Paying for Email Account?

JimB on 11/11/2021 - 12:53
Last edited 11/11/2021 - 12:53

Just wondering who pays for an email account.

I've had my Gmail account since it was invite only circa 2004. Got in early so got my 6 letter name as my gmail username (without a 1, 2, etc).

Back then it was 1GB and they use to increase it (with a counter too)… who they hell would fill up 1GB for emails?

come 2020, I've had to delete emails as my mailbox was approaching 15GB… and its' happened again today.

Blasphemy but now I'm just thinking to pay $25 p.a. to Google for 100GB just so I don't have to sit for hours deleting/filtering emails.

So who here pays for their personal email account?

Poll Options

  • 252
    Yes
  • 159
    No, but would consider
  • 154
    No, I'd rather create a second or fifth email account to get more free storage
Computing

Comments

  • skid on 11/11/2021 - 12:57
    +30

    No, but would consider for a personalised domain name.

    • Ramrunner on 12/11/2021 - 12:55

      Google Workspace?

    • Lord Fart Bucket on 12/11/2021 - 16:31
      +3

      Done. Managed to get my surname as a domain (with reunion island as part of the domain and surname, like @spect.re - no, that's not my surname, it's only an example)

      • sackrace on 13/11/2021 - 10:02
        +10

        Mulva?

        • cashews on 14/11/2021 - 17:15
          +3

          Delores!

  • GooseLord on 11/11/2021 - 12:58
    +32

    just bulk delete the emails, its not worth the monthly subscription

    • HeWhoKnows on 12/11/2021 - 10:59
      +2

      Yes very tardy just collecting emails on google server.

      Just delete emails once you deal with them and as others have suggested:

      DO A MASSIVE CLEAN-OUT OF YOUR EMAILS

      Another option is to download them onto your computer in future with MS Outlook or similar
      But do the email clean-out first!

    • skillet on 12/11/2021 - 13:33
      +3

      Login to drive.google.com and see what crap you have there. 15GB is shared between all Google Services. Is Whatsapp also backing up to Google Drive?

  • scotty on 11/11/2021 - 13:01
    +9

    I've also got my Gmail account back in 2004 & 2x free GAFYD from more than 10 years ago. Still haven't had a need to pay for upgraded plan though. However you are paying more than just the email address though, but the storage for your inbox, Google Drive, Google Photo and other Google One benefits.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 14:00

      My Gmail account is 99% emails… what is in Google Drive & Google Photo was probably inadvertently uploaded. haha

      I must admit I'm happy with Gmail so willing to pay $25 p.a. was just wondering what % out there also paid.

    • spackbace on 11/11/2021 - 14:51
      +6

      As with the point above, I'm 'paying' for Google One but only for Google Photos storage currently - 100GB is $2.49/month, however with Google Opinion Rewards I've so far not actually paid a cent for the upgrade

      • Zachary on 12/11/2021 - 09:33
        -1

        ….what the hell do you have in google photos to be storing 100GB of photos…? Taking lossless uncompressed pictures and uploading them for backup purposes? That's the only reason I can think of.

        • spackbace on 12/11/2021 - 11:15

          17.9 of 100gb used

          Backing up original quality photos

          And hasn't cost me a cent to do

      • takezo on 13/11/2021 - 17:55

        You can pay for Google one with rewards?

  • scrimshaw on 11/11/2021 - 13:03
    +23

    Just FYI you can use Google Takeout to download all your email data (as well as any data stored on Google related services). You can then store them yourself locally without having to pay Google to keep your decades worth of emails.

    see https://www.theverge.com/21324801/gmail-download-data-back-u…

    .Mbox files can be imported into an email client, like Mozilla's not quite dead Thunderbird.

  • Hybroid on 11/11/2021 - 13:06
    +14

    You can sort e-mails by size and delete the largest ones to free up space quick.

    https://one.google.com/storage/management

  • Brumby92 on 11/11/2021 - 13:18
    +2

    Its tempting but no. Just use Takeout to download everything in your account as a backup. Then spend some time deleting files.
    I'm glad I was early with my Gmail account. I also have a really easy email address.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 13:54
      +2

      I use my email to back up important documents, tax returns etc etc.. so really my email is my back up.. :D

      • No on 11/11/2021 - 15:22

        In that case transfer it all to a new google account and you are good to go for another decade.

