Let's put the important part first, because a Hushmail alternative is the wrong search for a lot of the people making it. Hushmail sells HIPAA-compliant email to healthcare practices, configured for compliance out of the box and with a signed Business Associate Agreement at no extra charge.
If your practice needs a BAA, stay with Hushmail. We don't sign one, so we are not an alternative for you at any price, and choosing on cost here would be choosing a compliance problem.
This is for the other reader — the one using Hushmail as general encrypted email, without a regulatory requirement behind it.
Who Hushmail Is Built For
Therapists, small clinics, dentists, behavioural health practices — businesses that handle patient information and are legally obliged to protect it. Everything about the product follows from that: TLS and OpenPGP encryption, a BAA included rather than sold as an enterprise upgrade, and secure web forms with e-signatures for intake paperwork.
Read their own comparison and it makes the point sharply. Assembling equivalent protection out of a general mail host plus third-party encryption tools runs somewhere between $38 and $119 a month for a single user. Against that, Hushmail's pricing is competitive rather than expensive.
So a Hushmail alternative isn't a cheaper mailbox. It's a different product for a different obligation.
What a Hushmail Alternative Is Priced Against
From their pricing:
| Plan | Price | Accounts | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo practitioner | $11.99/mo | 1 | $143.88 |
| Group practice | $24.99/mo | 5 | $299.88 |
| Larger group | $49.99/mo | 10 | $599.88 |
Note that the group plans bundle accounts rather than charging strictly per seat — five for $24.99 works out at $5 each, which is reasonable for what's included.
Compared with a general mail host it's expensive: $143.88 a year for one mailbox against $42 for fifty domains' worth. Compared with the alternative of building HIPAA compliance yourself, it's cheap. Which comparison applies depends entirely on whether you have the obligation.
The Part That Isn't Email
The secure web forms deserve their own mention, because they're the reason many practices stay.
Intake forms, consent paperwork and e-signatures, encrypted with the same TLS and OpenPGP as the mail, submitted straight into the practice's workflow. That's a whole second product, and no mail host in this comparison offers anything like it — certainly not us.
If you use the forms, a Hushmail alternative would mean buying a forms product separately, and the arithmetic usually stops being favourable at that point.
Where a Hushmail Alternative Changes Shape
Only relevant if you have no compliance requirement and don't use the forms. In that case:
Nothing is priced per person. Ten mailboxes cost the same as one, so $599.88 a year becomes $120 or less depending on storage.
Domains aren't rationed. Ten on the free plan, up to 1,000 on Agency, where Hushmail is priced around a single practice.
Addresses a team answers. reception@ as a shared mailbox with real membership rather than a forwarded copy.
Mailboxes you don't host, read over IMAP from the same interface. See the unified inbox.
What you'd be giving up is the BAA, the compliance configuration and the encrypted forms. That's not a small list, and for the right reader it's decisive.
The Group Plans Bundle Seats
Worth noticing in their pricing, because it runs against the pattern in the rest of this comparison: the group plans include accounts rather than charging strictly per seat. Five for $24.99 works out at $5 each, ten for $49.99 at the same rate.
For a practice that grows in ones, that means the sixth person does not trigger a step change the way it does at Zoho or Help Scout. It is a small design decision and a considerate one.
The Verdict, Whoever You Are
A healthcare practice. Stay with Hushmail. This is not a close call and no price comparison should move you. A BAA and out-of-the-box HIPAA configuration are the product.
Anyone else handling regulated data. Ask any provider for their compliance position in writing before switching, ours included. If the answer is vague, that's your answer.
Someone using it as general encrypted email. Here a Hushmail alternative makes sense. $143.88 a year for one mailbox is a lot when the compliance features aren't doing anything for you, and ordinary encryption in transit and at rest is standard everywhere now.
A team without a compliance requirement. Ten accounts at $599.88 a year against a flat plan is a wide gap, and role addresses, shared mailboxes and delivery-time filters come with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Hushmail include a BAA?
Yes, signed and at no extra charge, with the account configured for HIPAA compliance out of the box. That's the core of what you're buying.
How much does Hushmail cost?
$11.99 a month for a solo practitioner, $24.99 for a group plan with five accounts and $49.99 with ten — $143.88, $299.88 and $599.88 a year.
Is a Hushmail alternative HIPAA compliant?
Ours isn't, and we won't pretend otherwise. If you handle protected health information, that ends the comparison.
What about the secure forms?
They're a separate product in practice — intake and consent forms with e-signatures, encrypted like the mail. No mail host here replaces them, so price a forms tool in before switching.
Is Hushmail expensive?
Against a general mailbox, yes. Against assembling HIPAA-compliant mail from a host plus encryption tools at $38 to $119 a month, no. Only one of those comparisons applies to you.
Can I move my mail if I do switch?
Yes — standard IMAP means an ordinary mailbox copy reconciled against the source afterwards, see bulk migration. Encrypted messages and stored form submissions need checking separately.
What should I ask a provider before switching?
Whether they'll sign a BAA, where data is stored, and what their breach-notification commitment is — in writing. A provider that can't answer plainly isn't one to move regulated data to.
