Privacy focused platform Skiff is joining Notion, Skiff to be sunset
Skiff, a privacy-focused email and collaboration suite, is being acquired by Notion and will shut down after a six‑month sunset period, prompting users to urgently migrate their data. Commenters see the move as another example of venture-backed services prioritizing acquihires over long-term reliability, especially in critical infrastructure like email. Many advocate owning a custom domain, favoring older or self-hosted tools, and emphasize that end-to-end encryption is insufficient without user-controlled keys and independence from centralized platforms.
Overall reaction to Skiff shutdown
- Many commenters are disappointed or angry, especially those who had recently migrated or were about to “go all‑in.”
- Six‑month sunset is seen as short for a core service like email; people stress how hard it is to entrust email to a new provider.
- Some say Skiff’s quick acquisition confirms fears about VC‑funded “build to be bought” products.
Trust, VC funding, and longevity
- Strong theme: avoid VC‑funded infrastructure (especially email); expectation that such products will be sold and shut down.
- Others argue funding source matters less than: how easy is it to migrate away, and how long‑term the business model is.
- Several people explicitly prefer older, subscription‑funded providers (Lindy effect) over young, heavily funded startups.
Alternative providers and their trade‑offs
- Frequently suggested: Proton, Tuta, Fastmail, Migadu, Mailfence, Runbox, Mailbox.org, Purelymail, MXroute, VFEmail.
- Proton: generally positive impressions; noted downsides include slow feature rollout, poor search (especially mobile), and some account‑downgrade friction. Some suspicion that negative comments about Proton may be “FUD,” but others report specific UX issues.
- Tuta: praised for cheap custom domains and unlimited aliases; criticized for deleting inactive free accounts after 6 months, causing irreversible data loss for some.
- Purelymail: praised as extremely cheap and minimal; concerns raised that it’s run by a single person.
- Emphasis on owning a custom domain so email addresses remain portable across providers.
Technical and migration issues
- Some users struggle importing Skiff MBOX exports (original mbox format) into Proton; Proton later posts a migration guide.
- Running email at scale is described as hard and low‑margin: spam filtering, deliverability, and abuse handling are major burdens.
Privacy, E2EE, and centralization
- Notion is not end‑to‑end encrypted; many expect Skiff’s strong privacy posture will be lost.
- Several argue E2EE alone is insufficient if the provider can shut you down; advocate self‑hosting or decentralized, open‑source tools (e.g., Anytype, Trilium, Peergos, Nextcloud‑style setups).
- View that centralized, server‑dependent services are inherently vulnerable to shutdowns; some promote decentralized ecosystems as more resilient.
Perceptions of Notion’s strategy
- Many see this primarily as an acquihire to bolster Notion’s broader workspace suite (docs, calendar, etc.), not to keep email alive.
- Some think killing Skiff Mail is a “huge miss” for Notion; others say email is too hard and unprofitable to add.