{"slug": "fastmail", "name": "Fastmail", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "Paid email hosting service with custom domains, masked email aliases, calendars, and contacts.", "recommenders": 64, "commenters": 93, "warners": 3, "score": 63.768, "rising": 27.51, "first": "2025-11-06", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Loved for its masked email aliases and a fast, reliable, low-fuss service that many moved to from Gmail.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 68, "neutral": 21, "compare": 6, "warn": 3}, "spark": [1, 2, 6, 4, 0, 1, 0, 9, 6, 16, 7, 16], "listed": true, "loved": ["Masked email", "Reliability"], "caveat": "No encryption", "short_quote": "I gave up on Gmail a few years ago and switched to Fastmail, and like it much more than Gmail.", "icon": true, "domain": "fastmail.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.fastmail.com", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Fastmail", "FastMail"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved for its masked email aliases", "cites": [{"id": 802260544, "item_id": 50141284, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50141284", "by": "steelframe", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way", "excerpt": "I have been using the alias feature for years now with Fastmail. Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way care of their slimey marketing vendor.", "context": "", "use_case": "email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "The One Question I Can't Stand at Restaurants (\"What's your phone number?\")"}, {"id": 776996640, "item_id": 48562290, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48562290", "by": "Henchman21", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really can't say enough good things about Fastmail!", "excerpt": "So I guess I'll take a moment and plug my email provider, Fastmail. Their integration with 1Password to enable creation of Masked Email at account creation time is really fantastic! I have several hundred of these at this point, it's made my digital life appreciably better. But to the point of forward-in-only -- I use the fastmail web client and iOS client. Both of these respond using the Masked Email address if you ", "context": "", "use_case": "email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless"}, {"id": 763113232, "item_id": 47694577, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694577", "by": "hereme888", "date": "2026-04-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses.", "excerpt": "I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses. Since virtually everything now requires creating an account (thanks marketers, bots, AI agents), I always use throwaway emails + privacy tools.", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "One item purchased, Ten emails"}, {"id": 789375248, "item_id": 49335953, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49335953", "by": "totallygeeky", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail is fantastic, I've been a very happy customer for at least a couple years now.", "excerpt": "Fastmail is fantastic, I've been a very happy customer for at least a couple years now. Masked emails have been so nice for throwaway/sketchy sites. It's done everything I could ask, would highly recommend for anyone looking to make the switch from elsewhere.", "context": "", "use_case": "email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}]}, {"text": " and a fast, reliable, low-fuss service that many moved to from Gmail.", "cites": [{"id": 804923248, "item_id": 50307703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307703", "by": "enraged_camel", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world.", "excerpt": "I switched from Gmail to Fastmail over a decade ago now, and it has been fantastic. IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world. I know that's a bold claim. But from a user's perspective: it's blazing fast, the UX is excellent, the web interface works flawlessly on every device and browser, and I have not run into a single bug.", "context": "user for over a decade", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 789466912, "item_id": 49341682, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49341682", "by": "Hard_Space", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "excerpt": "Switched to FastMail two years ago. Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 804804416, "item_id": 50300276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50300276", "by": "californical", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent. No major extra features but that\u2019s exactly what I want for an email provider! I see it recommended here sometimes, so I\u2019m happy to be that guy today", "context": "", "use_case": "email provider", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton goes all in on using AI"}, {"id": 789402928, "item_id": 49337683, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337683", "by": "GiorgioG", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm thrilled to not have Google searching my primary email address any longer.", "excerpt": "I moved to Fastmail from gmail a few years ago. I'm thrilled to not have Google searching my primary email address any longer. I still use gmail for SSO for a lot of things from my 'gmail.com' account.", "context": "", "use_case": "primary email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 797520272, "item_id": 49845017, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49845017", "by": "rcMgD2BwE72F", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm happy Fastmail (made by a small company) is much better and faster than Gmail", "excerpt": "I get no high from my phone/apps since there are no ads and no perverse incentives. I'm not the product of the services I pay for. I'm happy Fastmail (made by a small company) is much better and faster than Gmail (made by a advertising behemoth). Idem with GrapheneOS vs Pixel OS. The less friction, the shortest time spent using the phone, the most time to enjoy spending time outside and with friends.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "I'm tired of being on the network"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that mail is not encrypted and offers limited privacy against legal requests", "cites": [{"id": 804932048, "item_id": 50308253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308253", "by": "repeekad", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail is great", "excerpt": "FastMail is great, I'm not sure there's the same expectations around privacy though. I've been using it for years and love my masked emails, but I don't have any expectations that my data is locked down or encrypted, and one legal request would expose my info.", "context": "user for years", "use_case": "email with masked emails", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 801760592, "item_id": 50110037, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110037", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life", "excerpt": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life, so long as they don't ruin it.