      • OldnBroke on 13/11/2021 - 17:19

        Not worried about identity theft if someone gains access to your e-mail?

    • Diji1 on 11/11/2021 - 18:10

      spend some time deleting files

      You might want to find an automated way of doing that unless there's a better way than through the web interface.

  • sparkles on 11/11/2021 - 13:20
    +1

    My earliest Gmail messages were March 2005. One of the first things I seemed to do was send an invite to myself. Weird. LOL

    I also have my name in full, no numbers. A rarity these days. I am up to 5.72GB, so would I pay? No, but if I had to I guess, yes.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 13:55

      Yeah, I'm thinking of paying.

  • GrueHunter on 11/11/2021 - 13:29
    +1

    Paying $30 a year to keep an old Internode account after we moved to ABB a couple of years ago. Just easier than updating contact details for everyone who has that account.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 13:55

      Yeah, that's it.. I've got a great email and it would suck to change it all.

    • jerjergege on 12/11/2021 - 13:20
      -5

      ABB does internet?

      • This Guy on 14/11/2021 - 12:00

        Not that I know of. While they have some more IoT protocols on some of their newer devices, to my knowledge ABB products should still have a firewall between them and the internet.

  • samfisher5986 on 11/11/2021 - 13:29
    +6

    Paying for an email account is a slippery slope in my opinion.

    You pay $25 a year, for how many years? and will they ever give you more then 100GB? What if you need more but don't want to pay more?

    You can't just stop paying, you won't be able to receive emails which basically means you are now locked in for life, or until you change.

    Personally I just stick to the 15GB limit and if I ever want a better deal, I'll go with a business plan or a different company.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 13:58

      200GB for $44 p.a. or 2TB for $125 p.a.

      • samfisher5986 on 11/11/2021 - 14:01

        Which is not much storage long term if you are using Google Drive, Photos etc.

        • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 14:08

          True, but I really only use it for email.

          Photos etc can be stored on portable drives/NAS.

          • samfisher5986 on 11/11/2021 - 14:27
            +2

            @JimB: But then why would you need more then 15GB?

            Gmail can delete your old large attachments.

      • Yorkshire-Man on 13/11/2021 - 16:53
        +1

        Yeah, I'm upto 90gb now. Mainly photos (70gb). Happy to pay, photos are memories of my kids childhood, it's a small price to pay.

    • toby17 on 12/11/2021 - 15:03
      +3

      Also, if you exceed 15GB now, it'll be that much harder to get your inbox under 15GB later.

  • brad1-8tsi on 11/11/2021 - 13:35

    I have my full name without numbers.

    I just delete all the crap I get.

    That 15gb is also shared with your photos and docs so maybe all the fat is there?

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 14:01

      My Gmail account is 99% emails.

      Either pay for start bulk deleting emails over 3 years old.

  • beeawwb on 11/11/2021 - 13:36
    +3

    I pay for my personal domain email, but I also have other email addresses from the usual free providers.

    Por que no los dos?

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 14:01
      +1

      Prefer one just for convenience.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/11/2021 - 13:42
    +3

    Make another email account, set it up to retrieve all the emails from your main email, then clear out the main email.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 14:03
      -1

      That's a good idea but lazy to, would just rather have it all under 1 account.

      I will set up a 2nd email account for anything important- duplicate the emails.

  • Switchblade88 on 11/11/2021 - 14:23
    +1

    https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#advanced-search/subset=all…

    The above link is an example, but it's easy to search for email with attachments and size greater than X megabytes. This will let you purge all the junk emails and newsletters that are full of big photos that will take up most of your space.

    I've had mine since the Gmail beta and I'm only at 3Gb within Gmail.

  • JimmyF on 11/11/2021 - 14:30
    +1

    I've had my Gmail account since it was invite only circa 2004

    Me too

    So who here pays for their personal email account?

    In the context of 'paying', yes I pay for google storage but I'm not 'yet' over the 'free' email limit. But I also use the google storage for other things, so when the time comes I'm ready.

    So if you are happy with gmail, then pay for storage or start doing some 'searches' on your inbox for large messages or 'spam/newsletter' messages you might not want anymore. You might be surprised.

