Morse vs Lumo: one message traced through Proton's AI and through Morse
The Morse teamPublished Facts checked 6 min read
In Morse vs Lumo, both keep your chats out of ad and training pipelines (Proton), and the difference is which machine reads your prompt and who checks it. As of November 5, 2026, every Lumo message is decrypted on a Lumo GPU server, and Proton's security post describes no outside check of it (Proton), while a Morse E2EE chat is decrypted only in an enclave your own browser has checked first. Choose Lumo for Swiss law, open-source apps, and history synced across your devices; choose Morse for a server you verify yourself; GPT, Claude, and Gemini without your identity; and history kept only in your browser.
We read Proton's Lumo page, Lumo pricing, the Lumo privacy help article, the getting-started, Projects, and Memory help articles, the Lumo privacy policy (last modified September 17, 2026), the Lumo terms (last modified August 19, 2026), the Lumo security model post, the Lumo launch and Lumo 2.0 posts, Proton's Lumo vs ChatGPT page, its business page, and its open-source page, all on November 5, 2026. We ran no tests. Proton deserves credit here. Its security post walks through each step of a Lumo request, names the step where its encryption stops, and says it would rather not call Lumo end-to-end encrypted (Proton). Our Lumo AI review covers Lumo on its own.
Morse vs Lumo at a glance
As of November 5, 2026. Every Lumo cell links to a Proton page.
| Morse | Proton Lumo | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the prompt is read, and who checks | E2EE: only in an enclave your browser verified first. Anonymous: at GPT, Claude, or Gemini, without your identity. Private: at hosts with zero data retention agreements | On a Lumo GPU server Proton controls, with no outside check (Proton); step by step in the table below |
| A Free account's history | In your browser, encrypted, until you delete it | Chats are "saved for 7 days only" (Proton) |
| Chats that leave no history | Temporary chats in memory only; guest chats never saved | Ghost mode (Proton) |
| Memory across chats | On Pro | On free and paid plans, zero-access encrypted (Proton) |
| Sign-in | A code emailed to you, or Google | A Proton Account, or limited guest use without one (Proton) |
| Ads | None on any plan | "Lumo never shows ads" (Proton) |
| Minimum age | 18 | 13, with a parent's consent for minors (Proton) |
| Apps | Web app | iOS, Android, and web (Proton) |
What happens to one message in Lumo and in Morse?
Proton's security post, by Marc Dupont and published August 4, 2025, lays out the path of a Lumo request in enough detail to set it beside Morse step by step (Proton). The Morse column is an E2EE chat.
| Step | Proton Lumo | Morse, E2EE chat |
|---|---|---|
| What your device checks first | Nothing about the server's software; it fetches the key the model server publishes, "a public, static PGP key for all clients" | The enclave's hardware attestation, compared with the versions pinned in the Morse app |
| What fails the check | No failure case is described for the server's software | A mismatch, such as an OS image hash that differs from the pinned one |
| Who else sees the check | No check runs, so no one | To check an attestation, the browser may fetch certificate data from an attestation service, which may see your IP address but not your messages or account |
| Where the company's network begins | TLS ends at Proton, and Proton notes that TLS covers all of a device's traffic to Proton, not only Lumo | Morse's servers relay ciphertext they can't read |
| Inside the company | "Load balancing, Lumo backend application server, message queues," which Proton says "merely forward opaque payloads to the LLM server" | No Morse system reads the message; the enclaves are run by third-party providers, not by Morse |
| How the message is sealed | With the request key, plus a Request ID checked with AEAD so changes are caught | Encrypted on your device so only that enclave can read it |
| The reply's path | Encrypted on the model server, then back through the same internal systems and over TLS | Re-encrypted for you and decrypted only in your browser |
| What you can show afterward | Proton's description of its servers | A lock on each reply listing every check that passed, and a full report you can download |
Morse's E2EE guarantee rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed, and the lock on each reply shows you that the check ran.
Can Proton read your Lumo chats?
Its model server reads each message you send, even though the July 23, 2025 launch post says your saved chats are kept "with end-to-end encryption in your history" (Proton). Our Lumo AI review explains where that encryption stops.
Is Lumo hosted in Switzerland?
Not necessarily. Proton's launch post said Proton "is moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland" over proposed Swiss surveillance rules, with Lumo the first product to move (Proton), and the Lumo 2.0 post of June 30, 2026 speaks only of "fully European infrastructure" (Proton). Swiss law, Proton's processors, and who controls Lumo's data are in our Lumo AI review.
