Fastmail Review (2026)
By Daan Haket · Tested hands-on · written with an AI assistant · who does what
You're paying for what the free giants monetize differently: no ads, no profiling, real support and standards-first email (JMAP/IMAP everywhere). Below, Gmail is the yardstick we hold it against.
- Best for Individuals wanting private email on their own domain
- Not for buyers who require end-to-end encryption
From $5 · Individual · per month, or $60 for twelve months, with 60 GB for one person · read 2026-10-15
Visit Fastmail →Is Fastmail right for you?
Your pain“I want ad-free email on my own domain from a provider that doesn't mine my data.”
Does Fastmail solve it?YesOur test (30 Oct 2026): the trial ran 30 days with no card, and Individual was €6 a month on the monthly term or €5 a month on a 12-month term.
Your planIndividual, $5 a month or $60 for twelve months (60 GB, one person)
Try Fastmail →
Your pain“Moving my team off Gmail risks losing our filters and mail apps.”
Does Fastmail solve it?PartlyVendor docs: the Gmail import turns every label into a folder, and third-party clients such as Outlook or iPhone Mail each need their own app password.
Your planStandard, €5 per user a month billed yearly (Basic at €3 leaves out custom domains and third-party apps)
Try Fastmail →
- Buyers who require end-to-end encryption. Our review: Fastmail sells a fast, ad-free mail host with your own domain, not an encrypted-by-default suite; if end-to-end encryption is the requirement, compare Proton Mail. Better fit: Proton.
Transparency: we earn nothing from Fastmail; the links to it are plain links. How we make money →
Which Fastmail plan do you need?
3 plans, 2 questions, no signup.
Answer two quick questions to see your plan.
Your plan
Individual
$5 a month, or $60 for twelve months
60 GB for one person
Your plan
Family
$11 a month ($132 a year)
Up to six people and up to 360 GB, 60 GB each
Probably not Fastmail
From your answers, look at Proton instead. Why ↓
Prices as we read them on 2026-10-15; check the checkout before you pay. The Proton link is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Exit test (measured 2026-10-30)
- Export route
- Settings > Migration > Export > Download all contacts
- Formats
- PNG
- Attachments included
- Not tested
- Re-import tested
- Yes
- Lost on export
- Download all contacts omits group membership: neither of the two assigned groups per contact is exported; Reimporting the modified vCard creates two duplicates with new UIDs.
Formats describe this export route; offered formats may not have been inspected. Full exit test and scope ↓
Tested by our team on 30 October 2026 on the free trial: Daan created the account and our AI assistant ran the test in Daan's browser. We added two made-up contacts with a photo each, exported the address book, changed one note in the export and imported it again.
How we tested
- Added two made-up contacts with a photo, a note and two groups each
- Exported all contacts and checked every field against our source
- Changed one note in the export and imported it again
- The trial showed 30 days, with no card. Upgrading ends the trial straight away: the checkout says the subscription starts today and that there are no refunds for unused time.
- Individual was €6 a month on the monthly term, €1.04 of it VAT, or €5 a month on a 12-month term.
- Adding a second user, and by the same message sending your first email, first asks you to verify a mobile phone number by text.
Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 15 Oct 2026
Individual is $5 a month, or $60 for twelve months, with 60 GB of storage for one person. Duo is $8 a month ($96 a year) for two inboxes and 120 GB. Family is $11 a month ($132 a year) for up to six people and up to 360 GB, at 60 GB each. The page also sells 24- and 36-month terms, so the twelve-month figure is the middle of three commitments rather than the cheapest one. Plans change, so check the live price on their site before you buy.
