Chatmail servers (stripped down email servers that run faster than traditional mail servers and allow only encrypted email, basically eliminating spam) are free to use. You don’t need to use a traditional email provider and delta chat devs encourage chatmail servers instead. (By default you are onboarded on a chatmail server)

These still use the email protocol, making them hard to block by govs, but act more like relays as they only store the messages while in transit.