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7. Upgrade to ForwardEmail.net Paid Plan

Date: 2025-05-25

Status

Accepted

Amends 6. Use forwardemail.net for mail forwarding

Context

In ADR 0006, we decided to use ForwardEmail.net for handling mail forwarding for startmeup.nz.

We have since encountered limitations in the free tier, most notably:

  • A cap of 300 messages per day
  • Lack of support for domain-level verification and deliverability enhancements

Decision

We have decided to upgrade to the Basic Plan on ForwardEmail.net, which:

  • Costs USD $36/year (approximately NZD $60/year at May 2025 exchange rates)
  • Enables domain-level verification
  • Lifts several operational limitations
  • Helps ensure reliable email delivery for multiple aliases and domains

This upgrade supports our commitment to maintain reliable and privacy-friendly infrastructure while staying within minimal operating costs.

Consequences

  • We gain increased reliability for incoming email forwarding.
  • We can now configure domain-wide verification via DNS (forward-email-site-verification=...) which is included in our infrastructure-as-code setup.
  • If we ever approach the 300 messages/day outbound limit, we will consider integrating a transactional email provider like Amazon SES, Mailgun, or SendGrid.
  • The payment is being made via personal funds until the project has an operating bank account and expense tracking.