{"slug": "proton-mail-bridge", "name": "Proton Mail Bridge", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 10, "warners": 2, "score": 3.848, "rising": 3.67, "first": "2025-11-07", "latest": "2026-10-16", "why": "you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 3], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "proton.me", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://proton.me/mail/bridge", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Proton Bridge", "Proton Mail Bridge", "ProtonMail Bridge"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 801845856, "item_id": 50115366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115366", "by": "binarin", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm mostly consume proton via proton-bridge, which is running in a dedicated VM.", "excerpt": "I'm mostly consume proton via proton-bridge, which is running in a dedicated VM. Then all my IMAP clients connect to that single instance. Also, for email sending I use smtp2go free tier - primarily because I use random emails on my own domains to see who's leaking, and I don't want to set them up separately proton-side. In that setup, proton itself is kinda unnecessary - I keep that path mostly as an insurance, just", "context": "self-hoster", "use_case": "IMAP access to Proton Mail", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 801781728, "item_id": 50111358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111358", "by": "birdsongs", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Excited to set this up", "excerpt": "Yeah they have integrated end to end encryption, this made me go digging, and I found they have a bridge app that handles it. https://proton.me/support/bridge-for-linux Excited to set this up, I had assumed it wasn't a possibility.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 799343376, "item_id": 49958961, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958961", "by": "cmg", "date": "2026-10-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There's Proton Mail Bridge for paid accounts", "excerpt": "There's Proton Mail Bridge for paid accounts: https://proton.me/mail/bridge", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP/SMTP access for email clients", "switched_from": "", "story": "All I wanted was a custom domain email"}, {"id": 788188369, "item_id": 49261773, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261773", "by": "krunck", "date": "2026-08-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "excerpt": "ProtonMail. Then you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "context": "", "use_case": "local IMAP/SMTP access", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What email provider do you recommend for personal email?"}, {"id": 742888768, "item_id": 46430548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430548", "by": "cyberpunk", "date": "2025-12-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the bridge and a real mail client with proton and the search is fine.", "excerpt": "I use the bridge and a real mail client with proton and the search is fine. You can even hook the bridge into tailscale, so it works across my devices with a real mail client also (e.g phones tablets etc). The desktop client is rubbish, though, agreed.", "context": "", "use_case": "Email access in desktop client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500\u20ac/Year)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 747894432, "item_id": 46743402, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46743402", "by": "willis936", "date": "2026-01-24", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I want to emphasize just how bad bridge is.", "excerpt": "I want to emphasize just how bad bridge is. It's so bad that they nuked the issues section on the repo. They didn't lock it, they removed all record of issues. I found out when trying to click on a useful/familiar issue that was cached by a search engine. Proton says to talk to their support directly, but that is a totally different solution for a totally different problem. The fact that they deleted public history o", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP/SMTP bridge for mail", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem"}, {"id": 747755041, "item_id": 46734690, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46734690", "by": "davidee", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Notable: Proton Bridge. I get why, but it's just terrible.", "excerpt": "I've been using proton for a year after migrating from Rackspace and I'm done. Not because of this article, but I might as well pile on: 1. I use a custom domain. Turns out that there are two competing features, not-at-all documented. If you use a catch-all, like I do, AND use specific addresses for sending, the two are incompatible to some degree. Which is bonkers. Example: with a catchall I can create any address I", "context": "uses a custom domain with catch-all", "use_case": "email client bridge", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem"}]}], "who": [{"by": "binarin", "context": "self-hoster", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115366", "date": "2026-10-16"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["imap access to proton mail", "imap/smtp access for email clients", "local imap/smtp access", "local imap access", "imap/smtp bridge for mail", "email client bridge"], "compared": [{"slug": "proton", "name": "Proton", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "thunderbird", "name": "Thunderbird", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109715", "title": "What I self-host", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48375016", "title": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46729368", "title": "Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49956092", "title": "All I wanted was a custom domain email", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261634", "title": "Ask HN: What email provider do you recommend for personal email?