# iCloud Mail 24 Hacker News commenters recommended iCloud Mail and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free with an Apple account, and it supports custom domains and IMAP with good spam filtering for many users. Critics say it silently filters legitimate mail. ## Why people recommend it - Supports custom domains (6 comments): "the best alternative is to use a simple email host like iCloud with your own domain" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50296418)) "iCloud works fine with imap (ie mutt, thunderbird) and does custom domains too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192103)) "My custom domain emails work wonderfully through Apple iCloud account." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958251)) - Works with Apple devices (4 comments): "I was able to use a full Apple stack except for Exchange Online Plan 1 (email)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45942244)) "Apple's iCloud email hosting is basically tailor fit to your expectations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958648)) "Is the simplest option if you want apple mail compatibility" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958208)) - Reliable, stable service (4 comments): "Great price. Great service. And Apple has better privacy safeguards and internal processes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539962)) "I switched from Fastmail to iCloud Mail and I’m happy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47186722)) "Apple's been a rock-solid email host for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49567546)) - Good spam filtering (3 comments): "since moving my email hosting to Apple (from my own server), spam has not been a problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47612411)) "it’s been splendid. No issues sending to other servers, decent spam filtering" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48098712)) "super conveninent, stable and spam-free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376505)) ## What people warn about - Silently filters emails by content (4 comments): "iCloud Mail will silently filter emails with certain words (including in attachments)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958660)) "supposedly they have been dropping emails with certain words in them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959002)) "overly aggressive silent spam filtering" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46387735)) - Legitimate mail sent to spam (2 comments): "it reports virtually all iCloud as Spam" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49427211)) "legitimate messages (including apple billing notifications) in the spam folder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47616330)) - Does not send DMARC reports (2 comments): "they do not send dmarc reports and they make it very difficult to tell why they accept some email and not others" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46990068)) "They don't even send DMARC reports." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48504340)) - Poor fit outside Apple ecosystem (2 comments): "as expected are not accommodating to anyone operating outside of the Apple garden" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753404)) "They keep enshittifying the experience for those not using iCloud Mail." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452321)) ## 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 - [HEY email by Basecamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hey-email.md): 23 recommend - [Posteo email](https://hackerapproved.com/p/posteo.md): 21 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.icloud.com/mail) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "iCloud Mail", https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-mail/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).