Aster Mail vs Neir

Aster Mail is an open-source email service with a free plan and paid tiers. It supports web, desktop, and Android, with an iOS beta on TestFlight; native desktop apps are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Aster Bridge lets desktop mail apps connect over IMAP and SMTP. Mail between Aster accounts is automatically end-to-end encrypted and uses hybrid post-quantum encryption. The free plan costs nothing and includes 10 GB of encrypted storage, five aliases, one custom domain, two mail rules, attachments up to 25 MB per message, and Bridge access; no trial or credit card is required. Aster says its email is hosted in Germany under EU privacy law and that it does not use ads, inbox scanning, or AI on the inbox. QuickSwitch imports mail from Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Proton, and other IMAP providers. MBOX mailbox export is free on every plan. Paid plans start at $2.42 a month, billed annually, with the final amount determined at checkout. Aster Mail was founded in 2026 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, United States.

Neir is an email service with webmail, a desktop app, support for standard mail clients, Tor access, and a no-JavaScript webmail option. It supports IMAP, POP3, and SMTP clients including Thunderbird, Apple Mail, and Outlook, and is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web. Webmail message-body copies and attachments are encrypted to the account’s OpenPGP key, but ordinary email is not end-to-end encrypted by Neir: incoming mail arrives over SMTP in the open, and the mail system processes plaintext and retains protocol-compatible mailbox copies. The open-source desktop app, licensed under AGPL-3.0, includes native notifications, automatic locking, and a local cache sealed with a key from the system vault. The Free plan costs nothing and includes a 10 MB mailbox and 10 random aliases; sending to addresses outside Neir requires Pro. Pro costs $4.99 a month and includes a 5 GB mailbox, unlimited aliases, and external sending. Signup does not require a legal name, phone number, recovery email, birth date, or ID. Neir is based in Sweden.