Proton Mail
Tally
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $3.99/mo | Free / from $29/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
| Best For | privacy-conscious-users, journalists, activists, security-professionals | startups, freelancers, no-code-builders, researchers |
| Founded | 2014 | 2020 |
| Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Zero Access Architecture | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Destructing Emails | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom Domains | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bridge For Desktop | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar | ✓ | ✗ |
| Form Builder | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✗ | ✓ |
| Payments | ✗ | ✓ |
| File Uploads | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Calculations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Proton Mail Pros
- End-to-end encryption
- No ads
- Swiss privacy laws
- Open source
✗ Proton Mail Cons
- Limited free storage
- Fewer integrations
- Search limited to metadata
✓ Tally Pros
- Unlimited forms and responses on free plan
- Document-style editor (no drag-and-drop complexity)
- Built-in payment collection via Stripe
- Conditional logic and calculations included free
✗ Tally Cons
- Less design customization than Typeform
- Pro plan needed for custom domains and file uploads
- Limited reporting and analytics built-in
The Verdict
Proton Mail is built for privacy conscious users and journalists, with a focus on encryption and zero-access-architecture. Tally targets startups and freelancers and leads with form-builder and conditional-logic.
On pricing, Proton Mail is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $3.99/mo compared to $29/mo for Tally. That $25.009999999999998/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Tally offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Proton Mail takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.