Suggestion/recommendation please - email domain hosting

[Rick Law]

Like to hear your opinion and experience...

I have a couple of domains names for email currently hosted by gmail.  Gmail's severe limitation with pop and smtp is getting to me, I have enough and now want to move these email domain hosting out from gmail.

I am looking for hosting company to host my email domains (pop and smtp with SSL is adequate, no website hosting).  I don't plan to store stuff there.  I plan to continue picking up the email using pop and store it myself.

Any hosting services you would recommend?

Suggestions welcome and thanks

[ataradov]

I personally use and can recommend FastMail. But I do store the mail with them and use Web interface on PC and IMAP for mobile clients. So, evaluate if it works for your use case.

[SiliconWizard]

If you already have a domain name, you can get email hosting for a moderate cost, depending on your needs (number of mail accounts, max size?) from various services.
I use Gandi, which works quite well, but they have raised their prices lately so I'm not sure I would recommend it much anymore - see if it fits your budget.

I've heard of Fastmail too, seems well regarded, but I don't know if they offer pop access.

[berke]

If you already have a domain name, you can get email hosting for a moderate cost, depending on your needs (number of mail accounts, max size?) from various services.
I use Gandi, which works quite well, but they have raised their prices lately so I'm not sure I would recommend it much anymore - see if it fits your budget.

I've heard of Fastmail too, seems well regarded, but I don't know if they offer pop access.

You beat me to it.  I use Gandi too, they provide e-mail with two kinds of web interfaces (one of them is Roundcube, which is meh) and also IMAP & POP3 access.  One good thing is that you can have unlimited aliases and also wildcards, very useful for seeing who gives out your e-mail address to spammers.

[Halcyon]

I use Google Workspace and have found it to be excellent. It supports IMAP, POP3, SMTP and GWSMO (if you're an Outlook user on Windows).

What issues were you having with POP3/SMTP?

[dobsonr741]

I use namecheap.com They have catch all forwarders. Domains start around $4/year, which includes the email forward. They have a lot more services to offer, you should resist to stay on budget.

[Rick Law]

I personally use and can recommend FastMail. But I do store the mail with them and use Web interface on PC and IMAP for mobile clients. So, evaluate if it works for your use case.

If you already have a domain name, you can get email hosting for a moderate cost, depending on your needs (number of mail accounts, max size?) from various services.
I use Gandi, which works quite well, but they have raised their prices lately so I'm not sure I would recommend it much anymore - see if it fits your budget.

I've heard of Fastmail too, seems well regarded, but I don't know if they offer pop access.

[...]

You beat me to it.  I use Gandi too, they provide e-mail with two kinds of web interfaces (one of them is Roundcube, which is meh) and also IMAP & POP3 access.  One good thing is that you can have unlimited aliases and also wildcards, very useful for seeing who gives out your e-mail address to spammers.

I've two domain names for a while now.  Google was the website and email host for these two domains.  For the last decade, I moved the website off but left my email hosted by google/gmail.

Since retirement, my email usage is light but want to keep in touch with the same email id's.  I do use aliases for my mailbox, so "unlimited aliases" is useful.  I use different email addresses for different things, in part also to separate my volunteer work for non-profit vs things I do for $.  Much cleaner and less risk of mix up during tax time.

Gandi and fastmail, I will look into both.  Thanks!

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I use Google Workspace and have found it to be excellent. It supports IMAP, POP3, SMTP and GWSMO (if you're an Outlook user on Windows).

What issues were you having with POP3/SMTP?

Google wants me to use Workspace and stop using password-only.  Per their email:
"_{Starting September 30, 2024, Google Workspace accounts will only allow access to apps using OAuth. Password-based access (with the exception of App Passwords) will no longer be supported. POP and IMAP are NOT going away and can still be enabled with apps that connect using OAuth...}"

I don't want to give Google any more than what they already have on me from 3rd parties.  Last time I helped a friend creating a gmail ID, I can't get it done without a phone number.  I created my Google accounts back when I don't have to tell them my phone number, my height, my weight, and the last time I smoked.

Not quite September yet, POP3 still works, but SMTP stopped working last few days.  May be my side, but likely not since nothing changed on my side.  So, rather then spending time fixing the SMTP issue (with just a few months usage left), I was thinking of jumping ship sooner rather than later...

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I use namecheap.com They have catch all forwarders. Domains start around $4/year, which includes the email forward. They have a lot more services to offer, you should resist to stay on budget.

I'll add this one to my list of research targets also

Namecheap, Gandi and fastmail, I will look into them.  Thanks!

[Rick Law]

Thanks to all your suggestions, I signed up with FastMail (30 days free trial).  Found it to be adequate for my needs and within my budget.  Today, I switched the trial account to paid account.

Thanks for the suggestions again!

[abeyer]

Google wants me to use Workspace and stop using password-only.  Per their email:
"_{Starting September 30, 2024, Google Workspace accounts will only allow access to apps using OAuth. Password-based access (with the exception of App Passwords) will no longer be supported. POP and IMAP are NOT going away and can still be enabled with apps that connect using OAuth...}"

I don't want to give Google any more than what they already have on me from 3rd parties.  Last time I helped a friend creating a gmail ID, I can't get it done without a phone number.  I created my Google accounts back when I don't have to tell them my phone number, my height, my weight, and the last time I smoked.

As that message mentions, app passwords aren't going away, and should allow you to keep using POP/SMTP/IMAP clients without OAuth. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en

That said, getting off Google and on Fastmail are both probably good ideas.

[Rick Law]

From their list of 3rd party apps they will support (after said date) for connecting to Google Work Space,  the tools I use is not one of them.  I could switch to Google's webmail front-end and continue to use Google to host my domains...  But I rather be able to communicate with my dentist via emails without getting loads of tooth paste and mouth health product advertisements.

That said, Google is "free" and has useful features that FastMail could do but for additional $, such as the ability to have multiple separate mail boxes for a domain (such as one for yourself, one for administrator, so on...).  I could have extra mailboxes at FastMail ($30-$50/yr each) but since I am retired, I don't need it for my domains anymore.  FastMail's basically unlimited aliases is adequate substitute for multiple mailboxes.

I am happy that (now that my email isn't via Google/gmail), I feel a bit more at peace that my private email is a bit more private today.

Ah, one thing I have to add, FastMail, true to it's name, is fast via POP & SMTP connection.  What use to be multiple seconds via Google/gmail pop/smtp connection now is sub-second. 

[mag_therm]

I now have (2) emails with RackSpace.
The second one I just started, they allow user  to select a complete domain name, then they host it.

The reasons I started the second email, is that my old dns host is not supporting the new DKIM security. ( it sounds odd, but I spoke to them on the phone at length about it.)
That means some recipients can not receive  from my old email address.

Rackspace has a good live help desk too.

[Miamijerry]

I went through a similar frustration with my email domain hosting due to limitations with another service and decided it was time for a change. After some research, I found https://flexamedia.nl/, which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. They offer various hosting packages, but I chose the one for €10.75 because it includes everything I needed: 20GB SSD storage, unlimited websites, telephone support, and a free SSL Certificate. Plus, it comes with unlimited email addresses and data traffic, which was perfect for my email domains. Their package also offers unlimited MYSQL databases and FTP accounts, not to mention free WordPress and over 300 scripts. The best part? It includes daily backups and allows you to choose your own PHP version, all managed through CPanel.