from Hacker News

Mozilla launching “Thundermail” email service to take on Gmail, Microsoft 365

by bentobean on 4/2/25, 8:01 PM with 333 comments

  • by mmooss on 4/2/25, 10:18 PM

    I hope for the best but plan for the worst:

    I don't think people want to change email addresses very often. How do I know Mozilla will still be doing this in 5-10 years? (Edit: Others have pointed out that, if we can bring our own domains, technical users can retain their address. However, for non-technical users that's not an option.)

    Also, I'm not sure about charging a fee at the start (except for TB contributors) and providing a free tier later - reverse of the usual way of launching a product. Maybe this is a soft launch to shake out the bugs and build a little momentum, and you can pay if you want to take part?

    Mozilla could do something awesome here. I hate to say it, but here is a chance to start fresh and make big, legacy-breaking changes to Thunderbird. The new audience - which should become the vast majority if they are successful - won't care if it's not like the old Thunderbird (possibly unlike many on HN). Here is a chance to do something special and the mail client is all most users see or understand.

  • by ttoinou on 4/2/25, 9:07 PM

    Make thunderbird supports a local database with 100k emails with proper search ! Make us pay for that optimization if needed. Email is a big tool of communication for all businesses, Pros who make money daily through emails need to handle tons of emails, we’re ready to pay for that

  • by stirlo on 4/2/25, 8:48 PM

    https://thundermail.com

    Site is here with waitlist signup. It's also titled "For Those Who Know" and says: >> status beta_signup.is_open=true so perhaps theres a CLI or hidden way to signup immediately?

  • by solarkraft on 4/3/25, 12:01 PM

    > using the open-source Stalwart stack

    This is REALLY cool news. This will make them the second JMAP compatible vendor and the first that didn’t invent it (which is an ick)!

    This makes it MUCH more interesting to build JMAP clients. I will most likely subscribe to this just to play around with JMAP because I‘ve been to lazy to set up Stalwart for myself.

    I wonder whether they will build a new web front-end, since the existing FOSS ones I’m aware of aren’t all that great.

  • by Y_Y on 4/2/25, 9:28 PM

    > >> philosophy

    > open_source & privacy_focused & user_controlled

    Is their philosophy a bit string? Or maybe this simple mistake of using a bitwise AND is what's gotten Mozilla's mission so corrupted these last many years.

  • by tristan957 on 4/3/25, 3:38 AM

    This is an announcement by MZLA Technologies, not the Mozilla Corporation. This thread is completely derailing because people do not understand the difference. Let's actually discuss the service, Thunderbird, or MZLA Technologies.

  • by inetknght on 4/2/25, 9:08 PM

    So... after the Mozilla/Firefox EULA and TOS fiasco... there's no way in Hell that I'd touch this.

  • by the__alchemist on 4/2/25, 9:16 PM

    As far as I can glean, this is a "me" problem, but does anyone else find Thunderbird's search to be mostly-broken? I.e., will not find emails that should turn up in a query.

  • by gruez on 4/2/25, 9:36 PM

    The article is pretty light on details so I'm going to ask: why should I get this compared to something like fastmail or protonmail? Does it at least have end to end encryption? Is this just going to be a case of Mozilla partnering with another service provider (eg. mullvad for mozilla vpn), slapping their logo on it, and collecting a royalty?

  • by mentalgear on 4/2/25, 8:51 PM

    Rooting for mozilla and their privacy-focused services. Been using the email-masking feature (generate forward email addresses) for a while and really like it.

  • by evolve2k on 4/2/25, 10:17 PM

    A few months ago I would have been excited and telling my friends. But no longer. I had long been an outspoken Firefox advocate in my city. Fix your trust issue.

    Trust once lost is not easily regained.

  • by theandrewbailey on 4/2/25, 8:16 PM

    This is the best news I've heard of Mozilla in a long time.

  • by sylens on 4/2/25, 8:59 PM

    I hope this service will use JMAP and push the Thunderbird client itself to adopt it

  • by abidhusain on 4/3/25, 4:47 PM

    A privacy-focused email service by Mozilla is a welcomed addition to the market! Given the ongoing concerns around data security, it's refreshing to see companies like Mozilla pushing for better privacy standards.

