One funny thing about "how to switch from Gmail" post is the top suggestion (Fastmail) is funded by Google. Indirectly, yes, but it is owned by Opera, which is nearly entirely funded by Google. It may be slightly better, but Fastmail still has a natural inclination to have you see Google ads. The reality is it is a trade off. Gmail is more secure than nearly any other solution, better than any other solution, and dead simple. And then you get served ads, cause there is no such thing as free lunch. If I had the skills and time, I would run my own server, but in all likelihood it would give me a minuscule amount of more privacy with a lot worse experience and a lot less security.