5 ms·

I also use this. Pros: super cheap. <$2/mo for all my custom email addresses and routing rules. Nothing else came close - everything else I found would make me

I also use this. Pros: super cheap. <$2/mo for all my custom email addresses and routing rules. Nothing else came close - everything else I found would make me pay per email address even if that address receives an average of 0 emails per month. The wildcard suffixes are really nice as well - they use _ instead of gmail's + (I've had issues with gmail's version as it sometimes is transparently removed, or sometimes the form doesn't consider + a valid character). Cons: UI is bad, so you'll want to access through a client. 1 person shop. Not audited AFAIK.

kanodiaashu 2y ago
did you compare with Zoho mail?
- eps 2y ago
  Zoho produces a lot of spam and regularly ends up on blocklists.
em-bee 2y ago
+ is not gmail. + is industry standard, supported by almost all mail servers (if configured) since long before gmail existed.
- MatekCopatek 2y ago
  It's gmail in the sense that they deliver you+[whatever]@gmail.com to you@gmail.com By default it's just a valid character.
  - em-bee 2y ago
    nope, exactly this feature you describe is what i am referring to. it's not a gmail invention. not by a long shot.
    - MatekCopatek 2y ago
      TIL! Thanks, was not aware of that.
    - wiml 2y ago
      I think it originated with CMU's email system (the use of the "+" sign specifically).
      - technothrasher 2y ago
        You're right. Originally the + sign in an email address was an indicator to the Andrew Message System's delivery agent to process the email in an extensible way. The syntax was +<keyword>+<args>. As an example. you could use "user+dir-insert+misc" to route the message to the "misc" directory in the user's mailbox structure. An unknown keyword would just get ignored and the mail delivered as usual, giving the behavior as used today.
    - sethammons 2y ago
      Not a gmail invention perhaps, but also not per RFC. That some use it to mean something special is not in the RFC. Actually, a significant number of SMTP servers don't even implement the required parts of the related RFCs, let alone fancy things like plus handling.
      - Sami_Lehtinen 2y ago
        Agreed, most of email servers and services are broken per RFC. I've blogged about this over and over again.
      - em-bee 2y ago
        it is not in the SMTP RFC because it is a purely local matter that does not affect email routing. there are a number of servers that support it. wikipedia lists some if them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address#Sub-addressing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address#Sub-addressing
  - sigio 2y ago
    As stated by others, + addressing is not gmail specific. One thing that gmail does however is allowing you to add (or remove) arbitrary dots in your mail-address, and these are stripped out / all end up in the same mailbox.
- bsder 2y ago
  The problem with "+" isn't the email side. The problem with "+" is dumbass Javascript developers who use broken regexes to "validate" an email address.
  - em-bee 2y ago
    right. that's very frustrating. just a few days ago i had to create another email alias because of it. + was always a legal character, right from the first SMTP RFC 822
    - hHdG5BVhm31Nev 2y ago
      My email for one of my CC accounts is like ...+banksucks@gmail.com because it allows plus-addressing, but doesn't like my domain. In other words, don't worry, they'll find a way to block your email one way or another. :P
dejan 2y ago
hmm, at that price you could try https://migadu.com https://migadu.com
akvadrako 2y ago
https://mailbox.org https://mailbox.org comes pretty close.
- crossroadsguy 2y ago
  I know online services or any service depends a lot on personal interaction experiences and personal expectations from those services and people involved in those services, but I can't leave mailbox.org sooner. I have tried/explored couple of them like Mailbox.org (of course, current user), Fastmail, Proton, and Runbox etc. Given everything http://runbox.com http://runbox.com seems to be the best among them - much better than Mailbox. In fact for Mailbox their less than 'less than ideal' support is enough for me to move elsewhere once my balance runs out (which I foolishly pumped in more than I should have had) Runbox isn't w/o its challenges but they do certain things really nice and they are: prompt, not into disregard a request in its entirety, not un-kind, not-jerk, not-flippant, not-entitled, not-costly, not into offering unusable shit that you don't need in an email suite to begin with, and basically open and engaging. So while I am not a customer right now, once the mailbox.org balance is close to running out and I will leave mailbox (and leave them I will) Runbox is the first contender to replace them right now.
  - akvadrako 2y ago
    I tried runbox before mailbox.org but it didn't work for me. They didn't support a server-side filter that copied emails from the inbox to another folder. And something was wrong with their DKIM support, but my notes don't say what. mailbox.org has it's problems though and I'd be happy to find something better.
    - crossroadsguy 2y ago
      > didn't support a server-side filter that copied emails from the inbox to another folder You mean a rule where you can say [mail:received-from="domain:xyz.com" > move to > "Saved" folder] - and it happens, something like this? Honestly I did not check it but I guess they might handle it. During my trials I didn't find any issue with their DKIM support. https://help.runbox.com/dkim-signing/ https://help.runbox.com/dkim-signing/ seems fine to me. You might want to ask if you are interested, unlike mailbox.org they do reply, and they reply promptly, and they reply as if they mean it. > I'd be happy to find something better Please do share here on HN if you happen to find something better. Cheers.
zelphirkalt 2y ago
posteo has been great for me and also allows you to define aliases, thou each alias costs 10c per month. If you stay below 10 aliases, it is <2€ per month as well.
- noja 2y ago
  Doesn’t support custom domains
riezebos 2y ago
As far as I can tell Fastmail comes pretty close, I have as many email addresses as I want on multiple domains and a bunch of routing rules for €4/mo.
- rstuart4133 2y ago
  How do you do that on Fastmail? I only see per email address pricing with each email address cost close to what you pay.
  - dbcjv7vhxj 2y ago
    [dead]
  - riezebos 2y ago
    Oh, maybe I didn't mean the same as you. I can create as many email addresses as I want, but they all go to the same inbox. Multiple inboxes would cost more. In the pricing page it is listed in the "Individual" plan as "+ Extra email addresses for personal and work". Edit: It is possible to create an extra email address and set it up so that all emails it receives are sent to a different external email address
indigodaddy 2y ago
Various shared hosting likely will always beat this price. Caveat is that many shared hosters don't know how to properly run mail servers within their shared hosting infra. Many do, however.

