Last updated Jan 18, 2024 at 1pm ET
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Most online users now know that email and social media giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are guilty of spying on their customers’ data for advertising and data logging purposes. The scandal has rocked the technology industries and impacted heavily on company share prices when customers showed their dismay.
But the good news for individuals and businesses alike is that a raft of excellent and secure email provider alternatives are now on the market. Many of these providers are gaining significant traction and winning large numbers of clients, often in specialist sectors where absolute privacy and security is required within regulated markets.
Today we’re carrying out a full FastMail review to help you to decide whether this secure email client is for you. From FastMail pricing through to FastMail server settings, we’ve got you covered with the data that you need.
Why choose a secure email client?
As their name implies, a secure email client is exactly that – totally secure. You might weigh up FastMail vs Gmail on brand values alone and initially be swayed by the bigger provider – but delve deeper into the offer and you’ll find that they differ greatly. In fact, you can see this example specifically below in our FastMail vs Gmail comparison.
Non-secure email providers will often provide free email services – but they may well scan your data to re-sell it to advertisers, log it for their own marketing purposes and release it to organizations that request it.
Secure email providers offer something very different. They will provide state-of-the-art encryption so that your emails cannot be hacked into or scanned. They will have policies that prevent any scanning or reading of your data. They will also commit to never selling your data to advertisers. Some go a step further and also prevent any government organizations from accessing your email.
Secure email clients and the law
In the UK, GCHQ and other government organizations are legally allowed to read your emails. Some secure email clients will prevent this from happening by locating their business and servers in Switzerland, which has extremely stringent privacy laws. By taking steps like this, the email provider can remain within the law whilst ensuring that its users have the privacy and confidentiality of communication that they require.
This is often necessary for business purposes especially. For example, businesses in regulated industries such as the banking, medical, and legal sectors must guarantee that their communications with customers and other stakeholder groups cannot be accessed or hacked into. Secure email clients can ensure this and provide regulatory compliance in a way that Hotmail, Facebook, Gmail, and other big brands cannot.
So, without further ado, let’s move on to our FastMail review and see how it stands up.
What is FastMail?
The FastMail offer is designed for individual users, families, and businesses alike. It is entirely private and secure and free from advertising. Over 150,000 customers use the service across the world, including more than 40,000 businesses. The company has also been providing reliable and securely-hosted email for more than 15 years, giving it tried and trusted status.
FastMail features
FastMail is built on a platform designed to offer the best possible experience in efficiency and speed. Its key features include:
- A beautifully designed and intuitive user interface
- No advertising at any time
- Access to your emails at home, at work or while on the go using an app or the web browser version
- Push notifications for mobile and web so that you can choose to receive new emails as they arrive
- Superb anti-spam features, so that your inbox remains free from junk
- A powerful search facility
- The ability to pin message to your inbox header to show prioritization
- Grouped messages that allow you to follow conversations
- The ability to retrieve emails from other email accounts including Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo! Mail
Other Office-style features
- Intelligent calendar and contact features
- The ability to choose how you share events
Businesses can also choose additional products such as:
- TopicBox – which allows organizations and teams to share group conversations and to collaborate online
- PoBox – which offers email forwarding to individual brands and domains, working for individual and affinity bodies alike
How does FastMail work?
The company offers extremely tight security processes and technology that provide a secure, ad-free email experience. Customers can select from various aliases when receiving mail, and choose from different domains to make their emails memorable and professional.
FastMail server settings add high-tech filters that keep any junk mail away and allow easy email organization. The company has robust data centers that use strong physical measures to prevent any attack.
The company uses cutting edge security protocols and invests in the latest technologies to stay ahead of the security game. FastMail is one of the longest-running secure email systems in the industry and it has garnered an excellent reputation for its service.
FastMail pricing
There are different FastMail pricing options to choose from. For $3 a month, or $30 a year, the basic package gives you 2 GB of storage and full support, as well as mobile syncing. The standard package is $5 a month or $50 a year. It gives you 25 GB of storage and the ability to choose your domain.
Is FastMail safe?
Yes, and the company says that it prevents 30,000,000 spam emails daily! Its servers, encryption technologies, physical data centers, and working processes mean that customers are guaranteed a safe, secure, and private email experience. You can also choose to have two-step identity verification enabled for enhanced security when working on the go or using a device.
The company uses SSL for encryption and then, encryption on the FastMail server settings before going onwards. It also has policies that protect the customer’s data at all points. It never sells data to advertisers and has an excellent track record in delivery.
However, there are many users that prefer to use a VPN to help anonymize them on the internet. After all, VPNs provide users with a secure tunnel for data transfers, as well as hiding their real IP address by using another one from a location of their choice.
Using both a VPN and FastMail can help offer even more protection for users, and we always recommend using both at the same time. If you don’t know which VPN to choose, you can try one of the top VPNs on our list – NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
FastMail service
The company also offers 24/7 customer support and this feature gets great feedback from customers who may have queries or need assistance. Use the live chat feature or raise a ticket and one of the team will respond within 24 hours.
