email looks simple as a user, but that’s because your email provider handles all the complexity on the back end. If you’re just starting out, you can get by with your company name@gmail.com, but as your company grows and you want to give each staff member their own email account, you’ll need to invest in an email hosting service. dedicated.
Although technically, you can still host your own email server, it’s complicated, obnoxious for everyone to use, and probably not a good use of anyone’s time. And the best business email hosting services are just as good (or equal) to consumer email services like Gmail and Outlook.
I spent time researching and testing different options, and these are the best email servers to consider for your business.
Top 5 Email Hosting Providers
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microsoft 365 for businesses using microsoft apps
google workspace to keep everything in the cloud (and google users)
zoho workplace for email hosting and collaboration tools on a tight budget
icewarp for user storage options
fast email for privacy
what makes a great email hosting service
Your website’s hosting provider may offer email hosting for an additional cost. While some of these apps and services are solid (like Titan, which is available from a few different hosting companies), others are absolutely unusable. You’ll be able to send and receive email, but if you’ve used a modern consumer email service like Gmail or Outlook, things understandably feel incredibly basic. so much so that some of these services only offer desktop and mobile email sync as a feature in higher-tier plans.
For about the same price, or at most a few dollars more per month, you can get a modern email client. (two of the options here are literally the commercial versions of gmail and outlook). that is why we have focused exclusively on dedicated email hosting services.
Many email hosting providers also offer additional productivity tools, from calendars and address books to full suites of office applications. the email service was the most important consideration, but I also took into account what additional tools each service provided as part of the complete package. (if you look at the two main applications, you will understand why).
These are the features I was looking for while testing the apps:
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the ability to use a custom domain. all of the email hosts listed below allow you to create email accounts using the domain address of the website of your company, regardless of where you purchased your domain name.
24/7 support. If you don’t already have a sysadmin on staff, you shouldn’t need to hire one just to manage your email. I’ve selected tools that offer 24/7 support, so there’s always someone to help when you have questions or problems (or I’ve noted when I don’t).
an excellent web application and mobile application. Your staff shouldn’t have to suffer from a bad email experience because you opted for your web host’s default plan. he wanted services that offer a great web and mobile experience, so everyone can access email when they need it.
compatibility with pop3 and imap. That said, I also looked into email hosting services that would let you use your own favorite email app. if you like apple mail or mailbird, you should be able to use it.
Decent amounts of mailbox and cloud storage. If your employees make business decisions or communicate with customers and clients via email, they’ll need plenty of storage space to archive old emails. this is an area where consumer email accounts often fall short, so I looked for options that would allow for a good number of mailboxes and, ideally, generic cloud storage.
I started with a list of almost 20 companies that claimed to offer business-class hosting. Using these criteria, I narrowed down the list to around 10 that required further testing; the rest would obviously not meet the standard he had set. for those 10, I signed up and went through the process of setting up an account (if I didn’t already have one). in some cases, it quickly became apparent that the app would not be listed, so I stopped. otherwise, I generally explored the apps and their features, noting how easy they were to use. (This was an unusual experience at times, as I’ve been using some of these apps as part of my technical writing jobs for over a decade.)
Because all good email hosting services offer pretty much the same set of features, decisions about which apps to include often came down to what additional apps they provided and the price. while I generally try to avoid comparing applications spec for spec, in some situations it is necessary.
(quick note: it’s important to understand the difference between an email hosting provider and an email client. an email server is what allows you to send and receive email over networks. an email client email, or an email app, is the app you use to write and read emails. your email host and client don’t have to be the same. for example, you can send and receive email hosted through google workspace or microsoft outlook through a variety of desktop, web, and mobile applications. in this article, we look specifically at the features of the email hosting provider and not always the features of their built-in email clients. if you’re looking for a email client for your business, check out our recommendations on the best email apps) .
best email hosting service for businesses using microsoft applications
microsoft 365
There are two great email hosting options: Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. both are excellent, and it’s hard to draw a line between them based on individual characteristics. If your employees rely on Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to get their work done, the best option for your email hosting is probably the Microsoft 365 Business Standard Plan. an excellent email service).