Category context: IT & Productivity. Across the 44 tools in this category that we researched with a public US-dollar price, the median entry price is $15 a month (lowest paid plan as listed, per seat where the vendor prices per seat). Fastmail’s entry price of $5 a month sits below that median. Compare pricing conditions in the Software Cost Atlas →
Correction after re-checking: No free plan, only a trial of up to 30 days. These are the personal plans billed yearly, as the pricing page displays them in euros. Individual is €5 per month (€60 for 12 months), Duo €8 per month for 2 people (€96 for 12 months), and Family €11 per month for up to 6 people (€132 for 12 months). Only Family pushes the per-person cost far down; Duo does not. Business billed yearly: Basic €3 per user/month (6 GB per user, no custom domains, no third-party apps), Standard €5 per user/month (60 GB per user), Professional €9 per user/month (150 GB per user). The page prices in the visitor's local currency. (re-verified 15 October 2026)
What the price did
We read Fastmail’s own pricing page on a schedule and keep every reading, so this is our record of the page. It is not a forecast, and not someone else’s summary. A change appears here only after we confirmed the new price on the page itself.
Unchanged. Every price on Fastmail’s pricing page was identical across our 19 reads from 24 Jul 2026 to 28 Oct 2026 (96 days).
Fastmail's price card did not move this summer: our July and August 2026 captures are byte-for-byte identical. Both carry €6 and €5 for Individual with the €60 / €114 / €168 prepay ladder and €10 and €8 for Duo, and the page returned the same figures on 17 August 2026. Three readings, no change. A fourth reading on 29 September 2026 matched again, business plans included: Basic €4 monthly or €3 on a year, Standard €6 or €5, Professional €10 or €9 per user. A fifth reading on 15 October 2026 matched once more, on the US page in dollars as well as on the Dutch page in euros.
What the pricing page doesn’t say
The honest limits: it's email/calendar/contacts, not a Workspace-style office suite, so document collaboration lives elsewhere, and migrating decades of Gmail habits (filters, integrations) takes a weekend of care. For owning your address on your own domain, it's the boring, excellent choice.
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The video version of this review, from our YouTube channel.
⚡ Short on time? Watch the 30-second verdict Short.
What Fastmail does
Private, ad-free email hosting with your own domain. Fast, secure email, calendars and contacts from an independent provider that doesn't mine your data. From 1 August 2026 you pick EU (Amsterdam) or US data residency, encrypted at rest on Fastmail's own servers. Note that EU data is initially still replicated and backed up to the US while that infrastructure matures.
What buyers report about Fastmail
Hands-on: tested 2026-10-30Reported by buyers: Tekpon, CyberInsider and user reviews, read August 2026
Themes from the buyer-review sites listed at the foot of this page, read in August 2026. We tested Fastmail ourselves on 2026-10-30, but one test is a narrow sample, so here is what other buyers report. We summarise it here because the complaints are usually the part a vendor page leaves out.
- • Fast, private, ad-free email with calendar and contacts that actually integrate: reviewers call it the most polished option in its class.
- • In August 2026 reviewers quoted a starting price of $4 per user monthly; Fastmail's own page has since been re-read with different plan prices, so use the pricing section above rather than that figure.
- • On Trustpilot, long-time users (some since 2015) describe years of trouble-free service and name individual support staff who fixed problems such as an accidentally deleted folder within hours (March-September 2026).
- • A developer building a help desk on top of it singles out the JMAP API and the desktop app (February 2026).
- • A 40% price increase announced in December 2025 frustrated long-time customers, and reviewers say so.
- • Search is weaker than Gmail when you cannot remember exact keywords, and the mobile search is noticeably worse than web.
- • There is no single view across all accounts, the app occasionally hangs, and dark mode is not true black.
- • Per-user pricing adds up fast for anyone with several accounts or a small team.
- • Trustpilot also carries the other side of support: a business owner says help is by ticket only and took a day or more while an employee mailbox was down, and a prospective business customer had no reply from sales after two days (June and September 2026).
- • Two June 2026 reviewers report accounts suspended without a stated reason, one after heavy use of Masked Email, with only automated replies for several days; a February review says unverified trial accounts cannot open certain emails in the web interface.
- • A July 2026 reviewer calls the repeated reminders to renew a domain they had decided to drop hectoring.
