I need to change ISPs and need to find a new email provider. This time I want to move to my own domain which I purchased through Namecheap and I do not want to use another ISP’s email system nor do I want to use Google, or Microsoft since I am Linux (and Android too) based. I would like this to be US based or at least have a strong US presence so obvious choices like Proton Mail, Mailfence, and Mailbox.org are out. I would prefer it interoperate well with FOSS software too, I use Thunderbird and K-9 Mail for example. Also so want them to be trustworthy, have good security, and have good OpSec with respect to their their servers and service.
After looking I find three I am considering and they are quite different:
- Fastmail. Long history. No PGP support but they do have their own domains one can use also.
- Namecheap Private Email. Uses Ox App Suite, may support PGP, and quite new. I think you have to have your own domain (not sure).
- Forward Email (forwardemail.net). A forwarder with IMAP support. You supply the webmail if you want webmail, but otherwise it should work fine with IMAP and normal clients.
So questions:
- Any thoughts and experience, pros and cons with the above 3.
- Other better ideas.
So thoughts? Thanks.
I think you should reconsider Proton. It seems to tick all of your boxes except US-based. However, I know they have US-based VPN servers, so I expect they have US-based email servers as well. It’s worth asking their support team about.
It doesn’t interoperate well with FOSS software like K9 and Thunderbird.
It does work fine with Thunderbird but you need their bridge app.
One day Proton will retire their bridge and there will be a lot of Pikachu faces.
I’m not really into the idea of moving everything to a baby Google, even if they’re currently good about privacy. They just added an AI tool to email and a crypto wallet, which could be either awful or great signs depending on your perspective.
As you might guess Proton or Mailfence are my top picks if they were in the US. Regarding Proton, unless I am missing something I would need the Ultimate plan side I need more then one account and domain hosting. That is very expensive.