Show HN: Swift Mail. Fastmail's modern mail standard delivered natively on macOS

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A new macOS email client, Swift Mail, built on Fastmail’s JMAP protocol, is drawing interest for its fast, native interface but also strong pushback over its $3/month subscription pricing. Many compare it to free or cheaper alternatives like Apple Mail, Thunderbird, and other paid clients, arguing for one-time licenses instead of recurring fees and questioning the value without features like full offline support, iOS parity, or advanced capabilities. The debate highlights broader frustration with subscription-based desktop software and differing views on how indie developers can sustainably fund ongoing development.

Pricing & Business Model

  • Many commenters see $3/month as too expensive for a mail client, especially on top of a paid email service; several say they’d prefer a one-time purchase or “pay for major upgrades” model.
  • Some find a subscription acceptable if the app is genuinely better and used daily; others refuse subscriptions on principle and mention “subscription fatigue.”
  • Comparisons: cheaper than some paid mail clients (e.g., Mimestream, much cheaper than Superhuman), but still a psychological barrier given Apple Mail and Thunderbird are free.
  • Annual pricing ($25/year) is noted as more palatable, but not enough to sway subscription critics.

Fastmail, JMAP, and Positioning

  • Several were initially confused, thinking this was an official Fastmail client or that an email account was included.
  • Clarification: it’s a third‑party app using JMAP, a protocol originating from Fastmail, but not an official Fastmail product.
  • Some suggest removing “Fastmail” from the marketing to avoid confusion.

Protocol & Technical Discussion (JMAP vs IMAP/SMTP)

  • JMAP is described as JSON-over-HTTP, stateless, with advantages in unreliable networks and fewer round trips compared to IMAP.
  • One commenter strongly dislikes JSON in email stacks, citing schema, streaming, and encapsulation problems; others defend JSON as simple and broadly effective.
  • Question raised whether JMAP offers clear user-visible benefits over Exchange/IMAP; answers focus on network behavior, not big UX differences.

Features, UX, and Maturity

  • Positive feedback: fast, smooth, clutter‑free, Apple‑Mail‑like UI; appreciated native macOS feel.
  • Negative feedback from trial users: feels MVP/alpha; issues with message list not updating, image loading UX, reply-button discoverability, account selection on reply, thread expansion behavior, missing/unclear features like snooze and inline images.
  • Developer responds that some perceived issues are misunderstandings (e.g., images blocked by default, reply button location) and marks others as feature requests.

Platform Support, Offline Use, and IMAP

  • Lack of IMAP support is a deal-breaker for some who need Gmail or non‑JMAP providers.
  • iOS client absence is a major blocker for users who want cross-device consistency; iOS support is said to be planned.
  • Offline support is currently partial: previously-fetched content is available, but it doesn’t fully cache all mail like a traditional IMAP client.
  • Some users stress offline-first as mandatory, citing travel and poor connectivity.

Trials and App Store / Subscription Dynamics

  • Trials do exist (3 days monthly, 7 days annual), but some found this unclear at first.
  • Discussion about why many macOS mail apps use subscriptions:
    • Apple promotes subscriptions and takes 30% initially, then 15% on renewals.
    • Subscriptions provide ongoing revenue for maintenance and OS compatibility.
    • Alternatives like Sketch/Panic-style perpetual licenses with a year of updates are praised but described as hard to implement cleanly via the App Store.

Philosophical Debate: Paying for Software vs Subscriptions

  • Heated debate around “subscription models vs ownership”:
    • One side: subscriptions are overused, feel like endless rent, and people prefer to “own” tools and upgrade by choice.
    • Other side: recurring revenue matches continuous work, ongoing support, and avoids tools dying for lack of funding; $3/month is framed as trivial for a core productivity app.
  • Comparisons to salaries, property ownership, and consumables highlight differing intuitions about what “ownership” in software should mean.

Branding, Competition, and Alternatives

  • UI is noted as very similar to Mimestream and Fastmail’s web UI, itself close to Apple Mail, which some see as a selling point.
  • Other clients mentioned: Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Spark, Airmail, Superhuman, Hey, Reeder (as an example of non-subscription-ish approach), and an upcoming FMail2 client.
  • Some users say a mail client must be “very, very good” to displace native Mail, especially given cost and existing reliability.