Open source - why it matters

Open source is a fundamental requirement to achieve privacy and security within any online service. Only when the entire client code is freely accessible, tech-savvy users can verify that the code is well written, which reduces the risk of any unknown security bug. This also enables users to verify that the encryption is, in fact, taking place end-to-end, making sure that there is no encryption backdoor hidden anywhere.

Open source allows third-party validation

Because of this, encrypted email or messaging services can only prove that they are truly end-to-end encrypted by publishing the client code as open source. So far, Tutanota has published its web client, its Android and iOS apps and its desktop clients as open source. The Android app is completely Google-free, which enables us to publish it on F-Droid as well.

In fact, the entire client development - email, calendar, Secure Connect - is taking place on GitHub so that users can always see what we are currently working on. We also publish our roadmap on GitHub and link it on our website so that everyone can see what's coming next.

Will there ever be an open source Tutanota server?

Yes, we hope so. Right now the Tutanota server consists of a bunch of rather complex distributed systems to enable high scalability. This cluster must be operated by highly qualified system administrators. In its current state, the Tutanota server would not be useful for private users as they still wouldn't be able to run such a server set-up locally.

For this reason, we or the community might develop a small server, suitable for private users, that we will publish as open source. Once we have achieved this, you can build your own Tutanota server locally and store your entire encrypted mailbox locally as well.

However, building an additional server is not on our priority list as we plan to implement a lot of other important features first.

Special offer - valid every day

To celebrate our passion for open source, we offer Tutanota Premium for as little as €1 per month - today, tomorrow, and any other day.

At Tutanota we believe that secure emails should be affordable for everyone so we are keeping prices as low as possible.

Thank you for supporting our open source project by upgrading to Premium now! :)

Here's more information on how Tutanota achieves to offer open source emails.