Thinking of switching all my email off gmail in the near future, especially after a few high profile people getting their entire google accounts shoahed. Are there any good alternatives? What about hosting an email server locally, is it feasible?
Email alternatives -
- Thread starter Jones McCann
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Rinn_
kiwifarms.net
I'm not sure hosting yourself is worth the hassle, you also have to keep in mind that sadly not all services accept just any email provider.
Personally I use Proton, their advertising is a little cringey and they don't provide IMAP/SMTP for penniless beggars like me but if you're ok with an in-browser client, they're quite ok.
Personally I use Proton, their advertising is a little cringey and they don't provide IMAP/SMTP for penniless beggars like me but if you're ok with an in-browser client, they're quite ok.
Some nerds do it to flex, but do you really want to spend your time defending your little email server against every bot and script kiddie on the internet?
I used to run email on a domain using a shared host that provided that feature. It worked fine as far as processing email and not getting hacked, but I found the biggest problem was spam. What you'll have available in terms of spam blocking will be far inferior to what the megacorps provide.
I've found Microsoft's paid plans (like Exchange Online) are a reasonable middle ground between sucking the goog and going full Uncle Ted - you're still dealing with Big Tech but there's an actual privacy policy in place. I have no idea if they're any better if you plan to engage in activities that lower your social credit score though.
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Smoke signals
Mail by pigeon
Connecting two cans with some string and shouting down them
Flashing torches at each other in morse code
Telegram
Mail by pigeon
Connecting two cans with some string and shouting down them
Flashing torches at each other in morse code
Telegram
I recommend ProtonMail
It is certainly feasible but it's not straight forward. I tried and it was just too much effort for little reward. I just want to know that the company itself isn't peaking at my emails. Other than that, I don't give a shit really.
Just keep in mind, email is not a perfectly secure and private method of communicating. Once you understand the potential threats and weigh up your options, you will be more at ease with whatever decision you choose. Also remember that
privacy != security. For example, ditching gmail to stop Google from using your email data to use in ads is a valid reason to leave on the basis of privacy concerns however I would argue that Google's security is far greater than anything you could spin up at home.
Tutanota, Protonmail, Mailfence.
Protonmail is mostly used by spammers, so good luck if you want to use it to sign up somewhere.
In five years, I have never had this problem.
I use startmail and I also pay for a premium account so I can use both custom and temporary aliases with the option to encrypt messages.
I like it well enough.
I like it well enough.
This is a bit more complicated than it seems, as I have recently learned.
I have a gmail account for my ultra-normie interactions and protonmail for everything else, but then I have probably 10 other emails on various services for account signup purposes and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what I could get away with.
The sad truth is that a lot of services now-days will lock you out of your account if you don't use 'one of the big boys' and proceed to ask for your phone number. It seems to work on a whitelist rather than a blacklist, because all of the more obscure services I've used also get me locked out. In general though, I've found that most services that DO NOT let you sign up through a vpn will give kosher email accounts that will not get you locked out. You can continue using said email service with a vpn, you just can't sign up. If this matters to you, go out and use public wifi to make the account.
And no, I do not recommend hosting your own email. There's really no point and you're responsible for the downtime/hiccups.
I have a gmail account for my ultra-normie interactions and protonmail for everything else, but then I have probably 10 other emails on various services for account signup purposes and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what I could get away with.
The sad truth is that a lot of services now-days will lock you out of your account if you don't use 'one of the big boys' and proceed to ask for your phone number. It seems to work on a whitelist rather than a blacklist, because all of the more obscure services I've used also get me locked out. In general though, I've found that most services that DO NOT let you sign up through a vpn will give kosher email accounts that will not get you locked out. You can continue using said email service with a vpn, you just can't sign up. If this matters to you, go out and use public wifi to make the account.
And no, I do not recommend hosting your own email. There's really no point and you're responsible for the downtime/hiccups.
Create your own email client.
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I've never had a problem.
My biggest problem with ProtonMail is they are starting to nickel and dime everything. The app for example, only allows one free account to be signed in. You can sign in unlimited number of paid accounts, but only one free account. That forced me to combine a free account into my paid account. That process sucks too because the only way they can do that is to delete the free account so you can create it again inside your paid account.
I'm also using their Calendar app, which is beta, and it's only available for paid accounts. I don't know if they plan to keep that policy once it's out of beta. But whatever, if it means switching all my calendar stuff off of Google, that's ok, I have a paid account anyway since I wanted to support them.
How is the calendar? I've tried google's and I hate it. Plus... I don't like putting reminders on it if it's anything remotely personal because I know there's some
It's alright so far. Very basic. It's completely empty until you put stuff in, not even holidays. Which is fine because Google is putting bullshit PC holidays in now.
There isn't different options for Reminder, Task, and Event like Google, just one: event. Otherwise, it seems the same. You can do custom notification times and and event repeats. In fact, those event creation screen looks almost identical to Google. It's just missing adding people, video conferencing and attachments like Google has. They just need to add a widget so I can view upcoming events from my home screen.
stares at error messages
kiwifarms.net
Are you offering server space? Anyone can setup Apache James or RoundCube.
Really the client it's the problem, The problem is getting a free email without showing your phone number.
If you want to email me I'm 123@aol.com.
cecograph
kiwifarms.net
Just make sure that your email's domain name isn't "gmail.com", but is instead a domain name that you own. You'll certainly need one if you're going to run your own mail server, but even if you use a provider, it's worth having your own domain name. They're really cheap, like ten dollars a year.
Once you have one, it's pretty trivial to switch your provider by updating your MX records. Your email address won't change when changing provider, so no-one need be the wiser.
Also try to mirror all your email to your local machines, pulling them down into local mail directories. Use a desktop email client for this, or use something like offlineimap. When you switch providers, you just resync your mail directories with your new provider.
I run my own mailserver. It's not the hardest thing to administer, but if you don't have any experience administering servers, it might be a hassle. The most involved part is setting up DKIM, SPF and DMARC, so that your emails don't get rejected as spam by the big providers (and I think they want you to use SSL too, so you'll want a certificate).
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AmpleApricots
kiwifarms.net
There's no point dealing with the hassle of self-hosting, nor is it necessarily safer. Get a provider that stores emails encrypted (so that if they're required to give data out by a government agency, they can comply by giving them encrypted data that's basically useless) and doesn't log. (not a requirement in many countries, legally it's usually only the ISP that has to) There are quite a few. Big surprise though - a provider that can't live from selling your data costs money, so pay them. A good sign is if they've been used by ransomware people to communicate with their victims in the past and allow anonymous payment, even by mailed-in cash.
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