I have created a product in the email automation space and Google's OAuth process finally got back me and told me I need a $15,000 to $75,000 assessment because we make requests to an external service (our own service).
Obviously as a side project/business a large fee isn't going to work considering the product makes zero money at the moment. Are there alternatives? Would it makes sense to stick with IMAP all the way?
It's now part of passing the test to be a Gmail / Gsuite extension. I doubt there are viable alternatives if you want to be integrated to the point of feeling native to the user.
Maybe a browser plugin?
Call it a cost of doing business, there are larger costs if you are successful anyhow, so it's relative.