Where the ratings disagree. The August sources are mostly about product and price; Trustpilot in 2026 is split between very long-standing customers praising named support staff and newer or business users describing slow ticket-only support and unexplained account suspensions.
Pages read (August 2026): Trustpilot
When the paid plan is worth it
Fastmail has no free plan. You get a trial of up to 30 days, so the question is which tier, not whether to pay. On the pricing page as it renders for a European visitor, Individual is €6 per month billed monthly and €5 per month billed yearly, which is €60 for 12 months. Duo covers 2 people at €8 per month yearly, and Family up to 6 people at €11 per month yearly, €132 for 12 months, so once you are past a single mailbox the shared tiers beat separate Individual subscriptions.
The feature rows are identical across the personal plans: custom domains, Masked Email, third-party app access and 60 GB per person. Paying more buys seats, not capabilities. For teams, Basic at €3 per user per month yearly gives 6 GB per user and leaves out custom domains and third-party apps such as Outlook and iPhone Mail, so it only suits people who stay in the web app. Standard at €5 per user per month yearly restores both.
No upgrade lifts the 70 MB ceiling on a single sent email, and the pricing page's own FAQ (read 15 October 2026) is plain about money back: Fastmail does not offer refunds for unused subscriptions and tells you to use the free trial to decide. You can cancel at any time and no further payments are taken. Its terms of service (section 10) leave any refund of prepaid fees to Fastmail's discretion.
Our monthly capture read this vendor's pricing page every month from July 2026 to October 2026, and the amounts were the same all 4 times. We keep watching, and the registry records what moves.
What we found running Fastmail ourselves
The first findings are at the top of this page. The rest:
- The contact form has names, company, nickname, birthday, email, phone, address and notes, but no custom fields.
- The vCard export brought back names with accents, multi-line notes and the photos byte for byte. The groups we used as tags were missing from it.
- Importing the edited vCard did not update anything: it added two new contacts with new IDs, so we ended up with four.
Claim vs. what we measured
We set a claim from Fastmail's own pages next to what we saw in our test, on the plan named. The status says whether the two describe the same thing and match; it is not a verdict on the product. Confirmations are listed too.
| What the vendor says | What we measured | Status | What it means if you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| lasts up to 30 daysSource: fastmail.help, read 30 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-30: The welcome and billing screens show thirty days remaining. Upgrading explicitly ends the trial.Our test, 30 Oct 2026; 30-day trial; tier not established | ConfirmedThe up-to-thirty-day claim is compared with the Fastmail remaining-days banner; an upgrade is separately subject to immediate trial termination. | The observed maximum-duration offer is consistent; purchasing early forfeits remaining trial time. |
| No credit card is requiredSource: fastmail.help, read 30 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-30: No card was requested according to source notes, and no payment details were entered in the observed route. Complete signup screens were not counted.Our test, 30 Oct 2026; 30-day trial; tier not established | ConfirmedFastmail signup notes explicitly report no card request; SMS verification before adding a user is a distinct requirement. | The recorded session proceeded without card entry; this does not promise payment-free access to every feature. |
| €6Source: app.fastmail.com, read 30 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-30: Current app monthly Individual price and order summary both EUR 6 including EUR 1.04 VAT. No Fastmail product rule exists in the pinned cost rules; the historical preparation also marks the exact rule comparison untested.Our test, 30 Oct 2026; 30-day trial; tier not established | ConfirmedThe observed Individual monthly EUR 6 plan and EUR 6 tax-inclusive summary use the same term and account; the cost-engine rule is not asserted to match. | Upgrading starts today, renews automatically and offers no unused-time refund. |
| Upgrading to a paid plan will end your trial period and unlock all features.Source: app.fastmail.com, read 30 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-30: Billing warns the trial ends on upgrade; checkout says the new subscription starts today and offers no refunds for unused time.Our test, 30 Oct 2026; 30-day trial; tier not established | ConfirmedFastmail upgrade timing is compared directly between its trial banner and monthly checkout terms; no payment or cancellation was performed. | Buying during the trial gives up its remaining free days. |
Exit test: can you take your data out?
