Im tried of giving my data to google for all my email needs. Preferably I would like to use the thunderbird client.
I also have a number of self hosted services. I used to run my own email server, but ATT no longer allows the ports open and I want to move away from self hosting that solution. Figured I would ask people what they use here, since Im assuming others are in a similar situation.
Any suggestions?
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I’m from SDF and I don’t recommend just a PA unix email as a MAIN e-mail. a technology of 30 years ago is not exactly the most secure. It’s nice like a second email for small things but not as a main.
Take a look at Tuta
proton
If you want free, I’d recommend Protom Mail.
For paid, I really like Mailbox.org and Posteo. They work with IMAP/POP3, CardDAV, and CalDAV
And how would you use Tbird on a free subscription? The bridge is a subscriber service.
Been using Zoho with multiple domains for many years. I have a business account and a personal account (and an admin account) in Zoho fed from maybe ten domains. DNS on Google cloud.
Zoho is almost never down - can’t remember the last time - but they do tend to tinker stupidly occasionally. Logging in to the web is page after page of stupid questions - ok it’s three but they’re pushing their authentication app I don’t ever want. There’s PassKey but it doesn’t understand Linux/Bitwarden AFAICT. I use 2fa with Bitwarden. Documentation is good but there can be multiple pages on the same subject sometimes.
Client mobile app is great. Admin mobile app is crap. Costs c. £60 a year which I think is good value given the ability to white page, (excessive) filters and automation*, mailing lists etc. Finding where you set an email address up is a bastard so take notes but they are eager to help if you can’t find it.
I usually get pissed off with suppliers after a couple years of being jerked around. I’ve been with Zoho email for an easy decade maybe one and a half. It was definitely this century … but … !
I’m very privacy minded, at least one of the domains is a addy.io proxy, but never seen any indication that my/client data is being sold. Spam malware is very tight and you can admin that to within an inch of its life in miriad of ways.
Comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect on the client end and on the server end. IMAP POP3 sure but I use the Zoho mobile client and web for all the features (tagging, priority etc) that Thunderbird won’t grok.
Zoho had a deserved poor rep many years ago for going up and down like a tart’s drawers but it’s been nothing but up that I’ve noticed in the last 5 years.
I have no affiliation with any company mentioned.
I hosted my first email server in c.1996 on 14kbps before email admin became a full time job. I feel your pain.
- I have the usual delay (real) send on my business account and a couple of delete after X days triggered by my addy.io . Logic can mix AND and OR with parentheses without a limit I have hit.
I switched over to Zoho as well recently. While there are some upsells, they are usually reasonable enough. I also occasionally use their other services like writer, notes, and calendar which is nice.
I use Tutanota free, and I’m really happy with it!
Using Fastmail
- works with 1Password to generate masked emails
- plus and subdomain addressing
In case those features are important to you
second fastmail. works with bitwarden just like 1password
I have been using purelymail with my own domains, and at $10 a year with no limit on domains or users under those domains, it’s amazing value.
Second this, I’ve been using them for a couple of years and the service is rock solid.
I’m using Zoho. It’s pretty cheap and wasn’t hard to set up with my domain.
Proton, Tuta, Mailbox, and Posteo are all good.
Proton and Tuta have free offerings. Posteo and mailbox have the cheapest paid offering, but posteo doesn’t allow custom domains.
Tuta won’t work w/ Thunderbird, but they do have a desktop app.
Proton should work with their bridge.
It works fine for me fwiw
posteo is really cheap but a great service
If you want free tier with good privacy practices, Proton is going to be the best option.
I have several paid webhost accounts already, so I just use those for email. Any important messages (which are increasingly rare) are saved to PDF and stored offline (business/tax/medical info, etc.), and the rest is purged once read/sent.
I have several addresses at cock.li. Uptime is not the best, around 98%, but free. According to their policy they don’t collect any personal data, but they comply with legal requests. https://cock.li/help
You can select from a lot of domains, some of them ar normal like firemail.cc or airmail.cc, some of them are funny like aaathats3as.com, some of them are edgy like cocaine.ninja or national.shitposting.agency, some of them are racist like nuke.africa or hitler.rocks
I have started using Mailbox.org since about a year with several custom domains. Its around 3 €/$ per month for the basic tier which also includes some cloud storage and an online office suite (of which neither I use). I’ve been happy with it.
I assume that your inbox size counts against the cloud storage they provide?
There’s a separate quota for email storage and cloud storage.
About a year ago, I trialed both Proton Mail and Tuta mail. Proton mail worked out better for my needs, but YMMV. 
One nice thing about switching providers is that it gives you the opportunity to rid yourself of years of built-up cruft and spam.
