{
  "id": 3445984,
  "title": "Self-hosted email is in steep decline, Microsoft and Google are taking over",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/self-hosted-email-is-in-steep-decline-microsoft-and-google-are-taking-3445984",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-26T02:40:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/08/26/self-hosted-email-is-in-steep-decline-microsoft-and-google-are-taking-over/5292471"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In recent years, the practice of self-hosting email servers has been steadily declining, with Microsoft and Google playing an increasingly dominant role in the email landscape, according to Artem Berezin, a researcher at business email company Live Direct Marketing. Berezin determined this by analyzing DNS records, specifically the MX, SPF and DMARC records, using daily forward-DNS snapshots captured by the OpenINTEL project. Over the last decade, the percentage of top million domains operating their own mail servers has halved, dropping from 44.6% in 2016 to 22.4% in 2026. The number of self-hosted mail servers is decreasing rapidly, with a half percent decline over 30 days.\n\nBerezin's analysis reveals that Google Workspace is now hosting 21.8% of detectable MX records, followed by Microsoft 365 at 16.8%. This concentration of email services with two tech giants is alarming, as Berezin explains. A disruption, policy change, or filtering update from either tech giant would impact the entire ecosystem, with no graceful fallback option if messages are rejected. Furthermore, as fewer independent operators exist, the remaining ones inherit the deliverability problems of a system primarily catering to the big two.\n\nBerezin also highlights the challenge of managing DMARC records. Over half of DMARC records lack a valid policy or monitor emails without enforcing policies. This is despite Google and Yahoo altering their bulk sender requirements in 2024, mandating the use of DMARC. Despite this, Berezin questions when a sufficient concentration of inbound mail will prompt the community to take explicit action, and what will be necessary to enforce DMARC compliance. He notes that the current email infrastructure may be hidden from view due to limited awareness of its existence.",
  "summary": "Oh great, Big Tech is now in prime position to decide which messages get through",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Software",
        "title": "Self-hosted email is in steep decline, Microsoft and Google are taking over",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/self-hosted-email-is-in-steep-decline-microsoft-and-google-are-taking",
        "published": "2026-08-26T02:40:14.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}