I had a free google workspace for over a decade with a domain I own before it became a paid service, I’m looking at putting it all in my hands ideally using services that cost less than the $15/Month in paying for a handful of accounts.
I’m looking at running a Nextcloud to replace most of the Google services but I still haven’t found an email server replacement. Any ideas/suggestions/links to guides?
Edit: I’m not necessarily looking to host my own email, as I understand it to be a pain, but looking to migrate my current one to somewhere else.
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I switched from google to Proton and it’s been solid.
Hosting is not that difficult as some comment describe it. But in the same time, check your domain provider services. Mine, for domain + mailboxes cost splaying like 3€/month
For nextcloud I would recommend using the all-in-one setup, but as far as email you might want to use an already existing solution rather than trying to host it yourself. I would recommend protonmail for your email since all the other common options like Microsoft and Google are not privacy respecting.
I moved to Zillium (Zoho Family plan) but not 100% happy with them. Heaps of threads on migration and options on the Google Workspace Reddit starting around the time they tried to remove the free legacy plans.
Idk I really like cock.li
Proton mail
I can recommend iCloud email, it starts at $1/month and also includes cloud storage if you want to use that for some reason. It does have a website so you can technically use it without any Apple devices as long as you make an account, and it also allows catch-all emails. I use Cloudflare for Nameservers and it automatically connected and added email records
I’m so tired of people saying self-hosting email is hard or unreliable. I’ve been using Mailcow for probably 5 years now and I’ve had very little issues ever with it once I fully set it up. I’ve been blacklisted a total of twice and both times were because I hadn’t set up reverse DNS properly.
Sure, if you just set up your email on a new domain with a $5 VPS it’s going to take a little bit to build up your sender reputation with major email providers, but that’s no reason to just give up completely.
Email is not new technology, it is not hard to set up and maintain. Mailcow even has a built in tool that checks your DNS records out and tells you what to set everything to and if it’s currently correct or not. It also has Nextcloud helper functionality that lets you authenticate Nextcloud users against Mailcow users with OAuth.
I host email for all of my family and some automated mailer accounts for my website and I’ve had no issues, it’s probably been the most problem-free service I host.
+1 for Mailcow, it’s easy to maintain and painless to set up :)
If you want unlimited accounts I’d recommend mail cheap
You can check Purelymail if it can suit your req for mail.
Maybe consider mailbox.org. It is cheap, supports custom domains and is hosted in Germany.
See this howto: https://poolp.org/posts/2019-09-14/setting-up-a-mail-server-with-opensmtpd-dovecot-and-rspamd/
I have delivery to the inbox of all major providers using this. Email is not that hard…
I use Migadu
If you are really looking to be hosted for nothing at all, check out disroot.org. I use them for my primary email account. They also host Nextcloud.
Got Apple devices? iCloud+ for .99/month gives you the ability to use a custom domain for your mail. Not sure it can get much cheaper.
Proton mail is a great private hosted for a bit more $