An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail
Growing dissatisfaction with Gmail’s data practices, UI changes, and ecosystem lock‑in is pushing many users toward paid email providers like Fastmail. Commenters describe the practical realities of migrating—using custom domains, dealing with “login with Google,” forwarding and spam filtering—and largely praise Fastmail’s reliability, transparency, and “boringly good” feature set, while noting weaknesses like inferior search and categorization compared to Google. Alternatives such as Proton, Mailbox.org, Posteo, and others are weighed on privacy, jurisdiction, deliverability, and support, highlighting the trade-offs between convenience, control, and long‑term sustainability in personal email hosting.
Overall sentiment on Fastmail
- Many long‑time users report high satisfaction: “boringly functional,” reliable, and worth paying for.
- People appreciate Fastmail focusing on core email/calendar/contacts, not bundling VPN/AI/cloud extras.
- Some feel it’s a bit overpriced, especially if they only need basic IMAP, and suspect users may subsidize new features (like AI integrations), though others note Fastmail’s AI exposure is minimal.
Migration from Gmail & Workflow Changes
- Moving is described as technically easy but time‑consuming: DNS changes, importing mail/contacts/calendars, then slowly updating email on hundreds of online accounts.
- Several recommend owning a custom domain so future provider changes don’t require another large migration.
- Strategies: trickle migration (change addresses only when you use an account), Gmail forwarding or Fastmail’s Gmail fetch, filters to surface messages still hitting the old address.
- Some still keep Gmail as a “junk/SSO inbox” or backup, rather than fully abandoning it.
Login with Google / Lock‑in
- Heavy reliance on “Sign in with Google” is a major blocker.
- Experiences vary: some say switching to password login or changing emails has mostly worked; others report sites where email is the immutable primary key and require support or a new account.
- A common pattern is keeping a dormant Google account purely for SSO and Google services (Photos, Drive, etc.), even after moving mail.
Spam Filtering, Search, and Categorization
- Mixed reports on spam: some see more spam than Gmail and must tune aggressive filters; others find Fastmail’s spam better than Gmail’s.
- Lack of Gmail‑style automatic category tabs (Primary/Promotions/Social) is widely missed; some want “AI‑light” features for categorization.
- Search is generally considered weaker than Gmail, though some work around this via external tools or Fastmail’s MCP/LLM integrations.
Features, Apps, and UX
- Popular features: masked/alias emails (including subdomain addressing), catch‑alls, easy SMTP credentials, app passwords, and good integration with native clients.
- Critiques: iOS/Android apps feel like webviews with less‑than‑60fps animations; some UI changes (font scaling, list separators) annoyed long‑time users.
Privacy, Jurisdiction, and Alternatives
- Some are uneasy with Fastmail’s Australian (Five Eyes) jurisdiction and partial US infrastructure; others accept this given email’s inherent multi‑party exposure.
- Alternatives discussed include Proton, Tuta, mailbox.org, Migadu, Posteo, MXroute, Zoho, and upcoming Thundermail, each with tradeoffs in encryption, standards support (IMAP/JMAP), performance, and bus factor.