Gmail has over 1.8 billion users. That’s a lot of people who’ve handed their private correspondence to a company whose entire business model depends on knowing things about you.

To be clear about what that means in practice: Google scans the contents of your emails to build a picture of who you are your health concerns, your finances, your relationships, your politics. That data feeds the targeting engine that makes Google’s ad business work. You’re not paying for Gmail with money. You’re paying with everything you write.

Proton Mail is end-to-end encrypted by default. That means even Proton can’t read your emails the encryption happens on your device before anything leaves it. They’re a Swiss company, so they operate under some of the world’s strongest privacy laws. No ads. No data selling. The business model is subscriptions, which means their incentive is to keep you happy, not to monetise your inbox.

The practical migration is simpler than people expect. Set up your Proton address, then start routing new sign-ups through it. Don’t try to switch everything overnight that’s where people stall. Give it six weeks and you’ll find Gmail’s just sitting there holding spam and old order confirmations. At that point, you’re essentially done.