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I got a new computer (Mac Mini) last week and, as the ritual usually goes, I opened Safari and was about to type “google.com/chrome”, then stopped myself and we

I got a new computer (Mac Mini) last week and, as the ritual usually goes, I opened Safari and was about to type “google.com/chrome”, then stopped myself and went to “getfirefox.com” instead. It’s been a while since I gave FF a serious look, and so far I haven’t felt like I’m missing anything. Next up, I need to change my default search engine to DDG. What’s a good privacy-oriented, web-based email service? I’ve heard of ProtonMail but haven’t used it.

bluehatbrit 6y ago
Fastmail, protonmail, migadu to name a few. Personally I use migadu because the pricing is perfect for my needs but I've used ProtonMail a bit and been pretty happy with it as well.
joejoebob 6y ago
I really like Fastmail
Aachen 6y ago
You probably get an email address with your ISP as well. The downside is switching ISPs when you use their domain, but if you're happy with them and don't plan on switching, it might be an option. At work we use Runbox (Norwegian if I'm not mistaken), works well and iirc the pricing is affordable also for individuals. A new ISP in the Netherlands, set up in response to XS4ALL being killed by the parent company, offers email hosting with a custom domain for 50 euros a year (domain included I think). I personally have high expectations there. For more context on what XS4ALL did and stood for aside from privacy, see https://hn.algolia.com/?q=XS4ALL https://hn.algolia.com/?q=XS4ALL Self hosting is also pretty easy if you don't mind getting your hands dirty for an evening or two to set it up. (For me it has been hands-off most of the time, aside from upgrading to new hardware every few years.)
ravenstine 6y ago
I've been happily using Protonmail for the past 2 years. It's not going to have all the bells and whistles of Gmail, but I'm a minimalist so it's perfect for me.
StreamBright 6y ago
Edge is really good too! It is fast and has decent developer console. It has lots of content filtering options built-in too.
nothis 6y ago
>What’s a good privacy-oriented, web-based email service? I’ve heard of ProtonMail but haven’t used it. Been Firefox user out of conviction for 10+ years, made the switch to DuckDuckGo as my main search engine with about a year ago, no regrets. But Gmail? It's sticky. I have so much stuff tied to my email account and it just sucks looking for alternatives. I'd even happily pay. The main difficulty is finding a service that's as mature, feature-wise, as Gmail and a sensible way to migrate all my stuff (email-logins for major websites, informing clients of the new address, etc). I think the best compromise is using two accounts for a couple of years, heavily focusing on the non-Gmail one and dropping Gmail once you had no interaction with it for a while. But all the obvious alternatives people post don't quite cut it for me, I've been searching for ages.
- nielsole 6y ago
  The good thing is you never need to drop your Gmail. I use Fastmail since 4? Years and still get all the mail from all private accounts I've ever had. And they have excellent guides for migration, or so I recall (it's been a while)
- dade_ 6y ago
  2 years, mailbox.org has worked well for me, and has active-sync support.
- wtetzner 6y ago
  Maybe you can setup your new service to pull email from your Gmail account via POP3 or something, so you still only need to login to one account. Then you can gradually move further and further away from the Gmail account.
- judge2020 6y ago
  There should be a ".well-known" spec for changing email. Currently all we have is one for changing passwords I believe: https://wicg.github.io/change-password-url/ https://wicg.github.io/change-password-url/
- californical 6y ago
  I've been "meaning" to switch off of Gmail for years, with all of the issues with Google. I switched to Firefox/Safari a couple years ago, then DDG a year ago.. Finally, a week ago, I switched my email to fastmail. Bought a new domain for 10 years explicitly for that purpose. I'm slowly migrating everything to them... Every day or two I think of something else that needs to be migrated, and do it. I don't feel a need to rush because I just have them both simultaneously. I have to say though, Fastmail feels better than Gmail in every way. The UI is fast and snappy, looks clean (with a few themes), includes a calendar and notes. The first month is free, so I figured I'd try it before I decided to go all in. After about 20 minutes I was sold and bought a year subscription... They have this really cool feature with subdomain forwarding so you can organize things into folders automatically. As I've been migrating emails, I've been giving each service it's own unique email address. Eg `amazon@stores.domain.com` will automatically add the email to my "stores" folder, and I'll see it came from Amazon. I can put unlimited anything before the @ sign, which will be really nice for signing up for one-off forums. If they sell my email address or send spam, I'll know exactly who did it and can just block that address. They also have a bunch of other features for organization like the "+ addressing" that Gmail has. I definitely recommend checking them out though. I feel so good having an email that won't get shut down
mdavidn 6y ago
I've used Fastmail for over a decade, and they have yet to give me a reason to regret that move. Though it irks me that Google can still rummage through so many of my conversations because my contacts still use Gmail.
- kovac 6y ago
  I switched to Outlook email. I've been considering changing to Fastmail (considered a few others too), but this is the reason i thought emails are hopeless now. Most people I know are on Gmail.
schnable 6y ago
What's wrong with Safari?
- seph-reed 6y ago
  This month? https://gist.github.com/iansltx/18caf551baaa60b79206#gistcomment-3251085 https://gist.github.com/iansltx/18caf551baaa60b79206#gistcom...
  - readarticle 6y ago
    The only issue there is developers not being able to keep up with the rapid pace at which Safari is still strengthening privacy protection even in the middle of a pandemic, as far as I can tell. Blocking third party cookies by default and requiring requests for storage access all sounds great.
    - seph-reed 6y ago
      Here's the code to keep your iframe from being abused: window.onmessage = function(e) { if ( /^https?:\/\/((subdomain)\.)?mysite.com/.test(e.origin) === false ) { console.error("Access: No auth"); return; } } If you could specify what the benefit over this approach is, I'd appreciate knowing.
Jayschwa 6y ago
I migrated from Gmail to Fastmail a couple years ago and I have been happy with it. Migrating existing emails from Gmail into Fastmail was easy, as was setting up forwarding from Gmail to Fastmail for all future emails. The hardest part was just updating accounts across the web to use the new email. Since I'm using a custom domain with Fastmail, I can change account emails to things like foo.com@mydomain.com or bar.net@mydomain.com.
- mdavidn 6y ago
  It's also easy to configure a Fastmail account to fetch messages from a Gmail inbox and even send messages via Gmail, for a seamless transition while updating accounts.
  - rurp 6y ago
    Wow, that's a neat feature. I've seen a lot of Fastmail recommendations on HN but none that mentioned this feature. Thanks for bringing it up. I'm probably far from the only person around these parts that wants to migrate off of Gmail but just hasn't made it a priority yet, and this tip certainly helps.
- bencollier49 6y ago
  Likewise, it's easy and a sensible thing to do.
robertoandred 6y ago
Or just use Safari.
neon_electro 6y ago
Basecamp is coming out with a new email service called HEY on June 15th. It looks like it might be invite-only to start, but we'll see come that date. https://hey.com/ https://hey.com/