kanodiaashu 2y ago

did you compare with Zoho mail?

eps 2y ago
Zoho produces a lot of spam and regularly ends up on blocklists.

em-bee 2y ago

+ is not gmail. + is industry standard, supported by almost all mail servers (if configured) since long before gmail existed.

MatekCopatek 2y ago
It's gmail in the sense that they deliver you+[whatever]@gmail.com to you@gmail.com By default it's just a valid character.
- em-bee 2y ago
  nope, exactly this feature you describe is what i am referring to. it's not a gmail invention. not by a long shot.
  - MatekCopatek 2y ago
    TIL! Thanks, was not aware of that.
  - wiml 2y ago
    I think it originated with CMU's email system (the use of the "+" sign specifically).
    - technothrasher 2y ago
      You're right. Originally the + sign in an email address was an indicator to the Andrew Message System's delivery agent to process the email in an extensible way. The syntax was +<keyword>+<args>. As an example. you could use "user+dir-insert+misc" to route the message to the "misc" directory in the user's mailbox structure. An unknown keyword would just get ignored and the mail delivered as usual, giving the behavior as used today.
  - sethammons 2y ago
    Not a gmail invention perhaps, but also not per RFC. That some use it to mean something special is not in the RFC. Actually, a significant number of SMTP servers don't even implement the required parts of the related RFCs, let alone fancy things like plus handling.
    - Sami_Lehtinen 2y ago
      Agreed, most of email servers and services are broken per RFC. I've blogged about this over and over again.
    - em-bee 2y ago
      it is not in the SMTP RFC because it is a purely local matter that does not affect email routing. there are a number of servers that support it. wikipedia lists some if them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address#Sub-addressing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address#Sub-addressing
- sigio 2y ago
  As stated by others, + addressing is not gmail specific. One thing that gmail does however is allowing you to add (or remove) arbitrary dots in your mail-address, and these are stripped out / all end up in the same mailbox.
bsder 2y ago
The problem with "+" isn't the email side. The problem with "+" is dumbass Javascript developers who use broken regexes to "validate" an email address.
- em-bee 2y ago
  right. that's very frustrating. just a few days ago i had to create another email alias because of it. + was always a legal character, right from the first SMTP RFC 822
  - hHdG5BVhm31Nev 2y ago
    My email for one of my CC accounts is like ...+banksucks@gmail.com because it allows plus-addressing, but doesn't like my domain. In other words, don't worry, they'll find a way to block your email one way or another. :P

