Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#1

Post by snoopybbt » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 1:09 AM UTC

Hello HN!

Let's assume that for some reason you don't want to use GMail for your emails.

And that also, you don't want to run your own mail server.

What are the alternatives to GMail, comparable in services and quality?

I think this is a general interest question, but by the way, I'm mostly interested in SMTP/IMAP access, a decent amount of space, reliability.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#2

Post by greenyoda » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 1:11 AM UTC

Some answers in this recent post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8951464

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#3

Post by snoopybbt » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 1:12 AM UTC

greenyoda wrote: post #2

Some answers in this recent post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8951464

Oh, great, thanks!!

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#4

Post by getdavidhiggins » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 1:17 AM UTC

- fastmail.fm

- mailbox.org

Running your own mail server is only difficult if you're a security pedant and want ultra-perfect security & privacy. Perfect security is a massive enterprise. Even Google with their seemingly endless amounts of money can't even achieve perfect security. NSA backdoors in Gmail anyone?

Mailbox.org is German, so they sort of care more than others. Fastmail is second best, but again - I have yet to see any serious efforts by them to ensure security/privacy.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#5

Post by sergiotapia » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 2:36 AM UTC

I use outlook.com - it's good for an email website.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#6

Post by nickthemagicman » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 4:01 AM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #5

I use outlook.com - it's good for an email website.

I used outlook it was great except for the limit on number of folders.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#7

Post by latch » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 4:17 AM UTC

I've been using fastmail for a while. It's been solid. A trickle more spam gets through (like, 1 every 2 weeks instead of 1 a month). The android client is solid (had been using K9 before its release). $40/yr for email is more than reasonable in my books.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#8

Post by a3n » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 5:12 AM UTC

fastmail.com

https://www.fastmail.com/help/

http://blog.fastmail.com/

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#9

Post by x0x0 » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 9:24 AM UTC

latch wrote: post #7

I've been using fastmail for a while. It's been solid. A trickle more spam gets through (like, 1 every 2 weeks instead of 1 a month). The android client is solid (had been using K9 before its release). $40/yr for email is more than reasonable in my books.

does it do labels ala gmail or is it folders (ie only one label per email)? Their website doesn't seem to answer this question so my strong suspicion is it is a folder based email architecture.

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Gmail?

#10

Post by zamalek » Sun, Mar 01, 2015, 9:39 AM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #5

I use outlook.com - it's good for an email website.

Or the bigger variant: Exchange 365. After live dropped support for custom domains I switched to that. I was looking specifically for activesync support, but it also covers IMAP/SMTP/reliability.