bluehatbrit 6y ago

Fastmail, protonmail, migadu to name a few. Personally I use migadu because the pricing is perfect for my needs but I've used ProtonMail a bit and been pretty happy with it as well.

joejoebob 6y ago

I really like Fastmail

Aachen 6y ago

You probably get an email address with your ISP as well. The downside is switching ISPs when you use their domain, but if you're happy with them and don't plan on switching, it might be an option. At work we use Runbox (Norwegian if I'm not mistaken), works well and iirc the pricing is affordable also for individuals. A new ISP in the Netherlands, set up in response to XS4ALL being killed by the parent company, offers email hosting with a custom domain for 50 euros a year (domain included I think). I personally have high expectations there. For more context on what XS4ALL did and stood for aside from privacy, see https://hn.algolia.com/?q=XS4ALL https://hn.algolia.com/?q=XS4ALL Self hosting is also pretty easy if you don't mind getting your hands dirty for an evening or two to set it up. (For me it has been hands-off most of the time, aside from upgrading to new hardware every few years.)

ravenstine 6y ago

I've been happily using Protonmail for the past 2 years. It's not going to have all the bells and whistles of Gmail, but I'm a minimalist so it's perfect for me.

StreamBright 6y ago

Edge is really good too! It is fast and has decent developer console. It has lots of content filtering options built-in too.

nothis 6y ago

>What’s a good privacy-oriented, web-based email service? I’ve heard of ProtonMail but haven’t used it. Been Firefox user out of conviction for 10+ years, made the switch to DuckDuckGo as my main search engine with about a year ago, no regrets. But Gmail? It's sticky. I have so much stuff tied to my email account and it just sucks looking for alternatives. I'd even happily pay. The main difficulty is finding a service that's as mature, feature-wise, as Gmail and a sensible way to migrate all my stuff (email-logins for major websites, informing clients of the new address, etc). I think the best compromise is using two accounts for a couple of years, heavily focusing on the non-Gmail one and dropping Gmail once you had no interaction with it for a while. But all the obvious alternatives people post don't quite cut it for me, I've been searching for ages.

