Fastmail vs Migadu (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Fastmail grades higher than Migadu: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Fastmail grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Fastmail
Paid, ad-free email with calendar, contacts and custom domains
Migadu
Swiss email hosting with unlimited addresses at a flat price
Which one is for you
Pick Fastmail if
- Fits if you're leaving free, ad-funded email and want your own domain
- Works for households of up to 6 people sharing one plan at $11 a month on yearly billing
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you won't pay for email, as there's no free plan after the 30-day trial
- Not for you if the phone app matters most, given its 3.8 App Store rating
- Tight if you pick Basic, which has 6 GB a user and leaves out custom domains, Snooze, Scheduled Send and outside apps
- Watch out: Fastmail doesn't refund unused subscription time, and listed prices exclude tax
- Pricey if you need more than 60 GB, as extra storage is a paid add-on up to 300 GB a user
Pick Migadu if
- Fits if you own a domain and want many addresses without per-mailbox prices
- Works for people who are comfortable setting up DNS records
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need 2FA on mailboxes or encryption, as its own page says it has neither
- Skip it if you want phone or chat support, as it offers neither
- Tight if you send in volume: daily limits apply, and it says it's meant for human email, not bulk
- Watch out: Micro lacks mailbox limit settings, welcome messages and multi-administrator access
- Watch out: the interface is English only
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAFastmailGood | 2.2GPAMigaduFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BIndividual is $5 a month billed yearly ($60), or $6 monthly, for ad-free email with 60 GB, custom domains and Masked Email, and Family covers 6 people for $11. The $3 Basic plan drops to 6 GB with no custom domains, Snooze or outside mail apps. Prices exclude tax. | BMicro is $19 a year, about $1.58 a month, but it's limited to 200 incoming and 20 outgoing messages a day. Mini at $9 a month is where limits loosen. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. After that every account is paid, and Fastmail doesn't refund unused subscription time. | CA free trial with no card, though the listing doesn't state its length. No free plan. Refunds are 100% within 14 days. |
| Features | BCustom domains with hundreds of extra addresses, Masked Email for sign-up forms, snooze, Scheduled Send, calendar and contacts, and JMAP, IMAP, POP, CalDAV and CardDAV so other apps can read it all. The mail job is covered, with an import tool for your old mail. | CUnlimited addresses and domains, standard protocols, setup help and forwarding. Gaps its own page lists: no 2FA on mailboxes, no encryption, a basic calendar and an English-only interface. |
| Ease of use | C3.8 from about 580 App Store ratings, below most mail apps. That's the iPhone and iPad app, not the whole service. An import tool moves mail, calendars and contacts over from another provider. | CNo store rating on record. You point your domain's DNS at it and use standard mail apps, with no first-party apps. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android, all working offline. It opens in Apple Mail, Outlook and Thunderbird, connects to 1Password and Dropbox, and has a documented API. | CWeb only on the listing, plus standard IMAP clients. No phone or desktop app of its own, and no integrations listed. |
| Best for | paid private email on your own domain | unlimited addresses on your own domain |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Fastmail and Migadu. How we grade
Price against what you get
Fastmail starts at $3 a month for each person and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Migadu starts at $1.58 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.0.
Fastmail scores higher, and starts $1.42 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email apps on the chart, 2 score higher than Fastmail for less, and 11 score higher than Migadu for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Fastmail | Migadu | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $3 per user / month, billed yearly (Basic); Individual is $5, billed yearly | $19 per year (Micro, no monthly option) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial, no credit card required | Free trial, no credit card required; length not stated |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Fastmail Pty Ltd | Migadu |
| Price read from | fastmail.com | migadu.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Fastmail
- There is no free plan. After the 30-day trial every account is paid, and Fastmail does not refund unused subscription time.
- The Basic business plan has 6 GB per user and leaves out custom domains, Scheduled Send, Snooze and third-party mail apps.
- Storage beyond the plan allowance is a paid add-on, up to 300 GB per user.
- Listed prices are tax-exclusive.
Migadu
- Its own drawbacks page lists no 2FA on mailboxes, no encryption, basic calendar, English-only interface and no phone or chat support.
- Daily incoming and outgoing limits apply per plan, and Migadu says it is meant for human email use, not bulk sending.
- The Micro plan lacks mailbox limit settings, welcome messages and multi-administrator access.
- Refunds are 100% within 14 days, though extensive use may be deducted.
