I don't know if it was inevitable, but I do not share a sentiment here. Supporting domain mail with web interface and services around is costs resources, and Google have no obligation spending it forever. It was a nice gift and I feel grateful. I also feel it is a perfect time to try out new CloudFlare's domain email forwarding service, while it is free.
It costs more for a single user on Google Workspace or MS365 than it used to cost for shared hosting that came with 50-Unlimited email accounts. Small businesses that only need email are getting royally screwed by big tech. Everything is more complex, has no additional features, and is a solid 10x what it should actually cost once you have 10+ users on email.
And before anyone chimes in about needing to deal with backups, etc. on shared hosting, go check out all the backup products for MS365 and Google Workspace.
And before anyone chimes in about deliverability issues, those are caused by Microsoft, Google, etc., not solved by them.
You get Exchange with the Microsoft offering, which offers things like (good) calendars and contacts, and push email to your mobile phone, which you could do with IMAP but many of those shared hosting platforms didn't have to begin with.
Exchange is $1 per month, which is perhaps a little more than shared hosting but you get way more features.
That’s what I was thinking of, sorry I got it that wrong. I could’ve sworn there used to be a frontline plan that was something lower than that, but now I can’t find it.
