And what do you actually use? I know the answer is probably self-hosting but maybe there are other solutions for a decent privacy.
I own a custom domain and actually use Tutanota as my host. Self hosting is a nightmare and easy to fuck up, which leads to your emails getting sent to spam or just not receiving. I use custom domain support in Tutanota that costs me $12/yr (2 custom domains) and my domain is $15/yr. Since custom domains stick out like a sore thumb, if I need privacy then I will use AnonAddy to forward to my email with an anonymous forwarder.
Like 99.9% of my emails aren’t encrypted but that’s not the point. Tutanota removes a lot of the privacy leaks via metadata and has privacy protection measures by default like disabling images from automatically loading. Also it’s calendar/contacts/email all rolled into one and everything is e2ee. Not to mention, unlike ProtonMail, they have their own push service that works on DeGoogled Android and can be installed from fdroid.
this is a very sensible alternative to actually going all-in on self-hosting mail, which is a total pain in the ass.
Oh wow. Maybe I will migrate to Tutanota from Proton then. That price, function, and dedication to privacy sounds quite attractive to me.
I’ll just say though, the client is kind of rough and may be missing a lot of features you’re used to.
I use fastmail.com to generate e-mail aliases. Creation is rate limited, but they are virtually unlimited; I have 500+ and counting. Aliases are randomly generated as wordone.wordtwo1234@fastmail.com, so they aren’t identifiable to your account.
Anonaddy/Addy.io to create aliases, then PGP encrypt it before forwarding to my Google mailbox.
I also use Proton but considering ditching it in favor of Anonaddy.
If you want to self host, I recommend mailcow. It is not that hard to install and if you follow the instructions you’ll have a working solution whose mails are not considered spam by every other sane server. Sadly, some operate with whitelists.
I have looked at it and its system requirements are just insane. No way it would run on my cheap 1 GB VPS. I use a script for setting everything up, but less because I want to (I was warned about complications) and more because I cannot afford a second subscription.
6GB of RAM is for up to 8 concurrent users.
Tutanota with own catch all domain
self host. Don’t trust random “privacy” companies
Elaborate
Do not use proton, get yourself a domain and then use something like Migadu to host it for you on that domain. Then you can also use anonaddy to add anonymous addresses where needed.
I’m using Skiff Mail with two custom domains.