PrivacyTools.io
Browser - Mailvelope logo

Browser - Mailvelope

Official website mailvelope.com
Screenshot of the Browser - Mailvelope website

Bring email encryption straight into your Browser. We recommend using Firefox for this. It can be used to encrypt and sign electronic messages, including attached files, without the use of a separate, native email client (like Thunderbird) using the OpenPGP standard. List of supported email providers.

Our take

Mailvelope bolts OpenPGP onto webmail like Gmail or Outlook straight in the browser, which is its whole appeal and its whole limitation. It only protects message contents, not metadata, and both sides need keys set up, so it is fiddly and only as private as the people you write to. Use it when you are stuck on a mainstream webmail account and need genuine end-to-end encryption for specific messages; do not mistake it for switching to a private provider.

GitHub at a glance
mailvelope/mailvelope
Stars
1,829
+ 5 this week
Last commit
7d ago
healthy
License
AGPL-3.0
Latest release
v6.3.0
8d ago
Stars, last 10d

Listed in

Browser - Mailvelope alternatives

Browser - Mailvelope license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0
Strong copyleft · network

Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.

Permits

  • Commercial use
  • Modification
  • Distribution
  • Patent use
  • Private use

Requires

  • Disclose source
  • Network use is distribution
  • Same license
  • State changes
  • License and copyright notice

Does not provide

  • Liability cover
  • Warranty

Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.

Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.