Ask HN: Custom domain name for personal email?

[yesthis]

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]

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.

[riddley]

I use fastmail to host my domains. You could try <yoursurname>family.tld or the<yoursurname>s.tld.

One tip: Since you can set up "fall through" emails with Fastmail, I'm able to use [e-mail] for every business I interact with. Emails sent to those addresses will end up in my mailbox and I get the benefit of knowing who sells my email address. Good luck!

[mystified5016]

I have a [e-mail], have for about ten years.

I run my own server on a VPS with the Axigen server stack.

The first couple of years were tough to get it all configured right, but I haven't had any deliverability issues in a very long time. Yes, even Google and Microsoft talk to me.

It is indeed very possible to run your own service in 2025. I wouldn't recommend it for the casual tinkerer though, this is more of a lifetime commitment.

Just like the lifetime commitment I made when I let my then-boyfriend have an account. I'll be administering email for my ex for the rest of time.

[landgenoot]

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

[TheNightman]

If you already have a domain and iCloud you can create an address on your domain very easily

[enginaar]

i had no idea about this. thanks!

[gradschool]

> 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

[kaboofdotdev]

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.

[toomuchtodo]

{last name}family.org, and I issue email addresses for everyone on a FastMail family plan. Some are mailboxes, some are aliases to other services (while maintaining portability). Domain is paid up for 10 years, FastMail as long as they’ll let me, admin info is in death plan for continuity.

[theandrewbailey]

I have the + my full name dot com. I use Fastmail with a catch all alias, and I canary trap the email addresses I give out.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_trap

[js2]

yes-this.com is available:

https://domains.cloudflare.com/?domain=yesthis

Register with Cloudflare. Use their email routing service:

https://www.cloudflare.com/developer-platform/products/email...

Fastmail is great. I use them. But you can keep using Gmail if you want with Cloudflare forwarding the emails from your domain to your existing Gmail address. You can also send messages using Gmail's SMTP servers using your own domain as the the From address.

[Brajeshwar]

I'm lucky to be kinda early and book our {family}.com/.net/.org (and a few other TLDs). I kinda get regular emails to surrender that because it is also the name of a local community from an old kingdom/royal or something of that sort from my home town. I also own my {FirstName}.com as it is not a common name.

Own the domain, but outsource the manage of the mail to services that many others have mentioned here in this thread. No affiliation but I like migadu.com too (happy customer). I use it for many of my not-so used domains. I still use Google Workspace for all the primary mail domains, work domains, etc. It is much easier working with others/customers.

[jaden]

I found the domain I use by searching for {word}mail.com among expired domains (e.g. expireddomains.net) or new domains (e.g. https://leandomainsearch.com/search/?q=mail)

[Rush2112]

My format: hello@<fullname>.xyz. It's the same domain name as my personal webpage. E.g. [e-mail] or [e-mail]

[hakkoru]

I was able to get "<full name>.com" so I'm using that. Though obviously it might be taken if you have a common full name.

>Bonus points if I can share the domain with family members for their use too.

Maybe "the<lastname>family.com"? Or something similar.

[not_your_vase]

I have $SURNAME dot me since a few years. I also have some addresses courtesy of cock.li. They are not considered to be professional-sounding in all circles though.

[datadrivenangel]

I use [e-mail]. Domain via iwantmyname (they were acquired a few years back). Email hosting via fastmail.

[muzani]

You can take any regular cpanel email or buy an email off Namecheap. Then link it to your gmail and such.

[_odey]

> It must be professional!

yourname.pro ;)

As for a provider, currently using Proton but I'll switch to Migadu after it expires this year.

[aeve890]

I'm using proton too. Can you share why you leaving proton?

[_odey]

1. I can't write an email from an alias. For example I can't send an email from [e-mail]. This is possible from Thunderbird using their bridge, but not from their email app on Android. I can reply to an email and it will preserve the alias, but I can't write one from scratch.

2. Emails are not downloaded locally on Android so I can't access them when internet is not available.

These 2 have been consistent issues for me over the 3 years I've used them, and when I've contacted their customer support about it I was told they have no intention of fixing them.

[adelmotsjr]

I use Proton on Android and I can write a new email using one of my aliases. Maybe it was fixed recently.

Regarding n° 2, I think it will never be fixed, given the nature of the service itself, in which all emails are stored encrypted, and the encryption keys are in the server.

[_odey]

Just tried it, I can write an email from one of my addresses: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail].

But not from an alias: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail].

Addresses are limited in number, 5 on my plan. Aliases are unlimited.

For the second, they've already implemented a feature on their web client to download emails locally so you can search in the body of the messages.

See: https://proton.me/support/search-message-content#the-index-o...

[jfdi]

Will typically connect Microsoft 365 email to owned domain and pricing is relatively cheap and it works great.

[aldanor]

mylastname.mycountryname

[austin-cheney]

These are available:

mudddy.io

catbocks.com

darkphox.org