Because the paying users subsidize the free product, they pay the free lunch. Meanwhile google, like most big platforms, is (almost, see comment) entirely without payment, instead subsidized by ads (and of course the sold data); with gmail you’re not paying with money, but with your attention (and your data).

subsidized freemium is a standard practice. it cuts into their profits maybe slightly, but turnover into paying customers is worth it.

If you want an online service set to be big enough to be in common awareness, you need users.

Free users are the cheapest advertisements possible. You already have to have the infrastructure built to have the service in the first place, and people will jump at “free”. It’s already proven that you can attract users and convert enough of them to paying customers by offering a lesser service for free to lead to profitability. Now, the model proton uses is way less profitable than Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other ad servers social network/email services, but that’s a secondary issue, and not a negative one.

My free proton account using ass is directly responsible for making 3 paying users aware it existed in the first place. And there’s a few more where people tried the service after I gave a good word when they asked about it after hearing of it in other ways. Every email I send to someone via that account is a form of advertising because non-gmail accounts that are also not isp accounts draw attention sometimes.

Now, at this point they could do fine without a free tier. If they phased it out correctly, they could probably do it without pissing enough paying people off to the extent of being an issue. But the fact that they haven’t is another point in their favor.

You guys, the paying customers? Thank you. Y’all are making sure my old, crippled ass has a good alternative to gmail without an extra expense that would be hard to afford.

We free tier users are not really free, we are still part of the product, just in a non invasive, non abusive way.

This is a great demonstration of what running a company for endless profit vs running it to provide a good service while covering costs looks like (as is the fediverse, btw).

“No such thing as a free lunch” is as much part of the capitalist indoctrination as “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” and the idea that we live in a meritocracy.

Truth is, just like with actual food, there is more than enough to go around, and when you don’t commodify everything in existence as a way to gain power and control over others, sharing is pretty easily done, natural even.

Proton has paid tiers covering their actual costs, and they aren’t out to kneel at the altar of capitalism, driving shareholder value, etc. Google literally sells you as their product, so Gmail is free that way.

Limited functions on free tier, and like me, after a year, I joined the paid tier

They power their servers with starving hamsters.

Most software is built on free samples. Games, for example, very often have free demos…still…after decades. Free demos sold me on many games over the years. And one day, I’ll pay for Proton too.