Two fictional address-book contacts, with multiline notes, PNG photos and groups, exported and reimported during the trial. Test date: 30 Oct 2026. We describe the friction rather than score it; this is one run with synthetic records, not a verdict on Fastmail.
| What we checked | What we saw |
|---|---|
| Came along in the export |
|
| Lost in the export |
|
| Awkward but not lost | The contact form offers no custom fields, general record date or amount field. Birthday is a different field. A second user triggers mobile verification; the same message also requires verification before a first outgoing message. An upgrade ends the remaining trial and starts the subscription immediately, with no refund for unused time. |
| Export route | Settings > Migration > Export > Download all contacts. |
| Export format | vCard 3.0 with embedded base64 PNG photos; two cards before and four after reimport. |
| Re-importing the export | Import > Upload contacts and calendars > Contacts reported success, but retained UIDs did not update existing contacts: four contacts remained. |
| Cancelling | Actual cancellation, trial expiry and account deletion were not tested. |
What the exit test does not show:
- Complete signup screen count and human first-result setup time.
- Actual cancellation, expiry, deletion and follow-up mail.
- Kit fields that were not entered.
Kit check counts
Kit crm-contacts 1.0.0; run fastmail-2026-10-30; observed 2026-10-30.
- export / AIBM-001: Of 10 checks: 4 kept, 0 changed, 1 lost, 3 not offered, 2 not tested
- export / AIBM-002: Of 10 checks: 4 kept, 0 changed, 1 lost, 3 not offered, 2 not tested
- reimport / AIBM-001: Of 10 checks: 2 kept, 4 changed, 0 lost, 3 not offered, 1 not tested
- reimport / AIBM-002: Of 10 checks: 2 kept, 4 changed, 0 lost, 3 not offered, 1 not tested
Each record and phase uses this kit’s checks. Counts describe this run; they are not a score or a comparison between kits.
How this compares: across our exit tests of 111 tools, 57 gave us an export file. Fastmail gave us a file, but some of our test data was missing or changed in it. Report 08: can you get your data out?
Mail in the first 14 days
0 emails in the 14-day window; first email: none observed; 0 with an explicit offer.
Retained inbox and junk only; removed or archived mail is outside this observation. Ambiguous supplier attribution is excluded. Day numbers use elapsed 24-hour periods since the recorded signup date at midnight Europe/Amsterdam; the signup hour is unknown. Offer flags quote literal subject/body text. Replies in our own correspondence (support tickets, our comment requests) are excluded; one-time codes, our own address, our account name and our name are replaced in brackets.
| Day | Time (UTC) | Sender | Literal subject | Folder | Offer evidence |
|---|
What this test does not show:
- Sending and receiving email
- Connecting another mailbox or a custom domain
- Paying for a plan
- Contacting support
Most of our reviews are researched rather than run. How we review explains which is which, and why we do not pretend otherwise.
How to actually use Fastmail
Sign up for the trial, then go to Settings, Migration, Import and choose Gmail / Google Workspace. You authenticate with Google, pick what to import and click Do it. Fastmail warns that imports take time on large accounts and that you must not start another migration while the first is still running, because that produces 2 copies of every message. Expect folder sprawl as well: every Gmail label becomes a folder, and a message carrying several labels ends up in several folders, though Fastmail states those extra copies do not count against your quota.
You can convert folders to labels afterwards in Settings, Folders. The other snags are documented too. Third-party clients such as Outlook or the iPhone Mail app will not take your normal password; each one needs its own app password. And the trial is deliberately throttled: 120 messages per day, a maximum of five email addresses, and only the first five users active, with SMS verification sometimes requested. Get your custom domain working before the 30 days end.