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Any good polished email alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 776043040, "item_id": 48502690, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502690", "by": "danielhep", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox", "excerpt": "I love fastmail, I switched from Proton a couple years ago after deciding the trade offs to have encrypted email were not worth it, since even if I fully trust Proton, most emails come from or go to AWS, Outlook, or Gmail anyway. I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox, and they don\u2019t add unnecessary features or bloat. I thought I would use my OS\u2019s mail apps but t", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Proton Mail", "story": "The Future of Email"}]}, {"text": ", and some users want hosting outside US-aligned jurisdictions.", "cites": [{"id": 804931616, "item_id": 50308226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308226", "by": "Y-bar", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean.", "excerpt": "I have already begun using my proton-domain email address with real people. They have just started learning it (or have finally updated my contact info). That\u2019s one hurdle. Another hurdle is I see no other good alternative. I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean. Also it is under US jurisdiction. That company is no longer relevant to me. I still think it ", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 804849712, "item_id": 50303107, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50303107", "by": "JeremyNT", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Fastmail which has been a very boring and high quality product.", "excerpt": "I use Fastmail which has been a very boring and high quality product. The company is not American, it is Australian, but any country with close ties to the US probably offers little in the way of surveillance avoidance. It's best to think of email as fully public information anyway, use Signal for anything you care about.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 789571184, "item_id": 49348199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49348199", "by": "forty", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using fastmail for a few years", "excerpt": "I have been using fastmail for a few years (not coming from gmail) and the service is good indeed (I don't need much tbh). I'm considering switching at some point anyway as I'm trying to move the last parts of my digital life back to Europe, but I have not found an alternative I liked so far", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 774029744, "item_id": 48376859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376859", "by": "foresterre", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well", "excerpt": "I've used Fastmail for years but a year ago switched to Proton. For me the only reason to switch to Proton was that its hosted within the European continent, while Fastmail is hosted in I would say that Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well, especially if you have more advanced setups like wildcard domains. In particularly, I miss being able to send from wildcard dom", "context": "used Fastmail for years before switching", "use_case": "email with wildcard domains", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Masked email", "summary": "Unlimited masked addresses and aliases make it easy to give each service its own address and cut off spam by deleting it.", "quotes": [{"id": 802260544, "item_id": 50141284, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50141284", "by": "steelframe", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way", "excerpt": "I have been using the alias feature for years now with Fastmail. Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way care of their slimey marketing vendor.", "context": "", "use_case": "email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "The One Question I Can't Stand at Restaurants (\"What's your phone number?\")"}, {"id": 776044048, "item_id": 48502753, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502753", "by": "jen729w", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "of which I am a delighted customer", "excerpt": "> Basically you should pre-authorize the senders This is kinda what 'masked email' services like Fastmail's \u2013 of which I am a delighted customer \u2013 do. Until you've known the comfort of creating an address; giving it to a service; deciding that you want to end your relationship with them; just deleting that address, without changing your mailbox or infrastructure or archives or anything else \u2026 it's kinda life changing", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Future of Email"}, {"id": 774052256, "item_id": 48378266, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48378266", "by": "citizenpaul", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to fastmail about 2 years ago.  It was not a super painful process, they make it easy as possible.", "excerpt": "I moved to fastmail about 2 years ago. It was not a super painful process, they make it easy as possible. Also I used it as an opportunity to \"reverse-whitelist\" all my accounts by giving everything i use its own disposable masked address. spam is now nonexistent in my email.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}]}, {"label": "Reliability", "summary": "Long-time users describe it as boring in a good way, consistent, and rarely down.", "quotes": [{"id": 804804416, "item_id": 50300276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50300276", "by": "californical", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent. No major extra features but that\u2019s exactly what I want for an email provider! I see it recommended here sometimes, so I\u2019m happy to be that guy today", "context": "", "use_case": "email provider", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton goes all in on using AI"}, {"id": 789466912, "item_id": 49341682, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49341682", "by": "Hard_Space", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "excerpt": "Switched to FastMail two years ago. Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 781911200, "item_id": 48869450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869450", "by": "reconnecting", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use FastMail for a business that is sensitive to email delivery time", "excerpt": "Could you provide more details about this issue? Yesterday I received emails all day long and didn't notice any problem, and similarly there was no issue according to their status page yesterday (1). We use FastMail for a business that is sensitive to email delivery time \u2014 in other words, if for some reason we receive emails with a delay, this could be a problem. Over the past 5 years or so, we've had only one incide", "context": "runs a business sensitive to email delivery time", "use_case": "business email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton AG Services is currently experiencing some issues"}]}, {"label": "Speed and UI", "summary": "The web app is called fast and polished, with good search even on huge inboxes.", "quotes": [{"id": 804923248, "item_id": 50307703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307703", "by": "enraged_camel", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world.", "excerpt": "I switched from Gmail to Fastmail over a decade ago now, and it has been fantastic. IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world. I know that's a bold claim. But from a user's perspective: it's blazing fast, the UX is excellent, the web interface works flawlessly on every device and browser, and I have not run into a single bug.", "context": "user for over a decade", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 802202768, "item_id": 50137673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137673", "by": "muzzy19", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail has a polished UI and a great search unlike Proton.", "excerpt": "Fastmail has a polished UI and a great search unlike Proton. WebDAV storage is another great bonus.