I’m not a fan of Gmail either, mostly because it lacks push vis iOS Mail (which Fastmail supports, so it is possible), and its non-standard tagging system doesn’t not play well with any third-party client that does not take extraordinary steps to accommodate it. Folders are better. Its proprietary apps are terrible and its web interface is weird, unintuitive, ugly, and slow.
I find it's "non standard" tagging system is a massively superior model for managing email. I really wish there were alternatives that did similar, and a protocol like IMAP or JMAP that assumed the tagging based model underneath.