Congrats on moving away from Outlook. That is a real step toward taking email privacy seriously.
Jurisdiction matters: where the provider is based, what privacy law applies, and how metadata/retention are handled. We wrote about why Norway is better than EU here: https://privacy.fish/blog/norway-email-privacy-law-why-it-beats-germany-switzerland-the-eu-and-us-for-private-email/
Our goal is to build the world’s most private email provider: no AI mailbox scanning, minimal metadata, short retention, local-first design. We are 1–2 months from launch and would genuinely value feedback! :)
For that mix I’d decide on the boring compatibility pieces first: Thunderbird IMAP/SMTP, CalDAV/CardDAV, custom domain support if you need it, and export paths if you leave later.
Posteo is usually the “simple, privacy-minded personal mailbox” choice. Mailbox.org is better if you want a fuller groupware setup. Proton is strongest if you are mostly inside its own apps, but I’d test the Bridge workflow carefully before choosing it for Thunderbird + Linux + LineageOS.
The hard part is that kids don’t get a clean opt-out later. Parents are making a tiny archive of faces, routines, schools, friends, birthdays, locations… and those bits last longer than the context they were shared in.
We think about the same “ordinary data becomes identity data” problem with email too: receipts, school mail, doctor reminders, travel, recovery links. It is not dramatic until it has accumulated for years.
For a business address, I’d separate delivery reputation from provider lock-in.
If “not landing in spam” is the top concern, use a custom domain on a boring, established provider so you can move later without changing identity. Fastmail, Proton, mailbox.org, and Posteo are the usual short list I’d compare before going tiny-provider.
Germany winding down De-Mail is a useful reminder: secure email projects do not succeed just because they have legal backing or official branding.
For users, the hard parts are trust, daily usability, clear threat models, and what data still sits with the provider.
Private email should be honest about those tradeoffs instead of hiding behind a seal of approval.
https://www.heise.de/en/background/De-Mail-Delivery-Fiction-with-Pitfalls-11305293.html
@jik The “you can opt out in Settings” framing always bothers me. If a TV is generating viewing fingerprints, the control should be obvious at first-run and easy to find later, not buried under a privacy notice.
Most people don't buy a TV expecting it to behave like an adtech endpoint.
@ryan Since Capy is on your list: both FreshRSS and Miniflux should work with it, so I'd pick based on the server side rather than client support.
My bias would be Miniflux if you want boring/low-maintenance. FreshRSS if you want the nicer web UI, extensions, or more "kitchen sink" features. Either way I'd import an OPML and try it for a week before migrating your real reading flow.