nielsole 6y ago
The good thing is you never need to drop your Gmail. I use Fastmail since 4? Years and still get all the mail from all private accounts I've ever had. And they have excellent guides for migration, or so I recall (it's been a while)
dade_ 6y ago
2 years, mailbox.org has worked well for me, and has active-sync support.
wtetzner 6y ago
Maybe you can setup your new service to pull email from your Gmail account via POP3 or something, so you still only need to login to one account. Then you can gradually move further and further away from the Gmail account.
judge2020 6y ago
There should be a ".well-known" spec for changing email. Currently all we have is one for changing passwords I believe: https://wicg.github.io/change-password-url/ https://wicg.github.io/change-password-url/
californical 6y ago
I've been "meaning" to switch off of Gmail for years, with all of the issues with Google. I switched to Firefox/Safari a couple years ago, then DDG a year ago.. Finally, a week ago, I switched my email to fastmail. Bought a new domain for 10 years explicitly for that purpose. I'm slowly migrating everything to them... Every day or two I think of something else that needs to be migrated, and do it. I don't feel a need to rush because I just have them both simultaneously. I have to say though, Fastmail feels better than Gmail in every way. The UI is fast and snappy, looks clean (with a few themes), includes a calendar and notes. The first month is free, so I figured I'd try it before I decided to go all in. After about 20 minutes I was sold and bought a year subscription... They have this really cool feature with subdomain forwarding so you can organize things into folders automatically. As I've been migrating emails, I've been giving each service it's own unique email address. Eg `amazon@stores.domain.com` will automatically add the email to my "stores" folder, and I'll see it came from Amazon. I can put unlimited anything before the @ sign, which will be really nice for signing up for one-off forums. If they sell my email address or send spam, I'll know exactly who did it and can just block that address. They also have a bunch of other features for organization like the "+ addressing" that Gmail has. I definitely recommend checking them out though. I feel so good having an email that won't get shut down

mdavidn 6y ago

I've used Fastmail for over a decade, and they have yet to give me a reason to regret that move. Though it irks me that Google can still rummage through so many of my conversations because my contacts still use Gmail.

kovac 6y ago
I switched to Outlook email. I've been considering changing to Fastmail (considered a few others too), but this is the reason i thought emails are hopeless now. Most people I know are on Gmail.

schnable 6y ago

What's wrong with Safari?

seph-reed 6y ago
This month? https://gist.github.com/iansltx/18caf551baaa60b79206#gistcomment-3251085 https://gist.github.com/iansltx/18caf551baaa60b79206#gistcom...
- readarticle 6y ago
  The only issue there is developers not being able to keep up with the rapid pace at which Safari is still strengthening privacy protection even in the middle of a pandemic, as far as I can tell. Blocking third party cookies by default and requiring requests for storage access all sounds great.
  - seph-reed 6y ago
    Here's the code to keep your iframe from being abused: window.onmessage = function(e) { if ( /^https?:\/\/((subdomain)\.)?mysite.com/.test(e.origin) === false ) { console.error("Access: No auth"); return; } } If you could specify what the benefit over this approach is, I'd appreciate knowing.

Jayschwa 6y ago

I migrated from Gmail to Fastmail a couple years ago and I have been happy with it. Migrating existing emails from Gmail into Fastmail was easy, as was setting up forwarding from Gmail to Fastmail for all future emails. The hardest part was just updating accounts across the web to use the new email. Since I'm using a custom domain with Fastmail, I can change account emails to things like foo.com@mydomain.com or bar.net@mydomain.com.

mdavidn 6y ago
It's also easy to configure a Fastmail account to fetch messages from a Gmail inbox and even send messages via Gmail, for a seamless transition while updating accounts.
- rurp 6y ago
  Wow, that's a neat feature. I've seen a lot of Fastmail recommendations on HN but none that mentioned this feature. Thanks for bringing it up. I'm probably far from the only person around these parts that wants to migrate off of Gmail but just hasn't made it a priority yet, and this tip certainly helps.
bencollier49 6y ago
Likewise, it's easy and a sensible thing to do.

robertoandred 6y ago

Or just use Safari.

neon_electro 6y ago

Basecamp is coming out with a new email service called HEY on June 15th. It looks like it might be invite-only to start, but we'll see come that date. https://hey.com/ https://hey.com/