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Any good polished email alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 776043040, "item_id": 48502690, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502690", "by": "danielhep", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox", "excerpt": "I love fastmail, I switched from Proton a couple years ago after deciding the trade offs to have encrypted email were not worth it, since even if I fully trust Proton, most emails come from or go to AWS, Outlook, or Gmail anyway. I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox, and they don\u2019t add unnecessary features or bloat. I thought I would use my OS\u2019s mail apps but t", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Proton Mail", "story": "The Future of Email"}]}, {"label": "Easy switching", "summary": "Moving from Gmail or another provider is described as easy, especially with a custom domain.", "quotes": [{"id": 793118705, "item_id": 49569919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569919", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Then last year I switched to fastmail and it was so easy", "excerpt": "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. Becaus", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 787588112, "item_id": 49224257, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49224257", "by": "cube2222", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to Fastmail a couple years ago, and so far I\u2019ve been very happy with it!", "excerpt": "Nice, as a European customer, I appreciate this. Side note, I moved to Fastmail a couple years ago, and so far I\u2019ve been very happy with it! The Gmail migrator works great, too.", "context": "European customer", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Fastmail offers EU data region"}, {"id": 774052256, "item_id": 48378266, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48378266", "by": "citizenpaul", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved to fastmail about 2 years ago.  It was not a super painful process, they make it easy as possible.", "excerpt": "I moved to fastmail about 2 years ago. It was not a super painful process, they make it easy as possible. Also I used it as an opportunity to \"reverse-whitelist\" all my accounts by giving everything i use its own disposable masked address. spam is now nonexistent in my email.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}]}, {"label": "Fair pricing", "summary": "Commenters call it cheap or fairly priced and worth paying for.", "quotes": [{"id": 788187840, "item_id": 49261740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261740", "by": "emn4tor", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail natively supports JMAP, is pretty cheap ($3-5).", "excerpt": "Fastmail natively supports JMAP, is pretty cheap ($3-5). I always like selfhosting either at home, or using a cheap VPS - iRedMail, MailCow etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What email provider do you recommend for personal email?"}, {"id": 789525328, "item_id": 49345333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345333", "by": "absoluteunit1", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "highly recommend for solo devs and small teams.", "excerpt": "Have been using Fastmail for the last 2 years for my startup. Can't speak for other use cases but highly recommend for solo devs and small teams. Great support, great pricing and never had an issue with their services", "context": "startup founder", "use_case": "startup email", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 789518928, "item_id": 49344933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344933", "by": "aranaur", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Worth every penny. I have zero regrets.", "excerpt": "When I had more time on my hands, I jumped from CPanel email to Outlook (when they offered free custom domain mail) to Zoho before landing on FastMail. It's been about a decade now and, other than adding the occasional custom domain and the rare service outage, I have made very few configuration changes. Worth every penny. I have zero regrets.", "context": "", "use_case": "custom domain email", "switched_from": "Zoho", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}]}, {"label": "Beats self-hosting", "summary": "Former self-hosters say it removes the work and deliverability headaches of running a mail server.", "quotes": [{"id": 793064064, "item_id": 49566504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566504", "by": "zatkin", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved from hosting my own e-mail server to having it all served in Fastmail, and I couldn't be happier as well!", "excerpt": "From a different angle, I moved from hosting my own e-mail server to having it all served in Fastmail, and I couldn't be happier as well!", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "self-hosted email server", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 784716240, "item_id": 49044765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49044765", "by": "stackghost", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Nowadays I pay fastmail to worry about that bullshit.", "excerpt": "Eh, I used to be in that camp. I did it the right way. I set up SPF, DMARC and DKIM. I shopped around for a dedicated box with a v4 address that had a clean reputation. I ensured the provider's ASN was also clean. I used a well known TLD. I sent absolutely zero spam. No newsletters no nothing, just regular correspondence. But I don't send enough emails to keep my IP reputation warm, I think, because deliverability in", "context": "previously self-hosted mail with SPF/DMARC/DKIM", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "self-hosted email", "story": "The small, real, original web"}, {"id": 784645168, "item_id": 49040323, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49040323", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Especially when Fastmail and Proton are so cheap.", "excerpt": "I ran my own self-hosted email server from 2008-ish to 2018, and I would highly recommend against doing it! Especially when Fastmail and Proton are so cheap. I was running Postfix+Dovecot+Seive+SpamAssassin+Fail2ban+certbot+spf+dkim+reverse-ip+<other random crap> It worked! Receiving email was overall pretty easy. I know I also did things the \"hard way\" by ad-hoccing all that together, and today there are a lot more ", "context": "ran own mail server 2008-2018", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Self-host your mail server"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "No encryption", "summary": "Mail is not end-to-end encrypted, and one legal request could expose a user's data.", "quotes": [{"id": 804932048, "item_id": 50308253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308253", "by": "repeekad", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail is great", "excerpt": "FastMail is great, I'm not sure there's the same expectations around privacy though. I've been using it for years and love my masked emails, but I don't have any expectations that my data is locked down or encrypted, and one legal request would expose my info.", "context": "user for years", "use_case": "email with masked emails", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 801760592, "item_id": 50110037, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110037", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life", "excerpt": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life, so long as they don't ruin it.