this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Trying to de-google and looking for an alternative to Gmail.

Don't mind if it's a paid service if it's robust.

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[–] Matt@lemdro.id 146 points 1 year ago (12 children)
[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Last I checked, the encryption in Proton Mail means you have to use their app, no third party apps allowed. Is that still true?

[–] Matt@lemdro.id 14 points 1 year ago

Yes, that's still true. If you want to be able to use a third-party mail app, I would look at Fastmail or Mailbox.org. They don't have free plans though.

[–] JoyfulCodingGuy@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Phone app? Yes you have to use their own app. On a computer besides the browser version you can use Thunderbird and other applications if you download ProtonBridge.

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[–] gamer@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Yup, and it’s kind if a pain since their mobile apps aren’t great. I’ve been using them for many years, and lately have been considering jumping ship.

Email encryption isn’t something I actually care about. If I wanted to send someone a super private message, I probably wouldn’t use email anyways since it’s just clunky, and it’s unlikely the other person is using proton mail too (which means the message wouldn’t be encrypted anyways). All I really want is to not have my email provider be scanning my messages to profit from my data.

But the effort to switch to something else is making me stay…

[–] ominouslemon@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You don't use encrypted emails only to communicate privately. If they are not encrypted, your e-mail provider will probably scan them, whether it is for profit or under request from the NSA. That's what Snowden uncovered.

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[–] yoz@aussie.zone 63 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Try proton mail. I love it

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Yeah, Proton are working on delivering a privacy-focused replacement for the whole google suite. Mail, drive, calendar so far, plus VPN. OP could do a lot worse. :)

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[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 54 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm using ProtonMail and paying for it.

It's decent. The best AFAIK in terms of privacy. Supports labels etc.

The migration process takes so long, I'm split between both still and slowly moving over.

[–] sturlabragason@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just forward my Gmail and use it as a legacy service while using proton as my new primary. Allows me to very aggressively spam filter in proton.

https://proton.me/support/automatic-forwarding-gmail

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[–] lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee 34 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Idk I'm still using my Hotmail that I got in 1995 so...

[–] GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm still using an AOL email address that I got in the 80's, so...

[–] gamer@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Damn you just reminded me that I haven’t fed my Neopet in years. They don’t die, do they??

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[–] Lewistrick@feddit.nl 30 points 1 year ago

I'm using Proton Mail and I like it a lot!

[–] hoodlem@hoodlem.me 27 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I use Proton Mail. I recommend that whatever service you decide on, get your own domain name so you can keep your email address if you move to a different provider.

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[–] mertn@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 1 year ago

I also degoogled to proton. Now one bill for VPN, drive and my own domain email address.

[–] jtsk2009@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 year ago

Proton is my fav non Google email.

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago
[–] skadden@ctrlaltelite.xyz 23 points 1 year ago (12 children)

I moved to Fastmail last year and it's been entirely unremarkable which is exactly what I want. Mail in and out works, it's reliable, I have my custom domains.

It really depends on the level of privacy you're going for and what features you want. For me I needed custom domain support with catchalls. The only other requirement I had was to not be Google. I debated between Fastmail and Proton for a while (Fastmail for features/price, Proton for the "better" privacy.) Ultimately I ended up on Fastmail because I would have had to pay for a higher than necessary account at Proton for what I wanted.

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[–] jao@lemy.lol 23 points 1 year ago
[–] kostel_thecreed@lemmy.ca 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • Tutanota
  • Protonmail
  • Mailbox.org
  • Posteo.de
  • Runbox
  • Fastmail

I would recommend either Mailbox or Posteo simply because they cost 1€/m. For email I find that anything more than like $2 is a waste of money, but that is my opinion.

Both Tutanota and Protonmail offer freemium versions of their services.

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[–] CrypticFawn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 year ago

Been using Proton mail a couple months now. Very happy with it.

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] lastweakness@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Skiff or Protonmail.

Skiff gives you 10 GBs of storage and also comes with a drive and a Notion-like Pages app. They even let you add custom domain for free. The only disadvantages are the non-native Android or iOS apps that just feel off and the limits on folders and filters.

ProtonMail only gives 1GB of storage and stuff like custom domains, aliases, etc are all paid features. The Android app is decent but missing some basic features that you only notice when you actually use it (select and delete when searching for example). Definitely the most robust mail service there is though. With Proton Unlimited, you also get stuff like per-site aliases using SimpleLogin, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar and Proton Pass. But if I'm being honest, only the Mail and VPN are truly complete products.