  • slow on 11/11/2021 - 14:51
    +1

    Same here, I am at my 15GB limit with mail and photos and getting tired of cleaning up, so considering just paying, as much as it pains me

    I know there are workarounds but feel I cant be bothered

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:23

      Yeah it's just laziness, but I'm willing to pay for it. haha

  • pharkurnell on 11/11/2021 - 14:56

    Open few free accounts with similar names

    then forward emails from your main account to those

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:24

      I'd rather just have 1 large email.

      Just need the time to delete all the old emails

  • Seraphin7 on 11/11/2021 - 15:16
    +4

    My gmail is about 15 years old. I've been through the process of clearing out and while its a bit painful, I can assure you that you are storing a load of useless junk. The most efficient way to do it is to set up filters that both allow you to selectively delete emails, but still in bulk (such as by sender/domain) and then mark similar future emails for deletion. You them come along periodically (like maybe once a year) and delete everything marked for deletion that is older than "x" months.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:28
      +1

      You make sense.. lazy tax! ha

  • o53djz7qTPY4der on 11/11/2021 - 15:20
    +2

    I pay for o365 and a personal domain. Domain is about $20py with o365 at $70 under the HUP. o365 is well worth it, custom domain support, 1tb OD + office access. The only downside is the domain must be with GoDaddy to use with Outlook (I am aware there are possible workarounds).

    I then use Anonaddy ($15py) with a sub-domain on my personal domain to sign up to stuff that might (will) spam me.

    I use my personal domain for business too so can claim on tax. But, really, it's worth it and looks much more professional.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:26

      If I had my time over, I'd get the Microsoft365 subscription (new name for O365) for the family.

      I don't need a personalised domain name.

      • o53djz7qTPY4der on 11/11/2021 - 15:46

        You can sign up to o365 with your gmail address.

      • spaceflight on 14/11/2021 - 23:23

        Use your Gmail address with Microsoft 365

    • No on 12/11/2021 - 12:54
      +1

      What is the benefit of Anonaddy over using a catchall with your domain?

      • o53djz7qTPY4der on 12/11/2021 - 15:25
        +1

        O365 doesn't allow catch all for home users. But, I guess more than that… If I find I am being spammed at an address e.g. [email protected], I can just delete the address.

        There are heaps of providers that offer disposable addresses, e.g. 33mail. At $1pm - really isn't a big deal.

  • Save Medicare on 11/11/2021 - 15:21
    +4

    I'm grandfathered into the G Suite free tier. Life is good.

    • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:28

      I thought the G Suite free had the same storage capacity as the regular email.

      • Save Medicare on 11/11/2021 - 15:33
        +1

        My mistake, it is.

        • JimB on 11/11/2021 - 15:35

          Sounds like 15GB is sufficient for your needs anyway.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 11/11/2021 - 15:37

    I pay, but use Zoho and Proton.

    • Bohlen on 11/11/2021 - 17:26
      +3

      +1 Proton.

  • bazingaa on 11/11/2021 - 15:59
    +2

    I am same as you, got Gmail from 2004 (remember the 6 invites per person?), this year I paid $25 and got 100 GB for resized photo backups :D
    You can also share the 100 GB with your family members so it is another bonus.
    I usually delete emails which I no longer needed and new letters etc right when I get them.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/11/2021 - 16:10
    +1

    I pay for Exchange online on my domain name [email protected]
    $5.50 a month for 50gb
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/exchange/excha…

  • Diji1 on 11/11/2021 - 18:21
    +2

    Pay for a domain that you will keep for the rest of your life. Make it as short as possible but something that is memorable for others. You could use your real name or something else.

    Pay for hosting with cPanel.

    Create a page or subdomain to redirect to your email address eg

    denise.com/email or
    email.denise.com

    Can use Wordpress with Redirection plugin to create and edit redirects.

    Now you can change email providers without changing the address.

    You can do the same for social media in case of account ban etc.

    • Zachary on 12/11/2021 - 09:40

      Create a page or subdomain to redirect to your email address eg

      denise.com/email or
      email.denise.com

      What do you mean by this? This would redirect old emails to your new email or something?

    • Tarnos on 12/11/2021 - 11:34
      +1

      I would not recommend this for anyone. This is another headache to maintain and it's not free.

      You are probably tech-savvy and would do it for other benefits like branding / hosting a website, etc

  • tight-ass on 11/11/2021 - 20:18

    I added my gmail account in MS Outlook and created an archive (locally stored on my pc) and added a rule that grabs a copy of any email received / sent and places it into the corresponding archive file.