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Any good polished email alternative to Proton Mail?"}]}, {"label": "Jurisdiction", "summary": "Some users want EU hosting or avoid its non-European jurisdiction; one found it laggy from across the Atlantic.", "quotes": [{"id": 804931616, "item_id": 50308226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308226", "by": "Y-bar", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean.", "excerpt": "I have already begun using my proton-domain email address with real people. They have just started learning it (or have finally updated my contact info). That\u2019s one hurdle. Another hurdle is I see no other good alternative. I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean. Also it is under US jurisdiction. That company is no longer relevant to me. I still think it ", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 789571184, "item_id": 49348199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49348199", "by": "forty", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using fastmail for a few years", "excerpt": "I have been using fastmail for a few years (not coming from gmail) and the service is good indeed (I don't need much tbh). I'm considering switching at some point anyway as I'm trying to move the last parts of my digital life back to Europe, but I have not found an alternative I liked so far", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 774029744, "item_id": 48376859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376859", "by": "foresterre", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well", "excerpt": "I've used Fastmail for years but a year ago switched to Proton. For me the only reason to switch to Proton was that its hosted within the European continent, while Fastmail is hosted in I would say that Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well, especially if you have more advanced setups like wildcard domains. In particularly, I miss being able to send from wildcard dom", "context": "used Fastmail for years before switching", "use_case": "email with wildcard domains", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}]}, {"label": "Spam and support", "summary": "Some report weak phishing filtering and poor or hostile customer service.", "quotes": [{"id": 776096512, "item_id": 48506032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48506032", "by": "mthoms", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "their spam/phishing filtering (and customer service) have been really poor lately", "excerpt": "I used to love Fastmail, but their spam/phishing filtering (and customer service) have been really poor lately. I don't know if AI is helping or hurting them. My anecdotal experience suggests the latter. As one example, I'm now regularly getting phishing email from \"The IRS\" that always comes from some random account that has been taken over. The latest one was literally from a hotmail account (and my address is dot ", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Future of Email"}, {"id": 776435312, "item_id": 48527207, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48527207", "by": "f_fmail", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the CEO responded with such obnoxious belligerence that I swore off doing business with Bron or Fastmail ever again", "excerpt": "I migrated from Fastmail to Runbox in 2017, having been a customer with the former for four years, after I filed a ticket and the CEO responded with such obnoxious belligerence that I swore off doing business with Bron or Fastmail ever again. The ticket began with a question about whether they'd be willing to change the way their WebDAV server handles query strings (by just ignoring them\u2014versus returning 4xx, as it w", "context": "former customer for four years", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lies We Tell Ourselves About Email Addresses"}]}, {"label": "Domain rejection", "summary": "Some smaller websites reject addresses outside the major email domains.", "quotes": [{"id": 781777008, "item_id": 48861063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48861063", "by": "no_input", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love this feature from Fastmail", "excerpt": "I love this feature from Fastmail but I have used a few websites (smaller of course) that will not accept anything outside of the big few email domains.", "context": "", "use_case": "email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "My burner email blocklist blocked me"}]}, {"label": "Rare outages", "summary": "Long-term users note occasional, rare service outages or delivery delays.", "quotes": [{"id": 789518928, "item_id": 49344933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344933", "by": "aranaur", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Worth every penny. I have zero regrets.", "excerpt": "When I had more time on my hands, I jumped from CPanel email to Outlook (when they offered free custom domain mail) to Zoho before landing on FastMail. It's been about a decade now and, other than adding the occasional custom domain and the rare service outage, I have made very few configuration changes. Worth every penny. I have zero regrets.", "context": "", "use_case": "custom domain email", "switched_from": "Zoho", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 781911200, "item_id": 48869450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869450", "by": "reconnecting", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use FastMail for a business that is sensitive to email delivery time", "excerpt": "Could you provide more details about this issue? Yesterday I received emails all day long and didn't notice any problem, and similarly there was no issue according to their status page yesterday (1). We use FastMail for a business that is sensitive to email delivery time \u2014 in other words, if for some reason we receive emails with a delay, this could be a problem. Over the past 5 years or so, we've had only one incide", "context": "runs a business sensitive to email delivery time", "use_case": "business email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton AG Services is currently experiencing some issues"}]}], "who": [{"by": "repeekad", "context": "user for years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308253", "date": "2026-10-30"}, {"by": "enraged_camel", "context": "user for over a decade", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307703", "date": "2026-10-30"}, {"by": "joshka", "context": "solo hoster", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50254794", "date": "2026-10-27"}, {"by": "p0d", "context": "previously tried self-hosting email", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229708", "date": "2026-10-25"}, {"by": "rlpb", "context": "keeps Google accounts separate", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50095447", "date": "2026-10-14"}, {"by": "3stacks", "context": "Australian", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49721264", "date": "2026-09-16"}, {"by": "absoluteunit1", "context": "startup founder", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345333", "date": "2026-08-18"}, {"by": "Bender", "context": "self-hosts mail servers", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49262416", "date": "2026-08-11"}, {"by": "cube2222", "context": "European customer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49224257", "date": "2026-08-08"}, {"by": "stackghost", "context": "previously