Self-hosting email in 2025 is easy actually (apart from M365)

Post by jeroenhd » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 12:06 PM UTC

tsukikage wrote: post #8

jeroenhd wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole IP reputation problem seems to mostly be a Google/Microsoft problem. Unfortunately, most of the world seems to use one of those two platforms. Routing mail to those two services via a third party seems like the wisest choice. May I ask how you implemented that?

I use exim4. So after doing the usual SES setup, I can change the smarthost router to look like this: SMARTHOST_FOR_MS = email-smtp.us-east-2.amazonaws.com::587 smarthost: debug_print = "R: smarthost for $local_part@$domain" driver = manualroute domains = ! +local_domains transport = remote_smtp_smarthost route_list = hotmail.com SMARTHOST_FOR_MS byname ; \ live.com SMARTHOST_FOR_MS byname ; \ outlook.com SMARTHOST_F…

Post by pseudalopex » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 12:12 PM UTC

isaachinman wrote: post #43

comrade1234 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searching sucks but with Tahoe it has improved. It's funny - apples super old email client Cyberdog from the 90s had better search.

We built a cross-platform offline-first IMAP client: https://marcoapp.io Search is single-digit ms. All metadata stored on the client. I built this over the course of a year, literally driven by my frustration with Apple Mail. Maybe give it a try! Edit: Also, extremely brave of you to upgrade to Tahoe. No chance for me

Post by tsukikage » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 12:16 PM UTC

Bender wrote: post #27

tsukikage wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can usually switch host ...it took OP 8 months of "rolling the gacha" and waiting to get a clean IP; no mention of costs. Not really a solution in my book. If you're willing to wait 8 months for working email, I put it to you you're actually using some other provider for your life and the thing you are playing with is a toy. I've been self-hosting my email for a pretty long time. I first started down the reputa…

If cost is not an issue one can run standby servers in multiple locations and have backups to all of them. Just as MX records allow for multiple inbound servers one can have multiple outbound servers as well. Park a few unused or vanity domains on them and have cronjobs send automated emails to yourself. I reply to those emails so the likes of Gmail see interaction between them. With time all IP addresses get good re…

Post by devsda » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 12:29 PM UTC

tsukikage wrote: post #55

Bender wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If cost is not an issue one can run standby servers in multiple locations and have backups to all of them. Just as MX records allow for multiple inbound servers one can have multiple outbound servers as well. Park a few unused or vanity domains on them and have cronjobs send automated emails to yourself. I reply to those emails so the likes of Gmail see interaction between them. With time all IP addresses get good re…

An IP laundering service certainly sounds like a potential startup opportunity. Certainly I'd have paid for a proven good IP in the past before I developed my current solution.

Post by pseudalopex » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 12:34 PM UTC

immibis wrote: post #14

JimDabell wrote: post #5

> i think the myth of "you can't self-host email" persists because while it can evidently be done, basically all of the software involved is ancient, baroque, inconsistently documented, requires a PhD in Bullshit to correctly configure, and is almost actively hostile to observation. but this is _annoying_, very different from _impossible_, and fortunately mostly solvable by delegating the annoying bits to an expert u…

Microsoft 365 is corporate business email for corporate businesses. If you're a corporate business, you're already using it, and if you're not then you probably don't want to talk to anyone who's using it anyway. Even if you could pass their filtering, they'd just manually ignore your emails because they only want to talk to corporate businesses.