Both auto-forwarding and auto-reply are paid features, which makes cancelling & switching much more difficult. Gmail is a breeze comparatively. I highly recommend against using their addresses (e.g. protonmail.com, proton.me, pm.me)
Email forwarding is available for everyone with a paid Proton Mail plan.
(source)
I think OP is overblowing things, and is especially misguided in recommending gmail, but at the same time, they do have a valid point and I think you’re somewhat misrepresenting what they said.
For one, they specifically said that the proton domain email addresses are problematic (
protonmail.com,pm.me), and weren’t talking about custom domains that sit in front of Proton mail.For two, their point is valid. Auto-forwarding being paid, does create vendor lock-in and make it hard to switch away from Protonmail if you use the OOTB addresses. It’s something worth considering.
As you said, the recommendation should be to use a custom domain that sits in front of Protonmail rather than switching to Gmail, but paid auto-forwarding is a valid criticism.
I don’t think the OP is saying to switch to gmail. They’re saying if you think switching from gmail is hard, just wait until you have to pay to forward all of your email if you need to move away from Proton mail if they end up being as bad as Google. They’re saying use something else that’s neither gmail nor proton mail.
I actually did switch from GMail so… I feel like I’m a relatively good place to talk about precisely this problem.
It also was very easy because I used my own domain back then. I switched from GMail to Proton and nobody noticed. I didn’t have to change 1 single account or warn 1 single person.
OP is not talking about switch email providers in general but rather a very specific case which is indeed problematic but is not IMHO related to lock-in.
Not lock-in in the traditional sense where you’re locked to a particular technology, but effectively lock-in by making a commonly used feature for migration not available for free. This wasn’t discussing uncommon cases like having your own domain in front of a free email service since that’s not then fully free.
The most common use of free email services is to use the service’s domain and if you need to switch, then needing to change your email at tons of different places. I am still stuck on gmail for a couple of accounts because changing the email with those services means creating an entirely new account and thus losing all history, etc. Example is the Shop app. Without forwarding I’d end up having to keep the gmail app on my phone to get notification of new emails which is problematic since those apps come with additional tracking services which is the whole reason for migrating from gmail.
The details might be technically correct but then the title is rage bait.