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Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#61

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

actuator wrote: post #18

Google Apps version of Gmail or the Microsoft equivalent? You can use your own domain and I don't think data there is used for ads. I am really scared to put my trust in a small provider from a data security and availability view. Security is really really hard and emails are a critical part of your online and offline identity. YMMV

I think too many people get up in arms about privacy but when push comes to shove, these smaller people will most likely cave to governments.

I think HN just dislikes the idea of google maintaining a service.

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#63

Post by actuator »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #61
actuator wrote: post #18

Google Apps version of Gmail or the Microsoft equivalent? You can use your own domain and I don't think data there is used for ads. I am really scared to put my trust in a small provider from a data security and availability view. Security is really really hard and emails are a critical part of your online and offline identity. YMMV

I think too many people get up in arms about privacy but when push comes to shove, these smaller people will most likely cave to governments. I think HN just dislikes the idea of google maintaining a service.

As much as I would want small players to succeed. Email is one of the spaces where it just doesn't make much sense to trust the small guy.

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#64

Post by antisthenes »

MrApathy wrote: post #36
anuragsoni wrote: post #5

I've been using Fastmail [1] for around five years now. I've been pretty happy with their service and I use it with my own domain name. I find the pricing to be reasonable, and their webmail interface is really fast, and I've found their spam detection to be really good. [1] https://www.fastmail.com/

Also a Fastmail user with my own domain. Reliability has been excellent, their web-app is great, and their documentation is very helpful. I've never had to contact support (in over five years), so can't comment on that. Two minor complaints: (1) their spam detection is good, but not Gmail good; and (2) their file storage has a 50MB per-file limit, even though the total cap is 10GB. I have a small personal site hosted…

> I'd like to zip all my personal files and store them with Fastmail, but I can't because the file size limit is too low.

You could split the zip archive into smaller sized volumes, e.g. 45MB, and store those, assuming it's something you don't access too often.

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#65

Post by smt88 »

specialp wrote: post #60
smt88 wrote: post #4

There's no great way to know that your emails are private when they're hosted by a SaaS email provider. It's easy to get around third-party audits if you want to. The most private solution by far is to self-host, but that's also very challenging these days. And any email you send to a non-private service (Gmail, Yahoo, anyone's work account) is instantly going to be just as insecure as if you yourself used that other…

The thing about self hosting too is that you then own your identity. I have had my own domain and email for 20 years now while many "free" email services have gone away or merged. The problem as you say with difficulty is that due to the centralization of email providers, it is hard to get your outgoing mail accepted everywhere. I now have no problems but it took a while. The worst were Yahoo and Verizon straight up…

> The thing about self hosting too is that you then own your identity.

You can do this without self-hosting, though. As long as you control the domain and MX records, you can just switch providers when you need to.

A lot of people are now doing the "your domain + Fastmail" approach, for example (or at least they were before Australia's government went completely insane).

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#66

Post by TheMog »

specialp wrote: post #60
smt88 wrote: post #4

There's no great way to know that your emails are private when they're hosted by a SaaS email provider. It's easy to get around third-party audits if you want to. The most private solution by far is to self-host, but that's also very challenging these days. And any email you send to a non-private service (Gmail, Yahoo, anyone's work account) is instantly going to be just as insecure as if you yourself used that other…

The thing about self hosting too is that you then own your identity. I have had my own domain and email for 20 years now while many "free" email services have gone away or merged. The problem as you say with difficulty is that due to the centralization of email providers, it is hard to get your outgoing mail accepted everywhere. I now have no problems but it took a while. The worst were Yahoo and Verizon straight up…

I've also been self hosting since the last century, and as you point out, the big issue these days is making your email server play with all the other email services, including those that aren't always playing nicely.

Not to mention that not all hosters are too keen on having people run mail servers due to the danger of hosting spammers and getting blacklisted. With the last two or three hosters, I had to jump through a couple of hoops every time and get permission to run one.

I still think it's worth it, especially if you own a bunch of domains, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to someone starting from scratch these days.

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#69

Post by mbirth »

Since this is HN, why not get some cheap managed server with email service? E.g. I'm using uberspace.de (shared server available for as low as 1€/month) and they run qmail. Big advantage: You can setup as many aliases as you like (one for each site you've signed up to) and also install whatever web frontend you like (Roundcube, Nextcloud, etc.). And you can keep as many mails and as long as you like (and pay storage for). You'll need to read a bit into qmail rules, though.

Re: Ask HN: Best Paid Gmail Replacement?

#70

Post by WillYouFinish »

kapep wrote: post #35

I switched to Posteo [1] and am very happy with them. 1€ per month, based in Germany (but you can choose from many country TLDs [2]) and they take privacy very serious. [1]: https://posteo.de/en/ [2]: https://posteo.de/en/help/which-domains-are-available-to-use...

I've been a Posteo user for over 7 years now and I couldn't be happier. I also use it for calendar and contacts sync. It just works. But I doubt it is a Gmail replacement. It is a great email service provider though.
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