As the title reads, I really want to begin hosting my own email server again. I'm sick of the poor quality of the service providers out there. Damnit all I want/need is a reliable IMAP/SMTP provider. I spent 3 hours getting off of Hostinger and on to Zoho. I just hope Zoho won't suck. It's great for now but we'll see.
Is the prevailing advice still not to bother with self-hosting email?
I also host my own mail and there's been little issues.
Microsoft is a pain in the ass if you're in an IP space they don't like like DigitalOcean. Which is ironic because they have the worst spam filter by far in the industry.
If you want to get through to everyone you will have to:
Use a "good" TLD ( not .to, not .xyz, ...)
Don't use cloud platforms that are regularily used for spam (mostly DigitalOcean)
Use SPF
Use DMARC
Use DKIM
Use a PTR record
Don't make an open relay by accident
Use proper ports and certificates
Register an abuse account at the big players (Google, Microsoft, ...)
Don't use an dynamic IP
Keep it up to date
Minimize downtime
I can't recommend mailcow enough, it makes setting up a mail server a breeze.