# HEY email by Basecamp 23 Hacker News commenters recommended HEY email by Basecamp and 19 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend it for the Screener sender whitelist, a smooth web experience and a usable private email address. Critics mostly object to its lack of IMAP and the founder's views. ## Why people recommend it - Smooth, pleasant workflow (4 comments): "The flow with hey.com so much better that being an app or in browser is irrelevant." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48381124)) "I swapped to Hey shortly after it came out, and I'm very happy with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48508003)) "I've been happy with hey.com. No plans on switching." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46078210)) - Screener sender whitelist (3 comments): "It's been hit or miss on some stuff for me and I hate the way the website looks, but otherwise its a great way of whitelisting senders." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48503316)) "The attack doesn't work on hey mail, since new senders have to be accepted before they go the inbox." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47624319)) "the Screener whitelist is probably the most important feature" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50098699)) - Usable private email address (2 comments): "Hey is the only way I can have a public, usable email account anymore." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073548)) "You need Tuta or Proton or Hey for that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46541156)) - Hard to give up (2 comments): "HEY.com introduced it, and I can't see email without it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502719)) "I'm moving everything to Hey.com." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49116719)) ## What people warn about - No IMAP support (2 comments): "I don't particularly like all the other opinionated choices of Hey.com (especially the fact that you can't use IMAP)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649945)) "Since the organization is non standard, imap doesn't map cleanly and it all ends up being a huge mess." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392708)) - Objections to founder DHH's views (6 comments): "Do you really wanna work with a company whose professional blog references "[insert ethnicity] rape gangs" and "the decline of Europe"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49839925)) "I do try to limit supporting people who have actively advocated for things that harm my family." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073653)) "I've never been particularly impressed by anything he's built, from Basecamp to HEY" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49431392)) - Regret or staying only for address (4 comments): "The only people I know still using Hey are doing so because there's no way to move your address elsewhere." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49843980)) "I currently use hey.com for most email...a decision I am considering revisiting in the future" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47186618)) "I'm a Hey customer, and it's one of my biggest regrets." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49391202)) - Overpriced and slower than Gmail (2 comments): "I guess the E-mail-service is still overpriced due to them believing in non-existent value of their web client." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073581)) "found I was paying for the privilege of having a slower, buggier, less feature-rich gmail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49843684)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Gmail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gmail.md): 295 recommend - [mailbox.org email](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mailbox-org.md): 45 recommend - [Zoho Mail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zoho-mail.md): 29 recommend - [iCloud Mail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-mail.md): 24 recommend - [Posteo email](https://hackerapproved.com/p/posteo.md): 21 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.hey.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "HEY email by Basecamp", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hey-email/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).