It's pointless to jump to another webmail provider. You will still be at someone else's mercy. A VPS is better, but only slightly better, for the same reason.

It's pointless to jump to another webmail provider. You will still be at someone else's mercy. A VPS is better, but only slightly better, for the same reason. If you really care about privacy, buy a low-end server and install Roundcube (or Mailpile when it's ready for production).