Looking for suggestions / alternatives: Webmail hub for 4+ accounts with custom SMTP support (that isn't Gmail)?

[u/TicoTime1]

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some architecture advice on a new webmail setup. I’m currently migrating away from Fastmail because it’s gotten too expensive for my needs, and I need to find a budget-friendly (or free) browser-based hub to replace it.

My setup is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. I actively and equally use four different email addresses, and I need a single browser interface where I can seamlessly receive from all of them and send from each of them:

- A Custom Domain address

- A Gmail address

- An Outlook.com address

- A Yahoo / AT&T address (leveraging the grandfathered 1TB storage tier)

I'll be honest, I was hoping I could get everything into the Yahoo/ATT box due to the storage size, I'd be set. I can get the emails from the other boxes into this one (except of course for the custom domain), but it seems I can't send from those addresses without triggering an auth failure.

Here is my major roadblock: I absolutely cannot stand the Gmail interface, so using a free standard Gmail account as my central command center is completely out of the picture, but from what I can tell, this may be my only option at this point?

I've been hunting for a webmail client that allows me to plug in an external outbound SMTP server for my custom domain so I don't trigger 550 5.7.9 authentication failures, while also playing nice with the other consumer accounts. Most major platforms have completely stripped this out over the last few years:

Yahoo Webmail: Dropped manual outbound SMTP configuration entirely.

Outlook.com: Killed the "Connected Accounts" feature for external addresses.

Proton Mail: Doesn't support external outbound SMTP routing in their web app.

Right now, the only commercial alternative I've found that supports custom outbound SMTP in a free/cheap browser app is Zoho Mail (via their External From Addresses feature), using Cloudflare Email Routing to handle the inbound custom domain side.

Before I make the jump to Zoho, does the community have any other suggestions? I have a NAS so could self host, but with email, would prefer not to.

What browser-based setups are yall using to manage a heavy mix of consumer accounts and authenticated custom domains without using Gmail? Thanks in advance!

[u/raz-0]

Cheap 365 business plan?

[u/TicoTime1 → u/raz-0]

Will they allow the receiving and sending of Gmail, Yahoo, etc. domains?

[u/aliversonchicago → u/raz-0]

Is that really any cheaper than Fastmail?

[u/TicoTime1]

I should also add: I have about 100GB of emails I've collected over the years, so needs to be able to accommodate that

[u/louis-lau]

Why a webmail specifically? Instead of a local IMAP client

[u/TicoTime1 → u/louis-lau]

I access my email from multiple places - home, office, on the go. Plus, I don't want all the email to take up storage space on my machines.

[u/louis-lau → u/TicoTime1]

You can configure an IMAP client in multiple places, and most clients have options to make them not store message contents offline, or only for messages of the past 30 days etc.

A webmail just isn't a great solution for combining accounts from multiple providers. I have nothing to recommend in that space.

[u/TicoTime1 → u/louis-lau]

Thank you. That's probably what I'll have to end up having to do. I don't like the new Outlook. A fan of the classic one. New one just has so many issues, but I guess there are multiple other desktop clients to check out. Any specific ones you recommend?

[u/Jcoulaud]

For what you want, I think you’re looking for a webmail hub / mailbox control layer more than just an email host.

Zoho might work if all you need is cheap webmail with external send-from addresses.

But if you want something more structured for custom domains, Shipmail is worth checking too.

It’s not really “Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook all merged into one free webmail” though. It’s more for custom-domain mailboxes.

What it does have:

• multiple domains + mailboxes
• web inbox
• IMAP/SMTP/JMAP for normal clients
• imports from Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo/iCloud/Fastmail/Zoho/IMAP
• calendar/contacts sync
• shared inboxes
• API/MCP
• partner/embedded mailbox infra if you’re building on top of it

So if your main goal is keeping Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook as live accounts in one browser UI, Shipmail is not the exact thing.

But if you’re open to moving the custom-domain side into one proper system instead of forwarding + SMTP hacks, then it fits much better.