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Ask HN: Where to switch from Gmail?

11 points by realusername ↗ HN
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.

19 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 75.6 ms ] thread
senjindarashiva
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.
spacemoelte
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.
cweagans
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).
tumba
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.

hobarrera
I too use fastmail (though I moved from my own setup, not from gmail).

Some nice things they have: * Proper IMAP and SIEVE support. * CalDAV, CardDAV. * The UI is keyboard-only usable. * The support team is really responsive (they actually added a shortcut for an option that was lacking one within a few days of my request!). * They give back a lot to the FLOSS community, which I really value (but their webmail is mostly proprietary).

Their usage of actually standards (instead of just their own) is a great thing! I still use mutt for gpg email, and khal for calendaring, which is pretty good.

They also host your XMPP server, if you're an XMPP user.

I've been meaning to post a thorough review, but haven't had the time to polish it. I'll post it in HN once I have it, since I'm sure many will be interested.

gregmorton
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 :).

avinassh
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 :(
muhpirat
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.

gesman
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.

realusername
I know that it's not going to change much, I've mentioned it but it's still better than nothing. I respect other people choices and that's why I need to switch. In the same way, I've installed Textsecure, even if just one person I know is using it, maybe one day, some other people will contact me through it, it does not hurt me to keep it.
zhte415
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.

drethemadrapper
It is always exciting to see more people leave the NSA bobby traps to reclaim their privacies.

You may want to try https://www.hosteurope.de/E-Mail-Hosting/#Vergleich

It's in Germany. I am not in full support of services in the US. I however understand that there is not guarantee that they/NSA/BB can't get an order/subpoena to access your server though.

Here are the product details: Mailboxes: 1 Storage per mailbox: 5 GB Webmailer Pro: Yes POP / IMAP: Yes Daily backup: Yes Mobile Sync: Yes Shareable calendars, address books and tasks: Yes One-time setup fee: € 9.99 € 4.99

You can get up to 5 mailboxes by paying $5-$10 more I think.

toby1k
My advice is if you manage to encrypt your email with good encryption, stick with a popular provider (i.e. gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc). A privacy-aware email provider called Lavabit was shut down a while ago. Thankfully I hadn't lost much but some people did.
hobarrera
Yeah, privacy is a lot harder than you think. For example, gmail probably has > 50% of my email, since the recipients use gmail. And other compromised providers.

If you really need privacy, try going the gpg way.

fsk
Run your own mailserver - postfix + roundcube.

It'll take you some time to set it up, but it will be educational!

hobarrera
I'd use opensmtpd instead of postfix. Mostly because you'll learn how to configure the former in a matter of tens of minutes when reading the man page, and the config format is basically English. The latter. Not even close.
fallat
I second this. Setup roundcube and postfix in about a day on a remote server, and now for $5 a month I have control over my email (make sure encryption is enabled when communicating with it, obviously).
veddox
In case you're a German speaker, there are some native German Email providers that afaik are pretty good on privacy (our laws are very strict there, and there is what is known as). And as their servers should be in Germany, the NSA will have a slightly more difficult task of sniffing.

Examples are gmx.de and web.de. (Although I'd caution you with the latter - I use their free version and am not impressed with their customer service: nonexistent. Also, they send you their own advertising. I don't know if their paid tier is any better, I haven't tried it.)

vmay
protonmail.ch