Came across this interesting guide from back in 2019! It’s a no fuss guide in just 7 steps which feels doable and is still fairly accurate, though my own experience degoogling this spring was better because I could use mailcow’s imapsync to import my email from gmail to my self-hosted mailserver.
One tip I liked in particular was in the very first step! If you are not going to self-host your email (which I do recommend and can help you with!) then these criteria are really solid.
1. Choose a New Email Provider
The first step is to decide what service you’ll use for your new email.
You could run your own email server, if you have the technical know-how to set it up and make informed decisions about how to secure it. Frankly, that’s over my head.
Instead, I looked for a provider that met these criteria:
- has a positive track record with privacy and security,
- encrypts mail end to end,
- offers two-factor authentication, and
- makes money by charging a reasonable fee ($50 per year is a good benchmark) rather than by showing you ads or otherwise monetizing users or their data.
If you’re willing to read up on the laws of different countries, you might also consider the company’s jurisdiction so that you know your rights in terms of what the company can and cannot hand over about you to any authorities.
While I’m in no position to recommend one service over another, there are many respectable, privacy-focused email services. A few examples are:
- ProtonMail,
- Tutanota,
- Hushmail Premium,
- Fastmail, and
- Mailfence.
If you are using or have tried one of the examples above, how did it go for you? I’ve tried ProtonMail myself and it’s not bad. Hushmail is also an interesting one but I have not tried it for a while now.
Is there another email provider you would recommend adding to the list?
Thanks @notyourfanboy@kolektiva.social for mentioning this on Mastodon!