Switch from StartMail to Proton Mail: step by step

How to move your mail, contacts and address from StartMail to Proton Mail without losing anything. Most moves take an evening to set up, then a few weeks of forwarding.

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1. Before you start

   • Check where your address lives. If it ends in @startmail.com, it belongs to StartMail and stays there: you'll forward your mail and tell people your new address. If it's on your own domain, like you@yourname.co.uk, it comes with you: you'll change a few DNS settings.
   • Check the space you need. See how much mail you have in StartMail, and compare it with Proton Mail's plans (the cheapest is Mail Plus, $3.99 a month, yearly ($4.99 monthly), with 15 GB).
   • Read the small print. Proton Mail's page covers exporting, cancelling and refunds under "Before you sign up".

2. Open your Proton Mail account

   Sign up on Proton Mail's website (Free plan; 30-day refund on paid plans), and turn on two-step sign-in straight away. You'll find the link on Proton Mail's page: Proton Mail.

3. Bring your mail across

   Use Proton Mail's importer. Proton's Easy Switch copies mail in from any provider that allows IMAP. Sign in at mail.proton.me, open Settings, then Import via Easy Switch. Proton Mail's guide ↗

   Your old mail stays where it is while it's copied, so nothing is lost if you need to start again.

4. Move your contacts and calendar

   Export your contacts as a .vcf file and each calendar as an .ics file from StartMail, then import them into Proton Mail. Most providers have both options in their contacts and calendar settings.

5. Keep your @startmail.com address working

   1. Forward new mail. Look in StartMail's settings for automatic forwarding, and add your new address.
   2. Tell people. Send your new address to the people who matter, and add it to your email signature.
   3. Update your sign-ins. Change the email address on your bank, shopping, social and work accounts. A password manager's list of saved sign-ins is the quickest checklist.
   4. Keep the old account open for a while. Mail will keep arriving there for months. Sign in now and then so it isn't closed for not being used.

6. If you use your own domain

   Your address moves with you. Do this after your mail has been copied:

   1. Add your domain in Proton Mail's settings, and create the same addresses there.
   2. A day before, lower the TTL on your domain's MX records (to 300 seconds, say), so the change takes effect quickly.
   3. Replace the MX records with Proton Mail's, and swap StartMail's entry in your SPF record for Proton Mail's.
   4. Add Proton Mail's DKIM record, and keep your DMARC record.
   5. Check the result with a free DNS checker before you rely on it.

   Not sure what these mean? See my email glossary.

7. Check everything arrived

   • Compare the number of emails in each folder on both sides.
   • Send a test email to your new address from another account, and reply to it.
   • Check that mail forwarded from StartMail is arriving, and isn't going to spam.

8. Close StartMail, when you're ready

   Wait at least a month, until nothing new arrives there. On a free account you can leave it open with forwarding on instead. Before you close a paid account, download a last copy of your mail.

   • Cancelling: You can end your account at any time, without giving a reason.
   • Refunds: No refund for the rest of the period you've paid for. Signing up also waives the EU 14-day cooling-off period.
   • Renewal: If you don't renew, a six-month quarantine period starts, with a 30-day grace period at the beginning.

   From StartMail's page: StartMail.

I checked the providers' help pages on 24 October 2026. Menus move, so if a step doesn't match what you see, tell me and I'll update it.

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