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46427582", "title": "Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500\u20ac/Year)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 801845856, "item_id": 50115366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115366", "by": "binarin", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm mostly consume proton via proton-bridge, which is running in a dedicated VM.", "excerpt": "I'm mostly consume proton via proton-bridge, which is running in a dedicated VM. Then all my IMAP clients connect to that single instance. Also, for email sending I use smtp2go free tier - primarily because I use random emails on my own domains to see who's leaking, and I don't want to set them up separately proton-side. In that setup, proton itself is kinda unnecessary - I keep that path mostly as an insurance, just", "context": "self-hoster", "use_case": "IMAP access to Proton Mail", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 801781728, "item_id": 50111358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111358", "by": "birdsongs", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Excited to set this up", "excerpt": "Yeah they have integrated end to end encryption, this made me go digging, and I found they have a bridge app that handles it. https://proton.me/support/bridge-for-linux Excited to set this up, I had assumed it wasn't a possibility.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 799343376, "item_id": 49958961, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958961", "by": "cmg", "date": "2026-10-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There's Proton Mail Bridge for paid accounts", "excerpt": "There's Proton Mail Bridge for paid accounts: https://proton.me/mail/bridge", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP/SMTP access for email clients", "switched_from": "", "story": "All I wanted was a custom domain email"}, {"id": 788188369, "item_id": 49261773, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261773", "by": "krunck", "date": "2026-08-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "excerpt": "ProtonMail. Then you can run ProtonMail Bridge to get a local IMAP and SMTP connection to your ProtonMail account.", "context": "", "use_case": "local IMAP/SMTP access", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What email provider do you recommend for personal email?"}, {"id": 774109456, "item_id": 48381841, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48381841", "by": "teekert", "date": "2026-06-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There is a local bridge which transparently communicates between Proton\u2019s encrypted servers and offers imap locally.", "excerpt": "There is a local bridge which transparently communicates between Proton\u2019s encrypted servers and offers imap locally. Only on non-mobile OSs afaik. [0] [0] https://proton.me/mail/bridge", "context": "", "use_case": "local IMAP access", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}, {"id": 774105216, "item_id": 48381576, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48381576", "by": "GJim", "date": "2026-06-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> You can export mails, but only if you're on a paid plan. GDPR to the rescue: You have the right to data portability. All UK/EU email providers offer this (and any that don't may need a polite reminder for them to play ball). https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/right-to-data-portability/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}, {"id": 747894432, "item_id": 46743402, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46743402", "by": "willis936", "date": "2026-01-24", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I want to emphasize just how bad bridge is.", "excerpt": "I want to emphasize just how bad bridge is. It's so bad that they nuked the issues section on the repo. They didn't lock it, they removed all record of issues. I found out when trying to click on a useful/familiar issue that was cached by a search engine. Proton says to talk to their support directly, but that is a totally different solution for a totally different problem. The fact that they deleted public history o", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP/SMTP bridge for mail", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem"}, {"id": 747755041, "item_id": 46734690, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46734690", "by": "davidee", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Notable: Proton Bridge. I get why, but it's just terrible.", "excerpt": "I've been using proton for a year after migrating from Rackspace and I'm done. Not because of this article, but I might as well pile on: 1. I use a custom domain. Turns out that there are two competing features, not-at-all documented. If you use a catch-all, like I do, AND use specific addresses for sending, the two are incompatible to some degree. Which is bonkers. Example: with a catchall I can create any address I", "context": "uses a custom domain with catch-all", "use_case": "email client bridge", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem"}, {"id": 742888768, "item_id": 46430548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430548", "by": "cyberpunk", "date": "2025-12-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the bridge and a real mail client with proton and the search is fine.", "excerpt": "I use the bridge and a real mail client with proton and the search is fine. You can even hook the bridge into tailscale, so it works across my devices with a real mail client also (e.g phones tablets etc). The desktop client is rubbish, though, agreed.", "context": "", "use_case": "Email access in desktop client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500\u20ac/Year)"}, {"id": 733628289, "item_id": 45851768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45851768", "by": "stOneskull", "date": "2025-11-07", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use the proton bridge to use it in thunderbird", "excerpt": "i do about 95% of my emailing in thunderbird on my computer, and 5% in the gmail app on my phone or on the specific email's website. all imap so they're basically synced already. i'm wondering if your marco app will be useful for my use case, and what the benefits would be. i think i would lose some benefits such as thunderbird extensions. also, to use proton mail on my phone i think i need the protonmail app. i use ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail AI gets more intrusive"}]}