No, it's incorrect to say that running an email server requires just "a bit more work". Google basically no longer allows low volume servers to send mail.
I wrote more about this here:
https://www.attejuvonen.fi/dont-send-email-from-your-own-ser...
I wrote more about this here:
https://www.attejuvonen.fi/dont-send-email-from-your-own-ser...
I would venture to guess that a substantial portion of people reporting issues delivering at small scale are sending from a low-reputation netblock. (Assuming auth is all set up optimally.) So it's not that it's not possible to send at low volume, it's just that most people don't know to look at the netblock, it's hard to evaluate netblock reputation, and it's not always possible to select a preferred netblock within a given provider (especially VPS providers with low-cost options).
The bottom line is: it's hard to run your own mail server, and much of the reason for the success of services like Sendgrid is a) it's easier to set up auth properly with most of them, and b) they actively manage the email reputation of their netblocks (though some do this better than others).
If you're approaching things from a practical perspective instead of making this your hill to die on, you just use an email service provider, and for the vast majority of senders, life is a little bit easier. There's plenty of ESPs to pick from, and there's a very good chance you can find a free one that delivers better than an average VPS or IP of a residential ISP.
I know lots of people that run low volume personal type servers, many have claimed that gmail doesn't spambox them, but they were always testing on a (handful of) personal account(s), when I got them to check with an account they had never mailed before, they were spam boxed literally 100% of the time.
Properly setup, and strict FCrDNS, DMARC, DKIM, SPF, TLS and a clean IP and an old domain that have both never sent spam are absolutely not enough to avoid gmail's spambox.
Also: please stop spreading unsubstantiated claims about your magical server magically sending mail past Gmail's spam filters. There's virtually no chance of that being true, and if it somehow was true, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
I'm sure most people who run low-volume mail servers here have no problems sending to Gmail. I don't know why you think this is an extraordinary claim -- I can understand that they often block legitimate mail like in your case, but that doesn't mean that everyone has the same issue. I have occasional issues sending to Gmail but most of the time they accept it and don't mark it spam.
Based on direct experience and >testing< (I have talked to about 20 people with personal mail servers about this, and got them to attempt to send me email, on an account that had never interacted with their domain before), 100% of their emails were spam boxed.
Lots of people test gmail with their personal accounts, and think that email to gmail in general is delivered.
In my experience, it basically never is if you are a small sender.
Where are all these magical people with these magical abilities? How curious that not a single one of them is able to post any kind of evidence to support these incredulous claims. And funny how my comments on HN are getting downvoted and hidden when I ask for proof.
I’m waiting for the day they try to shut me down.
If you're wondering about the blacklist number, that's an error - the source site claims it knows nothing.