self-hosted mail with SPF/DMARC/DKIM", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49044765", "date": "2026-07-24"}, {"by": "mmh0000", "context": "ran own mail server 2008-2018", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49040323", "date": "2026-07-24"}, {"by": "reconnecting", "context": "runs a business sensitive to email delivery time", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869450", "date": "2026-07-10"}], "tags": ["for leaving Gmail", "for custom domains", "for 1Password users", "for solo devs and small teams", "JMAP and MCP support"], "use_cases": ["email", "email hosting", "personal email", "email provider", "email aliases", "masked email addresses"], "compared": [{"slug": "gmail", "name": "Gmail", "co": 24, "switched_from": 15, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "proton", "name": "Proton", "co": 16, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "zoho-mail", "name": "Zoho Mail", "co": 3, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "kagi", "name": "Kagi", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "1password", "name": "1Password", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "cloudflare", "name": "Cloudflare", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mailbox-org", "name": "mailbox.org", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49334409", "title": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail", "mentions": 15}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261634", "title": "Ask HN: What email provider do you recommend for personal email?", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49565693", "title": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523682", "title": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48559935", "title": "Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307183", "title": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'", "mentions": 3}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 6, "compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 4}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 9, "neutral": 4, "warn": 2}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 6}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 16, "neutral": 8, "compare": 2}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 7, "compare": 3, "neutral": 3}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 16, "neutral": 5, "warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804932048, "item_id": 50308253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308253", "by": "repeekad", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail is great", "excerpt": "FastMail is great, I'm not sure there's the same expectations around privacy though. I've been using it for years and love my masked emails, but I don't have any expectations that my data is locked down or encrypted, and one legal request would expose my info.", "context": "user for years", "use_case": "email with masked emails", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 804931776, "item_id": 50308236, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308236", "by": "nsagent", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So far I'm more than happy with the decision.", "excerpt": "I migrated to FastMail from Proton earlier this year (after being with Proton since 2019). So far I'm more than happy with the decision.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Proton Mail", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 804931616, "item_id": 50308226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308226", "by": "Y-bar", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean.", "excerpt": "I have already begun using my proton-domain email address with real people. They have just started learning it (or have finally updated my contact info). That\u2019s one hurdle. Another hurdle is I see no other good alternative. I used Fastmail for a while, but it was a bit laggy due to network requests across the Atlantic Ocean. Also it is under US jurisdiction. That company is no longer relevant to me. I still think it ", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}, {"id": 804923248, "item_id": 50307703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307703", "by": "enraged_camel", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world.", "excerpt": "I switched from Gmail to Fastmail over a decade ago now, and it has been fantastic. IMO it is one of the highest quality software products in the world. I know that's a bold claim. But from a user's perspective: it's blazing fast, the UX is excellent, the web interface works flawlessly on every device and browser, and I have not run into a single bug.", "context": "user for over a decade", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 804849712, "item_id": 50303107, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50303107", "by": "JeremyNT", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Fastmail which has been a very boring and high quality product.", "excerpt": "I use Fastmail which has been a very boring and high quality product. The company is not American, it is Australian, but any country with close ties to the US probably offers little in the way of surveillance avoidance. It's best to think of email as fully public information anyway, use Signal for anything you care about.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 804804416, "item_id": 50300276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50300276", "by": "californical", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years now. Easy to use, reliable, and consistent. No major extra features but that\u2019s exactly what I want for an email provider! I see it recommended here sometimes, so I\u2019m happy to be that guy today", "context": "", "use_case": "email provider", "switched_from": "", "story": "Proton goes all in on using AI"}, {"id": 804722208, "item_id": 50295138, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295138", "by": "bhrlady", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Fastmail because they are at least honest about their limitations", "excerpt": "\"Yen was not happy that Proton was drawing attention to this limitation.\" This has always been the case. Lack of transparency and dishonest, overzealous marketing. I use Fastmail because they are at least honest about their limitations and Proton is completely overhyped in terms of the genuine privacy and security of their products. Good to know that beyond being mediocre they've confirmed it's all increasingly AI sl", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning"}, {"id": 804076705, "item_id": 50254794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50254794", "by": "joshka", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my main email (hosted on fastmail)", "excerpt": "I really want to give this a try for a backup to my main email (hosted on fastmail), but a couple of those enterprise features are things I'd want to really try out as a solo hoster (AI Sieve and masked addresses). I can't justify paying $50/year for those though. :|", "context": "solo hoster", "use_case": "main email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stalwart v1.0: The Fastest Mail Server on the Planet"}, {"id": 803675328, "item_id": 50229708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229708", "by": "p0d", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "fastmail as my mail provider", "excerpt": "I went down this road and reversed. I use cloudflare for domain reg, fastmail as my mail provider and free Gmail as my mail client.", "context": "previously tried self-hosting email", "use_case": "mail provider", "switched_from": "self-hosted email", "story": "Ask HN: How do people self host email and maintain deliverability?"