Email hosting options that are similar to Zoho and Microsoft Exchange Online

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Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#319106 23-Mar-2025 01:40

I am currently on Microsoft Exchange Online - overall don't have have many technical complaints of the service, but I see Microsoft have now changes their terms to 1 year commitments for 365 consumer plans, and it prompted me to look around to see what options are around.

Microsoft Exchange Online costs $7.50 a month.

I briefly tried Zoho Mail which costs $1.60 a month, but I found a number of bugs in the platform (in ActiveSync, CardDav and CalDav) that Zoho weren't willing to fix- plus overall their support was rubbish when trying to get them to diagnose said issues.

Are there any email providers people are using these days that compare in features and would recommend? I need Contact, Calendar and Email services with custom domains, only a single user, but multiple aliases for sending from/to. Ideally ActiveSync for mobile use (I prefer the built in apps to any third parties apps), and IMAP/CardDav/CalDav is fine for clients on the desktop.

mentalinc

3225 posts

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#3356434 23-Mar-2025 09:36

I use mxroute for my email, they also offer a nextcloud instance from memory that may handle the calendar aspects. Picked up the lifetime plan a few years ago, maybe blackfriday deal, but seems good value.

https://accounts.mxroute.com/index.php?/news/view/53/lifetime-plan/

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Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX

networkn

Networkn
32349 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3356447 23-Mar-2025 10:23

365 is the best value going around and to be honest, unless you seriously don't value your time, surely the time and effort of switching to something else is going to offset any benefits you'd get.

kingdragonfly

11190 posts

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Subscriber

#3356455 23-Mar-2025 11:22

I severely dislike Microsoft, and I believe they are abusing their monopoly...

But being an email administrator only gets worse as time goes on.

It's the equivalent of sitting in a circus dunk tank, on a busy road, with a big sandwich card saying "hit me" and a large lightning rod attached to your head, 24X7.

Even Amazon has given up competing in this space with Microsoft. In February 2025, Amazon announced plans to discontinue support for the Chime service by February 2026, further diminishing its presence in the communications sector. Therefore, Amazon Chime does not hold a measurable share in the email client market.

Even with the controversy around "NewOutlook" Microsoft 365 suite maintains a substantial portion of the market, reflecting its widespread adoption and integration into business environments.

M$ is Silently Removing the Paid Version of Outlook... (Outlook Classic Missing Fix)

Memory

Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#3356555 23-Mar-2025 16:24

Thanks Team. Totally agree, owning and running a mail server is not quite what I'm aiming for, and ideally don't want.

networkn:

365 is the best value going around and to be honest, unless you seriously don't value your time, surely the time and effort of switching to something else is going to offset any benefits you'd get.

I think Zoho was the only real contender cost wise that stacked up against O365 for email, but due to some of the problems I faced with their product that it seems support are not likely to solve soon, it made it a no go. But migration otherwise took literally 45 minutes - and considering that meant cutting my perpetual cost of email by 80% a year, seemed like a reasonable punt, since I don't foresee not having a custom email address in the future.

But otherwise, yeah, O365 seems like it may be the best option... I was considering using my iCloud email with custom domain support, but it limits the amount of aliases, plus I've heard not great thing about their spam filtering etc., the interface is crap, and ideally I don't want to keep all my services under one company.

acetone

181 posts

Master Geek

#3356561 23-Mar-2025 16:49

I have been using Fastmail for my business. I haven't missed any feature from Google Workspace or Office 365.

timbosan

2159 posts

Uber Geek

#3356620 23-Mar-2025 17:58

I previously ran my on on-premise Exchange server (at home) for several years, but it just got too hard with patches, updates, and the continually changing offerings. Once Exchange wasn't included (Windows Home Server from memory???) I lasted a while but eventually I moved to hosted email, and have been with https://25mail.st for many years, and have my own domain name managed through GoDaddy.