  • Hessian Sack on 11/11/2021 - 22:37
    +7

    My reason for paying for email is not to get more space, it's to avoid the 'If you're not paying, you're the product' problem

    If you were going that direction, I heartily endorse having your own domain name so that you're not tied to any particular provider in future.

    To lessen the pain of shifting away from Gmail, you can set up a rule in Gmail to forward all new messages to your new email address. Ideally you want to keep an eye out for these, and migrate away over time, but it stops you from missing anything you forgot to swap over.

    • PeterSnoot on 12/11/2021 - 08:43
      +3

      I fully agree with Hessian Sack on this. I have my own domain (a couple actually) and pay for a Fastmail account.

      Forwarding email from Gmail or Outlook.com is quite effective.

      Ozbargain is probably not the right forum to get a balanced view on whether to pay for email or not.

      • Zachary on 12/11/2021 - 09:39
        +3

        Ozbargain is probably not the right forum to get a balanced view on whether to pay for email or not.

        Yeah coz everyone here are tight arses or cheap skates! So bias opinon is for free and if it's not free, then no deal!

      • aliam on 12/11/2021 - 21:55
        +1

        Can you tell me a bit more about your email setup? I use Gmail but have had a paid fastmail account for maybe 20 years but haven't really used it for 10 years.

        I'm thinking of getting my own domain name and running my own email, but want to be able to have the control like I do with fastmail rules.

        I have so many work email accounts, Gmail, fastmail etc - would like one central place for everything.

        Send me a PM if it's easier.

        • PeterSnoot on 15/11/2021 - 10:37
          +2

          My setup could be improved but works reasonably well for me. Here is a brief overview:

          • I have my own domain (snoot.com.au) and basic hosting with VentraIP
          • My main email account ([email protected]) is hosted at the VentraIP site
          • Email sent to [email protected] or [email protected] are automatically forwarded to [email protected]
          • Some additional aliases are set up on the VentraIP site using forwarding rules. (e.g. [email protected] -> [email protected]). These aliases do not have an email account
          • My email account at Fastmail ([email protected]) is linked to my domain with [email protected] set up as a sending identity. That way I get to send email from Fastmail using my own domain. It also polls the email account on VentraIP to suck the email from all the various addresses into my one Fastmail inbox (or the appropriate folder).

          This is the simple version but gives you an idea of my setup. An alternative would be to use Fastmail to manage my MX details - that is an option worth investigating.

          Apologies to Ozbargain purists who are cringing at the number of services that I pay for.

          • brisdaz on 15/11/2021 - 18:41

            @PeterSnoot: Nah that's quite clever. If you work out where the email is coming from you can track personal branding time and energy.

            That is you can work out if someone is researching you or your entities. Or you can make multiple accounts on various services if you have the Ozbargain ethic.

          • aliam on 18/11/2021 - 15:00

            @PeterSnoot: Thanks, I will set up something similar.

      • brisdaz on 13/11/2021 - 19:54

        There are some fraction of OzBargain member who believe in long term value and losing your privacy at the wrong time can cost you significantly monetarily as well. Although sometimes it's hard to work out when that happens or who is responsible for that loss.

    • spaceflight on 14/11/2021 - 23:28
      -1

      it's to avoid the 'If you're not paying, you're the product' problem

      Google doesn't scan your emails to advertise to you.
      Yes they advertise to you however they don't use the contents of your emails to do it.

  • OzHunterNSW on 12/11/2021 - 10:07

    Go back and delete some of the crap

  • SlickMick on 12/11/2021 - 10:11

    I voted that I'd setup multiple accounts for more storage before I'd pay (that sounds like the biggest pain I can imagine, but I am adamant that I'm not going to open the door to subscriptions.)
    However, I signed up for Google Rewards and answer thier occassional little questions for Google Play credits - then I had nothing to do with the credits so I upgraded to the 100G.

    I'm told I'll get plenty of surveys to cover the cost. (Every few days they pay me 10c to answer a question like whether I'm married.) But I haven't started using Google Drive coz I know the pain of having to move the data elsewhere if it doesn't work out.
    I'm pretty sure I'll start using Google more.

  • juzza87 on 12/11/2021 - 10:12
    +2

    Yes, Protonmail

  • jonkvh on 12/11/2021 - 10:20
    +7

    Fastmail. Aussie owned & they offer an easy transfer tool for Gmail users.