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[–] Kayel@aussie.zone 17 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Protonmail

It has all the bells and whistles, is privacy protecting, and is free to use

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[–] unagi@feddit.nl 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ve been on Fastmail for several years and like it a lot! It lets you use you own domain name as well. Their app is not particularly great, but you can hook things up with the default iOS/Android/whatever mail app just fine.

[–] dax@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago

I agree, I'm a happy customer for several years as well. It's not the cheapest service, but it's no-nonsense and reliable.

I pointed my own domain to Fastmail and can use wildcard email addresses (like lemmy@mydomain.com) that all end in my inbox. Also my contacts are synced on the phone with Fastmail using CardDAV support, using the DAVX5 app on Android. It's really nice to have this much flexibility.

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[–] TopHat@compuverse.uk 16 points 1 year ago

Gotta go for ProtonMail. Have been running it for a year and I kinda like how it's doing.

An additional feature is SimpleLogin's "Hide My E-mail" Aliases, which are "burner" e-mail addresses to use with pre-determined SimpleLogin domains (you can add your own domains as well to go around Proton's custom domain limit). Those are included in the full suite and Family subscriptions. (10 a month when subscribing for a year)

There's also a cheaper variant for 3.50 a month but it lacks the SimpleLogin feature. You can get SimpleLogin seperately for 30 a year, however.

[–] Myro@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

Paid Fastmail User here since around half a year. Did extensive research on what provider to use and trialed fastmail for four weeks before buying. I went for a 3 year period. Fastmail has a fantastic set of features.

There are providers that are focused more on privacy (e.g. PGP. encryption, not being based in Australia) but that was not my top priority.

I have created a lengthy guide as part of my transition: I published the Markdown file to Fastmail at this link (it is a text file). As it was initially written just for myself, the format might not be very readable :)

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[–] ben@lef.li 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] resurge@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I've been using Zoho mail for a few years now with my own domain linked to it and it works flawlessly for less than 12€/y. (less than 24€/y if you also add the domain cost)

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[–] observantTrapezium@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Not for everyone, but self-hosting isn't so bad.

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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fastmail is great and has very fast user interface and lots of nice features, such as email address aliases you can create with a button click or integrate it with Bitwarden etc.

It costs money though, just so you know if you want "free" (nothing is really free).

[–] Swarfega@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

If you're moving your email address consider using a mail alias. If you move again in the future it will make the process a whole lot easier as you won't need to go to all your sites to update your email address. You only need to update the one email address with the alias provider.

I use simplemail with my own domain

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 12 points 1 year ago
[–] Rinnarrae@beehaw.org 11 points 1 year ago

Been steadily moving things over to Proton. Originally got it for the VPN, then eventually started to use it as a replacement for gmail when applicable.

[–] Lord_Boffum@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

+1 for Proton. I started with just Mail Plus but got the whole package later. It works well!

[–] theoware@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depends on where you're from, but I had good experiences with mailbox.org

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[–] lossykittens@reddthat.com 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’ve been really appreciating Fastmail. It’s paid, but I was finally able to leave Gmail behind

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Another bump for Proton. My wife and I share an account with a few different addresses each going to their own folder. (One for me, one for her, one for shopping, one for spam, etc) Their VPN is great too and includes ad/tracker blocking.

[–] linad@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

proton or tutanota, i prefer proton cause of username@pm.me mail

[–] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mailbox.org

Its cheap and a single xsolution for replacing mail, calendar, contact sync, cloud drive, task list, etc.

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[–] sol@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Proton and Tutanota are the most privacy-focused ones, offering zero-access encryption. The flipside is that they are a bit more expensive and less easy to use with third party email clients.

There are a number of alternatives like mailbox.org, Posteo and Fastmail which are cheaper, and less private than the above two but arguably still better for privacy than Gmail (in that their whole business model isn't built off capturing and monetising your data).

Personally I use mailbox.org and have no complaints. I use it with third party clients like Thunderbird for desktop and FairEmail for Android so can't speak to how good their web UI is.

I also strongly recommend getting your own domain name to use with your email. It means if you ever want to switch providers in future you won't need to change your email address.

[–] matthew@lemmy.woodward.tech 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Mailbox.org is what I've used for a long time, before protonmail even existed. The mailbox.org servers are powered 100% by solar energy too!

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[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

Check out posteo. It costs €1/month (you can pay more for extra aliases). Seems like a cool company, and you can use it with your own email apps (Thunderbird, K9, etc).

[–] Arn_Thor@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When I was doing the same research a few years back Fastmail was recommended to me and I’ve been very happy with it. It was fairly easy to set up with an email address from my own domain too.

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