  • by 9283409232 on 4/2/25, 10:23 PM

    Mozilla should've been what Proton is. A company that sells privacy focused services. They went off chasing too many geese and now they are panicking. I don't think I would trust this service at this point.

  • by tianqi on 4/3/25, 12:52 PM

    > "Usrs will be able to pick between thundermail.com and tb.pro domains."

    It's not easy for me to believe that these domain names are chosen for email address by someone in the email business.

  • by rootsudo on 4/3/25, 2:12 AM

    also competing with square and apple...

    I don't see how it's an effective product, if they released this 20 years ago at the advant of hotmail going downhill and the release of unlimited storage (lol) gmail it would've been a game changer since they had a client this whole time.

    But now, vendor lock in is strong w/ Microsoft and Outlook that I question do people even use Thunderbird? It was a great competitor to Outlook Express and 2003... but now.. I really don't know, but I guess their product managers think so.

    "The Thunderbird database says its number of active monthly installs has dropped from 17.7 million in late December 2020 to 16.2 million in late March 2025, with the mail app struggling to keep up with the industry’s main players like Gmail.

    With the launch of Thunderbird Pro, Mozilla is adding Thunderbird Appointment, a new scheduling tool for sharing calendar links; Thunderbird Send, a rebuild of the discontinued Firefox Send; and Thunderbird Assist, a new AI-powered writing tool enabled via a partnership with Flower AI that is intended to do the processing locally to eliminate privacy concerns.

    The final launch will be Thundermail, an email hosting service using the open-source Stalwart stack. Usrs will be able to pick between thundermail.com and tb.pro domains."

    I really don't see how this is a market changer, the market is stuffed with competitors and every domain registrar offers some form of email service too.

  • by sunshine-o on 4/2/25, 10:17 PM

    Unless they pull out something really cool and revolutionary this is probably just a fax machine.

    Outside of the corporate world email is almost a legacy protocol. Like phone numbers we have one because we need to but do not really use it that much anymore.

    I believe email was de facto replaced by WhatsApp, iMessage, Social media and OpenID almost 20 years ago.

    Just ask a gen Z or Alpha when was the last time he sent an email.

    Now they are gonna try to ride the wave of the Big bad tech escape but Proton has a 10 years lead here.

  • by ChrisArchitect on 4/2/25, 8:59 PM

  • by soulofmischief on 4/2/25, 11:28 PM

    I love Thunderbird the platform, but I'm gonna pass on a paid service, I am extremely happy with Migadu as a personal email provider. https://migadu.com/

    Mozilla has lost all trust from me, the recent privacy policy fiasco was the straw that broke the camel's back.

  • by giancarlostoro on 4/3/25, 1:57 AM

    If Mozilla didnt waste money on dumb things I would sign up, but they could have done this long ago, and they definitely waste their income on dumb things. Like what happened to making Firefox fully oxidized? That would have made Rust drastically more mature and proven.

  • by guestbest on 4/3/25, 2:00 AM

    It’s so seamless for chat to become the medium that we mostly communicate with this AI industry that it’s a shame email, which may have come about first, a little hazy on the history, email didn’t become the means of which we communicate with AI tools

  • by intellectronica on 4/2/25, 9:21 PM

    Is this an April Fools leftover?..

  • by syntaxing on 4/3/25, 12:10 AM

    Seems like a Proton and Fastmail competitor more.

  • by iteratethis on 4/2/25, 11:16 PM

    "Sipes confirmed Mozilla would ultimately end up charging for the features"

    I totally understand why and it's fair, but if you want to take on gmail, you just lost. Google is dominant because most of its services are free.

  • by tiahura on 4/3/25, 6:40 PM

    Outlook allows several key productivity features that Thunderbird currently lacks. These include unified categories and tags across emails, events, contacts, and tasks; customizable views that consolidate all item types by category; the ability to drag emails or contacts directly into the calendar or task list to create new associated items; and precise control over reminder times for every item type. Without these integrated capabilities, Thunderbird cannot fully replicate Outlook’s seamless and interconnected workflow.

  • by evolve2k on 4/2/25, 10:18 PM

    A few months ago I would have been excited and telling my friends and community. But no longer. My long term endorsement is over.