Microsoft 365 Business Standard includes all the features you need from a hosted email service (sending and receiving email, custom domain addresses, and spam and data loss prevention) along with the office applications your employees need. they use daily at work. With a one-time monthly subscription of $12.50 per user, you get hosted email and web, desktop, and mobile access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Sharepoint, OneDrive, and OneNote applications. (If you only want the web and mobile versions of apps like word or excel, you can also try the microsoft 365 business basic plan for $6 per user per month; it’s a more direct equivalent of google workspace.)
In addition to standard Office apps, Microsoft 365 Business Standard also gives your employees access to some of Microsoft’s hybrid work tools, including Microsoft Teams, the company’s competitor to the team chat app. slack. And with Microsoft 365’s Zapier integrations, you can automate all of those tools.
Email hosting with a Microsoft 365 subscription is provided through Microsoft Exchange, which is also available as a standalone subscription if you don’t need all the add-on apps, for just $4 per user per month, that’s more or least the same. price like some services provided by web hosting. and both the lowest priced standalone trade plan and the microsoft 365 business standard provide each of their users with up to 50gb of mailbox storage, although the microsoft 365 business standard plan also includes 1tb of storage on a disk, which can be used to share large attachments.
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microsoft 365 tools: email, calendar, contacts, file storage and sharing, file editing and collaboration, voice and video conferencing, instant messaging, team chat, internal social network, intranet and tasks.
Microsoft 365 Pricing: Starting at $12.50/user/month for the Microsoft 365 Standard Business Plan which includes hosted email for up to 300 accounts, 50GB of storage per account, and access to all the applications mentioned above; from $4/user/month for the online exchange plan 1 which includes email hosting, shared calendars and a global address list.
the best email hosting service to keep everything in the cloud (and for google users)
google workspace
If your organization prefers to use cloud-based tools, or if you prefer to use applications like google drive, or simply prefer gmail to outlook, google workspace is your best option for email hosting.
Google Workspace is Google’s alternative to Microsoft 365, combining email hosting with the company’s own communication and collaboration applications. With a Google Workspace subscription, you get a minimum of 30GB of cloud storage space per user, though enterprise-level plans provide all the storage you need, as well as shared contacts and calendars.
You also get access to Google’s full suite of workplace communication and collaboration tools, including Chat for messaging and Meet for voice/video conferencing, Google Drive for cloud file storage, Keep for take notes and access docs and google sheets. and slides – some of the most accessible real-time collaboration and file editing tools available. If you use Google’s suite of apps, you can also automate them with Zapier.
Google’s management tools are also easy to use and increasingly packed with the advanced features businesses need, like a compliance file vault. and since it’s still the gmail your team already knows how to use, onboarding will be easy.
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google workspace tools: email, calendar, contacts, file storage and sharing, file editing and collaboration, voice and video conferencing, instant messaging, team chat, internal social network, intranet and tasks.
google workspace pricing: starting at $6/user/month for business starter plan which includes core google apps and 30gb storage per user; from $18/user/month for the business plus plan which includes 5TB of storage per user, vault, and enhanced management and security tools.
the best free email hosting service for email and collaboration tools on a budget
zoho workplace
Zoho Workplace is Zoho’s version of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, offering hosted email, calendars and contacts, as well as Zoho’s own communication and collaboration applications: WorkDrive (for cloud storage), Office Suite (to create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) and cliq (for team chat). you can automate your zoho workplace with zapier integrations for zoho mail, zoho cliq, zoho writer and zoho connect.
The email application is also worth talking about here: zoho mail is a nice modern take on email with some useful collaboration features. Instead of sending a long message with a subject and signature each time, you can send a quick broadcast message to your colleagues, or share an email from a client you need to collaborate on. It also includes shared email inboxes, so everyone on your marketing team can share the same partner and press emails, searching for them alongside their personal emails. and it’s a tabbed app, so you can switch between your inbox, calendar, and draft email with a tap. if you don’t want any of these features, it also works well with any email app of your choice, so it can work as a great email server.
zoho’s admin panel for email management is a bit less intuitive than some of the other hosting services, but it makes up for it with extremely detailed step-by-step instructions on how to do almost everything you need to do . on your platform.
Best of all, if you have five or fewer employees, you can get email hosting for your business domain and Zoho’s ad-free email client for absolutely free. when you add your 6th user you can get only zoho mail for as low as $1 per user per month. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s impossible to beat.
