Self-hosting without a domain would suck half the fun out of the thing. And one would not want a boring one. It has been a while now, so I can not remember really how long it took me to choose one, but it is safe to assume that most likely better part of the day. Long hours of hunting, proudly carried my game home…

After setting up some subdomains for all of my widgets and gadgets, I found myself with an email address that I really-really-really wanted to use.

I hate broken things, also half-broken ones, and an e-mail that can be used to receive mail but not for replying, is a half-broken thing.

Self-host A Mail Server?

Spoiler alert - not going to happen.

At least not when one hasn’t got resources to do it very properly. It appears that e-mail is widely used for all sorts of purposes - very often to hurt someone. To put it very simply, e-mails coming from my very well-meaning mail server, from my one nice mail address, intended for polite conversations, would most likely get rejected by major mail providers. I’d be lucky to reach someone’s Spam folder!

That discovery did not please me.

So What Are The Options?

I could still have the half-assed mail that is able to receive letters but not send them out. So I have to either use one of my existing addresses to reply or create a new one for that purpose. The popular choices for the latter case seem to be Tuta, Proton and Disroot. The list is longer of course - and one could use any mail provider. The mentioned ones promise not to spy and sell you data. And the part of this self-hosting journey is very much about keeping my stuff under my watchful eye.
And it would be a step backwards as we already have considered hosting a mail server!

Make use of any mail-forwarding services that offer outbound messages too.
I got my domain at Dynadot this time. And the email can be forwarded from there to the verified address. The forwarding services offer the very same thing (forwarding) I already have as a free-tier and if one wishes to have outbound option too - well, this comes with a price tag.

This comes now to the point where I wish to express, that I do not seek just for free services. But the question is rather how much and what for.

It seems that at this point in time when I am writing this post, the cost for e-mail hosting or/ and forwarding with outbound option is pretty much equal. One might find services starting from 30 USD/EUR per year and upwards. And when I put my needs besides that price, I couldn’t accept it no matter what. Because the offer includes usually a whole plethora of things I do not need and would not use. There’s a calendar, and webmail and on some occasions there are also counted amount of bytes of space that will be given specially for you.

I just want to be able to reply to my messages from my mailbox on my computer.

Hidden gems in the vast internet - I finally found it! Dynadot also provides an option to upgrade the mailbox. This would also cost today around 30 goldens. And in this light the whole forwarding-thingy becomes absolutely irrelevant. One could buy the whole functioning mailbox then and there and be done with it! But since one does not need to have all the business-ready-professional-looking (and of course acting) tools but just wants to send an e-mail, one digs deeper… and comes out of the hole, holding Purelymail delicately fixed between one’s teeth.

Are We Happy Now?

Yes and no.
The price at Purelymail is reasonable and the offer is in accordance with what I actually need. The cost for a year of this service today is 10USD and there’s a webmail too, if one needs it. No calendars, no cloud, nothing more - just mail. And I like the attitude that is reflected on the page - they do e-mail and that is that. Exactly what I asked for!

So why no happy face yet? I am happy. Much happier than dragging my mail through another additional mail account or having bought a bunch of things that I do not need. But it is not really self-hosting and this reduces my smile a bit.

Anyway - I am able to reply now, whenever you decide to share your thoughts!