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mail relay service for inbound and outbound email
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mail relay service for inbound and outbound email

hyperblasthyperblast Member
edited September 2019 in General

hello.

i am looking for a mail relay service for inbound and outbound email to manage my ~15 domains in conjunction with cloudflare (or bunnycdn, if they are supporting mx settings too to hide mx records).

i already found this services:
iroute.io
mxroute.com
mailcheap.co - email-shared
(can you recommend others too?)

and i am asking if maybe fastmail.fm with their "standard plan" will fit my needs too?

i want to "centralize" all my email-related stuff in one service beside from the hostings providers solution.

budget... up to 5 euro / month.

Comments

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    How many emails per month? all just going to you as monitoring, etc. or to many recipients?

  • Zoho Mail is pretty solid for most of it.

    Thanked by 1hyperblast
  • emails per month: 500-1000
    its all going to me. not a public service i run. just private stuff.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    @hyperblast said:
    emails per month: 500-1000
    its all going to me. not a public service i run. just private stuff.

    I use Amazon SES for a similar purpose. 10 cents a month for every 1,000 emails. Plugs directly into Postfix very easily, and probably other MTAs as well. In my world, my VPSes, web contact forms, etc. email me over SES and it lands in my main Gmail inbox.

    https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    Sounds like most things fit your needs, but you're always welcome at MXroute :)

    Thanked by 2Foul hyperblast
  • uptimeuptime Member
    edited September 2019

    I think Fastmail is indeed the bees knees for "centralizing" email. Their standard plan should handle your basic domain-wrangling needs and then some (spam filtering, dns, static websites, file storage, calendar)

    I've been using them for many years. In my opinion they are well worth the modest premium they charge for the service.

    Recently I've also been trying mxroute, which has been working nicely for more basic "pure" email functions at a significantly lower cost (via a promotional offer).

    While I may be permanently spoiled by the convenience (centralization) of the Fastmail web interface, mxroute gets the job done as well and if necessary can also be setup with a proper email client to help consolidate multiple email addresses. (Also, the crossbox web client is pretty nice - I haven't fully explored how it might handle multiple addresses yet.)

    At this point I plan to keep using both. :)

    Thanked by 2hyperblast ITLabs
  • @uptime i want to use the service (whichever it will become in the end) only for hide mx records and downloading (pop3) mails do my client. this requirement can do fastmail (and others mentioned above)? moreover i want to use it in conjunction with cloudflare and or other service like cloudflare (maybe bunnycdn).

  • uptimeuptime Member
    edited September 2019

    @hyperblast I'm guessing yes but really couldn't say for sure as I don't understand exactly what your grand vision involving cloudflare / bunnycdn etc might entail. (And I often have a severely limited attention span for these sorts of details unless there's something so fascinating and compelling about how it all fits together that I am forced to reckon with the amazing synergy of the whole leveraged apparatus ... which is perhaps an all-too-rare state of quasi-transcendental bliss for me these days anymore. But I digress ....)

    tl;dr: I think they might offer a 30-day trial, and I think they are likely to one way or another do what you need with regard to mx records, but perhaps not exactly the way you have in mind. You can certainly set your mx records to receive (and send) for all your domains via fastmail servers, and can retrieve your emails via a pop3 or imap client, and/or use their webmail interface. I'm guessing that they might pass along the IP address of your email client when you send mail - though I think that does not apply when using their webmail interface.

    I'm guessing this cloudflare etc angle has to do with desire to keep your server IP addresses from leaking via email headers? I don't know enough about all the possible wrinkles involved with all that to give a definitive answer for that one ...

  • I'm using MXroute with Cloudflare, so no visible hosting server IP addresses though mail DNS record.

    Only a few months, but so far all's good (as a man falling from 10 story building could say :) ).
    Bad jokes aside, with "lifetime" service they are still offering, it is practically free, at least the way I see it: no worrying about payments, due dates, crappy Serbian banks that don't always work as intended. As long as MXroute remains as good as it is, I'm considering my email to be solved - for free. :)

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • Pardon me for going a little offtopic, but how do you guys "lock down" the servers (I tried Postfix) to prevent people using your mailserver to send spam messages?

    Pardon me for sounding like a fool here, but I am really not sure how it works. When I tried to use Postfix no matter what I tried, it always ended up relaying outbound spam emails and I ended up either blowing through API limits or getting banned for sending spams.

    On that topic, mailGun and SendGrid both offers free packs for students via Github Student Pack (https://education.github.com/pack) and I have used Naranjatec's service (https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/152710/mailchannels-offers-limited-stock).

  • williewillie Member
    edited September 2019

    I'm happy with fastmail and it can do the stuff you mention, though it is objectively expensive for one mailbox (you have to pay extra for additional ones). You can set up aliases, filtering rules, etc. easily to deal with stuff like notification that you want automatically routed into folders. The calendar and related features are nice. It is sold as a "personal email" (like gmail without the ads and spying) service rather than an mxroute-like infrastructure service, and you do pay for that.

