3 Reasons to Self-Host 📧E-Mail Server.

I started experimenting with email services in mid-2021, I tried Google workspace, Yandex, Zoho, and Microsoft 365. After trying all these services, I ampentesterlab finally stuck with Microsoft 365 business basic. Because it is cheap and suits my needs. But as a cybersecurity student, It doesn’t make sense to blindly trust any company about privacy. So I started experimenting with email servers around Jan 2022. Initially, I started with Lukesmith’s EmaiWiz but now I am using IRedMail . Here are a few reasons to Self-Host your email server.

1. I’s Cheap or even free🤑.

Currently, I am hosting my email server on Oracle Cloud which offers 3-lifetime free VMs which means I am only paying for the Domain. I am using the “.li” Top Level Domain brought from NameCheap, It costs around $18.98/yr.

2. Highest Level of Privacy🔒.

If you are using services like Gmail It’s a piece of cake to get access to your emails for the NSA . If you want to protect your emails from NSA there are only two ways One is using Gmail with PGP encryption and the second way is self-hosting. In the first way, the recipient may need to struggle to decrypt with PGP keys. But in the second solution, you don’t need to worry about that because all emails are stored on your server. I prefer the second way (Self-hosting).

3. It’s a great learning experience💡.

By self-hosting, you will learn a lot about DNS(Domain Name System) , Firewalls, Server administration, and backups. As a cybersecurity enthusiast, I like to learn about new stuff. And I can assure you, that you will learn a lot by self-hosting your email infrastructure.

I think these are some valid reasons to self-host your email server. If you need any help feel free to reach me via email or any social platforms.