25 Mail St are an NZ company (gotta support local), have a Roundcube based webmail client, and support Outlook (although my feelings about Outlook mirror many of the other comments in this thread). Pricing is nice and easy and it's all on their homepage so I know costs up front. 100% recommended from me.

tchart

2379 posts

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#3356627 23-Mar-2025 18:33

I shifted from Zoho to Proton mail in January. It’s okay.

Calendar support is a bit so so when you are on Apple though.

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Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#3356628 23-Mar-2025 18:37

tchart:

I shifted from Zoho to Proton mail in January. It’s okay.

Calendar support is a bit so so when you are on Apple though.

What made you choose Proton over Zoho? I know you had been with them a while (I saw a couple of posts from you back in mid 2024 on here)

What calendar support is lacking for iOS? as I do use iOS and Mac OS...

kiruti

23 posts

Geek

#3356767 23-Mar-2025 23:21

mentalinc:

I use mxroute for my email, they also offer a nextcloud instance from memory that may handle the calendar aspects. Picked up the lifetime plan a few years ago, maybe blackfriday deal, but seems good value.

https://accounts.mxroute.com/index.php?/news/view/53/lifetime-plan/

Yep, MXroute has been fantastic for me. It might not look pretty, but it gets my email into every inbox and it's very cheap. I think i paid about $15 USD for 3 years of the small (10GB) plan. I don't recommend the lifetime plan though, the black friday deals (still on) are far better value for many years. $30 USD for 3 years of the 25GB plan is still on sale: https://accounts.mxroute.com/index.php?/cart/black-friday-2024/

Bananabob

511 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3356838 24-Mar-2025 10:14

acetone:

I have been using Fastmail for my business. I haven't missed any feature from Google Workspace or Office 365.

I have been using Fastmail and find it stable and does exactly want I want.

This is a referral link for 10% off if anyone is interested https://join.fastmail.com/55fec1f2

Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#3361068 5-Apr-2025 21:17

Looks like I'll be sticking around on O365 a bit longer. Have yet to find another competitively priced platform.
I do really wish Zoho would fix their issues, as I actually prefer their platform, particularly when it comes to using mail aliases.

tchart

2379 posts

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#3361078 5-Apr-2025 21:44

Aaroona:

Looks like I'll be sticking around on O365 a bit longer. Have yet to find another competitively priced platform.
I do really wish Zoho would fix their issues, as I actually prefer their platform, particularly when it comes to using mail aliases.

Sorry didn’t see your reply

I got a bit fed up with the Zoho as the calendar notifications were via email and not actual notifications.

Proton had a separate calendar app but alas it suffers the same problem.

The way around this is to add the proton calendar as a subscription calendar via a cryptic ics link - which isn’t secure.

Security concerns aside it works okay and the notifications work on my Mac and iPhone.

Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#3361080 5-Apr-2025 21:48

tchart:

Aaroona:

Looks like I'll be sticking around on O365 a bit longer. Have yet to find another competitively priced platform.
I do really wish Zoho would fix their issues, as I actually prefer their platform, particularly when it comes to using mail aliases.

Sorry didn’t see your reply

I got a bit fed up with the Zoho as the calendar notifications were via email and not actual notifications.

Proton had a separate calendar app but alas it suffers the same problem.

The way around this is to add the proton calendar as a subscription calendar via a cryptic ics link - which isn’t secure.

Security concerns aside it works okay and the notifications work on my Mac and iPhone.

Ahh yes, this was a problem I had as well.. I think I managed to resolve it- but it required some settings deep within the calendar options to change the default notification setting (theres Notification, popup and email on Zoho).

The Problem I ran into was that if you changed the reminder time via Calendar on Mac, it defaulted to using the "Email" notification options - though after the settings I made, never actually received a single email for it... so long story short, it can work. Just requires some random poking around.

Thanks for the reply! glad to know I'm not the only one finding similar oddities.