}, {"id": 803450608, "item_id": 50215663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50215663", "by": "black_knight", "date": "2026-10-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use fastmail currently.", "excerpt": "Buy a domain, then you don\u2019t lose your address if you ever decide to jump to a different provider. I use fastmail currently. But I also keep my own backups.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads"}, {"id": 802368353, "item_id": 50148022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50148022", "by": "actualwill", "date": "2026-10-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Moved my domain from namecheap to cloudflare that I use for Fastmail.", "excerpt": "Moved my domain from namecheap to cloudflare that I use for Fastmail. There was a bit of a song and dance because CF requires you use its own name servers, but I had codex do it for me in chrome. Would recommend.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains"}, {"id": 802260544, "item_id": 50141284, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50141284", "by": "steelframe", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way", "excerpt": "I have been using the alias feature for years now with Fastmail. Deleting an alias is hands-down the quickest and most convenient way to unsubscribe from whatever drivel a company ends up sending my way care of their slimey marketing vendor.", "context": "", "use_case": "email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "The One Question I Can't Stand at Restaurants (\"What's your phone number?\")"}, {"id": 802202768, "item_id": 50137673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137673", "by": "muzzy19", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail has a polished UI and a great search unlike Proton.", "excerpt": "Fastmail has a polished UI and a great search unlike Proton. WebDAV storage is another great bonus.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Any good polished email alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 801760592, "item_id": 50110037, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110037", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life", "excerpt": "FastMail. No encryption, but just works. I will pay for it for the rest of my life, so long as they don't ruin it.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Any good polished email alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 801553600, "item_id": 50097100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097100", "by": "maw", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now I just use Fastmail's masked address feature.", "excerpt": "I used to do this when I could, but many poorly written email validators reject such addresses. (One service, Rappi, was so gloriously, hopelessly broken that they spammed me now and then at the address with a + in it but I couldn't use it to log in!) Now I just use Fastmail's masked address feature. (And I do not use Rappi.)", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I wrote an email app that accepts only one sender per inbox"}, {"id": 801527152, "item_id": 50095447, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50095447", "by": "rlpb", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Fastmail for some key email addresses and this works well for me", "excerpt": "I always assumed that if I add other Google accounts to my Android phone then they'd be linked together, so I avoided doing it. It's a pain because Google apps require it. For example I can't join a Google Meet from my phone for this reason because I've always kept the Google account I use for email separate from the Google account I use for Android (and then K-9 Mail via IMAP to access it to avoid connecting them th", "context": "keeps Google accounts separate", "use_case": "key email addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google is silently linking your phone number across all signed-in accounts"}, {"id": 801491824, "item_id": 50093239, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50093239", "by": "drayfield", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use unique emails for every service I use and it works beautifully.", "excerpt": "For context I'm sleep deprived so sorry if I've missed something obvious, but what differentiates this with something like Fastmail's masked email offering? I use unique emails for every service I use and it works beautifully. This seems... more complicated? I under there's a price difference, but little else.", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email per service", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I wrote an email app that accepts only one sender per inbox"}, {"id": 801317345, "item_id": 50082334, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50082334", "by": "stackghost", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use mail.app with my fastmail account and it\u2019s perfect.", "excerpt": "I recently switched from android back to iOS and tried to use mail.app for everything, as I rather like it. Unfortunately it doesn\u2019t sync properly with Gmail. I am in the process of de-googling my life so that\u2019s okay with me. I use mail.app with my fastmail account and it\u2019s perfect.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 801294336, "item_id": 50080896, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080896", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I recently switched to Fastmail.", "excerpt": "I recently switched to Fastmail. When I was asking an LLM about using it with the native Apple apps, it mentioned this approval that was needed, and that it didn't always work. I'd be interested to hear some first-hand experiences. My dad has been using his own domain for email for about 25 years and has bounced around to various hosts... random hosting providers. He uses Apple Mail and hasn't ever mentioned having a", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 800666192, "item_id": 50041637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041637", "by": "28304283409234", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm still on fastmail because I use *@domain.name", "excerpt": "I'm still on fastmail because I use *@domain.name and Proton only supports a very limited number of emailaddresses, and only 3(!) domains. Sadly.", "context": "", "use_case": "email with catch-all domain", "switched_from": "", "story": "European Alternatives"}, {"id": 799559504, "item_id": 49972469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49972469", "by": "MichaelVangard", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years and all my accounts use unique email addresses like safeway@example.com through the catch-all option. It takes a bit of time to set everything up the way you want at first, but Fastmail supports custom sieve scripts. With wildcards in sieve, you can automatically create and apply labels to these kinds of per-account addresses without naming them all in advance. You can add specific ", "context": "", "use_case": "custom domain email with catch-all", "switched_from": "", "story": "All I wanted was a custom domain email"}, {"id": 799389680, "item_id": 49961855, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961855", "by": "sakjur", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail lets you do safeway@glyptodon.mydomain.example as an alternative to plus-aliases.", "excerpt": "Fastmail lets you do safeway@glyptodon.mydomain.example as an alternative to plus-aliases. https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/articles/360060591053-Plus-addressing-and-subdomain-addressing", "context": "", "use_case": "custom domain email subdomain addressing", "switched_from": "", "story": "All I wanted was a custom domain email"}, {"id": 797520272, "item_id": 49845017, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49845017", "by": "rcMgD2BwE72F", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm happy Fastmail (made by a small company) is much better and faster than Gmail", "excerpt": "I get no high from my phone/apps since there are no ads and no perverse incentives. I'm not the product of the services I pay for. I'm happy Fastmail (made by a small company) is much better and faster than Gmail (made by a advertising behemoth). Idem with GrapheneOS vs Pixel OS. The less friction, the shortest time spent using the phone, the most time to enjoy spending time outside and with friends.