Gmail → Proton Mail
What it saves, what actually moves, what you rebuild — and the thing that catches people.
What it costs, and what it saves
Gmail is free with 15 GB shared across a Google account; Google One Basic (100 GB) is $1.99/month or $19.99/year, and a custom domain needs Google Workspace, whose Starter plan is $7 per user per month on a 1-year commitment (all as listed on Google's pricing pages on 2026-10-03). Proton Mail, as listed on proton.me/mail/pricing the same day in USD: Free is $0 with 1 GB; Mail Plus is $4.99/month or $47.88/year (15 GB, 10 addresses, 1 custom domain); Proton Unlimited is $12.99/month or $119.88/year (500 GB, 3 custom domains, plus VPN, password manager and Drive). Moving a free Gmail to Mail Plus adds $47.88/year; moving a one-person Workspace Starter mailbox ($84/year) to Mail Plus saves about $36/year.
Moves cleanly
Easy Switch, Proton's built-in import tool (included on every plan, Free too), copies Gmail messages with their labels, up to 10,000 contacts, and Google Calendar events into Proton. It skips duplicates and anything labelled spam or trash. After the copy, a Gmail connection keeps bringing new mail that lands in your Gmail inbox into Proton Mail and lets you send from the Gmail address inside Proton.
You rebuild
Gmail filters, signatures, auto-replies and nested-label structure need rebuilding: Easy Switch turns a nested label such as 'Work / Invoices' into a flat label 'Work - Invoices', and Proton folders go only three levels deep. Google Drive, Photos and Chat are not part of the import; download them with Google Takeout. Every website login tied to the Gmail address has to be changed by hand.
What Gmail costs you today
Free for personal use; Google Workspace (custom domain) from about $6/user/month.
What actually holds you in
Moderate: your address is widely shared and your Google account may anchor other services, but mail itself is portable (IMAP export/import, auto-forwarding, and import tools on the new provider). Budget a transition period running both in parallel.
What you are moving to
Proton Mail is the most mature encrypted email provider, with over 100 million users and open-source apps on every platform. Mail is end-to-end and zero-access encrypted, it's based in Switzerland under strong privacy law, and it supports OpenPGP so mail with other PGP users is automatically end-to-end encrypted. It has grown into a genuine Gmail replacement with Calendar, Drive, Pass, and VPN in one account, plus a functional free tier.
Free (1GB); paid Mail Plus ~$4/mo; bundled Proton Unlimited adds Drive, VPN, and Pass
Proton Mail strengths
- End-to-end, zero-access encryption with OpenPGP support
- Open-source apps, independently audited, Swiss jurisdiction
- Free tier; custom domains on paid plans
- Part of a full privacy suite (Calendar, Drive, VPN, Pass)
What you give up
- Encryption to non-Proton, non-PGP contacts needs password-protected mode
- A hosted service you don't self-host
- Free-tier storage is modest (1GB)
The migration, step by step
- 1Pick the plan by storage, not price: Proton Free holds 1 GB and the first Easy Switch import fills up to 80% of your available Proton storage, so a Gmail mailbox larger than that needs Mail Plus (15 GB) or Unlimited (500 GB) before you start.
- 2In Proton Mail go to Settings > All settings > Import via Easy Switch, choose Google, sign in and grant the permissions; select emails, contacts and calendars, and choose all messages or the last 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. A long-used mailbox can take days.
- 3Turn on the Gmail connection (or the legacy Gmail forwarding) so new Gmail inbox mail arrives in Proton during the overlap; Free accounts can connect one Gmail address, paid plans up to three.
- 4Overlap for 1-3 months (estimate): change the address on bank, utility, government, shopping and social accounts one at a time, note which senders still reach Gmail, and download a full Google Takeout archive as a backup.
- 5Custom-domain cutover (paid plans only): add the domain in Proton and create every address first, then at your DNS host add Proton's verification TXT, both MX records, a single SPF record, all three DKIM CNAMEs and a DMARC record, and delete the old Google MX records.
- 6Keep the Gmail account rather than deleting it while mail still arrives there; Google may delete an account that has been inactive for two years, so sign in to Google directly from time to time, and delete only after a final Takeout export.
The gotcha
Proton's troubleshooting page states that a Gmail connection only fetches messages that arrive in your Gmail inbox. Gmail filters that skip the inbox - archive on arrival, or file straight under a label - mean those messages are never forwarded to Proton, and you will miss them during the overlap. Review Gmail > Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses before relying on the connection. Easy Switch also does not import messages labelled spam or trash, and the initial import uses up to 80% of your Proton storage and favours recent mail, so on Free (1 GB) a large mailbox imports only partly. If Google later revokes access, Proton emails you and forwarding stops until you reconnect.
When to stay on Gmail
Stay with Gmail if your mailbox is well over 15 GB and you do not want Proton Unlimited at $119.88/year, if you rely on Google Workspace tools around the mail - shared drives, Meet, admin controls for a team - or if apps and devices reach your mail through Google sign-in. Proton offers IMAP/SMTP access for desktop mail clients only on paid plans, per its pricing table, and Gmail's free 15 GB is fifteen times Proton Free's 1 GB.
Going ahead? Start with Proton MailaffiliateMore Layer 5 migrations
Figures verified 2026-07-14 against vendor pricing pages. Prices change and migrations differ by estate — treat the cost delta as a starting model, not a quote. Rankings and recommendations here are merit-only; affiliate income never changes a verdict. See our methodology.