Just out of curiosity I've been looking at non-Google, non-Microsoft alternatives for email, search, browsing and so on, mainly focused on privacy. There are some interesting email options out there such as Tutanota, Protonmail, Posteo, Mailbox, Fastmail etc that cost money to use but are ad-free and offer encryption and various other privacy bonuses.
Prices for the basic packages range between 1$-4$ a month for about 1GB of storage. Some of them have a free option, the downside being that the amount of storage and range of features compares poorly to the free alternatives offered by the big tech companies. Some, like Mailbox, don't even have their own mobile app, forcing you to use webmail or a 3rd party email client such as K-9 Mail.
Is there really any benefit for the average user in paying for an email service? I'm not an activist or dissident living in an oppressive state or a spy or investigative journalist who needs an encryption service, so while I like the idea of not having my emails scanned for advertising I'm not really sure if the benefits outweigh the financial cost.