I moved all my custom domains to Fastmail five or six years ago and couldn't be happier.
My Gmail only exists to catch legacy messages and Google service notifications. I look forward to the day I can completely migrate out of all their products, but some organizations I work with who use Google for various things have made that a slow slog.
Me too. Moving mail to my own domain is one of the best things I've ever done.
To anyone considering it: just do it. Doesn't matter what provider you pick, the important thing is to start receiving mail via your own domain as soon as humanly possible. Once mail is going to your own domain, switching is as easy as updating DNS MX records.
…but make sure you keep on top of your domain renewals, make sure they can renew automatically, and make sure there is a backup email address that isn't on your domain that can be used to get into your domain registrar account.
(You probably don't need to ask how I know. I am very lucky that there was a grace period after my domain expired, where I spent a few days not realising why I wasn't receiving any email any more.)
Apple is a good choice if someone doesn’t know which company to start with. A lot of Apple customers have iCloud+ but don’t realize email hosting on your own domain is included in the plan. If you’re already paying for it you might as well use it.
I was totally unaware of this. I haven't quite been ready to pull the trigger on something like FastMail or ProtonMail, but I have a few domains kicking around and figure it's worth a shot to try it out. Thanks!
I'll third this. A few years ago I set up both a website (cloudflare) and started using Firefox Relay (proxy email addresses, with a mozmail domain).
I did it to make gmail less sticky and control spam[0]. Then last year I switched to fastmail and it was so easy because I just had to point somewhere else.
Even if you keep Gmail I highly suggest people do this as it's helped with spam and gives me more control. Because I have catchall emails I can even make up an email on the spot, with pen and paper only.
[0] every website gets a unique email and a unique password. Think something like hn@foo.mozmail.com or hn@godelski.com (I don't own those domains, don't try to reach me there). Bitwarden even supports FF Relay!
I only use gmail for providing to services. I have a fastmail account that I use for stuff I want. I treat gmail as a PO Box and my fastmail as my private mailbox. It is rare that I actually need to read my gmail other than when services only offer 2FA via email. It makes a huge difference
I don't think I could ever go back to running an e-mail server again, given the continually evolving battle with convincing the major e-mail providers that your IP is legit (I'm looking at you AT&T!).
The moment they turn off automatic forwarding (and I have no doubt they will), my gmail address dies. I'm trying to migrate accounts over whenever possible, but it's quite tedious.
I'm moving everything from Fastmail now but yeah those 10 years were good. Recent updates did the strange things to the UI but working with the identities became better.
My Gmail only exists to catch legacy messages and Google service notifications. I look forward to the day I can completely migrate out of all their products, but some organizations I work with who use Google for various things have made that a slow slog.