HACKER Q&A
📣 hoofhearted

Are there any free email providers in 2023?


Hey HN,

I’m working on a little side project, and I’d like to set up basic email service connected to my domain so that users can communicate with me.

The problem is that I bought my domain through GoDaddy as I have been doing since the beginning of time. They have always included a free basic email service with every domain you buy, but apparently they recently stopped including the email service.

It seems I have to now pay GoDaddy a monthly fee to have a simple help email box :(

I’m a little disappointed, and I know that there has to be a better way.

What do you’all recommend for free or cheap email using my domain name in 2023?

Thank you in advance!

Cheers

  👤 mlhpdx Accepted Answer ✓
I use AWS SES for sending and receiving (awkwardly) email for essentially free on several domains. I put together this repo to share how it works, which isn’t for everyone (but I certainly enjoy it). While it isn’t a polished experience it is very, very robust when deployed to multiple regions.

https://github.com/mlhpdx/email-delivery

👤 nhatcher
I use zoho with a custom domain, it's pretty good.
👤 chuckufarlie
I thought postale.io was free -- it must have been when I signed up because I'm not paying for it.

It isn't free anymore so it is not an answer to your question, but it is fairly cheap for the base plan: https://postale.io/pricing

👤 AgatheB
Hey! You can send up to 12,000 emails for free with mailersend, you just have to use your own domain, and edit its DNS records. They also check if you don't send spam to get you approved and up your sending limit.
👤 brianpk
I use fastmail with a custom domain and I'm happy with it. At least, in the sense that it just works and I never have to think about it.
👤 pier25
Zoho has a free plan with custom domain but it forces you to use their email client.

For very cheap email plans with POP/IMAP I use Zoho and Namecheap.

👤 ipaddr
proton, tutanoda, hushmail, gmxmail