New FastMail Plans & Pricing II

[pjwalsh]

In the space of a week the original thread generated more replies than any other has totaled over the past year.

To allow for ongoing discussion of pertinent issues raised in that thread, here's a continuance.

New FastMail Pricing

August 18 Blog Announcement

Please stay on topic, admittedly broad in compass. Links to relevant post(s) in the old thread might be helpful.


Account limits

Multi-user management

Legacy plans

[David]

Many thanks for recreating the original thread, pjwalsh, under a new guise. As a Fastmailer from way back (before the company went paid) I have mixed feelings about the new plans, which are much more expensive (and more resourceful) than anything I now need. That said (when looking at the bigger picture) I am of a mind that Fastmail are doing what they need to do, in order to move ahead. In an earlier post I stated that I would likely leave Fastmail, when my account expired (which will be very shortly) - only a few days later I am reconsidering - my original reaction was a knee jerk reaction.

I will renew my old 'full plan' at the same price. It is (most certainly) a great deal, for sure....

[cmac]

I don't see the big deal. existing customers get to keep renewing at their old prices and new users will have to pay 10-15 bucks more a year or so depending on the plan. seems much ado about nothing.

[BritTim]

Originally Posted by cmac

I don't see the big deal. existing customers get to keep renewing at their old prices and new years will have to pay 10-15 bucks more a year or so depending on the plan. seems much ado about nothing.

I agree that this has little effect on existing users. For new users, the inability to mix and match Lite and Professional accounts can mean a tripling of the cost.

[marshsparks]

Hello,

A frequent lurker over the years, registered to respond to the change in account plans.

Originally Posted by BritTim

I agree that this has little effect on existing users. For new users, the inability to mix and match Lite and Professional accounts can mean a tripling of the cost.

It can be rather worse than that. I have a Family plan (in order to use a personal domain name) with 2xLite accounts. The annual renewal cost is $25. The two Lite accounts are at 59% and 76% of mail quota and I have only once had to explicitly trim my mail size after someone sent me a dozen large photos – I have no need of more storage.

Under the new plans, I would have to have 2xStandard accounts (Standard to use my own domain name; two Standards because they must all be the same level) at an annual cost of $100.

I know that I can – for the time being, at least – continue to renew as a legacy plan. Coincidentally, I have recommended this setup to two other people in the last month, but they're now SOL. I can't see either of them jumping from ISP-provided mail to Fastmail with that price tag.

Clearly, the old Family account was not widely used, or Fastmail doesn't want the business, which is a shame.

[Terry]

Originally Posted by marshsparks

Clearly, the old Family account was not widely used, or Fastmail doesn't want the business, which is a shame.

I think it comes down to running an email service, I would think that anything under $25 they would be running that account at a loss.

Ask Rob, perhaps he will give you the full run down....

[B4its2L8]

Originally Posted by Terry

I think it comes down to running an email service, I would think that anything under $25 they would be running that account at a loss.

I guess that would have to include me. My account with FM is similar to marshsparks, in that I have a Family plan, but with only one (lite) user account, though I don't have my own domain to use with it. For me that means $15/yr.

FM is a great service, but if/when (years down the road?) they further modify their pricing so as to force all legacy users like me to sign up for one of the new plans, I may have to jump ship.

[FredOnline]

Originally Posted by Terry

I think it comes down to running an email service, I would think that anything under $25 they would be running that account at a loss.

@robn did tweet recently:

old plans have thin margins or even take a loss

[Grhm]

I sat down at a library computer last week with a friend, having convinced him to sign up for a $15/year Family account like mine, rather than continue to put up with the deficiencies of his legacy free account, only to discover these changes.
The price has doubled and the product is significantly less flexible.
That's one new paying customer who will now be going elsewhere.

[randian]

Originally Posted by Grhm

The price has doubled and the product is significantly less flexible.

It's more than triple if you have your own domain.

[placebo]

Originally Posted by marshsparks

Clearly, the old Family account was not widely used, or Fastmail doesn't want the business, which is a shame.

I had the same thought that FastMail was looking to shed customers who used FastMail to host their family's e-mail, but from the wording on the pricing page, I infer that that may not necessarily be the case. The professional account is described as "best for businesses," which suggests the basic and standard accounts are intended for non-business users as well.

Originally Posted by Terry

I think it comes down to running an email service, I would think that anything under $25 they would be running that account at a loss.

FastMail could have easily addressed that problem simply by raising prices. A lite account for $10 a year is an excellent deal. At $20, it still would be a good deal.

I think FastMail wanted, and needed, to overhaul and simplify its offerings. The combination of individual accounts, family accounts, and business accounts was probably confusing to prospective customers who weren't familiar with FastMail's evolution over the years.

Unfortunately, requiring a standard account to host a domain and the inability to mix and match account levels combine to make FastMail's offering unattractive to, I suspect, most families. Personally, if I needed only two accounts, I could probably talk myself into $100 a year. But if I needed four accounts, which would cost $200 a year, I'd definitely cross FastMail off my list and look elsewhere.

[David]

Fastmail have always made you pay through the nose (if you want to host your own domain name for email) - now they are making you pay even more; fifty dollars a year, versus forty dollars a year - is a ludicrous amount of money to pay.......

Most email companies have realized (and support) that using your own domain name for email is the way of the future - their prices reflect that.

I have been with Fastmail a long, long, time (although I use other companies as well) - I am not exactly a happy camper

[5kft]

I agree regarding the difficulty in justifying the increase if you are using smaller legacy accounts. However if you are currently using Enhanced accounts, Fastmail's new multi-year discounts can help offset some of the cost increase.

I've been on a Family plan with four Enhanced accounts as my kids outgrew the much smaller Full account storage space plan some time back.

This worked out to be $165/year (4 * $40 Enhanced account + $5 for the required master account). This ended up costing about $3.44 per user per month.

I just renewed to the new Standard plan for three years for four accounts. This cost about $3.61 per user per month with the three year renewal discount, and now I don't have to worry about any renewals or anything until three years from now, which is pretty nice.

With this multi-year renewal discount, the total price delta ended up being just over $8 per year between the legacy Family plan and the new Standard plan (for all four accounts). Not bad for gaining the additional 67% increase in email space in each account (and now I don't have to worry at all about space either!).

[malcarada]

Fastmail is not a bad service but there are equally good email providers out there for the same price or cheaper, like Runbox, Posteo or Mailbox.

I don't need 25GB of space, I will never use it, paying for extra space you don't need is money down the drain.

Right now I am not at ease because Fastmail has not made it clear if legacy accounts will remain this way for ever or not. You don't want to invest heavily (time of changing accounts, not money) into something without knowing what to expect in the future. Price increase is a bit too much IMO.

[Terry]

I have been paying about $39 US for an enhanced account for the last 13 or 14 years years, so I would think in the near future they will go up in line with inflation.
You can renew for 5 years and get a discount....and you will be locked into that plan.