Proton launches Microsoft Office competitor bundle, with a focus on privacy

Proton has launched many privacy-focused products over the past decade or so, including a VPN, an AI assistant, Sheets, an authenticator app, Drive storage, and more. The firm is a direct competitor to Microsoft and Google in many areas, so it makes sense that it is now launching a competitor bundle combining all of its office services.

Proton notes that it has millions of customers all over the globe, and recently, it has noticed that many of its business clients are opting to purchase its entire suite of software rather than individual services. To meet the needs of this market, it has launched Proton Workspace so that organizations can "finally break free from Big Tech dependency".

Proton Workspace comes in two flavors:

• Workspace Standard - Annual price: $12.99 / €12.99 | Monthly price: $14.99 / €14.99
  • Includes Proton Mail, Calendar (now with appointment scheduling), Drive, Docs and Sheets, Meet, VPN, and Pass.
• Workspace Premium - Annual price: $19.99 / €19.99 | Monthly price: $24.99 / €24.99
  • Includes all Workspace Standard features plus expanded storage, email data retention policies, higher participant limits per Meet call, and Lumo, its privacy‑first AI assistant.

Meanwhile, existing Business Suite customers will automatically be upgraded to Workspace Standard without being charged extra. They will also get access to Proton Meet as mentioned above, which is a direct challenger to Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

Proton has highlighted several advantages of switching to its office suite, such as privacy and encryption by default, advanced security, open-source nature of underlying code, protection from U.S. surveillance, the presence of compliance certifications, protection from your data being used for AI model training, and better value for money.

It has also explicitly called out Microsoft and Google, noting that their products come from companies that "harvest user data as their business model", whereas Proton Workspace is privacy-first and has always-in E2E encryption enabled by default. In the current geopolitical climate, Proton believes that it is the right time to switch to Workspace, emphasizing that your rights with regards to the use of its software are protected by the Proton Foundation, a Switzerland-based non-profit entity.