MailHow vs Fastmail
Fastmail is $60/year and 27 years old, with native apps and a real calendar. MailHow is $19/year, EU-hosted, and free to receive. What the extra $41 buys.
The short version
Fastmail is the product everyone in this category is quietly compared against, and it earns that. Twenty-seven years old, native mobile apps, a proper calendar, and a deliverability record we cannot claim yet because we are months old. It is also $60/year, US-hosted under Australian jurisdiction, has no free tier, and caps you at 100 domains and 600 aliases. If you want the most finished product in this market and the price is fine, buy Fastmail. We would rather say that than pretend otherwise. We are the same core idea for a person with several domains, at $19 a year against their $60, hosted in the EU, and free to receive while you make up your mind.
What it costs: one person, five domains
$19/yr flat. Unlimited domains and addresses, EU-hosted, and free to receive forever, you can run your domains on us for a year, on real IMAP, before paying anything.
Individual is $60/year, or $56/year if you prepay three years. 60GB storage, up to 100 domains and 600 aliases. No free tier and no refunds; a 30-day trial with no card, capped at 120 sends/day.
Side by side
| Feature | MailHow | Fastmail |
|---|---|---|
| Price for the persona | $19/yr | $60/yr |
| Domains | Unlimited | Up to 100 (+1 per extra user) |
| Aliases | Unlimited | Up to 600 (+15 per extra user) |
| Storage | 10GB | Fastmail is better here: 60GB |
| Native apps | Web only (mobile-friendly) | Fastmail is better here: Native iOS and Android |
| Calendar & contacts | Basic web calendar and contacts, plus CalDAV/CardDAV | Fastmail is better here: Full calendar and contacts |
| Protocols | IMAP, POP3, SMTP, JMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV | JMAP, IMAP, POP, SMTP, CalDAV, CardDAV |
| API | REST API (v1) | Fastmail is better here: Full JMAP API, OAuth, official MCP server |
| Track record | Months | Fastmail is better here: 27 years |
| Free tier | Free to receive, forever | None, 30-day trial only |
| Hosting | Germany (OVH) | US servers (New Jersey, Seattle); Australian company |
A green check marks a row where Fastmail beats us. Figures checked 2026-07-13. They change their prices and we change ours, so verify before you buy.
Where Fastmail is better
- Twenty-seven years of operating history against our few months. If you are choosing on track record, this is not a close call.
- Native iOS and Android apps and a full-featured calendar. We have a basic web calendar and no native apps.
- Six times our storage, a mature JMAP API, and an official MCP server.
- Masked Email, integrated with 1Password and Bitwarden. A genuinely good feature.
Documented friction with Fastmail
Every item below links to its source. We list only things that are published and checkable. Not rumours, and not our opinion of them.
Domains and aliases are capped, 100 domains and 600 aliases on an Individual plan, not unlimited.
Fastmail help: domain and alias limitsThe April 2024 repricing forced customers onto new plans and drew a large negative reaction.
Hacker News 39438370Automatic DNS configuration only works if you delegate your nameservers to Fastmail; otherwise records are copy-paste.
Fastmail help: DNS setup
Which one should you actually buy?
- You want the most polished, most finished mail product in this market and $60 is acceptable.
- You need native mobile apps or a full-featured calendar today.
- Longevity is your main criterion. Theirs is 27 years; ours is months, and that is a fair thing to hold against us.
- You want your domains merged into one inbox, Fastmail gives you aliases, not a unified multi-domain workspace.
- You want EU hosting rather than US servers under Australian jurisdiction.
- You want to try it on a real domain, for free, without a countdown.
- $19 versus $60 matters to you and you do not need a full calendar or native apps.
Receiving on your own domains is free on MailHow, with no card. So you can point one domain at us, leave the rest where they are, and see for yourself before moving anything. Start free.
Sources
Checked 2026-07-13. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it, including when the correction favours Fastmail.