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "I'm tired of being on the network"}, {"id": 795540225, "item_id": 49721264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49721264", "by": "3stacks", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Maybe so, but I just assume anything I write is being read by multiple different parties anyway. I use Signal too, but I don't trust that either. Face-to-face communication (inside my portable lead chamber) is the way to go", "context": "Australian", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Proton Mail"}, {"id": 793118705, "item_id": 49569919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569919", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Then last year I switched to fastmail and it was so easy", "excerpt": "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. Becaus", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 793093619, "item_id": 49568351, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49568351", "by": "bicepjai", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "works well with Fastmail and other apps", "excerpt": "Moved from LastPass because of sketchy behaviour, now we have to do this again. What happens to ethics in our society :) I love 1Password, how we can share password with link, they have it on all os and browsers; works well with Fastmail and other apps. Does Proton Pass have all these and if they have how is the appX ? Thanks", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}, {"id": 793064064, "item_id": 49566504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566504", "by": "zatkin", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I moved from hosting my own e-mail server to having it all served in Fastmail, and I couldn't be happier as well!", "excerpt": "From a different angle, I moved from hosting my own e-mail server to having it all served in Fastmail, and I couldn't be happier as well!", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "self-hosted email server", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 793063952, "item_id": 49566497, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566497", "by": "dylan604", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a fastmail account that I use for stuff I want.", "excerpt": "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", "context": "", "use_case": "private mailbox", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 793061714, "item_id": 49566357, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566357", "by": "goobatrooba", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Is fastmail better in this respect?", "excerpt": "I switched to migadu which was not too painful for a single account (basically the advice was to put both accounts in thunderbird and then move everything over, thunderbird does the work). For email very happy with the provider, notably also as it allows infinite domains. But I miss a proper calendar which migadu is strangely mostly lacking (basic caldav only). Is fastmail better in this respect? And can you do wildc", "context": "", "use_case": "calendar and email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 793058368, "item_id": 49566148, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566148", "by": "LetMeLogin", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Two years ago I moved to Fastmail(they're great)", "excerpt": "It's not an easy task! I had mine account since gmail beta, so much stuff is going through it. Two years ago I moved to Fastmail(they're great), and pretty much setting up an alias per site/purpose. While I'm happy to see that gmail receives less & less, I still have about 150 entries in 1password that say @gmail.com... maybe one day...", "context": "", "use_case": "email with aliases", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 792772240, "item_id": 49548265, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548265", "by": "atmosx", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "They do have fallback, they keep backups in the US.", "excerpt": "They do have fallback, they keep backups in the US. So if you want backup / data EU sovereignty it\u2019s not really going to cut it. I don\u2019t remember them having an outage the last many years\u2026 nothing that affected me at least.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 792639393, "item_id": 49539962, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539962", "by": "4lx87", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "better privacy safeguards and internal processes in place for protecting your email from their employees than FastMail", "excerpt": "iCloud. Great price. Great service. And Apple has better privacy safeguards and internal processes in place for protecting your email from their employees than FastMail or anyone besides maybe the encrypted mail providers like ProtonMail.", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 792538048, "item_id": 49533628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49533628", "by": "drayfield", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "use individual masked emails in Fastmail per different service", "excerpt": "I used to be a fan of Zitron after listening to an old podcast of his, and also subscribing to his newsletter. Something weird happened after Taylor Lorenz guested on his show; a week later I received a welcome email to Taylor's own newsletter. This was especially strange because I definitely hadn't signed up to hers, and use individual masked emails in Fastmail per different service so I was sure that this was the e", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email per service", "switched_from": "", "story": "How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?"}, {"id": 792383553, "item_id": 49523972, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523972", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "If you are willing to take on some more risk, try Fastmail.", "excerpt": "\"What is your threat model?\" If you want to stay entirely outside of the reach of the US gov, stick with Proton and eat the outages. If you are willing to take on some more risk, try Fastmail. Consider the subject comms and whether higher risk comms should instead be in something like Signal.