Onion Email Server VPS
Onion-only email servers operate without clearnet exposure: SMTP and IMAP bind to onion addresses, mail routes only between Tor-connected users. This eliminates DNS leakage and IP-correlation attacks entirely, at the cost of incompatibility with the public mail ecosystem. AnubizHost provides VPS for this deployment pattern when your user community is fully Tor-equipped.
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Onion-Only Mail Architecture
Postfix or OpenSMTPD configured to listen on a v3 onion address for SMTP, and Dovecot on a separate onion for IMAP. Users connect with Thunderbird-over-Tor or similar. Mail between users on the same server routes locally; mail between servers requires both onion addresses to be reachable from both endpoints.
Configuration Sketch
# Postfix onion-only
inet_interfaces = 127.0.0.1
inet_protocols = ipv4
smtp_address_preference = ipv4
# Bind to Tor unix socket via tor's HiddenServicePort to localhost:25The Tor v3 hidden service maps the onion's port 25 to the local Postfix on 127.0.0.1:25. Mail-server identity becomes the onion address; no MX record, no DNS dependency.
Limits
Onion-only mail does not reach the public internet. This is by design and the entire point. If you need clearnet reachability for some addresses, run two MTAs (one onion, one clearnet) with controlled relay between them, and accept the operational complexity.
Crypto Billing
BTC and XMR. Iceland and Romania are the most common jurisdictions.
Related: OnionMail self-host, XMPP over Tor, v3 onion Iceland, Tor hosting parent, Tor-only static.
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