Free email or custom domain ?

[mobmas]

Soooo I've been using internet for 20 years, I've had a good number of email accounts from free providers and custom domains for businesses.
I still use a handful of different accounts for personal use, and I would like to start afresh for the next 20 years.
I want to get rid of the spammers and not get new ones, I want to forward emails from the current accounts, and I want to use both real aliases and + aliases. I could not find a free provider with both types (except Proton but it's quite limited).

My problem is that I can't seem to choose between a free email service and a paid custom domain email service.

The free one has the benefit of being carefree because it will remain accessible no matter what. Its inconvenient is that it cannot be transferred (I can't think of any realistic reason to do that)
The custom domain has the benefit of more features (the 2 types of aliases) and being transferable to another email provider. Its inconvenient is that all data and access could be lost if the domain is not renewed for x reason (yes there are autorenewals and securities, and I would not use a custom domain for my business if it was too risky)

What do you guys think ?

 

[Math Geek]

i stick with custom domain myself. i can create as many accounts/names as i want and delete them at will. don't really need aliases since i can create a new name, let it ride long enough to do what i need done, then delete it and forget it ever existed.

i still have a gmail account for android purposes but i haven't checked that in years now. the benefit of the personal domain is it never really gets any of the spam like free services get. anything i get is because i asked for it. i have a junk mail account for random needs where i have to give it out and then personal and business ones for other uses. my spam account is even called spam@mydomain

 

[Unolocogringo]

Custom domain without a doubt.
As stated above all the email addresses you would ever need and the ability to create and delete when needed.
Plus with free accounts your emails can be snooped whenever they want. Just like free cloud storage.
Plus they sell your info to make money, something you are trying to avoid.

 

[mobmas]

I see. But it supposes that creating those aliases in your email hosting service is fast enough for when you need to register. Is it the case ? or do you have to go through a 2FA.

In the event that you do get spam after registering somewhere, you're not just gonna delete the coresponding alias, because you would lose what you registered for. Unless you opted in to get a PDF.

If an external alias service is used like addy.io or 33mail you risk losing access to everywhere you registered if that service stops working.

It seems that it's best to have both : custom domain aliases for important subscriptions and on the fly external aliases/forwarding for less important subscriptions.

 

[Math Geek]

the spam@ address is for registering for stuff i may need a reply from in the future. that one stays. the use and dump addresses are for any other use that does not need future use.

for instance i've used one to "register" with a news site so i could read articles beyond like 3 a week. they only wanted a verification click and never need it again. don't care for their spam so made a new name, gave it to them, then deleted it after verifying the address.

got one of those codes for a freebie from a coke can/taco bell receipt/etc etc. same thing, only need to use it for a few minutes to get your freebie. then delete it to avoid all the spam they WILL send forever after it.

and so on and so on. just got to know if you'll need it again or not.

i use namecheap to host my email. 5 boxes is about $30 for a year. i use 3 permanent ones and the other 2 rotate with temp names. not a bad price at all for 75 gb of storage included.