I think the barriers are overstated a bit. I have email on my own server, part of the stuff I run on a dedicated server. Granted, it costs money, but I'm using

I think the barriers are overstated a bit. I have email on my own server, part of the stuff I run on a dedicated server. Granted, it costs money, but I'm using the server for more than email anyway. That takes care of the IP address, and since the server's with a data hosting company, they take care of the network infrastructure, hardware maintenance and such. Downtime hasn't been a major issue - senders will retry sending email, usually multiple times over several days. I've been able to have downtime of 24-48 hours without losing any messages. A SPF record is just another easy to create DNS entry. If you know how to manage DNS, setting up SPF is a matter of minutes. DKIM is just slightly more complicated, with an extra key generation step. Sites like mxtoolbox.com can help you validate records. The biggest problem I think I have with my own server is security. I do patch the machine regularly, but of course I don't have the same kind of security that Google or another big player would. On the other hand, I suspect I might have a smaller attack surface and better security than plenty of small websites.