Key features
Fastmail
- Custom domains and extra addresses
- Use domains you own for your addresses, buy one through Fastmail, or pick one of its free domains. Fastmail says each account can create hundreds of additional addresses.
- Masked Email
- Creates stand-in addresses so that sign-up forms and logins never see your real one. A Masked Email API lets password managers create them too.
- Offline apps on every platform
- Apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, plus a browser app. Offline, you can read, draft and search mail and manage calendars and contacts.
- Snooze, Scheduled Send and pinning
- Snooze messages until they are needed, schedule sends for later, pin important messages to the top of the inbox and mute threads you do not want to follow.
- Calendar and contacts
- A built-in calendar with shared calendars and event invitations that can also display Google and iCloud calendars, and a contact list with VIP-only notifications.
- Open protocols and import
- Mail is reachable over JMAP, IMAP and POP, contacts over CardDAV and calendars over CalDAV. An import tool moves mail, calendars and contacts from another provider.
Migadu
- Unlimited addresses and domains
- Plans are flat per account; extra mailboxes, addresses and domains cost nothing, and usage across them counts toward one quota.
- Standard protocols
- Webmail, SMTP, IMAP4 and POP3, with no proprietary protocols or clients, so any current mail client works.
- Setup help
- Migadu says it can set up your DNS for email for you at no extra fee, and includes a built-in DNS service.
- Soft storage limits
- Storage allowances are soft, so mail does not bounce for a full mailbox; daily message limits are enforced.
- Forwarding and auto-responders
- Messages can be forwarded to up to 25 other addresses, and an auto-responder handles absences.
Plans
Fastmail
Basic$3
per user / month, billed yearly ($36); $4 billed monthly
Business plan with 6 GB of storage per user, shared addresses and shared calendars. Custom domains, Snooze and third-party mail apps need Standard.
Individual$5
per month, billed yearly ($60); $6 billed monthly
One private inbox with 60 GB of total storage, custom domains, Masked Email, offline support and access from third-party mail apps.
Standard$5
per user / month, billed yearly ($60); $6 billed monthly
Business plan with 60 GB per user, addresses at a custom domain, shared addresses and calendars, Scheduled Send and third-party app access.
Duo$8
per month for 2 people, billed yearly ($96); $10 monthly
Two private inboxes with 60 GB each, plus addresses, calendars and an address book the two can share.
Professional$9
per user / month, billed yearly ($108); $10 billed monthly
Everything in Standard with 150 GB of storage per user and an email retention archive for legal compliance.
Family$11
per month for up to 6 people, billed yearly ($132); $14 monthly
Up to six private inboxes with 60 GB each at a flat rate, with controls for managing users' storage, privacy and security.
Migadu
Micro$19
per year, no monthly option
5 GB, 200 incoming and 20 outgoing messages a day, with some features unavailable.
Mini$9
per month, flat per account
30 GB, 1,000 incoming and 100 outgoing messages a day, best-effort support.
Standard$29
per month, flat per account
100 GB, 3,000 incoming and 500 outgoing messages a day, with office-hours support.
Maxi$99
per month, flat per account
500 GB, 10,000 incoming and 2,000 outgoing messages a day, with 24x7 priority support.
Ways to pay less
Fastmail
- Annual discount
Save $12 a year on Individual with yearly billing
Individual costs $60 for 12 months, the equivalent of $5 a month, against $6 when billed monthly. Paying yearly saves $24 on Duo, $36 on Family and $12 per user on the business plans.
- Other savings
Lower rates on 2- and 3-year terms
Paying for 24 or 36 months up front brings Individual to $114 or $168, the equivalent of $4.75 or $4.67 a month. The other plans have the same two- and three-year options.
Migadu
- Annual discount
Yearly plans save at least a month
Mini, Standard and Maxi cost $90, $290 and $990 per year, which the pricing FAQ says saves at least one month against monthly billing.
- Nonprofit
Discounts for non-profits and students
The pricing FAQ says non-profits get a significant discount on request, and students do too with a valid student ID.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fastmail or Migadu?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Fastmail starts at $3 per user / month, billed yearly (Basic); Individual is $5, billed yearly, and Migadu starts at $19 per year (Micro, no monthly option). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Fastmail or Migadu?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Fastmail nor Migadu has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
Which platforms do Fastmail and Migadu run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Fastmail lists macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.