How I took control of my email address with a custom domain

Over the past three years, I’ve changed email providers three times without ever changing email addresses.

That’s because my address is entirely under my control. Instead of relying on an email that ends in gmail.com, yahoo.com, or the link, I can send and receive mail from my @jarednewman.com domain, which I can transfer between email providers at any time.

This is called using a custom domain for email, and it’s one of the most liberating tech things I’ve ever done. When Skiff Mail shut down in 2023, I simply packed up and moved to Proton Mail instead. And after getting frustrated with Proton’s limitations, I migrated over to Fastmail and took my address and messages with me.

After I mentioned custom domains in my story about Proton and Fastmail last month, a bunch of folks asked for more details. Fair warning: Setting this up can be intimidating, but it’s worth the effort it you want to control a core piece of your online identity.

This story first appeared in Jared’s Advisorator newsletter. Sign up to get more advice every Tuesday.

Catch-all aliases in Fastmail

Why you might want a custom email domain

Freedom from your email provider: Being stuck with an address from your email provider represents a powerful kind of lock-in, because changing addresses is a hassle. You’ll have to nag people to update their address books, and possibly set up forwarding rules so that emails continue to trickle in from your old address.

Once you’ve committed to a custom domain and get everyone to use it, you’ll never have to make that effort again, and the biggest obstacle to switching email providers is gone. I’d probably never have left Proton for Fastmail (which, so far, I’m enjoying a lot more) if I had to switch addresses.

Control over your logins: Most online services use your email address as your login, and while you might trust Google (or Yahoo, or another email provider) with that information, I’d rather control it myself. If I want to switch email providers again—or my email account gets shut down for some reason—it won’t affect the logins I’ve set up under my domain.

More powerful aliases: Email aliases are a great way to tame your inbox. For instance, I have an address just for receiving newsletters, and I automatically filter them into a “Newsletters” folder when they arrive.

If you’re using Gmail, you’d create an alias that looks like yourname+newsletters@gmail.com for this purpose. But marketers are learning to ignore these tricks, and you can do more with a custom domain. Fastmail, for instance, can take any alias you haven’t set up in advance and sort it into a folder. If a store asks for my email, for instance, I can give them nameofthatstore@jarednewman.com, and their mail will automatically land in a “Junk” folder. (This is especially useful for sites that block the use of masked email addresses.)

Vanity purposes: If you’re conducting business via email, an address like “hello@yourname.com” looks more professional than a Gmail or Outlook address. It’s also a fun way to impress friends and family.

Custom domain setup in Fastmail

Potential pitfalls

While having a custom domain for email is empowering, it comes with some baggage that I’ve experienced firsthand.

It costs money: Registering my jarednewman.com domain costs $30 per year (though I’ve been paying that toll for years regardless), and most email providers charge extra to use a custom domain with their services.

Setting it up can be intimidating: Connecting a custom domain requires digging into your site’s DNS settings and following some very specific instructions from your email provider. You’ll have to copy and paste a few lines of cryptic text, then hold your breath while waiting for new emails to go through. I still find this a bit nerve-racking, especially when switching a domain from one email provider to another.

Some email providers will sell you a custom domain and set it up automatically, but be careful with this option. You may need to transfer the domain before switching email providers, otherwise you could lose access to your address.

Exporting mail is another story: While a custom domain removes a major barrier to switching email providers, taking your old emails with you is a separate process. Each provider has its own import/export flow, and sorting through it takes extra time and effort.

What it looks like to edit your DNS records

How to get started

Unless your email provider offers automatic setup, you’ll need to register a domain name first. Cloudflare, iwantmyname, and namecheap are all solid registrars recommended by various email providers, and Google has a longer list of options here.

After purchasing a domain, you can connect it with your email provider. Here are some notable email providers with custom domain support, what they charge for it, and links to their setup instructions:

• iCloud Mail: Requires iCloud+ ($1/mo. and up). Offers domain registration and automatic setup via CloudFlare. See instructions to purchase a domain or set up an existing one.
• Gmail: Requires Google Workspace ($7/mo. and up). See instructions.
• Fastmail: Subscription required ($5/mo. and up). Offers domain registration and automatic setup. (Important: If you use automatic setup and later decide to switch email providers, you must transfer the domain from Fastmail to a new registrar first.) See instructions.
• Proton Mail: Requires a paid plan ($5/mo. and up). See instructions.
• Zoho Mail: No subscription needed, though the free plan is buried here. See instructions.

Want more practical tech advice like this? Sign up for my Advisorator newsletter and I’ll send you new tips every Tuesday.