Does Lumo's Ghost mode delete your chat?
Proton's launch post says it does, making "your current chat disappear forever as soon as you close it" (Proton), though its Lumo vs ChatGPT page describes Ghost mode only as "temporarily cutting its access to chat history" (Proton). A Morse temporary chat is kept in memory only, and a guest chat from the home page lives in the tab's memory and is never saved.
Which models do you get?
Lumo runs open models only, on servers Proton controls (Proton), and our Lumo AI review lists them.
Morse has over 30 models, open and closed. GPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok sit next to DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, and Free includes GPT-6 Luna, Claude Haiku 5.5, and GLM 5.3 Flash. Studio makes images, Characters runs roleplay and companion chats, and paid plans add unfiltered models for dark fiction and straight medical and legal answers.
Is Lumo Plus cheaper than Morse Pro?
Yes, on price alone. As of November 5, 2026, Lumo Plus is $9.99 a month "billed at $119.88 every 12 months," with $12.99 shown struck through and a 30-day money-back guarantee (Proton). Morse Pro is $19 a month, or $17 billed yearly, and Max is $49, or $44 billed yearly.
The two plans buy different things. Plus adds more Max-model use, longer history, and unlimited Projects (Proton). Morse Pro adds E2EE chats, unlimited Pro models (such as Claude Sonnet 5.5, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, and Grok 4.7), unfiltered models, memory across chats, deep research in Anonymous mode, and 250 credits a month for frontier models. Morse Free gives you 15 messages a day with no card, a number Proton doesn't publish for Lumo Free (Proton).
Where Lumo is better
- Swiss law and cash payments. Lumo is run by Proton AG under Swiss law, and Proton accepts cash and Bitcoin (Proton).
- Open-source apps. Proton's open-source page links the Lumo web, iOS, and Android code (Proton). The server code isn't among them.
- One history on every device. Lumo syncs your encrypted history to Proton, with apps for iOS, Android, and the web (Proton). Morse is a web app, and its history stays in the browser that made it.
- Proton Drive. Projects can link Drive files and hold up to 200 (Proton).
- Tor. Proton says you can reach Lumo over Tor as a guest (Proton).
How Morse swaps Proton's static key for a check your browser runs
Your Lumo app seals each request to a key Proton publishes, and a key can't tell you what software holds its private half. In a Morse E2EE chat, your browser checks the enclave's hardware attestation against the versions pinned in the app before it encrypts anything, so the prompt is read only by an enclave that has just proved what it runs, as long as the enclave hardware and attestation work as designed. Our guide to verifying an AI enclave's attestation explains what that check proves, and our privacy policy covers what Morse keeps in each mode.
Choose Lumo or Morse
- Choose Lumo if the points under "Where Lumo is better" outweigh the server check, or a cheaper yearly plan matters more than closed models.
- Choose Morse if you want your own browser to verify the machine that reads your prompt before anything leaves it; GPT, Claude, and Gemini without your account attached; Characters, Studio, and unfiltered models in the same place; and a history kept only in your browser.
For six other options, see our Lumo alternatives, and for Lumo beside OpenAI, Lumo vs ChatGPT. To try Morse, send a message from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with 15 messages a day and no card.
Morse publishes this comparison. We've tried to keep it fair; if something's wrong or out of date, email hello@trymorse.ai.
Lumo is a trademark of Proton AG. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by Proton AG.
Common questions
Do Lumo and Morse run any of the same models?
Yes, GLM. As of November 5, 2026, Proton lists GLM 5.3 among Lumo's models, and Morse runs GLM models in Private and E2EE chats, with GLM 5.3 Flash on the Free plan. In a Morse E2EE chat, the GLM model runs in an enclave your browser checks first.
Is Lumo for teenagers?
Lumo's terms, last modified August 19, 2026, say its services are for people "at least 13 years of age," and only with "parental or legal guardian consent" for minors. Morse is for adults only, and every user confirms they're 18 or older.
Does Lumo's Memory work like a server-side profile?
On Morse, memory across chats comes with Pro, and Morse doesn't train AI on anything it holds. Lumo offers Memory on its free plan too, encrypted so Proton says it can't read it.
Which one has less to give a court?
Proton says it discloses data only when a binding request from the authorities requires it, and a synced copy of your Lumo history sits on its servers, encrypted so Proton says it can't open it. Morse doesn't store chats on its servers, so it usually has very little to give authorities. This isn't legal advice.