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Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

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Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#231

Post by arountheworld »

rjzzleep wrote: post #188

For the self-hosted folks there are: https://mailcow.email/ - dockerized, works with multiple domains, sogo for groupware. Compared to mailinabox's single disk, it has 6 docker volumes to keep track of. https://mailu.io/ - dockerized, it has a section on kubernetes deployments, which i find weird, but I guess could make sense for companies https://mailinabox.email/ - no docker, no multiple domains, roundcube, nextclo…

> https://mailinabox.email/ - no docker, no multiple domains, roundcube, nextcloud for groupware. Main disadvantage or advantage, depending on your perspective is that you need a mailinabox server per domain.

Are you sure? I am running mailinabox and have multiple domains and accounts with no issue.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#232

Post by Arkanosis »

apatters wrote: post #193

Is there an open source email client which supports a conversation view similar to Gmail's? I find that to be an amazingly useful feature. The other thing Gmail does which has a lot of potential is message labeling (e.g., newsletters automatically go into a separate tab/folder).

Thunderbird + Conversations addon: https://addons.thunderbird.net/fr/thunderbird/addon/gmail-co...

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#233

Post by doubt_me »

jsmeaton wrote: post #219
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

I dont think this is true. I don’t believe there is any evidence that the US government is analysing all emails hosted by all US companies. Rather, if the US government asks for a particular individuals emails the provider must grant the request provided there is a valid (possibly secret) warrant.

Meta data is more than enough. They don't even care about the contents.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#234

Post by catwell »

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

> all their servers are hosted in the US

Not true, they have a lot of servers in Europe (Amsterdam).

That doesn't make the issue less valid though, since I think they have a full copy of all the data on both sides of the ocean.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#236

Post by simfoo »

catwell wrote: post #234
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

> all their servers are hosted in the US Not true, they have a lot of servers in Europe (Amsterdam). That doesn't make the issue less valid though, since I think they have a full copy of all the data on both sides of the ocean.

Their primary servers are exclusively US-based (see https://twitter.com/FastMail/status/981284247284559872)

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#237

Post by catwell »

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…

What do you miss in the Android app?

I thought the same for a while, until I noticed tapping the body of an email changed the top bar options...

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#238

Post by simias »

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

My company uses Gandi for email and I don't think I'd recommend them. They often have outages and as ngrilly points out they don't implement all the best practices when it comes to anti-spam. I don't have a lot of experience with competing services (I self-host myself) but surely there are better alternatives out there.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#239

Post by pmorici »

charmides wrote: post #139
bamboozled wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail has been also flawless for me since signing up. Highly recommended.

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?

The Fastmail pricing tiers are $3, $5, and $9 per month which is $36, $60, and $108 per year respectively. If you look at their primary competition their prices are on par or slightly better. Here is a sampling...

Google G Suite: $5, $10, and $25 per month per user.

Microsoft: $4, $8, or $12.50 per month per user.

ZOHO: $3, $7 per month per user billed yearly.

[0] https://gsuite.google.com/pricing.html

[1] https://products.office.com/en-us/exchange/compare-microsoft...

[2] https://www.zoho.com/workplace/pricing.html?src=zmail

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#240

Post by simias »

Theizestooke wrote: post #137

Threads about email providers seem to be a prime target for astro turfers on HN. There are so many different providers, yet weirdly its always the same company with the most comments.

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist but it's true that there are rather weird voting patterns in this thread. I self-host my email so I don't really have a horse in that race but I don't quite understand why all mentions of protonmail are downvoted while everything about Fastmail is at the top. Is there some context I'm missing?
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