Another option is VMware Workstation/Fusion now that it is free again, or Virtual Box by Oracle.

Oh, it is again? Thanks for letting me know! Edit: nvm an account is needed, bleh

That is what I did for a while. A Debian VM with 2 CPUs MD 8Gb of ram to start playing around with Docker before getting a Pi.

Will try this out, then, thank you for the advice! Since I got my PC on ethernet, but still got a network card with WiFi that I don’t really use for anything, I could set it up so the Wifi card acts as part of the VM as a different computer in the network, instead of having to configure the same connection both for my PC and the VM, right?

Sooo… do I just do with known email providers (proton, tuta, the webmail my domain provider allows me to have)?

Seems like email is the biggest issue to self host lol