Distilled from Fastmail pricing page, Fastmail help centre articles and the Fastmail blog, read 5 August 2026; pricing re-read 29 September 2026 at fastmail.com/pricing (served as /pricing/nl/ in euros): all three personal and three business plans on the 1-, 12-, 24- and 36-month terms, storage per plan and the trial of up to 30 days; re-read 15 October 2026 on /pricing/us/ and /pricing/nl/, all terms for the personal and business plans plus the pricing-page FAQ on cancellation and refunds.
The natural comparison is Proton Mail or Google Workspace: Proton leads on E2EE, Workspace on suite breadth: Fastmail wins on speed, standards support and price for pure email. Weigh it against Gmail on the job you actually need done.
Not a fit for you?
Fastmail is not the pick for buyers who require end-to-end encryption. In that case, look at Proton, built for teams and individuals for whom encryption is an actual requirement rather than a preference: handling client material, legal or medical files, or anything where a provider being able to read your data is itself the problem.
Proton price: Free plan (1 GB); Mail Plus $3.99/mo billed yearly ($4.99 monthly); business plans from EUR 6.99 per user/mo yearly (read 2026-10-11)
The Visit link is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We picked this alternative for fit first; commission only decides between equal fits.
Frequently asked questions
Can you export your data from Fastmail?
Exit check 2026-10-30; route excerpt: Settings > Migration > Export > Download all contacts; came along (excerpts): Both names, emails, nicknames and notes survive vCard export, including accents, quotes and line breaks; lost (excerpts): Download all contacts omits group membership: neither of the two assigned groups per contact is exported / Reimporting the modified vCard creates two duplicates with new UIDs; re-import: tested.
What does Fastmail cost?
Read on 15 October 2026 in euros (the US page shows the same numerals in dollars, before tax): Individual is €6 a month monthly, €5 if you prepay a year (€60), €4.75 for two years (€114) and €4.67 for three (€168). Duo is €10 monthly, €8 on a year (€96), €182.40 for two years and €268.80 for three. Family is €14 monthly, €11 on a year (€132), €250.60 for two years and €369.60 for three. Euro prices include tax.
Is the multi-year prepay worth it?
It is where the discount actually lives. Going from monthly to a year saves about 17%; going to three years saves about 22%. But the step from two years to three is worth only about eight cents a month, so the sensible stopping point for most people is the 12- or 24-month prepay rather than the longest one.
Can I get a refund if I stop?
Not for unused time. The FAQ on Fastmail's pricing page says it does not offer refunds for unused subscriptions and tells you to use the free trial of up to 30 days to decide. You can cancel at any time and no further payments are taken, which matters most before you prepay two or three years.
Which alternatives are people weighing it against?
The measured search on our pages is for Fastmail alternatives, and the honest framing is what you are paying for: Fastmail sells a fast, ad-free mail host with your own domain, not an encrypted-by-default suite. If end-to-end encryption is the requirement, the comparison is with Proton Mail rather than with cheaper mailbox hosts; if it is price alone, bundled mailboxes from a web host will undercut it.
Is this a hands-on review of Fastmail?
Yes. We tested Fastmail ourselves on 2026-10-30; the section above says what we tested, what we found and what we did not test, and where a figure comes from the vendor's own documentation instead. Most of our reviews are researched rather than run; we say which is which. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we have no affiliate relationship with Fastmail; we earn nothing whether you sign up or not.
- Buyer reviews on Tekpon, CyberInsider and user reviews (August 2026); Trustpilot (English-language reviews, read September 2026), read August 2026.
- Read 2026-08-26 on fastmail.com/pricing over a US connection, with their country selector on United States and the 12-month term chosen; re-read 2026-09-29 from a Dutch connection, and again on 2026-10-15 on both fastmail.com/pricing/us/ and /pricing/nl/: the same numerals in dollars and euros on an unchanged 1-, 12-, 24- and 36-month ladder, with the US prices shown tax-exclusive and the euro prices tax-inclusive.
- A dated screenshot of that pricing page, kept on this site as the receipt.
- Our own hands-on session with Fastmail (2026-10-30), written up in full further down this page.
Bottom line
Best for: individuals wanting private email on their own domain.
Others in this category
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