Lurker, IMO free email is not worth the privacy traded.
Gmail works fine. But they retain the right to look in every email. Many people will tell you they stopped scanning email. In fact, they have a very weasel worded message:
https://blog.google/products/gmail/g-su ... ely-align/
All free email providers retain rights to invade your privacy.
I recommend you consider at fastmail.com. Why? It is not expensive ($30/year with 2GB and $50/year with 25GB). I actually have more than 100 network servers in my business and personal life. I could 'easily' host my own email. Why don't I? Upkeep costs. I only pay fastmail $50 per year. I estimate it would require about 10 total hours of maintenance per year at a minimum to manage my own email. My time is worth more than $5 per hour.
And, the fastmail mobile app is great.
But if you want 'free', gmail is likely the best choice. Why? because of the gmail 'alias' trick. You can add an suffix to ANY gmail address.
MyAddress@gmail.com also works with
MyAddress+anything@gmail.com - just add a plus sign and you have an email alias. Sure it is easy to find the root email address (just remove the '+anything'.)
[ps] I should have mentioned that fastmail is headquartered in Australia and they will not respond to US Search requests.