You’ll be able to connect your own domain to Methmail with a paid plan, by public launch. You, not an email provider, will control the addresses on your domain: if you decide to leave, the address leaves with you.
You can’t connect a domain yet: we’re still building Methmail. We’ll open first as a closed, invite-only beta.
Why use email on your own domain
- Your address won’t depend on the provider. To switch email providers, you won’t have to change your address: you’ll only change your domain’s DNS records. Your contacts, accounts on other services and email signatures will stay the same.
- Your email leaves with you too. You will be able to export your emails in standard formats (EML and MBOX) and your keys in OpenPGP format.
- Your own look. An address on your domain looks like your work or your project, not like an email provider.
How to set up email on your own domain
Your domain stays where it’s registered: you won’t need to transfer it to us. You’ll add a few records to your domain’s DNS, and the setup wizard will show the exact values.
- TXT will confirm the domain is yours.
- MX will send your domain’s mail to Methmail servers.
- SPF will list the servers allowed to send mail for your domain.
- DKIM: a CNAME record pointing to our signing keys. Our sending server will sign your domain’s mail, and we will rotate the keys, so you won’t have to reissue anything.
- DMARC will tell recipients what to do with messages in your domain’s name that fail the checks.
- MTA-STS and TLS-RPT. MTA-STS will ask other mail servers to deliver to your domain only over TLS with a checked certificate; it works if the sending server supports it. TLS-RPT will ask them to send reports when delivery that way fails.
- WKD: a CNAME record for the openpgpkey name. Other people’s PGP programs will use it to find the public keys of your addresses, so they can send you encrypted email.
The glossary explains briefly what SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MTA-STS do.
Ownership checks and expired domains
You will connect your own domain by proving ownership with a TXT record in DNS. We will keep checking it: if the domain expires or changes hands, we will stop accepting mail for it until ownership is confirmed again, so mail meant for the domain’s new owner doesn’t reach the previous one.
Whoever owns a domain controls its mail. If your domain expires and someone else registers it, they will be able to receive mail sent to your addresses on it, including password resets from other services. Renew your domain in advance and turn on auto-renewal at your registrar.
What others will see, and what we will keep
DNS records are public. Anyone who looks up your domain’s DNS will see that Methmail receives its mail: that’s how email works, the MX record is how mail finds its way to a server.
If we issue the certificates for the mta-sts and openpgpkey names of your domain, they can be found too: public certificates go into the open Certificate Transparency logs.
Through WKD, anyone will be able to ask whether a specific address exists on your domain and get its public key. That’s how public keys work: otherwise people couldn’t send you encrypted email. We will rate-limit such queries.
What we will keep about a connected domain, we will add to the inventory once we finish designing the feature.
Addresses on your own domain
- Several addresses. You’ll be able to create several addresses on your domain.
- Deleted addresses. Nobody will be able to take a deleted address on a Methmail domain again, not even you. Otherwise its new owner would get someone else’s email, including password resets from other services. Addresses on your own domain will be controlled by whoever owns the domain: a deleted address there can be created again.
Questions
Can I connect my domain now? Not yet: we’re still building Methmail. Custom domains will come with a paid plan by public launch, and before that we’ll open as a closed, invite-only beta.
Do I need to transfer my domain to you? No. Your domain stays with your registrar: you’ll only need to add DNS records.
What happens to my address if I leave? It will stay yours. You’ll replace the DNS records with the ones your new provider gives you, and your mail will go there. And remove the records that point to us: DKIM, SPF, MTA-STS and WKD. While they’re there, your domain still trusts our servers, including to sign mail on its behalf. You will be able to export your emails in standard formats (EML and MBOX) and your keys in OpenPGP format.
Will others see that my email is with you? Yes. MX records are public, so anyone who looks up your domain’s DNS will see that Methmail receives its mail. What else is visible from outside is under What others will see, and what we will keep.
How much will it cost? Custom domains will come with paid plans from the public launch. Personal will include one custom domain, Pro three. How much Methmail will cost
What happens if my domain expires? We will stop accepting mail for it until ownership is confirmed again, so mail meant for the domain’s new owner doesn’t reach the previous one. But if someone else registers the domain, they will be able to receive mail sent to your addresses on it, including password resets from other services. Renew your domain in advance and turn on auto-renewal at your registrar.