Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#1

Post by realusername » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 9:52 AM UTC

Hello everyone,

I would like to switch from Gmail to another email provider with a bit more privacy. I know it won't change anything but as they say "Be the change that you wish to see in the world.". I have no problem to pay if it's not so expensive. I don't care much about external things like calendar but I would need some import to import all my old emails. I would like also to make my parents switch at some point if it works well for me, we will see.

Do you have any recommendations for a new email provider ? I would like to have some advice on this and your recommendations if you have done this in the past. Changing an email address is not something to take lightly and I would like to switch to a provider who is likely still going to exist in the next 5 years.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#2

Post by senjindarashiva » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 9:59 AM UTC

I am using https://www.fastmail.com with great results. They do have some features in there interface to ease the transition like being able to both send and receive mail from your old address directly from there interface.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#3

Post by spacemoelte » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 10:36 AM UTC

senjindarashiva wrote: post #2

I am using https://www.fastmail.com with great results. They do have some features in there interface to ease the transition like being able to both send and receive mail from your old address directly from there interface.

I also switched to fastmail from gmail. I setup gmail to forward all emails to my new address, and then running the gmail importer in fastmail. So i have all my emails in fastmail, and receive all emails sent to the old address. I'm using a custom domain for my emails.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#4

Post by gregmorton » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 11:29 AM UTC

Zoho.com is not bad.

But I switched to https://runbox.com a few years ago. 30 euros/year for 5 gb, 100 aliases, a very good hotline and the option to put your mails on a server without backup, which means that when you delete a message, it's deleted, not stocked on a backup (yes, if their servers fail, you lost everything you didn't backup yourself, but for now, it has never happened :)

And they can get you your own domain name for 15 bucks/year.

And they're green and in Norway and if you use their roundcube webpage, it manages GPG keys and yes, I sound like a fanboy :).

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#5

Post by avinassh » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 11:55 AM UTC

I have switched from Gmail to Zoho sometime back. But problem is people I am emailing use Gmail, majority of them. Last time I checked, I had sent about 85% of my emails to Gmail. So, my emails are anyways being ended up on Gmail servers. I am trying to get my friends and family to switch to Zoho, but they always end up back using Gmail :(

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#6

Post by muhpirat » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 12:14 PM UTC

I switched to mailbox.org. Also posteo.de is good. Booth are email hosters for several yeahrs now.

I think booth are awesome but only if you use a mail client like thunderbird.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#7

Post by gesman » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 1:39 PM UTC

You email is as private as your addressees's email provider.

So if many people you are communicating with are using gmail - it won't buy you much to switch.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#8

Post by zhte415 » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 1:52 PM UTC

Are you in control of your own domain?

Perhaps Gandi.net, if you're in control of the domain. Email is included as a perk of domain registration, and more options as paid.

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#9

Post by cweagans » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 2:03 PM UTC

spacemoelte wrote: post #3

senjindarashiva wrote: post #2

I am using https://www.fastmail.com with great results. They do have some features in there interface to ease the transition like being able to both send and receive mail from your old address directly from there interface.

I also switched to fastmail from gmail. I setup gmail to forward all emails to my new address, and then running the gmail importer in fastmail. So i have all my emails in fastmail, and receive all emails sent to the old address. I'm using a custom domain for my emails.

This is exactly what I did. Also of interest is that Yubikey OTP is directly supported, you can host static websites (I generate my site with Jekyll and then rsync it to fastmail's web server), and you can have a ton of other aliases for your mailbox (I've got like 12 addresses right now that all point to fastmail).

Re: Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

#10

Post by tumba » Mon, Jul 06, 2015, 2:03 PM UTC

senjindarashiva wrote: post #2

I am using https://www.fastmail.com with great results. They do have some features in there interface to ease the transition like being able to both send and receive mail from your old address directly from there interface.

I have been a happy Fastmail customer for a year now. I prefer their webmail interface to any software other than mutt because of its excellent keyboard shortcuts.

CalDAV access to my calendar has been very stable and CardDAV access to contacts (the feature I've been waiting for) is in beta now. I have seen a small bug related to shared address books (I have a "business" account) on Yosemite, but other than that it has been rock solid.