One Year Later: A Developer's Verdict on Ditching Gmail for Fastmail
A developer who switched from Gmail to Fastmail has published a follow-up reflecting on how the migration held up over time. The original move was driven by concerns familiar to many privacy-conscious users: reducing reliance on Google's ad-driven ecosystem and gaining more control over personal data.
The update covers the practical friction points that don't show up in day-one reviews - things like custom domain setup, filtering and rule migration, mobile app quirks, and how well Fastmail's search and spam filtering compare after extended use. The author also weighs in on cost versus the 'free' convenience of Gmail, and whether the switch remains worth it after living with it for a longer stretch.
While a personal essay, it resonated on Hacker News as part of a broader trend of technical users auditing which parts of Big Tech's free-but-surveilled services are worth replacing with paid, privacy-respecting alternatives.