I don’t understand why people still use Gmail.
You can literally build your own email system that’s as good as Gmail and without Google reading your messages, scanning your receipts or “improving your experience” with ads.
Here’s what you actually need:
🧩 The Basics
✅ A domain
✅ A mail host: in your own VPS with Postfix Dovecot.
✅ 3 magic DNS spells:
- SPF → says who can send mail for you
- DKIM → signs your messages so they can’t be faked
- DMARC → tells other servers what to do with fake ones
These three are the holy trinity of “not landing in spam.”
💼The Professional Touch
If you want Gmail-tier trust:
- Reverse DNS → your IP points back to your domain
- TLS/SSL certs → so nobody peeks into your IMAP/SMTP
- MTA-STS TLS-RPT → tells the world you care about encryption
- DMARC reports → for the data-obsessed version of you
🛡️ Spam Filtering
- That’s where Gmail flexes its AI muscles but you can get close.
- Install Rspamd or SpamAssassin, tweak the thresholds, and whitelist your mom manually 😅
- It’ll catch 99% of junk, and you’ll even know why it was caught (try getting that from Gmail).
🥩 Productivity Goodies
Want Gmail’s fancy inbox features? Easy:
- Sieve filters → automatic sorting, tagging, vacation replies
- Webmail client → Roundcube, SnappyMail, or RainLoop (add plugins, themes, dark mode)
- Plugins → calendars, contacts, even AI-assisted replies if you miss Gmail’s creepiness
- Catch-all → anything@yourdomain lands in your inbox
The Result: You’ll have an email setup that’s:
– private
– ad-free
– fully under your control
– and just as deliverable as Gmail (even against greylisting)
Congratulations, this easily, you’ve built your own Gmail.