Email Utopia
I'm a pretty heavy email user and am looking for ways to improve the quality of my email hosting. This is mostly due to inadequacies with the services I'm using and the fact that I can't find a single hosting service that will meet my needs. I don't think my needs are that unusual but I'm generally not happy settling when I think I can do better.
On this page I've enumerated my requirements as well as a list of services I've tried so far and how they haven't met my needs. Comments and suggestions are encouraged — if you know something that may fit, please let me know!
Update: As of July 2009 I've moved my email from Google Apps to Rackspace Email. While the pricing per mailbox/domain isn't perfect, it does fall pretty close to my target budget and supports all of my required features.
Requirements
You'll notice I don't mention storage space here. I don't receive and store large numbers of attachments and I don't archive every email I receive, so space really isn't an issue. Even a single GB of storage would serve me for a good long time and just about every service I've looked at has offered more than that (I'm currently using just over a quarter of that). I also don't care about things like collaboration, task lists, and the like. CalDAV would be useful but it is not a major factor.
Fast, reliable, inexpensive (choose three)
It's 2009 and email service has been commoditized to the point where three out of three isn't a problem. Most mail services I've tried have been sufficiently fast and reliable, and the prices are generally in the ballpark, even accounting for the fact that I'm not getting the exact featureset I want. Most of my must-have features are not expensive to implement, so there's no reason they shouldn't be possible in the $10/month range.
Multiple domains
When I say “multiple domains” I mean that I want to be able to have a completely separate list of addresses at each distinct domain. Some of these will be actual mailboxes, some will be aliases, but I want to manage them all from a single UI. I should be able to see the list of addresses at a given domain in a single place and not have to look at a list of aliases on the target mailbox level. Just accepting mail to multiple domains does not meet this requirement unless I can have mail to webmaster@example1.com handled differently than webmaster@example2.com (for example) without resorting to a complicated series of filters. "Domain aliases", where you get the same list of addresses at every domain, doesn't work for me.
Unlimited aliases, powerful filtering
I’m a pretty heavy alias user. I only use three actual mailboxes and every address I have, anywhere, on any service, ends up in one of those. I have role addresses (webmaster, postmaster) at every domain I own and many of these domains have additional addresses that forward into my one of these mailboxes or to other people elsewhere. I need high or no limits on the number of aliases I can have and the ability to filter/forward mail based on any criteria. Filter actions should include forwarding, triggering autoresponders, rewriting subject lines, sorting, and deleting.
Spam filtering
Effective spam filtering is important but I also don’t want any mail discarded outright, with the exception of viruses and anything from open proxies or known spamhauses. All other flagged mail should be accessible, preferably in a spam folder accessible via IMAP and/or webmail.
Usable management
Once everything is set up I won't use a control panel very often, but it needs to not get in my way when I do use it. A usable interface with decent interaction is important to me. I am willing to make allowances here as long as it isn't too bad but I've completely ruled out some mail services because of their terrible management tools, so it is an issue.
Other features
Other requirements are things like SSL/TLS everywhere (IMAP, SMTP, webmail, control panel), knowledgeable support, and no sender address rewriting.
Tried and rejected
Services I've tried and the reasons they don't meet my needs.
- Dreamhost
- Dreamhost is actually the closest thing I found to my ideal featureset. They meet all my domain, mailbox, and alias requirements but fall down tragically when when it comes to speed and reliability.
- Joyent
- Shared hosting has no spam filtering and uses the god-awful Virtualmin control panel. Their Connector product doesn't support aliases, has a bizarre permissions model, and is basically abandonware.
- Google Apps
- Google's screwy IMAP implementation is well known and they have no multiple domain support.
- Fusemail
- Most things are ok but I found their management tools lacking, especially when it came to organizing addresses across multiple domains. Not bad overall but not good enough to stop my search.
- Gandi
- My domains are registered through Gandi and I currently use their forwarding but their spam filters silently delete mail with no notification or method of recovery. I have confirmed the loss of legitimate mail this way.
- Tuffmail, Fastmail
- I found both their web sites and control panels so laughably bad that I just couldn't take them seriously (hint: hire some designers, copywriters, and marketing folks).