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Any good cheap email providers? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Looking for a cheap and reputable inbox from a company with a decent privacy policy. Don't mind paying, but it's gotta be less than 30 USD a year; I do not need anything but the ability to send and receive emails for accounts and correspondence.

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[–] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

I see a combination of issues with Posteo, mailbox.org, fastmail, and many other commonly suggested providers that made me steer away from them: 1) they don't have a free tier, and 2) they recycle your email address if you stop paying. Using a custom domain for email is not generally considered a best practice for privacy, so I avoid that too. This greatly reduces the number of options available to me.

Edit: my issue is not with 1 alone. The problem is the combination of 1 and 2. It means that if you're unable to pay for the service for any reason in the future, your old email address can be taken over by someone else.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    Well personally, I don't consider 1 to be a red flag, if you dont pay for the product you are the product. I understand wanting a free tier though. 2 is 100% valid, 3 (the point on custom domains) is also valid, although I already use Addy.Io as an aliasing service so I've given up blending in with the crowd there.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago

    It's not just 1 alone. It's the combination of 1 and 2 that's the issue. It means that if for any reason you're unable to continue paying for the service in the future, your old email address could be taken over by someone else.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I use posteo and I prepay for a year at a time. Credit usage varies since I'm always adding/removing aliases which cost like .10/ea/mo (you do get 3 free ones). I also know from experience that they don't just delete all your emails if you are late paying. It's honestly not something I've been concerned with personally.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    What's wrong with 1) ?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    It's not just 1) alone, but the combination of 1) and 2) that's the issue. If you're unable to pay for the service for any reason in the future, someone else can take over your old email address. If either 1) or 2) doesn't apply, then it should be fine.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    Does that not apply to your own Email TLD aswell. I never thought about it, since it doesn't make sense to a provider to block a prefix forever and everever. Everything comes to an end and if someone takes over your old teenager pseudonym darkl0rd666 in twenty years - so what? Even phone numbers are reassigned after some time. And guess what. Death is around the corner to end it all.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Sure, that's a valid perspective too. Yes, if you use your own domain for email and fail to renew the domain for any reason, someone can take it over your email address too. One more reason not to use custom email domains.

    I just figure that if I have a choice between an email provider that will let me keep my email address for the rest of my life and never give it to someone else or one that will give my email away not very long after I stop paying, I'm going to go with the longer-term, more stable solution. Like you said, there are no guarantees in life and life is short, but why make things more risky and complicated for myself?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Did you find that kind of provider that will supply eternal prefixes? The provider would have to be some kind of non-profit, that can not be sold. And maybe in a jurisdiction that covers this use case. Best would be a prohibition on email or domain reassignment, because that would be respected for hundreds of years to come, even if the law was changed again after the prefix assignment. What a thought, thank you for making me think about all that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 child)

    I'm not sure what you mean by prefixes. I'm just talking about regular email addresses at the provider's domain(s), like YourEmailName@TheirDomain.com. If you were asking about whether I have found providers that satisfy this requirement (either "lifetime" free email or no recycling of addresses), aside from the big ones that we're trying to avoid, like Google and Microsoft, the only ones I've found so far are Proton (free tier), Runbox (no recycling), and Infomaniak (free tier). I didn't check Tuta since I'm not interested in fully encrypted email providers.

    I don't think that we would ever get a provider that would satisfy those stringent requirements you listed, but I figure that anything is better than nothing. No problem, you're welcome, but sorry to bring your attention to that thought.

    Edit: added missing word ("free tier" instead of just "free" after Infomaniak)

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    YourEmailName is the prefix, anything before the @ . Thanks for the list, i'll check them out. And I wasn't being sarcastic. Really, thanks for the input, never thought about all that.

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