mailbox.org email
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 17 email services by recommenders
Recommended for private European email with custom domains, IMAP access and cheap paid plans; people say it works reliably. Common caveat: clunky webmail and slow support replies.
Recommended for private European email with custom domains, IMAP access and cheap paid plans; people say it works reliably. Common caveat: clunky webmail and slow support replies.
62 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 45
- criticize it
- 17
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 6 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 45 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable with few issues
“I use mailbox.org with custom domai for two years now and it works as intended from mail side.”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Gmail to end support for "Send as" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com” “I have been using mailbox.org for a few years and I am very happy with it.”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “European Alternatives” “reasonable pricing and I haven't had any issues at all with the service”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” - Comment from 14 May 2026 in “I Moved My Digital Stack to Europe”
- Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning”
- Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Bye Bye Gmail”
- Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”
- Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “It wasn't AI that flipped Proton's charge”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Google denies 'misleading' reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI”
Custom domains with any-address sending
“Have been using mailbox.org with a custom domain (including catch-all wildcard) for the last 5 years or so, so it's definitely possible and as far I remember quite straightforward.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “I use mailbox for a long time, one account for 2.50EUR/month with multiple custom domains and I can send emails from any address.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “one account for 2.50EUR/month with multiple custom domains and I can send emails from any address”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” - Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “Proton AG Services is currently experiencing some issues”
- Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Gmail to end support for "Send as" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com”
- Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Google is 'gradually rolling out' option to change your gmail.com address”
- Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU”
- Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU”
- Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU”
Cheap plans with bundled extras
“I use mailbox for a long time, one account for 2.50EUR/month with multiple custom domains and I can send emails from any address.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “They not only host email for you but also online conferencing, simple office suite and storage drive.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail” “more confident about privacy of a company in Germany than Australia and they were a bit cheaper”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning” - Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail”
- Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU”
- Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning”
- Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”
Privacy, EU-based, no ad snooping
“I did it in order to move to Mailbox.org (great service), exactly because I don't want to give money to a company run by a Trump supporter.”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left” “Pay a few pounds a year for private email with webtools and drive and don't have google snooping my emails and sending me targeted ads.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left” “more confident about privacy of a company in Germany than Australia and they were a bit cheaper”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning” - Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”
- Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “AI isn't replacing SREs, it's deskilling them”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Clunky webmail UI and navigation
“SIGNIFICANTLY worse performance and usability wise compared to the Fastmail webmail”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “An Update on Leaving Gmail for Fastmail” “The UX is clunky. They feel a 30 day web app session expiry is perfectly fine.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “which i personally find hard to navigate and disorganized”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “European Alternatives” - Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “Why I Wrote PGP (1991, revised 1999)”
Domain spoofing and DMARC handling
“they have one major issue, which is that anyone can impersonate your domain”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “Mailbox.org is completely ignoring DMARC since months... And their handling of the issue IMHO is incompetent at best.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “Then they let anyone with a mailbox account set the from to your domain.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” Aliases limited or not receiving mail
“Even some that you'd expect to not do so, such as mailbox.org and fastmail.com, allow addresses to be recycled.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Anthropic: You can't change your Claude account email address” “the number of such sender aliases is limited, at most 50 or 250, depending on the plan”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “Currently not being able to receive email on any of my aliases.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “Mailbox.org Currently Down” Slow or unhelpful support
“for over a year, the "secure email provider" did not reply more than that the consultants are too overloaded to reply”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “DMARC Has Been Public Since 2012. 68.4% of Domains Still Don't Enforce It” “The service doesn't have zero support, it has negative support.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “I Moved My Digital Stack to Europe”
Other email services people recommend
The four most recommended other email services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fastmail | 388 | 95 | 80% | 13 | 5 yrs90 owners | Approved |
| Gmail | 295 | 797 | 27% | 12 | 20 yrs58 owners | — |
| Proton Mail | 196 | 222 | 47% | 13 | 3 yrs29 owners | — |
| Tuta Mail | 49 | 17 | 74% | 13 | — | Approved |
| mailbox.org emailThis page | 45 | 17 | 73% | 12 | 3 yrs6 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 67 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I have good experience with mailbox.org.”
“It's in Europe and it supports IMAP.”
“The mail server works great so far and their plans are super generous.”
“more confident about privacy of a company in Germany than Australia and they were a bit cheaper”
“The UI/UX in Mailbox.org is messy.”
“which i personally find hard to navigate and disorganized”
“I have been using mailbox.org for a few years and I am very happy with it.”
“I use mailbox.org with custom domai for two years now and it works as intended from mail side.”
“Mailbox have the benefit of allowing monthly subscription so I can easily try them”
“They not only host email for you but also online conferencing, simple office suite and storage drive.”
“I've used mailbox.org for a few years and been quite happy with it.”
“I have been very happy with mailbox.org.”
“SIGNIFICANTLY worse performance and usability wise compared to the Fastmail webmail”
“for over a year, the "secure email provider" did not reply more than that the consultants are too overloaded to reply”
“You'd get calendar and contacts sync, IMAP and POP access, custom domains, really nice webmail”
“I did it in order to move to Mailbox.org (great service), exactly because I don't want to give money to a company run by a Trump supporter.”
“mailbox.org certainly looks like the best value at first glance”
“don't have google snooping my emails and sending me targeted ads”
“Pay a few pounds a year for private email with webtools and drive and don't have google snooping my emails and sending me targeted ads.”
“Very competent people, very friendly, reliable. Absolutely no problems.”
“The service doesn't have zero support, it has negative support.”
“Currently not being able to receive email on any of my aliases.”
“Mailbox.org is completely ignoring DMARC since months... And their handling of the issue IMHO is incompetent at best.”
“Then they let anyone with a mailbox account set the from to your domain.”
“one account for 2.50EUR/month with multiple custom domains and I can send emails from any address”
“I use mailbox.org with my own domain and can send from any *@mydomain”
“i can send from any address of my own domain”
“The UX is clunky. They feel a 30 day web app session expiry is perfectly fine.”
“Have been using mailbox.org with a custom domain (including catch-all wildcard) for the last 5 years or so, so it's definitely possible and as far I remember quite straightforward.”
“they have one major issue, which is that anyone can impersonate your domain”
“the number of such sender aliases is limited, at most 50 or 250, depending on the plan”
“I also use mailbox.org and use my own domain for email.”
“I use mailbox for a long time, one account for 2.50EUR/month with multiple custom domains and I can send emails from any address.”
“reasonable pricing and I haven't had any issues at all with the service”
“if you value deliverability and don't want the actual hassle of maintaining a mail server”
“Mailbox.org is what I use and it's pretty good.”
“I've been very happy with mailbox.org.”
“mailbox.org hooked up to Thunderbird allows you to do so using custom domains.”
“Even some that you'd expect to not do so, such as mailbox.org and fastmail.com, allow addresses to be recycled.”
“Dead simple email that just works.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.