Ditching Gmail

[This article is intended for less technical users. I have a longer article on this topic tailored to technical users that are interested in the finer points of this topic, which you can find here: Sending Gmail to the Spam Folder]

If you are here, I am assuming you have gotten tired of being treated like a product by Google but aren't quite sure what to do about it. My reasons to leave Google go deeper than just that (you can find more at the intro article to this series: Leaving Google), but I recognize a growing trend among people who are feeling a little creeped out by all the NSA revelations and are nervous about companies that store a lot of data about them. For geeks, there are a lot of options to move to other mail providers, but normal people have fewer options that they can choose without spending a lot of time learning technical jargon.

Out of the frying pan...

If you are at the point of wanting to leave Google because of the data they store about you and the ads they are constantly putting in your face, then a lot of the other alternatives you might have heard of before aren't going to be any better. Yahoo! or Microsoft Live (a.k.a. Outlook)? That's just jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. And while many Apple users will berate me for including iCloud in this list, the fact is that Apple has as much or more info on you than Google, although they don't give that away by putting ads in your face all the time.

You could use the email address from your ISP (Internet Service Provider), and many people I know still do, but I scratch my head every time I see an address ending in @charter.com, @att.com, etc.... The mail services provided by the ISPs I have used are universally terrible, plus you lose the account if you ever decide to switch to a different ISP. Seriously, if you are still using an email address provided by your ISP, move on... you will thank me in time.

Would you rather buy or be sold?

The reality, though, is that you really do end up needing to pay for your email account if you don't want to be some company's product. And that is not to say that no for-pay email service will ever sell your private info because they might. You can rest assured that any free email service will, though, and probably your ISP as well. So, if you don't want to be the product, your safest bet is to pay for a product.

Of all the options I looked into when making the move myself, I narrowed it down to 2 really good options and the one you choose will depend on the features you want. If all you really want is email with the ability to access it using a web interface or a mail program on your mobile device or computer, your best bet is probably FastMail (fastmail.fm). If you want a calendar feature as well that supports syncing across devices, then you would be better off with MyKolab (mykolab.com). You get comparable file storage with both options, and an address book, although MyKolab is better if you want easy contact syncing across devices as well.

FastMail

The good news about FastMail is that you can set up a 60 day free trial to test it and be sure you like it before committing. The pricing on it is very reasonable, but the bottom tier really isn't very useful if you want to use it for IMAP access, which allows you to have multiple computers or devices all accessing the same email in a way that everything is the same on every device. If you are only going to use it with 1 computer anyway, then you could use the cheapest tier and set up your mail program to download all the mail to the computer using a POP setup. That way, the low amount of storage would not be an issue. If you want to use the web interface to access your mail, or want the mail to stay in sync on multiple devices, you will need to choose the $20 per year tier at least unless you just don't keep much email. When you setup the account, they give you a long list of domains to choose from, not that it really matters, but it does allow some choice for vanity's sake.

Once you get the account setup, you will find a very clean and functional web interface that gives you access to the mail, the address book, and a simple notes feature. They all work very well, even on mobile browsers, so you don't even really need to set up a mail program on your phone or tablet unless you want notifications of new mail. Assuming you do want that, I highly recommend you use the IMAP settings because they have top-notch IMAP support. If you are on Android, do not use the default Mail program that is already installed, but download K-9 Mail. Using that program with FastMail has given me the best mail access I have ever had on a mobile device and it works better even than the Push-based services I have used in the past. When a new mail comes in, it simultaneously appears in the web interface, my phone, and my tablet. There are no delays like I have encountered with other services.

MyKolab

Even though I intend to give MyKolab a test when I have time, I don't yet have any hands-on experience with it. Reading through their site, though, it sounds very good and the features more closely match the full Google experience, with Calendars and the ability to sync those and the contacts using ActiveSync on your devices. If you really want Calendars included, or if you want to be able to have everything stay in sync across multiple devices, this will be a better option for you than FastMail, though it will cost more.

For the lowest tier of storage (2GB) and the ActiveSync feature, you will end up paying around $12 per month, so this is clearly more expensive than even the Enhanced tier of FastMail at $40 per year. In the grand scheme of things, though, $12 per month still isn't a lot of money for a service that offers everything that it does. I realize a lot of average users will balk at paying this much for something they can get for "free" elsewhere, but if you fit that category, why are you even reading this article? If you are tired of being some company's product, this isn't a lot to pay. It really just comes down to how much you are willing to pay or can afford to pay and how badly you need the extra features that you do not get with FastMail.

How much does it matter to you?

If you aren't bothered by companies storing every detail they can find about you and possibly selling that info, but just want out of Google, then you can always just switch to Live or Apple users can use iCloud. If you do care enough to move away from all these companies, but don't want to pay as much as FastMail or MyKolab are charging, the good news is that many new options are springing up after the NSA spying revelations and you will have more good options in the near future. Or you could just use the email provided by your ISP, though it makes me shudder to say that. The reality is that you have to trust someone, so it boils down to who you are willing to trust, and how much you are willing to trust them.