Are you done with Gmail? Check out these 5 alternatives
Reading and writing e-mails is a daily task for many of us. Making sure that this fundamental activity is done with an e-mail provider that fits our needs can be a challenging task. A Google account is required to access many of its services that are ubiquitous on the Internet nowadays. Think of YouTube and Android. This is one of the main reasons why Gmail is many people’s go-to e-mail service because you get one with the creation of your Google account. However, since Google’s growing dominance and its handling of our privacy is very concerning, to say the least, it is time to look for better alternatives.
Switching to a different e-mail service means that you’ll need to create a new e-mail address for this specific service. However, if you own your domain, like first@lastname.com, you will avoid the hassle of changing your e-mail address for all your existing accounts and informing your contacts of your address change. The only transition step you’ll have to take is migrating your e-mails to the new service. We’ll leave the creation of custom domains for your e-mail account for a different time. This will be a compilation of 5 e-mail services that aren’t Gmail. We’ll quickly take a look at each service’s support for custom domains, IMAP, data migration, and also pricing.
ProtonMail
If user privacy is of utmost priority, look no further than ProtonMail. The Swiss company encrypts all e-mail communication end-to-end. All the servers and encrypted user data are stored in Switzerland. A country with very strict privacy laws. It provides a web interface and also iOS and Android apps to access your e-mail. IMAP support is only possible on a desktop OS with the ProtonMail Bridge application which is paid feature only. This means that you won’t be able to access your mail via IMAP on your favorite smartphone app. You are stuck with the ProtonMail app on your phone or just accessing it via the mobile browser. ProtonMail luckily comes with an Import Assistant to migrate your existing mailbox into Protonmail. The free account comes with 500 MB of storage. If you want to use your custom domain, you will have to pay for its Plus membership which costs €5.00 per month.
Tutanota
Tutanota is an e-mail service that provides many privacy and security features. It supports true end-to-end encryption. The encrypted data is stored on servers situated in Germany. Germany as part of the EU has very strict privacy laws since the introduction of GDPR. Tutanota does not support IMAP. The only way to access your e-mail is through the provided desktop or mobile applications or the web interface. Sadly, Tutanota does not support e-mail migration at all. If you’re going to use Tutanota, do keep in mind that your existing mail can neither be imported nor exported. Tutanota has a free plan with 1GB storage. If you would like to use Tutanota with your custom, that will cost you € 1,20 for the monthly plan.
Mailbox.org
Another German e-mail service with high privacy standards is Mailbox.org. Mailbox.org provides secure end-to-end encrypted communication. All data is stored on German servers that are GDPR-compliant. Mailbox.org does support IMAP, making it possible to use your favorite e-mail application to retrieve and send e-mails. E-mail migration is made very easy because of IMAP support. Their paid plans give you access to the Audriga service which automates your e-mail migration instead of manually migrating your current and new mailbox from your local e-mail program like Thunderbird. Mailbox.org does not support a free plan. The light version costs €1 per month. If you would like to use your custom domain, you will need to upgrade to the standard plan which costs €3 per month.
OnMail
OnMail is a modern e-mail service made by the makers of Edison Mail. The first stable release was in 2021. OnMail sets itself apart from the pack, by rethinking the way we e-mail with its permission-based inbox. Just because people have your e-mail address, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to receive everyone’s mail. When you receive an e-mail from an unknown sender, you are asked to approve the address first. OnMail also promises a vastly improved search experience with natural language processing. With OnMail you’ll have to use its provided apps or the web interface since IMAP isn’t supported. Luckily e-mail migration is possible with OnMail. The free version of OnMail comes with 10 GB of storage. If you would like to use your custom domain, you’ll have to upgrade to the $4.99 monthly plan.
HEY
HEY e-mail is a premium service is made by Basecamp. The goal of HEY isn’t to imitate the existing services. The focus is instead on letting you decide where you want an e-mail to be categorized: the Imbox, the Feed, or The Paper Trail. In addition to that, HEY is also privacy-focused and blocks spy trackers by default. Of all the e-mail services on the list, HEY will be the one that will require some adjustments to your existing e-mail flow since it does a lot of things differently. Examples of this are the inability to archive e-mails and to see the number of unread e-mails you have. HEY does not support IMAP and e-mail migration isn’t possible. The cheapest plan of HEY costs $99 per year. If you would like to use a custom domain, that will set you back $12 per month.