FastMail vs Gmail
So as part of our FastMail review, we’ve compared FastMail vs Gmail to give you a quick glimpse into how the providers differ.
| FastMail | Gmail | |
| Owner | FastMail Pty Ltd | |
| Released | 1999 | 2009, after 5 years of beta testing |
| Location | USA | USA |
| Free version available | Yes, try it free for 30 days. | Yes |
| Cost | Basic: $3/month, $30/year Standard: $5/month, $50/year Professional: $9/month, $90/year | N/A |
| Mailbox storage | Basic package: 2 GB Standard package: 25GB Professional package: 100 GB | Users each get 15GB, shared alongside other Google services (Google Drive and Google +) |
| Max. attachment limit | 50MB The total message must be no bigger than 70 MB in size | 25 MB per email and Google Drive offers the ability to share 100 GB of documents. |
| Security features | Full encryption Cutting-edge security software Robust data centers and policies that ensure no customer data will ever be shared or sold to advertisers | Emails are encrypted, but only for data held on the company’s servers. Data remains vulnerable and unencrypted when it passes to other servers. |
Conclusion
In summary, our FastMail review has found the secure email client to offer plenty of benefits. It’s a tried and tested service with 15 years in the business, and in this time it has won a great number of fans. The service is used by individuals, families, and businesses alike who want the guarantee of secure and confidential email, without advertising.
FastMail has great features which make it slick and easy to use, with an intuitive and user-friendly interface and the ability to access emails from your computer or mobile device. The Office style features with calendar and contact management are also advanced and offer speed and efficiency as you work with your emails.
For a quality offer, the service is also cost-effective. Users can benefit from a 30-day trial to see if it is for them and then choose from cost-effective monthly or pricing plans or the annual plan at a discount. As a cloud deployed service, software updates are automatic and security technologies, upgrades, patches, and fixes are always deployed when they need to be and without compromising service.
In short, FastMail is a great service and deserves its reputation and place in the market. It’s a secure email client that we would recommend to anyone looking for a safer, more private, and slick email user experience. We also expect to see it continue to evolve to stay ahead of the game in the security market space!
Tech writer and privacy advocate
Julie is a firm believer in equal rights for everyone. She is a traveler and blogger, focusing her efforts on exposing censorship and discrimination around the world. She wants to hold corrupt governments and shady companies accountable by writing investigative articles and helpful guides.
Fastmail is no more secure than Gmail. In fact its encryption policy is weaker than Google’s. Fastmail clearly states they do not encrypt data at rest. They are an Australian company (Australia has no bill of rights and worse data protection laws than the US).
It is true that Fastmail won’t mine your email for any advertising advantage and whatnot. At least they promise they won’t… but then as of 2017 so does Google. So I’m not really seeing the advantage with Fastmail.
Awesome, thanks President Beeblebrox
I’ve had a Fastmail account for more than ten years, my latest three year subscription due for renewal in Sep 2020. The last week in April I received an email from them stating that my account was overdue for renewal, so I paid $30 dollars for a basic 1 year subscription to keep my account open while their support sorted out the problem. Three days ago they debited my credit card by the expected $30, and two days ago my account disappeared along with my $30. I sent all the details to Fastmail Support (?), and have received NO HELP AT ALL, just prevarication about the name of my account.
In my opinion Fastmail is just a bunch of lowlife poltroons!
Whereas your problem is different than anything I have encountered, I feel compelled as a decade-long Fastmail customer to comment that they are as good as it gets in my experience with engaging in dialog with internet support and customer service operations. They WILL fix your problem. If the person you have dealt with has let you down, ask for escalation. In my experience the Fastmail folks CARE about customer service to an extent that is unparalleled.
Hello, John. I’m sorry to hear that you’re having this problem with FastMail. It seems that their customer support has made a series of mistakes. However, there’s no one else that could sort this out, so I suggest contacting them again and explaining the whole situation. Let us know if the issue will be sorted out.
Fastmail is offering a 30-day free trial without a credit card, but does require a phone. I signed up yesterday, they got my cell number.
I then worked until about 1:30 am, selectively sending individual inquiries to about 8 or 9 professional researchers, looking to hire someone. The inquiries had the name, address, phone & fax of each of the researchers. This was obviously not “spam”.
Today, I tried to login to check for replies and found my account GONE. Fastmail screwed me, even with my cell phone; they screwed me with these people that I wrote to. They screwed me on this emergency project; and their “support” ticket alleges it’ll be another 24-48 hours before they get back to me. The delay is fatal to my research work.
Fastmail has my cell, but did NOT even have the courtesy to send me a TEXT to even offer me the chance to reconfirm my account. They just DESTROYED it.
Uncivilized thugs online, we can do with less of them!
Therefore, if you are tempted to sign up for the FAKE 30-day “free trial” at Fastmail, be advised that you risk being arbitrarily and seriously SCREWED.
What about servers situated in the USA!? Huh….
This one sounds great too ! I’ve been reading a lot of secure email services reviews and they all sound great. I’m not even sure which one to choose from ! I have a vibe with ProtonMail soI think I’ll go for it.
Is it possible for a family to have different email addresses on the same account?
Yes, you can have alias email addresses. The options depend on the service selected. I use the small business service level to coordinate email, contact manager, and calendars for 2 people. Alias email addresses are perfect to maintain separate Zoom profiles for different devices: phone, laptop, workstation, and role.
man i get so much spam through gmail, i wonder if getting one of these email addresses would help. i guess starting with a clean slate new email would help regardless, but I like the idea of getting an extra secure one. there’s a lot of stuff I do for my business that i’d like protected.
How interesting! Do you know if you have to pay by the year, or can you pay month to month? I’m not a big fan of doing lump sums.
This is the first one of these secure mail clients I’ve seen that offers a calendar setting, etc. I swear, that’s the one thing keeping me on the google teat, all the office managing tools. Between Google Docs and Google Calendar I’m afraid I’ll never stop using it, lol.
Many people still think Gmail is enough nowadays. That’s such a mistake. Your data could be seen be anyone with a bit of knowledge not to mention the government. Free email accounts are not worth the stress anymore. It’s just too dangerous to continue using them for important dealings and critical data.
Fast Mail is great for sending confidential information between peer to peer. Creating and accessing secure email is really very simple. I am yet to try out some of the other functions.