Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 589 posts

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#201

Post by _lbaq »

ngrilly wrote: post #125
jayalpha wrote: post #66

Get your own domain at Gandi. Free Email included. Or buy a domain and Email as a service here: http://infomaniak.com/ If you are disappointed about the search capabilities of Thunderbird, install recoll for search

I love Gandi, but their email service is still unable to sign outgoing emails with DKIM, which is almost mandatory nowadays to avoid being flagged as spam.

I saw that too, but they add the following on their FAQ page

`If you use Gandi’s DNS however, you are free to add the TXT zone file record needed to add the necessary “_domainkey” TXT entry for your domain. You would then need to see with your outgoing email provider concerning the configuration of their mail server for the service.`

source: https://docs.gandi.net/en/gandimail/faq/index.html

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#202

Post by charmides »

wasd884 wrote: post #200
charmides wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think paid email services are a great idea, but $50 a year and 2 GB of storage for Fastmail seems expensive to me. Why not something closer to five or ten bucks a year? Can someone explain to me why this type of pricing makes sense?

It does seem expensive when you've been exposed to free (or heavily discounted) prices your whole life. This is because the others still charge this much, except the difference in revenue is made up by selling your data and pushing adverts (rather than charging you extra). Suddenly the extra $30-$40 per year doesn't seem so expensive any more.

I guess that selling user data and advertisements is worth more per user than I realized.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#203

Post by nbhuik »

whitepoplar wrote: post #16

I'd love to switch away from Gmail, but its security is so compelling that, afaik, nobody else comes close. How many other companies have Tavis Ormandy's on staff to do security audits for their users, let alone free users? Is there a single other email provider that gets security right to the extent Google does?

Neither Tavis Ormandy nor Google have a good track record when it comes to pragmatic security. Google's business model is incompatible with proper security. Chances are that you know Tavis from him being arrogant on project zero so everyone who runs old versions of something, like all the millions of insecure android handsets, can get owned by script kiddies. People have been listing alternatives, but the whole point of giving something like gmail away for free is so there won't be any real alternatives. It isn't like it is going to make a difference either way, since Google's position in the market mean most people won't switch.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#204

Post by SSLy »

simfoo wrote: post #159
lvillani wrote: post #86

FastMail. It's one of the few third party hosts to support push email on iOS with the native Mail app (it's a custom protocol based on APNS), since Mail doesn't implement IMAP IDLE [1]. They are also the main sponsors behind the JMAP protocol [2] and some open source projects such as the Cyrus IMAP server. [1]: https://fastmail.blog/2016/12/21/what-we-talk-about-when-we-... [2]: https://jmap.io

One thing to keep in mind about Fastmail is that all their servers are hosted in the US and they have no plan about changing this (I asked). Post-Snowden this means you can be quite sure that all mails will end up being analysed by the US authorities

Yeah, but on the other hand it's also a feature of Gmail. So it's not strictly worse.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#205

Post by ngrilly »

_lbaq wrote: post #201
ngrilly wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Gandi, but their email service is still unable to sign outgoing emails with DKIM, which is almost mandatory nowadays to avoid being flagged as spam.

I saw that too, but they add the following on their FAQ page `If you use Gandi’s DNS however, you are free to add the TXT zone file record needed to add the necessary “_domainkey” TXT entry for your domain. You would then need to see with your outgoing email provider concerning the configuration of their mail server for the service.` source: https://docs.gandi.net/en/gandimail/faq/index.html

Yes, this answer has been there for a long time. But it doesn't solve the issue.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#206

Post by ylere »

Does anyone know a (preferably self-hosted, but can be commercial) mail client that is as as good Gmail for power users? I always found it rather straightforward have a custom domain and even operate my own mail server, but haven't been able to do the same for the client.

The features most important to me are:

- Gmails speed and accuracy in search, especially on large mailboxes (100k+ emails) - this one is usually the deal breaker

- easy & powerful automatic filter rules

- web client

- calendar integration (optional)

- app for easy access to emails and search on mobile (optional)

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#207

Post by simfoo »

SSLy wrote: post #204
simfoo wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing to keep in mind about Fastmail is that all their servers are hosted in the US and they have no plan about changing this (I asked). Post-Snowden this means you can be quite sure that all mails will end up being analysed by the US authorities

Yeah, but on the other hand it's also a feature of Gmail. So it's not strictly worse.

Correct, but since the reason this question popped up is due to privacy concerns regarding Chromium, I think it's even more important for people to know about these things to make an informed choice.

By the way, I really like Fastmail - they are very competent. But mail/calender is such an important part of online identity and life, I think people should be careful about who to trust

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#208

Post by techno_modus »

ezhik_ wrote: post #72

If you need strong privacy, then go to ProtonMail. Otherwise, try https://yandex.com . For personal domains you can use https://connect.yandex.com , which is free (with ads) for unlimited users or $3 per user per month (available in several countries) without ads. I've been using Yandex Connect for quite long time (free and paid). They are very good. Yandex Connect goes with Email (fully unlimited), Cloud Storage, Wi…

Yandex offers an excellent free email service indeed.

What I really like is their free support for custom domains which you need if you later want to move to another email provider later or if you want to create many user email accounts within your domain (say, info@mydomain.com and user@mydomain.com): https://connect.yandex.com/

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#209

Post by dotdi »

rajuvegesna wrote: post #94

Zoho Mail is a strong option. Comes with mobile apps, supports all standard protocols (IMAP/POP/ActiveSync), includes Calendar and many other modules. Zero tracking. Zero ads. Beyond Mail, Zoho offers several apps that can replace most of what Google offers. From Docs to office suite, note-taking to chat and many more. (Disclosure: I am with Zoho)

+1 for Zoho.

I use their completely free service for all my custom domains and I find the webmail pretty good. The web applications, in general, are pretty actively maintained, with new features every few months. Only had one bigger issue over the years and they resolved it within 24 hours.

They also have a native dark theme on webmail that is pretty decent.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#210

Post by InternetOfStuff »

fvargas wrote: post #54
peatmoss wrote: post #9

Most important thing is to buy a domain so you can port your email address from provider to provider. I’ve had the same email address and several hosts over the years. I’m currently on Fastmail and find the service good.

Fastmail has worked well for me with custom domains. It's nice being able to create custom aliases for when an address is publicly visible e.g. GitHub so I know through what funnel emails are coming from. Like others have said, the Android app is not worth installing unless you're okay with limited and, in some cases, poor functionality. I suppose you can set it up with the Gmail or Outlook Android apps? I've never t…

> Still searching for a good Android mail app...

Give AquaMail a try.

I find it efficient, fast and featureful. I've never noticed any bugs.

The user interface is perhaps not fancy, but IMO not ugly either, and certainly functional.

I've been using it for years, and they keep updating it diligently.

Post reply on HN