I didn't miss anything when I left Gmail, but I imagine it depends a lot on how you use email. I switched to Fastmail on my own domain and actually prefer the webmail interface over Gmail.
I mainly use IMAP via Mail.app on my laptop and phone, Pantheon Mail (formerly Geary) on my desktop. I use PGP wherever I can. I haven't received any spam at all yet, so I can't comment on how their spam filters compare to Gmail. I maintain a zero inbox – important stuff gets archived, and everything else is deleted. This means that I don't miss Gmail's search feature as hardly keep any emails. Obviously your mileage may vary here. They also support CalDAV and CardDAV – so all of my notes, contacts, calendar items etc. are synced across my devices.
I've moved from Google completely, and for the most part, I don't really miss them all that much.
- Search -> DuckDuckGo (I do miss Google here – DDG's search results pale in comparison)
- Gmail -> Fastmail
- Maps -> Citymapper and Apple Maps
- Chrome -> Safari on macOS, Firefox on everything else (my experience with FF is a bit 'meh' – it was incredibly laggy on my work laptop, but runs great on my desktop)
I have done the same, but with exception of being a paying customer for Play Movies and Play Music. I also buy extra GDrive storage, and use it for encrypted backups of my laptop (I have backup scripts that ZIP up my writing and work projects, GPG encrypt them, and I manually transfer the files to GDrive.
Google does derive real revenue from me, but not so much via their advertising business.
During my migration from GApps (prior to G Suite), I used this tool. I performed an initial migration before changing my MX records, then followed up a few days later with a second (partial) migration to pick up a few slackers.
I found the tool to be fast, comprehensive, and the partial migration was very effective.
I've recently made a similar switch to a few of my 'core' services. Aside from a strong privacy bent, one of my core requirements has been to lessen my dependency on US based companies and infrastructure.
One the search front, I've been finding https://www.startpage.com/ to be a really nice alternative to DDG.
Pretty much the same here, DDG, Fastmail, Firefox, and Here Maps and Movit for mapping/traveling.
Honestly, DDG surpassed google search years ago. I've preferred Firefox for a long time, and Fastmail's UI and service is incredibly superior to GMail. I guess the cost might be the only downside.
Right now, I also try to keep Google as far away from me as I can. Unfortunately, I don't own a domain myself. Have you tried out ProtonMail yourself? If so, do you think that it is a good alternative to a self-hosted server like Fastmail?
It does not. I really hope they add the feature soon – in the meantime I use gpg on the commandline.
I've been tempted to add the support in myself, however I do not have any experience with the elementary codebase or Vala, so a cryptographic system would be a very poor choice for a first project!
I mainly use IMAP via Mail.app on my laptop and phone, Pantheon Mail (formerly Geary) on my desktop. I use PGP wherever I can. I haven't received any spam at all yet, so I can't comment on how their spam filters compare to Gmail. I maintain a zero inbox – important stuff gets archived, and everything else is deleted. This means that I don't miss Gmail's search feature as hardly keep any emails. Obviously your mileage may vary here. They also support CalDAV and CardDAV – so all of my notes, contacts, calendar items etc. are synced across my devices.
I've moved from Google completely, and for the most part, I don't really miss them all that much.
- Search -> DuckDuckGo (I do miss Google here – DDG's search results pale in comparison)
- Gmail -> Fastmail
- Maps -> Citymapper and Apple Maps
- Chrome -> Safari on macOS, Firefox on everything else (my experience with FF is a bit 'meh' – it was incredibly laggy on my work laptop, but runs great on my desktop)