If it’s for email, can I recommend Friend of TidBITS, the hosting company Hover? I’ve had my custom email there for almost two decades and find them inexpensive and wonderfully efficient.
(Just a satisfied customer, FYI)
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I’m already a GoDaddy domain reseller, and also have a C-Panel setup for multiple domains at a reliable hosting company. In fact, I have several email addresses there as well. So I can always move there if needed.
As it stands now, the tiny group of people (just three of us) with my small company really really want to stick with Gmail. One of them even only uses the web interface. So I guess there’s nothing to be done about that one.
For my personal domain it’s still up in the air. I’ll see how Google’s policies might change. Still, they don’t seem to be willing to budge on keeping the personal domains with a free account.
True indeed - however that has not been a request of hers yet.
If someone writes to my gmail address I can reply from Fastmail still maintaining the gmail address as my sending address.
I have had my gmail address since the initial launch of gmail, I still have a few people that I write with that expects my address to be a gmail address - it’s just convenient to have Fastmail act as if it is gmail from time to time.
When I write a new email Fastmail uses my main personal email address as default, so my gmail address isn’t used much in any case.
With iCloud Mail custom domains out of beta, that’s another option for me and my wife. There’s a comment thread on the TidBITS article from when it was beta, and several reports of blocked mail. But it has a lot of appeal: We’ve already got our iCloud Apple IDs and email (secondary after our G Suite mail accounts), and iCloud + for some data storage, so this is a net-no-cost option without changing much. It seems like a nice consolidation. Is iCloud Mail really unreliable?
Like Hover, NameCheap (where I’ve happily had my domains for years) offers custom domain email service. $39/year for 3 mailboxes, 30GB. I’m inclined to use them if I don’t go with iCloud.
I supposed I could configure postfix at my Linode server to actually run a mail server, but it seems like more trouble than its worth. ( although I already had to learn SPF and DKIM, and I even have the 800-page sendmail book 
)
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I was wondering about iCloud as well, and went back and read the beta discussion. I was also curious if it has improved. In my case, it would be for my personal account. But can you bring your Gmail history over?
For my tiny company account everybody is too used to Gmail so we’ll have to stick with that unfortunately.
I also have my own reseller’s account via Veerotech where I can set up as many custom domain email accounts as I want. I use that for miscellaneous domains. So that’s also a possibility, though I have some space limits.
Decisions, decisions. It seems the latest news though is that Google still won’t be permitting use of custom domains with any “personal” legacy accounts they may allow? Not sure what the purpose of it is in that case though.
Doug, I think the “history” answer is yes: “history” is just items in mailboxes, right? So in Apple mail (or any IMAP client) you drag your sent mail over from each mailbox in Gmail to a corresponding mailbox in your iCloud email account. Inbox, sent, filed, or TidBITS. One wrinkle is GMail/G Suite doesn’t really have mailboxes, it has tags, so any item can be in multiple mailboxes… It’s easy to end up with duplicates.
This may be a good time archive older messages in the splendid app EagleFiler and load up less in your iCloud account or wherever you end up.
Perhaps Google will allow custom domains for non-business email at low or no charge. That seems to be what the survey linked from the help page is about. But I’ve been looking for an excuse to switch away, and this is clearly it.
The survey was only a couple of questions and didn’t ask about custom domains. I don’t even know what the purpose of legacy G Suite accounts are/were if not for the custom domains. Is there any purpose at all beyond that?
Anybody ever have any luck with actually contacting Google support?
It seems that if we don’t pay up our Google Photos accounts will also disappear. I don’t like Google anymore.
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester7:56 AM
Thank you for contacting Google Workspace Support. My name is Mark Lhester and I’ll be working with you today. While I read over your message, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester7:56 AM
Hello! How are you today?
7:56 AM
Ok, and you?
7:57 AM
Please help me understand my options after getting the (very surprising) notice that my long-term G Suite legacy account is disappearing.
