March 23, 2026
Passport for your inbox?
Migrating to the EU
EU data exodus! Fastmail diehards, Gmail lifers, and Git panic collide
TLDR: One user moved email, calendar, and domains to EU providers for stronger privacy, anchoring on Uberspace, Nextcloud, and hosting.de. Comments split between Fastmail loyalists, Gmail lock‑in realists, and EU host recommendations like Hetzner/OVH, with a side of Git‑hosting anxiety—privacy ideals battling convenience in public.
A privacy‑minded poster just moved their online life into the EU—email, calendar, websites, domains—the whole suitcase. They ditched Namecheap for hosting.de, parked the site and email on “[pay what you want]” Uberspace, and spun up Nextcloud for calendar and contacts. It’s the great EU migration for data protection—and the comments turned it into a reality show.
The loudest chorus? Fastmail vs. Everything Else. One fan swore nothing in Europe beats Fastmail and joked they’ll only self‑host “the day it enshittifies.” Others back EU picks like mailbox.org and OVH Zimbra (with sync features for calendars and phones), while hosting veterans shouted out Hetzner as the dependable German workhorse. Meanwhile, a practical voice admitted the obvious: Gmail lock‑in is real—too many accounts, too much hassle.
Then came the curveball: Git drama. One dev noted Codeberg is FOSS‑only and begged for a European alternative because “I really don’t want to self‑host git.” Cue the crowd swapping tips and teasing anyone who suggested running a home server. The vibe? EU privacy dreams vs. convenience addiction—with jokes about packing a passport for your inbox and giving your calendar GDPR sunscreen. It’s the ultimate tug‑of‑war between “own your data” and “please, not another password.”
Key Points
- •The author is migrating services from non‑EU to EU providers, emphasizing stronger EU data protection.
- •Email moved from Fastmail to Uberspace after mailbox.org did not meet send‑from‑any‑address requirements.
- •Calendars and contacts are handled by installing Nextcloud on Uberspace, using CalDAV/CardDAV with Thunderbird, DAVx5, and Fossil Calendar.
- •The website was migrated to Uberspace from a Hetzner VPS, requiring minor SSI adjustments moving from Nginx to Apache.
- •Domains and DNS were moved from Namecheap to hosting.de, chosen for pricing, reviews, German location, and .is domain availability.