By Zak Doffman
Publication Date: 2026-04-28 18:18:00
Your Gmail account now has a value.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
If you’re not paying for the product — you are the product. Nothing in life is truly free, and that includes your Google and Gmail accounts. Now, a new report puts a dollar value on you, revealing exactly what your account is worth and how little privacy there is when you spend your time online.
Here’s the “price of ‘free’ Gmail,” Proton told me, directing me to its new report on “what advertisers pay” to reach users. “Google has a price for you,” says the company behind Gmail competitor Proton Mail. “We found it.”
Proton analyzed “over 54,000 demographic profiles using 2025 ad auction data to estimate what advertisers pay to reach different types of Americans.” The price points for different users is stark. While the average user “generates about $1,605 a year in advertising value,” if you’re 35 to 44 years…