The Best PGP Tools for Use In and Outside Email

Marco Liberale

Feb 11 2025

OpenPGP is the primary encryption standard for emails and general messages across the internet. There are many tools available to utilize it for different purposes and operating systems.

It works by providing you with a public key and a private key. You keep the private key hidden and secure, while you share the public key widely across the internet. For example, here is mine: https://keys.openpgp.org/search?q=marco%40marcoliberale.com.

The private key can:

• Decrypt information encrypted with the public key.

• Sign a message to confirm that the owner of the key actually wrote the text.

The public key can:

• Verify a signature.

• Encrypt information.

Tools

There are many tools for different operating systems that work with PGP. Here are some of the best:

GPG (GNU Privacy Guard)

Website: https://www.gnupg.org/ (Linux), https://www.gpg4win.org/ (Windows), https://gpgtools.org/ (macOS)

Price: 100% FOSS (Free and Open Source)

Convenience: 6/10

Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS

GPG is a classic tool for PGP. It has an incredible number of features and is supported by a wide range of email clients. However, manual use can be slow if you are not familiar with the command line, as it does not have a graphical user interface (GUI).

Pros:

• Supported by almost everything.

• Includes every feature that OpenPGP supports.

• Fast.

Cons:

• Command-line only, which can make it less convenient for manual use without an email client, especially for users with less experience.

Kleopatra

Website: https://apps.kde.org/kleopatra/ (Linux), included with GPG4Win

Price: 100% FOSS (Free and Open Source)

Convenience: 10/10

Platforms: Windows, Linux

Kleopatra is a GUI for GPG and is extremely well-made. It is very convenient to use and includes a "notepad" feature that allows you to quickly write text, encrypt/sign it, or paste encrypted/signed text and decrypt/verify it.

I recommend it as a companion for any form of encrypted communication outside of email.

Pros:

• Can perform almost everything that GPG from the command line can do.

• User-friendly.

• The notepad feature is very convenient.

Cons:

• Doesn't make me coffee in the morning.

OpenKeychain

Website: https://www.openkeychain.org/

Price: 100% FOSS (Free and Open Source)

Convenience: 10/10

Platforms: Android

This is what I use when I'm on the go and don't have my laptop. It’s an amazing app with features similar to Kleopatra, including the notepad. Even though it uses terms like "Encrypt/Verify" and has separate sections for encrypting/signing text/files and decrypting/verifying text/files, it is very intuitive.

You can use it to encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify your messages.

I recommend it as a companion when on the go, both for email and other forms of communication.

Pros:

• User-friendly.

• Includes a notepad.

• Nice GUI.

Cons:

• Does not clean my keyboard.