According to Computerworld, Swiss software vendor Proton has expanded its privacy-focused suite with a new end-to-end encrypted spreadsheet app called Proton Sheets, unveiled on Wednesday. The company, best known for its encrypted email service, launched its cloud storage platform Proton Drive in 2022 and a collaborative document editor last year. Proton described the new app as an easy-to-use tool that lets businesses collaborate without worrying about data collection or confidential information being used for AI training. The move directly positions Sheets as an alternative for businesses concerned that data in Excel and Google Docs could be used to train AI models. This continues Proton’s multi-year push beyond email into a wider range of secure, cloud-based productivity tools.
Privacy as the product
Here’s the thing: Proton isn’t just adding features. It’s building a fortress. Every new app—Drive, Docs, and now Sheets—is another brick in a walled garden where privacy is the core product, not an afterthought. And in 2024, with AI data-scraping concerns at a fever pitch, that message is hitting different. It’s a brilliant, almost obvious play. While Google and Microsoft are practically shouting from the rooftops about their AI capabilities, Proton is whispering, “Yeah, but what’s your data feeding?” It’s a powerful counter-narrative for a specific, and likely growing, segment of users.
The suite strategy
This isn’t a one-off. Look at the trajectory. Email (2014), then VPN (2017), then Drive (2022), then Docs (2023), and now Sheets (2024). Proton is methodically assembling a full-stack, encrypted alternative to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. The goal is clear: become the one-stop shop for organizations and individuals for whom “don’t be evil” isn’t a strong enough privacy guarantee. Can they compete on pure features and ecosystem smoothness with the giants? Probably not anytime soon. But that’s not the point. They’re competing on a single, uncompromising principle: your data is yours. For some businesses, that’s worth a few missing Excel macros.
The AI training wild card
Proton’s framing around AI training is particularly sharp. It taps directly into a vague but widespread anxiety. Do we really know how Microsoft or Google might use the data we put into their productivity apps to improve Copilot or Gemini? The terms of service are murky, and trust is low. Proton is basically offering a contract: pay us, and we *physically cannot* look at your data, let alone train an AI on it. That’s a compelling value proposition in sectors like law, healthcare, or journalism. It turns a potential weakness—being a smaller, less integrated suite—into its greatest strength.
The road ahead
So what’s next? The playbook is set. I’d expect an encrypted slides/presentations app to round out the core office suite, maybe by late 2025. The bigger challenge will be scaling the collaboration features without compromising the security model. End-to-end encryption is tricky for real-time, multi-user editing. Proton seems to be cracking it, but can it do so as seamlessly as Google Docs? That’s the usability hurdle. Still, their path is clear. They don’t need to beat Microsoft or Google. They just need to be the undeniable choice for the privacy-conscious. And with every new headline about AI data usage, that audience gets a little bigger.