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zoho workplace tools: email, calendar, contacts, file storage and sharing, file editing and collaboration, instant messaging and team chat (basic plan ); voice and video conferences and internal social network (professional plan).
zoho workplace pricing: free for up to 5 users, single domain email hosting and 5gb storage per user; from $4/user/month for the standard plan which includes multi-domain email hosting, 30gb storage per user and access to zoho office suite, docs and cliq; from $7/user/month for the professional plan which includes 100gb of storage per user and access to zoho connect.
best email hosting service for storage options
ice distortion
icewarp is another great email hosting option. Like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Zoho Workspace, it also includes a suite of productivity tools, as well as a large amount of storage space. If you want a lot of file storage and are happy with Icewarp’s Microsoft Word and Google Docs alternatives, it could be a great option. One nice touch is that they don’t all need to be on the same plan, so if you and your graphic designer need a lot of storage but the marketing department doesn’t, you can tweak things to save money.
icewarp plans start at $2.80 per user per month for 5GB of email storage and 20GB of file sync cloud storage, going up to $8 per user per month for 500GB of email storage and a whopping 5TB of file sync cloud storage. however, you can mix and match as many of each plan type as you like. So, for example, if ten of your team members can get by on the cheapest plan, but three need the most expensive, then the total plan price would be $52/month, instead of having to pay for 13 seats on the most expensive . plan, which would cost $104. half price.
In addition to email hosting and shared calendars and contacts, icewarp also offers its own suite of collaboration tools as part of your subscription. you get access to icewarp’s custom document, spreadsheet, and presentation editors; team chat; and voice and video conferencing.
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icewarp tools: email, calendar, contacts, team chat, instant messaging, file editing, tasks, file storage and sharing, and voice conferencing and video.
icewarp pricing: starts at $2.80/user/month for the lite plan which includes 5gb of email and 20gb of file sync storage per user, collaborative document editing, and basic web conferencing. voice/video; from $8/user/month for the pro plan which includes 500gb of email and 5tb of file sync storage per user, team chat and desktop office apps.
the best privacy-focused email hosting service
fast mail
as companies, microsoft and especially google are not universally appreciated. It’s understandable that some people generally try to avoid the products of some of the biggest tech companies as much as possible. While paid enterprise products don’t tend to have the same privacy concerns as free consumer products, there’s something to be said for sticking to their principles. (although it’s not on this list for various reasons, I personally use hey largely because of this).
If you want a separate, privacy-focused email service for you and your staff, look no further than fastmail. while it’s available to individuals, it has all the necessary business-focused team features to make this list. you can set up as many domain aliases as you like (such as info@example.com, support@example.com, sales@example.com, etc.) that will all forward to the same central inbox. You can share calendars and contacts across your company, add custom branding to the app and login screen, and add a company footer to everyone’s emails.
fastmail also offers custom domain email addresses, but with one small caveat. organizations can choose which plans they need based on each user’s needs, similar to icewarp. the basic plan of $3 per user per month does not include custom domains. however, as long as at least one person in your organization is at one of the higher tiers, which start at $5 per user per month, they can share custom domains with anyone on the basic plan.
The biggest downside to fastmail is that it’s really just an email hosting service. For about the same price, you can get access to a full suite of apps from Google or Microsoft. You pay a premium for privacy with fastmail, but it may well be worth it to you.
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fastmail tools: email, calendar and contacts.
fastmail price: starting at $3/user/month for the basic plan that includes 2 gb of storage per user, push mail, calendar and contacts; from $5/user/month for the standard plan which includes 30gb of storage per user and allows sending emails from a custom domain for any basic team member.
Which Business Email Hosting Provider is Right for Your Business?
When managing email for an entire team or company, email isn’t the simple service you’re used to as an individual – the tools you use for your business require a little more care and attention if you want to have the tools you need. Everyone’s email accounts. to play well together.
but it can still be a set-and-forget service. With today’s cloud email hosting providers, it only takes a few hours to add your domain to your email service, set up new accounts for your team, and import your old data. their service will take care of the rest, making sure your team has their emails, contacts and calendar appointments whenever they need them. Gone are the days when hosting your own email server was a sensible option.
Originally published May 2017 by matthew cool, this post has had contributions from matt jessica greene and eric ravenscraft. the most recent update was in August 2022.
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