    I'm sure any of the fastmail users in this thread would be happy to send you a referral code if you want one. That gets you a 10% discount.

    Thanked by 2uptime hyperblast
  • spammy said: When I tried to use Postfix no matter what I tried, it always ended up relaying outbound spam emails and I ended up either blowing through API limits or getting banned for sending spams.

    Well yeah. :(

    I'm no expert either, but seriously, there are hundreds of well written posts (including Postfix online docs) detailing how to avoid that problem. Read one. :)

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • @Ole_Juul said:
    there are hundreds of well written posts (including Postfix online docs) detailing how to avoid that problem. Read one. :)

    plz read it to me?

  • Ole_JuulOle_Juul Member
    edited September 2019

    uptime said: plz read it to me?

    Seriously, and with all due respect, what I was suggesting is that you use a search engine.

    Edit to add: I'm guessing that Postfix is probably not good for you anyway and you'd be better off using a service such as suggested by others here.

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • @Ole_Juul said:
    you'd be better off using a service such as suggested by others here.

    It's a fair cop ... :smiley:

  • Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

  • @TheKiller said:
    Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

    Free option uses "shared" IP addresses, which have been on at least one blacklist whenever I've tested in the past months.

    My guess is that it's not very good unless one uses (and pays for) a clean, dedicated IP (starting from 80$ per month) - that they slowly build a good reputation for. Haven't tried that option so can't confirm whether it is possible - but my guess is that you do get an IP address that isn't blacklisted anywhere when you pay for a dedicated IP address.

  • hyperblast said: i am looking for a mail relay service for inbound and outbound email to manage my ~15 domains in conjunction with cloudflare (or bunnycdn, if they are supporting mx settings too to hide mx records).

    Back to the OP, I'm trying to understand how much you want to outsource, since the title says "relay service". If you simply want to hide the MX IP then you could simply put it behind HAProxy, or if you use Heluna (1000 email = $2.5/month) you'd get a store-and-forward MX which also does commercial spam filtering. On the outbound, MXRoute or AWS SES. Although this doesn't necessarily hide the sending IP either.

    Thanked by 1hyperblast
  • @bikegremlin said:

    @TheKiller said:
    Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

    Free option uses "shared" IP addresses, which have been on at least one blacklist whenever I've tested in the past months.

    My guess is that it's not very good unless one uses (and pays for) a clean, dedicated IP (starting from 80$ per month) - that they slowly build a good reputation for. Haven't tried that option so can't confirm whether it is possible - but my guess is that you do get an IP address that isn't blacklisted anywhere when you pay for a dedicated IP address.

    It depends who your recipient is. You're right in the case of sending to Fortune 500 companies who use products like ProofPoint, then a shared IP can be a nightmare. For Gmail though, it might be OK.

  • @tetech said:

    @bikegremlin said:

    @TheKiller said:
    Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

    Free option uses "shared" IP addresses, which have been on at least one blacklist whenever I've tested in the past months.

    My guess is that it's not very good unless one uses (and pays for) a clean, dedicated IP (starting from 80$ per month) - that they slowly build a good reputation for. Haven't tried that option so can't confirm whether it is possible - but my guess is that you do get an IP address that isn't blacklisted anywhere when you pay for a dedicated IP address.

    It depends who your recipient is. You're right in the case of sending to Fortune 500 companies who use products like ProofPoint, then a shared IP can be a nightmare. For Gmail though, it might be OK.

    Can end up in spam folder on Gmail ("comes from a known spam IP address...").
    If you only send to yourself, it's not much of a problem.
    Otherwise, it's a lot nicer to not have that.

  • @tetech said:

    @bikegremlin said:

    @TheKiller said:
    Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

    Free option uses "shared" IP addresses, which have been on at least one blacklist whenever I've tested in the past months.

    My guess is that it's not very good unless one uses (and pays for) a clean, dedicated IP (starting from 80$ per month) - that they slowly build a good reputation for. Haven't tried that option so can't confirm whether it is possible - but my guess is that you do get an IP address that isn't blacklisted anywhere when you pay for a dedicated IP address.

    It depends who your recipient is. You're right in the case of sending to Fortune 500 companies who use products like ProofPoint, then a shared IP can be a nightmare. For Gmail though, it might be OK.

    What's the point if getting a 'dedicated IP' for $80/m and also pay per email? I can get a VPS with a clean dedicated IP for $4/m (I can get a /24 for $80ish).

  • bikegremlinbikegremlin Member
    edited September 2019

    @sanvit said:

    @tetech said:

    @bikegremlin said:

    @TheKiller said:
    Using sendgrid for my own websites, uptime alerts forms etc. Never had any issues.