dejan 2y ago

hmm, at that price you could try https://migadu.com https://migadu.com

akvadrako 2y ago

https://mailbox.org https://mailbox.org comes pretty close.

crossroadsguy 2y ago
I know online services or any service depends a lot on personal interaction experiences and personal expectations from those services and people involved in those services, but I can't leave mailbox.org sooner. I have tried/explored couple of them like Mailbox.org (of course, current user), Fastmail, Proton, and Runbox etc. Given everything http://runbox.com http://runbox.com seems to be the best among them - much better than Mailbox. In fact for Mailbox their less than 'less than ideal' support is enough for me to move elsewhere once my balance runs out (which I foolishly pumped in more than I should have had) Runbox isn't w/o its challenges but they do certain things really nice and they are: prompt, not into disregard a request in its entirety, not un-kind, not-jerk, not-flippant, not-entitled, not-costly, not into offering unusable shit that you don't need in an email suite to begin with, and basically open and engaging. So while I am not a customer right now, once the mailbox.org balance is close to running out and I will leave mailbox (and leave them I will) Runbox is the first contender to replace them right now.
- akvadrako 2y ago
  I tried runbox before mailbox.org but it didn't work for me. They didn't support a server-side filter that copied emails from the inbox to another folder. And something was wrong with their DKIM support, but my notes don't say what. mailbox.org has it's problems though and I'd be happy to find something better.
  - crossroadsguy 2y ago
    > didn't support a server-side filter that copied emails from the inbox to another folder You mean a rule where you can say [mail:received-from="domain:xyz.com" > move to > "Saved" folder] - and it happens, something like this? Honestly I did not check it but I guess they might handle it. During my trials I didn't find any issue with their DKIM support. https://help.runbox.com/dkim-signing/ https://help.runbox.com/dkim-signing/ seems fine to me. You might want to ask if you are interested, unlike mailbox.org they do reply, and they reply promptly, and they reply as if they mean it. > I'd be happy to find something better Please do share here on HN if you happen to find something better. Cheers.

zelphirkalt 2y ago

posteo has been great for me and also allows you to define aliases, thou each alias costs 10c per month. If you stay below 10 aliases, it is <2€ per month as well.

noja 2y ago
Doesn’t support custom domains

riezebos 2y ago

As far as I can tell Fastmail comes pretty close, I have as many email addresses as I want on multiple domains and a bunch of routing rules for €4/mo.

rstuart4133 2y ago
How do you do that on Fastmail? I only see per email address pricing with each email address cost close to what you pay.
- dbcjv7vhxj 2y ago
  [dead]
- riezebos 2y ago
  Oh, maybe I didn't mean the same as you. I can create as many email addresses as I want, but they all go to the same inbox. Multiple inboxes would cost more. In the pricing page it is listed in the "Individual" plan as "+ Extra email addresses for personal and work". Edit: It is possible to create an extra email address and set it up so that all emails it receives are sent to a different external email address

indigodaddy 2y ago

Various shared hosting likely will always beat this price. Caveat is that many shared hosters don't know how to properly run mail servers within their shared hosting infra. Many do, however.