Fastmail

Long-term owners

Fastmail checks all the boxes, and is well-regarded around here as far as I know. I have used it for something like 7-8 years now and am very happy with it.

Oct 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• Proton MailA privacy-focused, ad-free alternative to Gmail that stores little usable data and bundles extras like VPN and storage; critics cite feature gaps, outages and limited encryption.196recommend
• Tuta MailRecommended for privacy-focused end-to-end encrypted email with no ads or tracking and a generous cheap tier, though critics say it lacks IMAP and needs its own client.49recommend
• Rootshell email serviceRecommended as an independent, non-corporate end-to-end encrypted email service that passed an email privacy tester. Critics say emails are decrypted on the server, undermining the E2EE claim.7recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 634 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Love Fastmail but I'm seeing the same mails that I constantly mark as "not spam" go into spam again and again. Their spam filter needs a lot of work.

   Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

2. It works fantastically, the android app and web app are very good, and it allows any settings, forwarding, clients, automation that I could think of.

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Google denies 'misleading' reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI”

3. These are people for whom email is their job and focus and you get everything that comes with that, including good and responsive customer service.

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Google denies 'misleading' reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI”

4. Moving to Fastmail from Gmail workspace was an excellent decision. Could not have been easier and I get proper push email in the Apple client.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Bye Bye Gmail”

5. 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.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'”

6. Every time I've sent them an email to ask something, I got a response from a knowledgeable human that solved my problem immediately.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”

7. I also switched to Fastmail recently and got more spam than before, but after marking it as spam for some time it now died down

   Mixed · Feb 2026 · in “Email is tough: Major European Payment Processor's Emails aren't RFC-Compliant”

8. Whilst I like fastmail as a product, personally I would have waited to get everything in the EU before I launched this

   Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

9. none support the features I use with fastmail (custom domain, security key, unlimited on-the-fly aliases for sending)

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “European Alternatives”

10. It checks all the boxes and on top of that its, imho, the best finished product for mail / cal / contacts and by far.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “All I wanted was a custom domain email”

11. they're much better than Gmail. The UI loads instantly, is much more responsive, featureful, things just make sense

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Gmail is entering the Gemini Era”

12. In the end, I migrated to Fastmail and have never once thought, gee I wish I was still running my own mail server.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: Running your own email service?”

13. I'm still on fastmail because I use *@domain.name and Proton only supports a very limited number of emailaddresses

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “European Alternatives”

14. Fastmail's catch-all implementation doesn't force you to manually create the named alias in order to send either

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “All I wanted was a custom domain email”

15. It does everything well, or extremely well, especially if you have more advanced setups like wildcard domains.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

16. For power users who want domain ownership, you're probably better served by Fastmail, Migadu, or self-hosting.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Show HN: Happymail – We made email simple again”

17. It's also a great service that I'm happy to pay for -- the tech support is great and just as fast as the mail

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Fastmail increases subscription cost to $6/month”

18. Fastmail has a fast bulk import tool, and also allows you to automatically import future emails as the arrive

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Selfie for sign-in: a new, easy way to access your Google Account”

19. One of the handy things that Fastmail (among other providers) lets you do is set up a wildcard email address

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

20. Fastmail is great because every time I get a new startup idea I can set up emails for each domain name I buy

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”

21. if you run over to a paid alternative like FastMail you’ll actually have a faster/better webmail experience

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

22. The few times i've needed them, they've answered quickly and given me what i needed in the first response.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

23. I’m so much happier. With Fastmail, incoming mail is so fast that the verification codes are already there

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

24. Fastmail migration takes about 20 seconds, and you can use your gmail identity from the Fastmail web app.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Bye Bye Gmail”

25. I sure wish 1Password + Fastmail would let you generate them within the 1Password app without requiring a browser sign-up page in the middle.

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”

26. as long as a company is conducting business in the US, the Cloud Act makes it possible to compel them to hand over any information

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

27. American companies pretending they can magically free themselves from the U.S. CLOUD Act by setting up a paper European presence.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

28. They are subject to legal requirements too and probably American jurisdiction also despite what their particular position is.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data”

29. Australia can just issue a TCN to the parent company to add a backdoor to the software used by the European subsidiary.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

30. it won't let me generate the email within 1password on a website, and I have to go to Fastmail and then manually do it

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”

31. As long as the company's legal headquarters are in the U.S., U.S. agencies have access to the data under the Cloud Act

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fastmail offers EU data region”

32. I also told them if they open a DC outside the reach of the US regime: I be happy to become a customer again

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

33. Everything else is fine. This one sketchy insistance to open every file themselves within the app even if they dont know how to do that is something that annoys me.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

34. Fastmail checks all the boxes, and is well-regarded around here as far as I know. I have used it for something like 7-8 years now and am very happy with it.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “All I wanted was a custom domain email”

35. 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.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”

36. Alternatives like Fastmail are so, so cheap when compared to the headache of building, maintaining, and troubleshooting a DIY stack.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Self-host your mail server”

37. The latter are superior because they can be used to reply directly to any received email without needing to set up reverse aliases.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”

38. have been a very happy Fastmail customer for several years, running mail for 2 small corporations plus personal, zero problems ever

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Deutsche Telekom is violating Net Neutrality”

39. the next time I check my actual Spam folder I'll find that Fastmail caught several more just like it and sent them straight there

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Blackholing My Email”

40. Sometimes banks used for a business account, or accounts at b2b companies don’t treat fastmail.com as a large email provider

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “My burner email blocklist blocked me”