Hacker Remix

Ask HN: Custom domain name for personal email?

14 points by yesthis 23 hours ago | 20 comments

Hi HN! For those who aren't using a @gmail.com, what are you using? I'm trying to migrate off @gmail.com because of platform risk, but coming up with a domain name is hard! It must be professional! Bonus points if I can share the domain with family members for their use too.

Thanks for any help!

jsheard 22 hours ago

I've been using Fastmail for years and don't have any complaints. I only use a single account on my domain, but they do have a reasonably priced family plan which lets you run up to six accounts for $11/month.

landgenoot 10 hours ago

I would recommend to use:

- Something that you don't have to spell out. Numbers are fine.

- Something that doesn't raise questions.

- A regular TLD, which doesn't suddenly increase the price or get abandoned. (and does not raise extra questions)

mail947.com

kaboofdotdev 14 hours ago

I used to use {first name}@{first name}{last name}.{country code}, however you're giving away a lot of personally identifying data for free wherever you use it, or wherever it's leaked.

If you end up in a situation of online stalking or harassment, then you'll end up regretting making yourself so easily identifiable.

Instead, it may be prudent to use a TLD that isn't your country code as it's usually cheaper in the long run anyway.

As for the email server I use iCloud+ simply because it's bundled in, and you can create aliases, and share it with Family Sharing too. Of course this implies that you're in the Apple ecosystem and don't mind the lacklustre features of the Mail client. Otherwise my next choice is Proton Mail for cross-platform support and reasonable pricing and security.

You can get domains quite cheaply through Cloudflare, or more TLD options through Porkbun.

gradschool 20 hours ago

> For those who aren't using a @gmail.com, what are you using?

I use gandi.net. It gives me all the aliases I want for free. Other services I've investigated are better in some ways but are stingy about aliases. I understand about differential pricing and how it might make business sense to charge a premium for perqs that cost nothing to provide, but even if I were to self-identify as a rich person, the top tier on proton mail, for example, has a limit of something like ninety aliases. Barely a week goes by that I don't need a new alias for some business or institution expecting a permanent irrevocable claim on my attention, and when I printed a bunch of business cards, I put a different alias on every card in case a prospect's contact list were to get leaked to spammers.

> coming up with a domain name is hard!

I use [1] for pronounceable made-up names. It hasn't been updated in a while but is still working fine for me. With patience you can get words that sound like undiscovered chemical compounds, aristocratic dynasties, exotic circuit fabrication technologies, science fiction planet names, ancient goddesses, dystopian megacorps, etc..

[1] https://github.com/nwtgck/go-fakelish