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Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

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Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#291

Post by conatus »

pmorici wrote: post #239
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?

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://pr…

While they are on par for email, with Fastmail being superior in certain ways, you do get a deal more value from the Google G Suite as you get a lot more besides email incorporated in the price, i.e, cloud drive, the applications themselves etc.

Thinking though this for a project I'm working on with a tight budget I concluded for money related reasons I'd probably have to go with Google even though I'd prefer not to.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#292

Post by rrdharan »

snr wrote: post #71
kayoone wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i doubt that MS is an improvement over Google when it comes to privacy concerns.

MSFT doesn't read your email to target you with ads.

I believe they do, but you can opt Out?

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/280093-outlook-com-opt...

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#293

Post by dijit »

brongondwana wrote: post #246
catwell wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

We are moving away from Amsterdam - so it will be full copies on both sides of the USA, and nothing in Amsterdam any more.

This makes me sad, but I'm sure there are reasons for this.

Would it be possible to explain them (or link me to a document explaining them)?

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#294

Post by danesparza »

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.

There is evidence that they certainly have the capability of analyzing much (if not all) communications in the world: https://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/internet-privacy/s...

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#295

Post by TsomArp »

barrongineer wrote: post #217
TsomArp wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be wrong, but I also think it is expensive. When I can have a 5 family plan from office365, including, word, excel, powerpoint, outlook, etc, with 1TB per account, 60 minutes of skype calls per account, etc, for 10 per month, 25 per month (for 5 people) only for email seems too expensive to me. The only thing lacking is custom email address.

Premium outlook allows you to use a custom domain now. So long as it's registered with GoDaddy.

looks very interesting, I might try to switch

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#296

Post by bluehatbrit »

InternetOfStuff wrote: post #210
fvargas wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I use AquaMail as well, it's one of the few apps I pay for. I paid so I could attach more inboxes though the limit is quite relaxed. The only fancy feature they've added really is a unified mailbox, other than that it's the only android mail client I've used for the past 4-5 years now. I'm a big fan!

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#298

Post by TsomArp »

pmorici wrote: post #230
nadont8 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FastMail is good, but it's very expensive. I'm waiting for more competition in this space. I think, as people turn away from Google (and thus Gmail), more competition will arise and we'll finally see fair prices.

Fastmail is on par or cheaper than Google's equivalent G Suite email service to business.

but the problem is that fastmail only offers mail and calendar, while gsuite offers, word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, online forms, and photos...

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#299

Post by vbezhenar »

geowwy wrote: post #163
vbezhenar wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail is paid and very costly while Gmail is free, not very good alternative for me.

$3 per month is very costly?

I'm using my own domain, so it's $5 per month. Considering that I'm using VPS for less than $1 per month, that price seems absurdly high. I would consider paid mail for $5/year with 25GB storage and fastmail features, otherwise free mail looks much better.

Re: Ask HN: Best alternative to Gmail?

#300

Post by ersiees »

brongondwana wrote: post #246
catwell wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

We are moving away from Amsterdam - so it will be full copies on both sides of the USA, and nothing in Amsterdam any more.

Why isn’t it actually possible to just encrypt saved emails on server? So that government does not have access. Couldn’t one use a hash of the password as key for the data for the data and not save that hash to check password but another one. This way (practically), at least if the password is not eavesdropped and saved by the mail provider, it would be much harder to give away emails.
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