Can I use my own domain with Pulsar instead of Gmail?

Yes. Custom domains are included on the Pro plan at €4 per month. Pulsar signs DKIM for your domain, publishes an MTA-STS policy and shows you the exact DNS zone to publish. The free plan runs on a Pulsar subdomain.

Can I move my Gmail mailbox to Pulsar?

Yes. Pulsar imports over IMAP, and exports the whole mailbox as mbox whenever you want to leave again. The export was built first, deliberately — the way out should not be the last feature.

Does Pulsar scan my mail or show ads?

No. Pulsar has no advertising business, so there is nothing to scan mail for. Revenue is subscriptions only.

Does Pulsar work with the Gmail app?

Pulsar speaks IMAP and SMTP on every plan, so it works with any standards-compliant client. Gmail's own app restricts third-party accounts, so Apple Mail, Thunderbird or a JMAP client is the better route on mobile.

Comparison

Pulsar vs Gmail

Gmail is a very good mail client attached to an advertising company. Pulsar is a mail service attached to nothing — you pay us €4 a month, and that is the entire business model.

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Feature by feature

Pulsar Mail compared with Gmail, feature by feature
Feature	Pulsar	Gmail
JMAPRFC 8620 / 8621	Yes	No
IMAP and SMTP on every plan	Yes	Yes
ManageSieveRFC 5804, server-side filters	Yes	No
Runs its own MTANot a reseller	Yes	Yes
MTA-STS and DANE outbound	Yes	Partial
Bring-your-own S3 archive	Yes	No
Full mbox export	Yes	Yes
Native mobile appsStandards clients only, for now	No	Yes
Years in operation	2026	2004

Where Pulsar is the better choice

JMAP, not a proprietary API

Gmail's modern API is Gmail's. Pulsar speaks JMAP (RFC 8620 and 8621) alongside IMAP and SMTP, so anything you build against us keeps working against any other JMAP server.

Server-side filters you can read

Pulsar exposes ManageSieve (RFC 5804). Your filters are a Sieve script you can export, diff and version. Gmail's filters live in Gmail.

You can see the infrastructure

We sign your DKIM, publish your MTA-STS policy and enforce DANE outbound, and we show you the zone we generate rather than asking you to trust that it happened.

Bring your own archive

Point Pulsar at your own S3-compatible bucket and the archive is yours at rest. There is no equivalent in Gmail, and the mbox export works on day one either way.

Where Gmail is the better choice

Gmail has native mobile apps and has been running since 2004. Pulsar launched in 2026 and ships standards clients only — you use Apple Mail, Thunderbird or any IMAP/JMAP app on mobile. If a first-party iOS and Android app is a hard requirement, Gmail wins that line and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Common questions

Can I use my own domain with Pulsar instead of Gmail?: Yes. Custom domains are included on the Pro plan at €4 per month. Pulsar signs DKIM for your domain, publishes an MTA-STS policy and shows you the exact DNS zone to publish. The free plan runs on a Pulsar subdomain.
Can I move my Gmail mailbox to Pulsar?: Yes. Pulsar imports over IMAP, and exports the whole mailbox as mbox whenever you want to leave again. The export was built first, deliberately — the way out should not be the last feature.
Does Pulsar scan my mail or show ads?: No. Pulsar has no advertising business, so there is nothing to scan mail for. Revenue is subscriptions only.
Does Pulsar work with the Gmail app?: Pulsar speaks IMAP and SMTP on every plan, so it works with any standards-compliant client. Gmail's own app restricts third-party accounts, so Apple Mail, Thunderbird or a JMAP client is the better route on mobile.