Thunderbird Pro enters testing phase with $9 introductory tariff

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The Thunderbird developers have moved their subscription service, Thunderbird Pro, into the internal testing phase. The three included services, Thundermail (email hosting), Send (encrypted file sharing), and Appointment (scheduling), are being tested in production and are initially used internally before selected community members gain access.

Thunderbird Pro positions itself as an open-source alternative to commercial providers, promising never to sell user data or display advertisements. The project extends the existing email client with cloud features that have previously been covered by separate services like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. The new Thunderbird Pro website is already online and serves as a central point for registration and account management.

Thundermail with data hosting in Germany

The Thundermail email service is in the production testing phase. The developers have revised the dashboard, through which users will be able to manage custom domains and aliases in the future. A new Thunderbird Pro add-on integrates all three services directly into the desktop client and automatically adds Thundermail accounts.

Especially relevant for European users: the infrastructure has been migrated from American data centers to Germany and the EU. Additionally, the team is optimizing email delivery to prevent Thundermail messages from landing in spam folders—a typical challenge with new email services.

Send with completed security audit

The Send file-sharing service relies on end-to-end encryption and has been migrated from a standalone add-on to the central Thunderbird Pro add-on. An external security audit is complete, and the report is expected to be published after all identified issues are resolved. The developers have also improved upload and download speeds, mobile device performance, and implemented mechanisms for detecting illegal uploads.

The appointment scheduling tool has received a comprehensive design update, which all Thunderbird Pro services are also slated to receive. Zoom and CalDAV integration has been improved, and numerous bugs have been fixed. The interface will be further revised before the early bird launch.

Early Bird Plan for $9 per month

The introductory plan, called the Early Bird Plan, costs $9 per month (paid annually) and includes all three services with 30 GB of mail storage, 300 GB for Send, 15 email addresses, and 3 custom domains. The Thunderbird developers emphasize in the announcement that email hosting, file storage, and the underlying infrastructure incur ongoing costs that they must finance without selling data or displaying ads. The price supports further development and aims to ensure long-term sustainability. After the early bird phase, additional pricing tiers are planned to cater to different user groups.

The next step is a closed test with selected community members. Subsequently, users on the waiting list will gradually gain access to the early bird phase. The services are considered to be under active development during this period, and critical issues are expected to be identified through user feedback. Interested parties can register for the waiting list at tb.pro.

In parallel with the development of Thunderbird Pro, the team is also continuing to work on the email client itself. Thunderbird 145 with native Exchange support was recently released via the EWS API, with only email functions implemented initially.

(fo)