Paid Services Offer a Safer Online Experience

Sydney Butler, a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder, suggests that paying for certain services can provide a more private online experience. In his latest article on How-To Geek, he highlights five paid services that offer enhanced privacy features.

The first service mentioned is Kagi Search, a paid search engine that treats users as customers rather than products. For $5, users get 300 searches, and for $10, they can enjoy unlimited searches without any advertising or account tracking. Kagi anonymizes user searches when querying other search engines, providing an added layer of protection.

Another service mentioned is Proton Mail Plus, which offers more features than the free version. For €4.99/month (approximately $5.69 USD), users can have 10 email addresses, one custom email domain, and email client support. This provides a more private alternative to Google's email services.

Ente Photos is also highlighted as a Google Photos alternative that doesn't require self-hosting. The free account comes with 10GB of storage, including core privacy features like zero-knowledge AI and encrypted photo backups. Paid users can enjoy more storage space, a family plan feature, and human customer support.

CryptPad is another private alternative to Google Docs and Sheets, offering end-to-end encryption and collaboration features. The free tier provides one gigabyte of storage, while paid tiers offer more storage, drives for multiple users, and priority support.