Most people ditch GAFAM because they want to own their digital identity and not just trade one gatekeeper for another, even if it's "hassle free" to start off with.
And with the setup of Happymail renting out individual email addresses under the same domain to different users, it makes it impossible for them to leave the platform. Have you considered letting people own their domains?
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, grenran. You're right that domain ownership is the gold standard for digital sovereignty. We considered it, but realized it creates the exact complexity we're trying to eliminate: DNS management, registrar renewals, deliverability issues, etc. That said, your point about lock-in is valid. Here's our thinking: Portability matters. Your emails are yours. You can export everything via IMAP anytime, no artificial barriers. If you leave, you take your data. We're not gatekeeping your identity. We're providing infrastructure. Think of it like renting an apartment vs. buying a house, both are valid, and renting doesn't mean your landlord owns your furniture. For power users who want domain ownership, you're probably better served by Fastmail, Migadu, or self-hosting. We're not trying to replace those. We're targeting people who just want firstname@lastname.re without learning what an MX record is. The tradeoff is real: simplicity vs. full ownership. We chose to optimize for the 95% who want email to "just work." But we hear you, and we're exploring options like letting users transfer their address to their own domain if they ever want to graduate to full control. Would that kind of "graduation path" address your concern?