smtp VS Mail-in-a-Box

If all I needed was SMTP? I'd likely just use Amazon SES or Mailgun.

I know some folks have concerns with the privacy of that(1), and really want to run their own SMTP. If that's the case, Mail In A Box can do the job, or you can go with a pure SMTP solution like https://github.com/ix-ai/smtp (not endorsing it -- it's just been on my radar) or a roll-your-own Postfix/Exim solution. The latter requires almost zero resources after it's set up; slap it on a $20/year VM and you're done.

1. Chasing privacy with email is a chimera. If you really want private communications, email is not the tool.

may i recommend https://mailinabox.email ?

I don't see why we are a long way away. At the sandstorm end, we need to get to the point, where all updates (of both sandstorm and the apps) on the user machine are automatic. Much like they are automatic on various OSes (mobile OSes in particular but also MacOS/Windows). This is not impossible if a single OS like Debian-testing is targeted.

Mailinabox [1] almost does it. They target Ubuntu stable, and upgrades are mostly silent. But they needed user intervention when Ubuntu had to be upgraded from 18.10 to 22.04, which was quite challenging.

If sandstorm can get there, then putting it into a RPi box is simple. What's difficult is helping the general public understand the importance of protecting their data, so such a product has a reasonable market.

[1] https://mailinabox.email/

If you have a better solution, for example a good provider who offer agency packages which allows many domains and there is no catch, for example very small disk space, then hit me right away. Otherwise, please share your experience with hosting your own mail service. I found https://mailinabox.email/ and https://www.iredmail.org/ for example, but never had any experience with neither of them.

mailinabox.email works great on a basic vps.