  • MisterX on 12/11/2021 - 11:17
    +2

    What you can do is link your Gmail to Microsoft Outlook on your PC, then create a local folder and drag everything out onto your own computer. I personally put it into the Archive folder and sort by year (2020, 2019, 2018 etc).

    • tight-ass on 12/11/2021 - 11:56
      +1

      I do the same. The only difference is I've setup rules to move stuff automatically

  • Blakus on 12/11/2021 - 11:41
    +1

    I pay the $2.49 a month for Google one 100GB. I share it with my family so we have plenty of space for Gmail, drive and photos. Pretty good value when you consider what else $2.49 gets you.

    • JimB on 12/11/2021 - 13:12

      Any reason why you pay monthly rather than just yearly?

      • Blakus on 13/11/2021 - 07:26

        Thanks JimB. Not really sure - just changed to an annual plan to save $5/year.

  • TanTheMan on 12/11/2021 - 11:45
    +1

    I might be one of the lucky ones with a uncommon name as I have my full name no numbers in gmail, yahoo and outlook, two of which were created in the past year. but yes i pay for the 100gb gmail which was less than half price after using the rewards credits

  • gromit on 12/11/2021 - 12:11
    +2

    I pay for Office 365, So while that means I am paying for my email too that is really more of an added bonus rather than one of the features I was after.

  • htc on 12/11/2021 - 12:15
    +2

    There should be a fourth option, no, I will delete emails and/or download the older email for archive.

  • trapper on 12/11/2021 - 13:09
    +1

    You can filter gmail emails by size to easily find and delete the bigger ones using all your space up.

    Just search for larger:1mb or maybe start with larger:10mb

  • awaddell on 12/11/2021 - 13:22

    Personal Domain hosted by google (grandfathered) G Suite.

    I also have an early no number, just name gmail account from the original invite only gmail beta, which is frankly useless because dozens of clueless Americans keep using it as their address on mail lists, kids school notifications, receipts and endless political advertising. I could steal so many identities with the info they freely give me. Unfortunately unless I spend an hour every month deleting and unsubscribing the account just fills with rubbish. So I only use it as a backup account for my main personal domain account.

    A personal domain is the way to go because you can always move it if a company becomes too oppressive, discontinues the service etc.

  • skittlebrau on 12/11/2021 - 13:25

    I've been paying for my own personalised domain mailbox for many years. I've been on iiNet Exchange, MS Exchange Online and VentraIP (IMAP).

    I'm currently using Outlook Premium since it's included with Office 365 Home which I was paying for in addition to my previous mailbox anyway. Added bonus is that since it's Microsoft-hosted, it has Exchange mailboxes for you and your other family members. It's good value because Exchange mailboxes are typically $5.50 per user, so in my case that would come to $198 per year for 3 mailboxes whereas now I'm with O365 and it's $98 with Office applications included in addition to 1TB storage per user.

    Using a mailbox with your own domain is worth paying for. It gives you the freedom to move between providers as you wish.

  • jv on 12/11/2021 - 13:39
    -1

    I still have the original google email Larry Page sent me.

  • sghetti on 12/11/2021 - 13:45

    I recently had to start paying for my Google account as I've breached the 15gb limit.

    I use GMail, drive, and photos so it was a no-brainer. I don't like to be trapped in an ecosystem permanently so my photos are synced from iCloud and Google Photos to enable me to move between phone ecosystems easier.

    Yes it's another subscription and I probably need to review it. I don't have any short term plans to leave the iPhone ecosystem so photo syncs to iCloud are probably sufficient.

  • deme on 12/11/2021 - 14:19

    https://www.fastmail.com/pricing/

  • toby17 on 12/11/2021 - 14:53

    Honestly, this is just the perfect example of wanting people to tell you it's okay to do want you want to do.

    I would never pay for an email address. Like most, I would start by cleaning out my existing account.

    But you want to be people to say it's okay to spend $25 to keep your gen 1 email address. Just do it.

  • Black Brown Blue on 12/11/2021 - 15:58

    I have never paid for email. Never plan to. Have 1 Hotmail and 1 Gmail, with 15 GB each on OneDrive and Google drive. Never had to delete any email even though I have thousands as they never contribute to drive storage. Photos and what you save on drive, phone backup contributes to storage. Nowadays they only give 5gb each.

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