

Ask HN: How to quit gmail (without spending money or going to much effort) - everyone

I like gmail. Its my main avenue of communication + I use it to keep notes as draft emails. I feel more and more uncomfortable relying on it so much as google becomes more and more evil though.<p>My main issue with moving somewhere else is that my email address would change which would be a massive headache.
Is there any way to keep that address while switching to a different service?
======
a3n
Keep a gmail domain address, no effort and no money. It sounds like you're
trying to find a way to stay with gmail.

1\. You must get your own domain, with your own email address. You don't have
to host your domain (web etc) anywhere if you don't want, just have your
registrar set your mail records to wherever you happen to have your email
served.

There's no way around this one if you want to leave gmail _and_ not be tied to
whoever the replacement is. You could go for a yahoo address, or your ISP, but
you see where that eventually goes. You need your own domain.

Do a little research, it doesn't have to cost much, and you can transfer your
domain between registrars later if you want.

Just don't use godaddy.

You should think carefully about your domain name, and the address within that
domain that you choose for your permanent-ish address, because you only want
to send out one more "I've changed my address" messages to your contacts. But
once you've done that you'll never have to again.

2\. Once you have your own domain you can host your own email on your own
server or VPS if you want, but it's not necessary and most people shouldn't
bother with it.

You can even use gmail, but with your own domain and address; I've done that
for a time. But you want to _leave_ gmail, so I'm only pointing this out to
make the larger point: once you have your own domain you can have your email
sent and received (almost) anywhere.

2.1 You can set up gmail to forward to your new domain, so you don't miss
anything an you don't have to log in to gmail. At your new destination you can
set things up so that anything forwarded from gmail lands in a gmail folder,
so you know who you missed in your "changing my address" message.

As time goes by and your people get it right, you'll have less and less
traffic going through gmail. I still have my gmail account forward to me,
years after leaving, but I don't think I get anything beyond a few per year
anymore. Everyone knows me by my domain, as it should be.

Another poster here says not to have gmail forward, but I don't know why.
Maybe he'll update that.

2.2 Even if you don't use gmail at all, ever again, gmail will still store 25
to 50% of all your email (or some similar sized chunk), because 1/4 to half
your correspondents still use gmail.

3\. Don't be averse to paying for email, it brings a little sanity and
transparency to the relationship. If you're a paying customer then you're the
_customer_ , not the product, to invoke a tired but true phrase.

Valuable and excellent service _should_ cost money. But it doesn't have to be
a lot.

I think I pay around $40 per year for my fastmail account, they have cheaper,
and there are other good solutions too. (See the last section below.)

3.1 Whoever you go with will almost certainly offer web access. Many people
think that that's what email _is_. The look and feel of their web interface
might influence your decision as to who to use.

Nevertheless, best if you find a provider that offers IMAP access in addition.

N. Other than your domain name and address, you don't have to get any of this
right the first time. You can change registrars without too much hassle, and
you can change email providers on a whim if you have your own domain. And yes,
you can of course change your domain and/or address later if you must, but try
to get that one right, as it's the only part of the equation that is _you_.

N.1 See also:

[http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=64118](http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=64118)

[https://kkinder.com/2013/05/21/leaving-googles-silo-
alternat...](https://kkinder.com/2013/05/21/leaving-googles-silo-alternatives-
to-gmail-talk-calendar-and-more/)

[http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/](http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/)

------
mattkrea
Long term you're going to want to stop routing through Gmail anyway. I did
this not long ago and honestly I was happy to go through and change my address
because: 1) I got rid of a LOT of annoying subscriptions 2) Gmail isn't seeing
all of my mail

I would strongly recommend against forwarding.

~~~
a3n
Why not forward, for awhile at least?

~~~
mattkrea
Until you can get everything switched over it's no harm of course--at the time
I just wanted to leave Google asap so it's definitely my preference.

------
grimaceindex
I'm testing [http://Runbox.com](http://Runbox.com) right now, and I'm
impressed. Worth considering.

EDIT: I know you said without money but I've never been good at following
instructions.

------
gesman
register you@your-real-name.com or .me and use it as your "forever email".

For the time being redirect it to gmail - and then switch to whatever provider
will fit.

But first step is to own personal domain and gradually eliminate using of
something@some-provider.com

------
tait
I suppose you could forward everything to the new address...

