AOL Mail → Proton Mail

AOL Mail changed hands in early 2026, when Bending Spoons completed its roughly $1.5 billion acquisition of AOL. The reason longtime users are reconsidering is the new owner’s track record: the layoffs and price increases at Evernote after Bending Spoons’ 2023 takeover are the clearest example of the pattern, and AOL’s inbox was already ad-supported and a natural candidate for deeper, AI-driven ad targeting. Proton Mail is the privacy-first counterweight — end-to-end encrypted, no ad profiling, and run by a Swiss company under Swiss privacy law.

For everyday mail, Proton covers what you use AOL for: polished web, iOS and Android apps, folders and labels, filters, a calendar, and custom-domain support on paid tiers. Messages between Proton users are end-to-end encrypted automatically, while mail to the outside world still sends and receives normally. The apps are open source and have been independently audited, so the privacy claims are checkable rather than marketing.

Be clear-eyed that this is a lateral move on price, not a saving — AOL Mail is free, and Proton’s free tier is limited to 1 GB and a single address, with Plus around $52 a year for more room and features. Because your mailbox is encrypted, using it in a desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird requires Proton Bridge, a paid feature, and you will be retiring a decades-old @aol.com address that plenty of contacts still have on file.

Plan an afternoon. Proton’s Easy Switch tool imports your existing AOL mail, contacts and calendar over IMAP, so your history comes with you rather than being left behind. Set up forwarding from AOL for a transition period, update the logins and key contacts that matter most to your new address, and keep the AOL account alive but idle until you are confident nothing important still routes through it.