An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail • Hacker News Board

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#191

Post by starky » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

frereubu wrote: post #40

I'm a happy user of Fastmail, but I would prefer a properly EU-hosted service. (Fastmail now have data storage in the EU, but much of their infrastructure is in the US and data still passes through there - something that they're open about, but I'd prefer not to happen). The last time I looked at mailbox.org the offer wasn't nearly as good as Fastmail in terms of storage, catch-all email addresses etc, but I took ano…

I've used mailbox.org for a few years and been quite happy with it. Its definitely more basic than Fastmail or Proton, but it meets my needs perfectly.

They did recently increase their storage from 10GB to 20GB (along with a price increase from 30 to 36EUR/year). They also have had catch-all addresses as long as I've used the service, you just setup an email alias for it.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#192

Post by nunez » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 2:56 PM UTC

Another happy Fastmail user and G-Suite refugee here. I've been using it for several years now and couldn't be happier. It just works, and I greatly appreciate that they don't try to foist "value" onto me like Google does CONSTANTLY with Gemini.

Gemini is happy to write emails for you, yet Gmail _still_ doesn't support push email on iOS. Like, what are we even doing here?

Fastmail, instead, is like: "Here's a detailed and well-written document on how to set up Fastmail with your Apple Mail, and just in case you need it, and you probably won't, we have the webapp." It's very reminiscent of what Google _used_ to be like back in ye olden days.

If someone knows of a good equivalent for Drive, I'm all ears. I'm RAVAGING to get off that platform.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#193

Post by nunez » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

beart wrote: post #5

Changing email providers sounds daunting, but it was relatively painless when I actually committed to it. I did a search over my password manager for my old email and just went through the list logging in and switching to the new email. Probably took a few hours at most. For anything I missed, I set gmail to forward everything to my new host. Cleaned up the few things I missed, and am only left with spam. I still lea…

Yeah, it's a pretty easy process these days. Just insanely time consuming. Fastmail has an easy migration tool as well if you don't want to go the IMAP route.

Now, migrating filters and rules over on the other hand...

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#194

Post by nunez » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

CJefferson wrote: post #6

My big problem with leaving Google is I’ve clicked on far too many ‘login with google’ boxes. In retrospect this was a mistake as it now ties my own domain to google basically forever, but lots of sites don’t even have the option to undo it.

Go here to see all of the apps linked to your account: https://myaccount.google.com/linkedapps

Then go through each service and email them to have them try and move your account to new accounts with a traditional username/password login. Some might even be able to change your login method to username/password without requiring a new account!

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#195

Post by stevesimmons » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:12 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #189

stevesimmons wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excluding people from services because you can't be bothered to handle their perfectly correct and validated email address is actually a form of discrimination. My pet hate is my bank refusing to email me bank statement notifications to mail@mydomain.com ("not a personal address"), yet their password validation and marketing emails get through quite OK. Somehow they seem incapable of acknowledging that one department…

> Excluding people from services because you can't be bothered to ... Yes. But like most forms of discrimination, it's probably 100% legal. Same as Chuck's Pizza Parlor refusing to deliver outside an X mile radius, and 1st National Bank refusing to use the full legal name of anyone who's name exceeds the size of their DB's 'CustomerName' field.

"Not illegal" doesn't mean we should passively accept it whether we encounter it professionally at work or personally as a customer.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#196

Post by 6031769 » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

Gareth321 wrote: post #158

danpalmer wrote: post #94

I have a blog post that I've been meaning to write about why I moved from Fastmail to Gmail. I love Fastmail as a product, but I realised it wasn't what I wanted anymore from my email. I think there's a tension between explicit and implicit organisation. If you want a really good email client, Fastmail is great, but while I did care about that at one point in my life, what I want now is really just the big box at the…

I think the next paradigm shift in software is going to be LLM-inferred user intent. Serving just what you really want, when you want it. Currently all inside whatever interface the LLM provider offers, but soon whatever interface the LLM decides is appropriate. People won't use apps anymore. Your LLM will tell you which emails you need to address, and will automatically triage the rest (and action those which can be…

I do hope not. That sounds utterly horrendous.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#197

Post by Godsend69 » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:52 PM UTC

sylware wrote: post #170

Is fastmail blocking self-hosted SMTP servers without DNS like gmail.com? (email addresses with IP literals are stronger than SPF). Is fastmail gated with 'whatwg cartel' web engines like gmail.com?

[dead]

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#198

Post by thoughtpeddler » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 3:53 PM UTC

These discussions always gloss over the reliability of delivery (i.e. is your email making it to the intended inbox or getting squashed into spam, or even shot down before making it to the recipient), especially when custom domains are used (which I suspect is often the case with Fastmail). As much as I want openness, independence, portability, etc of my personal digital stack, sometimes "just getting the work done" takes precedence, and email is one of those areas if not THE area where that matters most online.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#199

Post by lurght » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:14 PM UTC

Fastmail is quite good, I recently moved an older and recently privately conscious relative to it from Gmail and they've been very pleased and like having their own domain.

The initial pain of moving everything over to your own domain in particular, is greatly trumped by the long term enjoyment of having it and knowing moving provider again if I need to wont be nearly as painful.

Re: An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

#200

Post by dataflow » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

lurght wrote: post #199

Fastmail is quite good, I recently moved an older and recently privately conscious relative to it from Gmail and they've been very pleased and like having their own domain. The initial pain of moving everything over to your own domain in particular, is greatly trumped by the long term enjoyment of having it and knowing moving provider again if I need to wont be nearly as painful.

Same story here as your first paragraph. But I can't bring myself to make the switch. Not just because of the pain or changing addresses but also because (among other reasons) payment introduces failure modes that I don't find acceptable. E.g., there should be no payment necessary for me to receive mail at my main address. Physical mail doesn't work that way; it's ridiculous for email to. Email is supposed to be better than physical mail, not worse. Even more so if I'm paying for it.