Tuta is an open-source, end-to-end encrypted email, calendar and contacts service for individuals and teams who need private communication to work across every device they own.
What it is
Tuta is the service behind Tuta Mail, a secure email offering built around end-to-end encryption for messages, contacts and calendar entries. The repository publishes the client code: a web client, an iOS application distributed through the App Store, and a desktop client. The stack is TypeScript and JavaScript, with Mithril powering the interface, and the code is released under the GPL-3.0 licence. The project carries the topics tutanota, email, encryption, privacy and security, which describe both its heritage name and its purpose.
The concrete problem it solves is the ordinary mail model, where a provider holds readable copies of every message a user sends or receives. Tuta encrypts mail, contacts and calendar data so that communication stays private regardless of which device is used, and it does so without requiring the person on the other end to run the same software. It therefore replaces the conventional combination of a webmail or desktop mail client and a provider that stores plaintext, rather than extending those tools with an encryption layer bolted on afterwards.
Key capabilities
- End-to-end encryption applied to email, calendar entries and contacts, not to mail alone.
- Three client surfaces built from one codebase: a web client, an iOS app distributed through the App Store, and a desktop client.
- TypeScript implementation with Mithril used for the front end.
- Build instructions published as
doc/BUILDING.md, development guidance in doc/HACKING.md, and translation workflow in doc/TRANSLATING.md.
- GPL-3.0 licensing across the published source.
- Public roadmap maintained at
tuta.com/roadmap/, with the community forum at reddit.com/r/tutanota used for bug reports and feature requests.
- Issue and feature tracking hosted at
github.com/tutao/tutanota/issues.
Who uses it and how
- Individuals who want encrypted mail, calendar and contacts across phone, desktop and browser without managing encryption keys themselves.
- Privacy-conscious organisations that need staff communication to remain confidential and that value an auditable, GPL-3.0 client.
- Translators, who work through the documented process in
doc/TRANSLATING.md to extend language coverage.
- Developers and packagers who compile the clients from source following
doc/BUILDING.md.
- Contributors and users filing bugs and feature requests, routed through the Reddit forum or support mail rather than the issue tracker alone.
Getting started
Access runs through the hosted service at tuta.com, which offers the web client alongside the iOS App Store app and the desktop client. Building from source follows the steps in doc/BUILDING.md, with development guidance in doc/HACKING.md.
How it compares
The provided facts name no competing products, so Tuta stands alone in this registry on the axes of licensing and encryption model. Readers looking for direct feature-by-feature comparisons will not find them documented in this entry.
When to use it — and when not to
Choose Tuta when private mail, calendar and contacts matter more than interoperability with traditional plaintext tooling. Be aware that the README is a thin entry point, pointing outward to separate documents for building, hacking and translating rather than explaining setup in place, and the repository carries around one thousand open issues. The contribution policy explicitly rejects issues and bug reports produced with large language model assistance, which narrows how some contributors can participate, and the README describes no self-hosting path, so anyone expecting to operate the whole stack independently should confirm that before committing.