    Trust once lost is not easily regained.

    Fix your trust issue.

  • by crossroadsguy on 4/3/25, 6:20 PM

    > Usrs will be able to pick between thundermail.com and tb.pro domains.

    That "Usrs" is not my typo. And what strange choices for domain names.

    Anyway I hope they launch a custom domain supporting paid email service (and not go skimpy on details and features like, e.g., Apple's iCloud).

  • by addicted on 4/3/25, 12:44 AM

    This is a step in the right direction. I worry it’s about 12 years too late.

    The decision to reduce focus on Thunderbird was remarkably mistimed with the email client market just shooting through the roof with a bunch of orivate players being acquired for tens and hundreds of millions right after.

  • by commandersaki on 4/2/25, 11:18 PM

    For me the two big things to assess will be how it handles aliases / catch all aliases and search.

  • by varispeed on 4/2/25, 10:36 PM

    Mozilla is American and with what's going in the world, we need a service like Gmail served by non-US entity.

    Many businesses are looking away from US based services.

    If Mozilla moved headquarters to Switzerland, UK or Norway, then maybe it would make sense.

  • by timeon on 4/2/25, 9:23 PM

    Where are the servers located?

  • by lofaszvanitt on 4/3/25, 1:24 AM

    A bit late to the party, but it's one of the best mail clients available.

  • by _blk on 4/3/25, 6:42 AM

    Too little, too late. Already happy with Proton since 5+ years and it keeps getting better. Enterprise mail was a mess back then, now it's doable. In 5 years it should be good.

  • by a_bonobo on 4/3/25, 1:58 AM

    Where will this data be hosted? There's no way I'm leaking even more data into the USA with the way US politics is going.

    From a different article:

    >Thundermail isn’t going to use your messages to train AI, it’s not going to invade your inbox with ads, and it’s not going to harvest and sell your data.

    And? We've seen with DOGE that they can just walk into any place and take your data, anyway. It's only safe if it's outside the US.

  • by wwarner on 4/3/25, 4:25 AM

    I would be much happier to learn i could use tbird on my iphone.

  • by FloatArtifact on 4/3/25, 3:29 AM

    When I helped people migrate to Thunderbird, the number one missing feature is simply the focused inbox provided by Gmail. Unfortunately it ends up being a deal breaker.

  • by pgt on 4/2/25, 9:54 PM

    Never forget Mozilla’s stance on deplatforming & censorship (since scrubbed from Mozilla’s blog): https://web.archive.org/web/20210108215449/https://blog.mozi...

  • by ice3 on 4/2/25, 8:58 PM

    i wonder what the price will be and if it supports custom domains

  • by dumbledoren on 4/3/25, 7:50 PM

    Took long enough. This was a long time coming.

  • by aiiizzz on 4/5/25, 4:50 PM

    Perfect move by Mozilla. Kudos.

  • by n42 on 4/2/25, 9:01 PM

    is there a future where Mozilla buys Kagi and becomes the privacy Google?

  • by devwastaken on 4/2/25, 8:28 PM

    i would not get an email for a domain that will be up for sale in 10 years. mozilla is not a sustainable org and has lost its core principles. Mozilla best serves people by shutting down and letting younger and better orgs replace it.

  • by pcdoodle on 4/3/25, 2:08 PM

    Cringe name.

    Dooblydoo@thundermail.com

  • by nektro on 4/2/25, 11:45 PM

    another dilution of mozilla's resources :/

  • by ferngodfather on 4/3/25, 10:37 PM

    > Thunderbird Send, a rebuild of the discontinued Firefox Send

    Ah yes, let's see if it can last longer than 18 months this time..

  • by mcflubbins on 4/2/25, 11:46 PM

    > Thunderbird Pro

    Is this a late April fools joke?

  • by brunoqc on 4/2/25, 8:49 PM

    Mozilla, let me directly fund Firefox instead please.

  • by munchler on 4/2/25, 8:48 PM

    I've tried to use Thunderbird multiple times over the years, but I always end up with a corrupted mailbox after a week or two, so I go back to Outlook. Is TB finally reliable enough to try again? I'd love to ditch Outlook, but I don't want to be a sucker.

    Update: OK, I'm trying it again.