mailbox.org logo Mailbox.org

    Mailbox.org is an email service with a focus on being secure, ad-free, and privately powered by 100% eco-friendly energy. They have been in operation since 2014. Mailbox.org is based in Berlin, Germany. Accounts start with up to 2GB storage, which can be upgraded as needed.

    Read Full Review

  • Tuta logoTuta logo Tuta

    Tuta (formerly Tutanota) is an email service with a focus on security and privacy through the use of encryption. Tuta has been in operation since 2011 and is based in Hanover, Germany. Free accounts start with 1GB of storage.

    Read Full Review

Best VPN Services

Secure Cloud Storage Services

Best Web Browsers

More Recommended Privacy Tools Best Mobile Browsers Top Browser Extensions DNS Servers Email Aliasing Services Photo Organization Tools PC Operating Systems

About Privacy Guides

Privacy Guides logo

Established in 2021 due to the difficulty of finding unbiased reviewers in the VPN and privacy space, Privacy Guides is the most popular, trustworthy, non-profit website that provides information about protecting your personal data security and privacy. Our crowdsourced recommendations and reviews of privacy tools and our community dedicated to helping others set us apart from other blogs and content creators. The team behind this project has been researching privacy and security in the open-source space for over 5 years, originally with a now-defunct web resource that eventually became the Privacy Guides millions of readers trust.

Our website is free of advertisements and not affiliated with any of the listed providers.

As seen in WIRED, Tweakers.net, The New York Times, and many other publications as a reliable source for privacy and security knowledge.

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What are privacy tools?

We recommend a wide variety of privacy tools (a.k.a. privacy apps, privacy utilities, privacy software) spanning software and hardware that you can adopt to improve your privacy. Many of the tools we recommend are completely free to use and open-source software, while some are commercial services available for purchase. Switching from mainstream data-hungry software like Google Chrome and Windows to privacy-focused tools like Brave and Linux can go a long way towards controlling the information you share with companies and others.

Our General Criteria

Why does privacy matter?

In the modern age of digital data exploitation, your privacy has never been more critical, yet many believe it is already a lost cause. It is not. Your privacy is up for grabs, and you need to care about it. Privacy is about power, and it is so important that this power ends up in the right hands.

Many people get the concepts of privacy, security, and anonymity confused. You'll see people criticize various products as "not private" when really they mean it doesn't provide anonymity, for example. On this website, we cover all three of these topics, but it is important you understand the difference between them, and when each one comes into play.

Privacy vs Security vs Anonymity

We need you! Here's how to get involved:

It's important for a website like Privacy Guides to always stay up-to-date. We need our audience to keep an eye on software updates for the applications listed on our site and follow recent news about providers that we recommend. It's hard to keep up with the fast pace of the internet, but we try our best. If you spot an error, think a provider should not be listed, notice a qualified provider is missing, believe a browser plugin is no longer the best choice, or uncover any other issue, please let us know.

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