Ask HN: Email Service for Account Recovery? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Email Service for Account Recovery?

2 points404mm4 comments

With everything being linked to our email (most account recovery..), I’m on a hunt for new email service that I could use for account recovery, separate from my primary email.

While thinking about it, these points sound relevant to me: - Decent security and privacy

- Should not be Apple or Gmail (in case I get locked out of their platform for some unexpected reason)

- Should not auto-close due to inactivity (I don’t expect to log in unless I need to recover an account)

- Ability to log in without a physical 2FA, SMS or “app on another device” (in case of catastrophic events)

- Affordable. Free is cool but I am ok with a small monthly/yearly fee

- Service that is not likely to “shift focus”, “change policies” or “simplify offerings” (by eliminating affordable tiers)

- Should I 3rd party service to host own domain?

So far the best I could come up with Proton Mail. Their current EULA says that the service will close after a year of inactivity unless you are or ever have been a paying user.

> - Should not auto-close due to inactivity (I don’t expect to log in unless I need to recover an account)

Usually you need to login when you create an account, unfortunately.

Sorry I don't really your question, but for me:

What I would like is that all accounts that we create online make email and phone number optional, like news.yc and reddit.com do... I don't want to be able to recover my accounts.

What I do now for accounts that I don't care about, if they don't accept a fake email address, I use a temporary one: https://www.emailnator.com/ .

Good point! No recovery means one less attack vector. And I’m ok with that for this specific account purpose as well.

I personally use posteo.net. It costs 1€/month. 2FA is optional.

If you want to host your own domain, a similar offer can be found at mailbox.org (also costs 1€/m I think).

Both are German privacy oriented providers and are in business for years now (the CEO of mailbox.org it THE person (in Germany) you call when something at your big corp mail setup breaks at 3am on Saturday…)

As of my knowledge, as long as you pay, your account will not be closed at either of them.

I’ll check them out. The price is very reasonable. Proton is around $7/mo (if you upgrade from the free plan) and that’s a bit too much for me personally, considering I’m interested purely in the mailbox only.

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