# Setting up Discourse with ProtonMail account
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** email
**Created:** [September 30, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092 "2017-09-30T13:16:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Becky](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Becky)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/1 "2017-09-30T13:16:35Z")
Hello, I’m trying to setup Discourse with a ProtonMail admin email address. Apparently ProtonMail doesn’t support SMTP so I wondered if there’s a workaround.
Has anyone had experience with this?
It’s for this step:
```
Hostname for your Discourse? [discourse.example.com]:
Email address for admin account? [me@example.com]:
SMTP server address? [smtp.example.com]:
SMTP user name? [postmaster@discourse.example.com]:
SMTP port [587]:
SMTP password? []:
```
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/2 "2017-09-30T15:23:26Z")
> [@Becky](#):
>
> Apparently ProtonMail doesn’t support SMTP so I wondered if there’s a workaround.
Sure! Just develop a plugin to support proton mail.
It would be easier to use one of the recommended email services, though.
---
### Author:  [@djcyry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/djcyry)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/3 "2017-09-30T16:08:42Z")
Why not **mailgun** for example ?
---
### Author:  [@wiliamjoaquim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wiliamjoaquim)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/4 "2017-09-30T16:12:49Z")
I use [elastic](https://elasticemail.com) mail, it has very attractive free plans
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### Author:  [@Becky](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Becky)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/5 "2017-09-30T17:01:09Z")
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m not currently able to develop a plugin (or pay to have one developed) so I’ll keep that in mind for future, thanks Jay.
I’d prefer to use ProtonMail because of the level of privacy it offers - which is important to my clients.
Would it be possible to use an admin email that clients wouldn’t see? I’m presuming the automated emails would always come from the admin email…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/6 "2017-10-01T02:32:24Z")
If you send an email with an address people can’t see, it will be classified as spam.
It doesn’t have to be the same as your hostname, but it’ll need to be a valid domain with spf and dkim records.
Perhaps it would help if you said more about your privacy needs.
---
### Author:  [@maiki](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maiki)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/7 "2017-10-01T07:12:44Z")
From [What is a “Sending Limit”?](https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/sending-limit/):
> ProtonMail is not designed for bulk/spam emailing.
>
> Keep your sending below (please note, these limits are suggestions. Your user reputation (as outlined above) is variable and will determine your unique sending limits):
>
> Free Plan: 50 messages\*/hour and 150 messages\*/day
> Plus Plan: 300 messages\*/hour and 1000 messages\*/day
> Visionary Plan: User’s discretion
>
> ProtonMail is currently not designed for high volume sending such as marketing blasts and transactional emails.
So even if you could use ProtonMail’s non-existent API, your “clients” would quickly break your send limit.
Email isn’t the only leaky pipe you need to patch if you are trying to create an anonymous Discourse experience. But you’ve saved some time, as that is not currently possible. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@joe232](https://meta.discourse.org/u/joe232)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/8 "2018-11-28T02:22:34Z")
> [@wiliamjoaquim](#):
>
> I use [elastic](https://elasticemail.com) mail, it has very attractive free plans
How does it work? I setted up my Tutanota account. Now what do I do to get emails from discourse for the registration?
---
### Author:  [@notriddle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/notriddle)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setting-up-discourse-with-protonmail-account/71092/9 "2018-11-29T00:21:54Z")
ProtonMail only keeps the contents of your email private. They can still see the routing information (since, after all, they still have to route it).
You can do just as well by setting Discourse to “private email” mode (found in Admin → Settings → Email), which basically strips emails down to a “something happened: go to `https://your-forum.example` to find out what” notification). Same deal as ProtonMail would give you, where they can’t see the contents of your posts, but it works with every email provider.