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 792382016, "item_id": 49523876, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523876", "by": "OhMeadhbh", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Do you know if they have multiple data centers and can fail-over when one barfs?", "excerpt": "Do you know if they have multiple data centers and can fail-over when one barfs? I'm willing to pay a little extra for a SLA. Also, cyberinsider.com thinks Fastmail is in bed w/ the feds cause they have data centers in the states. Is that accurate? meh. I dunno. https://cyberinsider.com/email/reviews/fastmail/ Thx for the info, though.", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 792380944, "item_id": 49523809, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523809", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FastMail. They've working to support an EU region first class. Great uptime imho.", "excerpt": "FastMail. They've working to support an EU region first class. Great uptime imho. Fastmail offers EU data region - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223082 - August 2026 (296 comments)", "context": "", "use_case": "email hosting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternative to Proton Mail?"}, {"id": 790852609, "item_id": 49428288, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428288", "by": "kqp", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail masked email where I\u2019m not.", "excerpt": "This is a huge selling point. Private email relays often get blocked, the only lasting solution is to put them on the same domain as, and in the same format as, a significant number of non-private email addresses. As far as I\u2019m aware the only other provider doing this is Fastmail. Comments about lock-in aren\u2019t wrong, but it has to be this way. You can make arbitrary email addresses at your own domain, but anybody who", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will remain on icloud.com"}, {"id": 789789040, "item_id": 49361815, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49361815", "by": "toomuchtodo", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also recommend Fastmail instead of Google for email.", "excerpt": "https://github.com/Tryhard-cs/reddit-download-tool might be able to help if you are looking to have a copy of your Reddit posts and comments data. I also recommend Fastmail instead of Google for email. The enshittification is unfortunate. Decouple where ever you can from suboptimal systems and vote with your feet, migrating to more optimal services and systems.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm so f-n tired of the Internet It has become the worst place"}, {"id": 789606080, "item_id": 49350380, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49350380", "by": "bigbuppo", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Fastmail.", "excerpt": "I love Fastmail. They're built on top of open source software, Cyrus IMAP, and they've more or less become the steward of that project.", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 789571184, "item_id": 49348199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49348199", "by": "forty", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using fastmail for a few years", "excerpt": "I have been using fastmail for a few years (not coming from gmail) and the service is good indeed (I don't need much tbh). I'm considering switching at some point anyway as I'm trying to move the last parts of my digital life back to Europe, but I have not found an alternative I liked so far", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 789466912, "item_id": 49341682, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49341682", "by": "Hard_Space", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "excerpt": "Switched to FastMail two years ago. Mostly, it's a pretty boring service, which is exactly why I'm willing to pay for it!", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 789402928, "item_id": 49337683, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337683", "by": "GiorgioG", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm thrilled to not have Google searching my primary email address any longer.", "excerpt": "I moved to Fastmail from gmail a few years ago. I'm thrilled to not have Google searching my primary email address any longer. I still use gmail for SSO for a lot of things from my 'gmail.com' account.", "context": "", "use_case": "primary email", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 789375248, "item_id": 49335953, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49335953", "by": "totallygeeky", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail is fantastic, I've been a very happy customer for at least a couple years now.", "excerpt": "Fastmail is fantastic, I've been a very happy customer for at least a couple years now. Masked emails have been so nice for throwaway/sketchy sites. It's done everything I could ask, would highly recommend for anyone looking to make the switch from elsewhere.", "context": "", "use_case": "email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail"}, {"id": 776996640, "item_id": 48562290, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48562290", "by": "Henchman21", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really can't say enough good things about Fastmail!", "excerpt": "So I guess I'll take a moment and plug my email provider, Fastmail. Their integration with 1Password to enable creation of Masked Email at account creation time is really fantastic! I have several hundred of these at this point, it's made my digital life appreciably better. But to the point of forward-in-only -- I use the fastmail web client and iOS client. Both of these respond using the Masked Email address if you ", "context": "", "use_case": "email with masked addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless"}, {"id": 776043040, "item_id": 48502690, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502690", "by": "danielhep", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox", "excerpt": "I love fastmail, I switched from Proton a couple years ago after deciding the trade offs to have encrypted email were not worth it, since even if I fully trust Proton, most emails come from or go to AWS, Outlook, or Gmail anyway. I have been extremely happy with the service. Fairly priced, very fast even with a huge inbox, and they don\u2019t add unnecessary features or bloat. I thought I would use my OS\u2019s mail apps but t", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "Proton Mail", "story": "The Future of Email"}, {"id": 774029744, "item_id": 48376859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376859", "by": "foresterre", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well", "excerpt": "I've used Fastmail for years but a year ago switched to Proton. For me the only reason to switch to Proton was that its hosted within the European continent, while Fastmail is hosted in I would say that Fastmail is the \"Ferrari of e-mail\" services. It does everything well, or extremely well, especially if you have more advanced setups like wildcard domains. In particularly, I miss being able to send from wildcard dom", "context": "used Fastmail for years before switching", "use_case": "email with wildcard domains", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}, {"id": 763113232, "item_id": 47694577, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694577", "by": "hereme888", "date": "2026-04-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses.", "excerpt": "I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses. Since virtually everything now requires creating an account (thanks marketers, bots, AI agents), I always use throwaway emails + privacy tools.", "context": "", "use_case": "masked email aliases", "switched_from": "", "story": "One item purchased, Ten emails"}]}