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Productivity · head to head

Fastmail vs Rows

Fastmail logo

Fastmail

Productivity

Paid email hosting with custom domains, calendar and contacts, run without ad-based revenue

From
$3/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Rows logo

Rows

Productivity

Browser spreadsheet whose formulas call live data from analytics, CRM and payment services

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Rows has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Fastmail it does not provide end-to-end encryption by default, so users specifically wanting zero-knowledge mail should compare it against Proton Mail or Tuta rather than assume parity.; Rows refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.
  • They diverge on capability: Fastmail covers Custom domain hosting, Rows covers Integrations in formulas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fastmail and Rows actually diverge.

Attributes where Fastmail and Rows differ
AttributeFastmailRows
Starting price$3/monthFree
Pricing modelPer user per monthfreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, macOS, WindowsWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fastmail

  • Custom domain hosting
  • Masked email
  • Unlimited aliases
  • Integrated calendar and contacts
  • Migration tools
  • JMAP support

Only in Rows

  • Integrations in formulas
  • Scheduled refresh
  • Publishable sheets
  • Cell enrichment
  • AI tasks
  • Guests
  • API access
  • Version history

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fastmail

  • Someone who wants their email address tied to a domain they own rather than a free provider they do notnot Rows
  • A small business wanting hosted mail on its own domain without running mail server infrastructurenot Rows
  • A person leaving Gmail specifically to stop an ad-funded provider processing their mailnot Rows
  • A household migrating several accounts to one paid provider with shared billingnot Rows

Rows

  • A weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and CRM figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports.not Fastmail
  • Agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts.not Fastmail
  • Enriching a list of companies or contacts from inside the sheet rather than through a separate tool and a re-import.not Fastmail
  • A small team that needs live numbers in a familiar grid and has nobody available to build a proper reporting stack.not Fastmail

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fastmail

  • It does not provide end-to-end encryption by default, so users specifically wanting zero-knowledge mail should compare it against Proton Mail or Tuta rather than assume parity.
  • Moving to Fastmail is a real migration with DNS changes for a custom domain, unlike installing a client such as Spark or Bluemail over an existing account.
  • There is no free tier at all, so a user just wanting to try it commits to a paid trial rather than a permanently free option.
  • Storage limits on the entry Basic plan are modest next to the free allowance Gmail gives, and heavy attachment users will need Standard or above.
  • Being based in Australia means it falls under Australian data access law, which some privacy-focused buyers weigh differently from Swiss or German jurisdictions used by Proton Mail and Tuta.

Rows

  • Refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.
  • Exports carry values rather than connections, so a downloaded file from Rows is a dead snapshot and anything you built has to be reconstructed from scratch elsewhere, which makes recurring reports quietly expensive to move.
  • Guests are capped by tier at three on free and ten on the entry plan, so sharing a report with a client's team or a group of stakeholders pushes you up a tier for people who only ever look at a page.
  • It is not Excel or Google Sheets, so the function library, add-ins, pivot behaviour, scripting and offline files people rely on are not all present, and it works as a reporting surface rather than as an organisation's general spreadsheet.
  • The Pro tier adds a fixed monthly platform charge on top of the per-user price, so moving from daily to intra-day refresh, or from ten guests to a real audience, is a step change in cost rather than an increment.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fastmail

$3/month
  • Basic$3/month
    • 6GB storage
    • No custom domain support
    • Core mail, calendar and contacts
  • Standard$5/month
    • 60GB storage
    • Custom domain support
    • Masked email and aliases
  • Professional$9/month
    • 150GB storage
    • Multiple custom domains
    • Priority support

Rows

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 5 AI Tasks per month
    • Manual data imports
    • 10 integration accounts
  • Plus$8/month
    • 200 AI Tasks per month
    • Daily data table automation
    • 10 integration accounts
  • Pro$79/month
    • 1,000 AI Tasks per month
    • Per-minute data automation
    • 100 integration accounts
  • Enterprise$null/mo
    • Unlimited AI Tasks
    • Custom integrations and API endpoints
    • Unlimited guest members

Which should you pick?

Choose Fastmail if

  • You need custom domain hosting.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want masked email.
Fastmail review

Choose Rows if

  • You need integrations in formulas.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want scheduled refresh.
Rows review

Questions people ask

Is Fastmail or Rows better?
Neither clearly leads. Fastmail starts at $3/month and Rows at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fastmail or Rows?
Rows has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3/month for Fastmail and Free for Rows.
Does Fastmail or Rows run on more platforms?
Fastmail runs on Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows. Rows runs on Web.
Can I use Rows for free?
Yes. Rows has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fastmail starts at $3/month.
What is Fastmail best used for?
Fastmail is most often used for someone who wants their email address tied to a domain they own rather than a free provider they do not, a small business wanting hosted mail on its own domain without running mail server infrastructure, a person leaving gmail specifically to stop an ad-funded provider processing their mail, a household migrating several accounts to one paid provider with shared billing. Of those, someone who wants their email address tied to a domain they own rather than a free provider they do not and a small business wanting hosted mail on its own domain without running mail server infrastructure are not what Rows is typically brought in for.
What can Fastmail do that Rows cannot?
Fastmail covers Custom domain hosting, Masked email, Unlimited aliases, Integrated calendar and contacts. Rows covers Integrations in formulas, Scheduled refresh, Publishable sheets, Cell enrichment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fastmail: Is Fastmail a client like Spark, or does it host my email?

It hosts the mailbox itself; there is no separate provider underneath it the way Spark sits over Gmail.

Rows: Can it replace Excel or Google Sheets?

Not for general spreadsheet work. It is for reports and sheets that pull live data, and most teams end up running it alongside a conventional spreadsheet rather than instead of one.

Fastmail: Does Fastmail offer end-to-end encryption?

Not by default in the way Proton Mail or Tuta do; its privacy position rests on being subscription-funded rather than ad-funded.

Rows: What can I actually do on the free plan?

Real building: unlimited members, ten integration accounts, five AI tasks a month, 1 MB imports, three guests and seven days of version history. What you cannot do is schedule a refresh.

Fastmail: Can I use my own domain?

Yes, from the Standard plan up, with full alias and masked email support.

Rows: Does the data stay live after I export?

No. Exports contain values only, so the connections and the scheduling do not travel and the file stops updating the moment it leaves.

Rows: Is pricing per user?

Yes on the paid tiers, with a fixed platform fee added at Pro. Guests are counted and capped separately from members.

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