What are my options for email if I don't want to use GMail/Hotmail/Yahoo etc?

5 points·thesnark··9 comments

Host your own e-mail server. It's easier than it's made out to be. I've been doing it since I got my first symmetric DSL line in 1998. Today you can just use a very small VPS.

This was my first thought, but after researching for a while it seems pretty complicated. The tutorials I found literally have hundreds of steps to configure everything properly.

If you don't care about webmail, this might be the best option.

I've been looking at this myself and have a couple of questions:

What software would you recommend (Linux server)? I've been looking at postfix, which seems pretty easy to configure.

What about issues with sending from a private ip - are you ever blocked or marked as spam because of the vps ip (just sending normal emails)?

Spam filtering - what do you use for this, does it work?

I'm very happy with zoho https://www.zoho.com/mail/. If you want to use your own domain and you're not willing to pay for google apps, its a great alternative. Setup is extremely easy and the web interface is also pretty nice.

Most web hosting packages will include an email server, or have it as an option. Some include good anti-spam packages. If you want email @ a domain that you host anyway, it's a decent option with low/no maintenance required on your part.

Take a look at Fastmail.fm. I've been using it for about seven years and love it. Let me know if you have any questions about the service.

It looks like your emails are stored on their servers? My desire is to have more control over my data.

Then it seems like your original question was poorly framed.

If you are willing to pay there are several.

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