7:57 AM
This account is just used by my family.
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester7:58 AM
I’m doing good as well, thanks for asking
7:58 AM
There are currently 3 addresses: mine, my sister’s, and my late mother’s.
7:58 AM
I can consolidate my mother’s account with my sister’s account I guess.
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester7:58 AM
I understand that you have some inquiries about your account and I will be glad to answer them
7:58 AM
I was trying to get some cousins with the same last name to join, but I’ll tell them never mind.
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester7:59 AM
On your concern, what will happen is that if your account will not be transitioned to Google Workspace Business editions, it will be suspended Doug, but it will not be deleted
8:00 AM
What will it cost to transition?
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester8:01 AM
That depends on the subscription that you will choose Doug. Here is a link of the pricing list for your reference - Compare Flexible Pricing | Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)
8:03 AM
I’m already paying extra for more account space, so I guess I could drop that if I decide to stick with Gmail. If I decide to switch to a different email service what happens to my Google Photos and YouTube accounts?
8:05 AM
Also, are the prices just monthly, or do you also offer yearly?
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester8:06 AM
That will be kept on your account still Doug, but if your account will be suspended for so long without any changes, it will be completely purged. So I highly suggest that you can back up your files using Google Takeout
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester8:07 AM
When it comes to direct Google Workspace, that is only offered monthly Doug, but you can always pay in advance for the whole year so that it could be yearly. But if you want to have it literally yearly, you may also consider transferring your account to a local reseller which offers an Annual plan
8:08 AM
What does transferring to a local reseller mean? And when you say files will eventually be completely purged does that also mean all my photos in Google Photos?
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester8:10 AM
Transferring to a reseller means that you will no longer going to pay for the service directly to Google Workspace Doug. Your payments will be managed by our partner resellers
Google Workspace Support, Mark Lhester8:10 AM
And on your 2nd question, it means that it will be completely deleted Doug if you will not going to continue your Google Workspace account
8:11 AM
OK. I’ll decide what to do. This whole thing has been a huge surprise and shock. Thank you for the information. I will end this chat now.
The original name was “Google Apps for Your Domain,” everyone uses it with a custom domain. I think it’s likely Google will decide to offer something for accounts used as the survey defines (non-commercial use of 10 or fewer users) that means most won’t stop using Google. A continuation of free use is plausible, a discount would have to be substantial, and lasting, to make many stay.
Regarding your interaction with Google Workspace Support, the Upgrade from G Suite legacy free edition page says you will not lose access to your Google Photos and YouTube accounts.
If you don’t upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription, you will not lose access to other Google services, including YouTube, Google Photos, and Google Play, nor paid content, including YouTube and Play Store purchases.
[…]
If my G Suite legacy free edition account is suspended, what happens to my additional Google services and paid content after July 1, 2022?
In account suspension, you won’t lose access to other Google services, including YouTube, Google Photos, and Google Play, nor paid content, including YouTube and Play Store purchases.
You’ll also be able to sign in to your Google apps (such as YouTube) and third-party sites with your G Suite legacy edition email address.
When the support person replies “if your account will be suspended for so long without any changes, it will be completely purged” I don’t know if they’re flat out wrong or if “so long without any changes” means something like not even logging in with the Google account for a long time.
Thanks for the extra info. I hope the support person was just flat out wrong about Google Photos. I am already paying extra for more space every year because my Gmail won’t fit into the free 15 GB. That extra space also helps since Google doesn’t do unlimited free photos anymore either - a cautionary observation for those with completely free accounts to think about going forward.
It might be time to compare the various paid services. I also have 2 TB of iCloud with complete photo syncing. But iCloud photos sharing has never been as good as Google’s. For example, if you just want to share one photo the link is temporary.
Then there is Microsoft. I have a $69/year Office365 account with them and barely use the OneDrive. I don’t know how good their services are with photos.