    They still offering free 100 emails per day.

    Free option uses "shared" IP addresses, which have been on at least one blacklist whenever I've tested in the past months.

    My guess is that it's not very good unless one uses (and pays for) a clean, dedicated IP (starting from 80$ per month) - that they slowly build a good reputation for. Haven't tried that option so can't confirm whether it is possible - but my guess is that you do get an IP address that isn't blacklisted anywhere when you pay for a dedicated IP address.

    It depends who your recipient is. You're right in the case of sending to Fortune 500 companies who use products like ProofPoint, then a shared IP can be a nightmare. For Gmail though, it might be OK.

    What's the point if getting a 'dedicated IP' for $80/m and also pay per email? I can get a VPS with a clean dedicated IP for $4/m (I can get a /24 for $80ish).

    If one uses SendGrid, I don't know that it is possible to use one's own IP for sending (using SendGrid).

    Likewise, with SendGrid, even if the needed number of outgoing emails is lower than 200,000 per month (80$ package comes with that limit), there is no option for going with a cheaper package and just paying extra for a dedicated IP. At least not that I know of it.

    MXroute has a limit of 300 outgoing emails per hour, for when that is not enough, services like SendGrid can be used. EDIT: SendGrid also have automated updates of mailing lists for deleting bounced emails etc.

    So far, for me, MXroute is more than good enough.

    Thanked by 1sanvit
  • uptimeuptime Member
    edited September 2019

    @bikegremlin said:
    MXroute has a limit of 300 outgoing emails per hour, for when that is not enough, services like SendGrid can be used. They also have automated updates of mailing lists for deleting bounced emails etc.

    ^ nice example of a "Winograd schema challenge"

    In this case, I'm guessing "they" refers to SendGrid rather than MXroute (regarding automated updates of mailing lists)

    Thanked by 1bikegremlin
  • @uptime said:

    @bikegremlin said:
    MXroute has a limit of 300 outgoing emails per hour, for when that is not enough, services like SendGrid can be used. They also have automated updates of mailing lists for deleting bounced emails etc.

    ^ nice examppe of a "Winograd schema challenge"

    In this case, I'm guessing "they" refers to SendGrid rather than MXroute (regarding automated updates of mailing lists)

    Corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.

    "Now: you're in a desert..."
    :)

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • @willie said:
    I'm happy with fastmail and it can do the stuff you mention, though it is objectively expensive for one mailbox (you have to pay extra for additional ones). You can set up aliases, filtering rules, etc. easily to deal with stuff like notification that you want automatically routed into folders. The calendar and related features are nice. It is sold as a "personal email" (like gmail without the ads and spying) service rather than an mxroute-like infrastructure service, and you do pay for that.

    I'm sure any of the fastmail users in this thread would be happy to send you a referral code if you want one. That gets you a 10% discount.

    thanks for your review. right now i am testing with fm standard account and found out, that i do not have seperated users/accounts just virtual accounts for each emailadress. hmm...
    does the other services. like mxroute / iroute etc. work like fm or can i manage "real" accounts for every email i create?

  • @tetech said:

    hyperblast said: i am looking for a mail relay service for inbound and outbound email to manage my ~15 domains in conjunction with cloudflare (or bunnycdn, if they are supporting mx settings too to hide mx records).

    Back to the OP, I'm trying to understand how much you want to outsource, since the title says "relay service". If you simply want to hide the MX IP then you could simply put it behind HAProxy, or if you use Heluna (1000 email = $2.5/month) you'd get a store-and-forward MX which also does commercial spam filtering. On the outbound, MXRoute or AWS SES. Although this doesn't necessarily hide the sending IP either.

    interestings. thanks. is haproxy sounds interesting but i do not want to setup a selfmanaged service. heluna sound good. will check it. but do i understand correctly, heluna does not hide sending ip? is there a service that hides sending ip, too?

  • hyperblasthyperblast Member
    edited September 2019

    @jar said:
    Sounds like most things fit your needs, but you're always welcome at MXroute :)

    can i setup real (not virtual like with fastmail) mailboxes with quota with MXroute and does MXroute hide sending ip or is the sending ip then a MXroute ip?

  • Mxroute in the past used cpanel and let you set up multiple user accounts, though as admin you had access to all of them. They have switched away from cpanel since then, and I haven't tested the new stuff yet.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran
    edited September 2019

    hyperblast said: can i setup real (not virtual like with fastmail) mailboxes with quota with MXroute

    You can.

    hyperblast said: does MXroute hide sending ip or is the sending ip then a MXroute ip?

    I do removed a Received header when an email leaves the server, so this would satisfy that need to remove your IP from the email headers.

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • mxroute.com works fine!

    Thanked by 2jar uptime
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