mailbox.org vs Posteo: Privacy-First German Email Compared

mailbox.org and Posteo are the two German providers people recommend for privacy-respecting email that is not built on advertising. Both run on green energy, both support PGP and both cost a few euros a month. For a business the comparison is short: only one of them supports your own domain.

Quick answer

Posteo does not support custom domains at all, so it is a personal service by design. mailbox.org supports custom domains, offers business plans, and bundles an Open-Xchange office suite with calendar and files. For a company, mailbox.org is the only one of the two that fits. If you want a custom domain at no cost, OquMail is the free alternative with 15 mailboxes.

Feature comparison

• Mailboxes: mailbox.org sells per user with business and family options; Posteo is one account per person, no domains
• Free plan: neither; both are paid, with Posteo at a famously low flat price
• API: neither offers a transactional send API
• DNS guidance: mailbox.org provides MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC values for your domain; Posteo has no domain setup
• IMAP/SMTP: both support IMAP and SMTP in any client
• Storage: both allocate storage per account by plan, with paid upgrades

Where mailbox.org wins

• Custom domains and multiple addresses per user
• Business plans with admin console and per-user management
• Office suite, calendar, contacts, files and video calls included
• PGP encryption via a browser-based guard for people who do not want to manage keys

Where Posteo wins

• Anonymous sign-up and payment, with no personal data required
• Very low, simple flat price
• Strong stance on transparency, energy use and no logging of IPs
• Excellent choice for an individual who wants privacy without complexity

Total cost at 5 and 15 users

Posteo cannot serve a business on its own domain, so the honest answer is that 5 or 15 users on Posteo would be 5 or 15 personal @posteo addresses, which most customers will not take seriously. mailbox.org at 5 users is a modest monthly sum and at 15 users a moderate one, still cheaper than mainstream suites. Both are billed in euros.

The free third option: OquMail

OquMail is the free route to a domain address for teams that like the no-advertising philosophy but do not need German hosting or PGP. You keep your domain anywhere, add MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC with the dashboard checking each record, and get 15 mailboxes with IMAP and a send API.

• Free plan: up to 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, no credit card
• Webmail included; IMAP/SMTP for Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird and phones
• IMAP mail.oqumail.com port 993 (SSL/TLS); SMTP mail.oqumail.com port 587 (STARTTLS)
• Guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC with live DNS verification; MX is mail.oqumail.com priority 10
• Transactional send API at https://api.oqumail.com/api/v1/emails with Bearer API keys (from, to, subject, html)
• Per-message delivery logs so you can see the exact response a receiving server gave

Verdict by scenario

• Individual who wants private email and pays anonymously: Posteo
• German or EU small business that wants a custom domain with an office suite: mailbox.org
• Freelancer who needs a domain address and a calendar: mailbox.org
• Team of up to 15 that wants a free custom-domain mailbox and an API: OquMail

Common questions

Can I use my own domain with Posteo?

No. Posteo deliberately does not offer custom domains. You would need an alias at another provider or a different host such as mailbox.org or OquMail.

Is mailbox.org good for business?

Yes. It has business plans, admin tools, custom domains, an office suite and a data-protection posture that suits EU compliance conversations.

Do either encrypt mail end to end by default?

No. Both support PGP if you or your recipient set it up, and both encrypt transport with TLS. Encrypted-at-rest options exist but require configuration.

Can I pay for either without a card?

Posteo accepts cash by post and other anonymous methods on principle. mailbox.org accepts standard payment methods and can invoice a business, which matters for accounting. OquMail asks for no payment at all on its free plan, so there is no card, invoice or renewal to manage until you outgrow it.