And for a family domain there is that question about whether iCloud email works well with custom domains now. And does each family member need their own iCloud+ account?
Decisions decisions.
Just went through this and am now on iCloud mail with my domains. I have 7 emails in all, 3 for my biz on one domain and 3 others on 3 other domains - wow was it 10 years ago we got that free deal!
I’m cheap and it’s just me for the biz so I changed the DNS record to iCloud and for the other 3 family members who have paid iCloud accounts too I will have to do the same - heck then can do it for 99c per month!
NOTE big caveat is ALL the emails for one domain will go into your iClould inbox so essentially you CAN’T have 3 separate emails with 3 inboxes. If you are assigning emails to other employees then this is a no go but if you have other employees then one hopes you that one can pony up the $5 per month for FastMail 
Also remember that before the free email hosting ends and you cancel you will need to backup your email. All our lovely mail is on some lovely IMAP server with a local copy perhaps on some of our machines. I think they give us a ways to do this.
Then one has to simply drag all those 2GB in my case of emails into your iCloud inbox !!!
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You can set up a rule that can direct the email to a mailbox other than the default INBOX via a rule (set within Mail Preferences either in the Cloud or on your Macs. The possible conditions for rules in Cloud are limited but will affect the situation once the email is received at that level. Things are more flexible on a Mac but will be applied only when a Mac with that rule processes the message. So, if you read the message first on a mobile device, the rule will not have been applied yet.
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You can create mailboxes in your iCloud space, or even on your Mac to serve as a destination for your old gmail. There is no need to keep all the old files in the Inboxes for the accounts.
Is there a better method to populating the folders I create from my old mailboxes on google?
For my personal email address I used the apple mail client on OSX, did a filter by year and dragged all the mail into my inbox. For my other two email addresses I guess I can do the same. Just made me a little nervous to select 5000 messages in total and drag then in by year! Like you suggested I should probably put then in something other than my inbox!
I am happy that flagging is now finally working!
The caveat is important. For my personal domain it’s family, so my sister has her own email. For my tiny company three of us have different accounts. So I guess iCloud is a no go.
I’m uncertain if going to FastMail is the best option. They are $5/year for up to 30 GB per account. Google Workplace is $6/year but they are offering $4/year for the first year.
I really detest Google at the moment. I think they are evil bait-and-switchers. But at the same time it doesn’t mean I want to make my own life miserable over it.
For my company email I guess I have no choice. At least two of the three of us just love Gmail and one uses it on the web. For my personal domain, I’ll wait and see what unfolds over the next couple of months.
Any chance they will back down? Is there not a lot of blowback out there?
Probably none.
It would be interesting to know Google is really losing on these accounts. How many domains are they hosting for free? Is this really hurting their profit and loss statement, or is it more of an infinitesimal loss?
(I’m ok with Google doing whatever they need to do. It’s just interesting to know how much of a pain this is to Google. My domain has only ever used mail services. Never Drive, never Photos, never Docs, none of the other services they offer.)
Whatever happened to do no evil?
You don’t use Google Photos? Just iCloud Photos? Google Photos searching seems better. Also iPhone Photos is a bit weird in that you can’t search for albums! You have to scroll all the way through them!
I use Google Drive for Google Docs files. The volume is not huge though, so I could always move them to my Office 365 account I guess.
Not anymore, and I only used it with my personal gmail account. iCloud Photos now works best for me - mostly for its seamless updating. I don’t do anything - just take photos (or import from a camera, which I haven’t done in years anyway), and all my devices then show the same roll of photos.
For my domain, which has addresses that i do not use as not my main email account, I never used anything but email.
And for online docs and spreadsheets?
Again, only for my gmail account, and I haven’t used them for a while now. I’ve switched to Word (Pages for some small things) and Excel (and Numbers for some small sheets.)
I imagine that the development overhead to continue supporting what is a legacy product is also a big factor.