I thought about that, but it’s more like a server host than email hosting provider, so I still say the middleman comparison is valid. Like ‘here you go, have fun’ and leaves you to it, as opposed to ‘here are what you can configure with the plan you selected, anything not available in our custom dashboard is not a feature and you should not ask about’. Similar to having a vps, they are like ‘here are the very basics, good luck byeee’.

I’m on the cheapest plan for my host and the only restrictions that matter is (last time I checked) 25GB of storage for whatever I want to use it for. I get unlimited email addresses, forwarding, full spam software control panel, I can have very granular filters and actions. I’ve looked at several listed in this thread, and I’ve used proton, and I don’t think any offer what I get with my host. So adding an extra entity that gives me less control and freedom is the middleman that I refer to.