

Ask HN: Any alternatives to gmail? - robwco

I&#x27;m genuinely having privacy concerns about Google (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;libertycrier.com&#x2F;ron-paul-julian-assange-interview&#x2F;) and don&#x27;t want to use gmail anymore, especially for my business.<p>I&#x27;m wondering if there&#x27;s any alternatives at the moment?
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shubb
Other cloud providers may not read your mail to serve you ads, but they still
put your data on an easy path to a government data funnel.

If you want to avoid that, but the creepiness isn't enough to scare you off
email all together your options are to self host, or (better service, less
privacy) rent a server.

I'm currently renting a dedicated server from OVH^. The servers are in France,
with prices starting at $3 a month. You can put use the same server for a
blog, VPN internet proxy, owncloud data dump, whatever you like.

Setting up mail is more time consuming than you'd think, unless you use a pack
like Zimbra or iRedMail. I'm using Zimbra for some specific features, but
iRedMail plays nicer with other software. They are pretty much the same thing,
a package that sets up a mail server, some spam filtering, an admin interface,
and roundcube for webmail.

^note that OVH will be sold out on that deal for around a month, but you can
get a VPS in the mean time (recommend Digital Ocean). Take regular backups if
you are buying cheap, expect a hardware fail once in 3 years so be prepared to
get a replacement up very fast. The idea here is to be just obscure enough
that your data is not retrievable without unlikely manual intervention.

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fredsanford
I've recently checked out gmx.com. It is ok, almost a complete replacement for
gmail + google docs but the space is limited.

I also checked out the zoho.com's gmail like service, but that was painful at
best. Most of the time signups are blocked and you have to have good timing to
get in. They are also not very clear on what's free and what costs. I was able
to sign up for the paid part of Zoho that has a trial, but, I was expecting to
have the free stuff at the time. Once I found the link for the free stuff, I
wasn't able to get past the signup block.

Note that Zoho has many more apps than google docs. Off the top of my head,
checkbook, crm, project planner and about 10 others. However... I'm still not
sure what's free and what costs money.

FWIW...

~~~
workhere-io
Note that GMX Mail likely is hosted in the US (according to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmx#Growth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmx#Growth)).
The same is true for FastMail, unfortunately.

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taproot
If you have nothing to hide... /sarc

Sorry I just find it funny that used to be an acceptable response to me you or
anyone like us when we bring up privacy concerns about the web.

In regards to alternatives I haven't found any that checks all the boxes and
isn't homegrown. I think that is the safest for now. These days i really
running your own isn't too bad especially paired with thunderbird.

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workhere-io
FastMail (read my review on [http://blog.workhere.io/my-experience-with-
fastmail-as-a-gma...](http://blog.workhere.io/my-experience-with-fastmail-as-
a-gmail-replacement/)) or Gandi (1 GB IMAP account included with domains).

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ryduh
I use fusemail.com and am fairly happy with them. They have a nice webmail
interface but I mostly use a desktop/iphone mail client.

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gregorkas
outlook.com works great for me, their web interface is very powerful and easy
to use.

would recommend

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msh
fastmail.fm for mail, but they dont really have contacts or calendar :(

