Email hosting providers give businesses access to email addresses they can use to communicate with customers and employees. Many businesses look for an inexpensive option for email, so we reviewed over 20 providers to find the top six for around $5/month—including the best overall—based on security, support, features, and value for the price.
Top 6 Cheap Email Hosting Providers for Businesses 2020
Email Hosting Providers | Best For |
|---|---|
(Best Overall) Businesses needing email with collaboration and productivity tools starting at $1/month | |
Businesses that need email, a domain & web hosting for less than $3/month for 5 addresses | |
Companies that want email & Microsoft Office tools starting at $5 per month | |
Companies that want email & G Suite Office and collaboration tools starting at $6 per month | |
Small businesses seeking email, domain name & web hosting with a 100% uptime guarantee | |
Businesses looking for no-frills email and web hosting for only $1/month for 25 addresses | |
Last updated on 04/28/20 | |
How We Evaluated Cheap Email Hosting Providers
Small businesses are always in need of safe, reliable, easy to use, and extremely affordable communication tools to connect with customers and communicate among their teams. That’s why we searched for email service providers with offerings of less than $5 per month and compared their service plans, any extra features offered like file storage, email protection, and collaboration tools, and customer reviews to determine the best value.
The specific criteria we used to evaluate each service plan was:
- Overall price
- Ease of setup
- Custom email domains
- IMAP and POP support
- Security
- Customer support
- Add-on features including business calendars, group chat, word processing apps, video conferencing tools, cPanel access, cloud storage for document collaboration, and other productivity tools
Based on the criteria above, Zoho Workplace offers the best combination of email hosting features and office and collaboration tools for the best price. That means companies can use Zoho as their turnkey solution for workplace projects. Plans start at a very affordable price of $1 per user per month. If price isn’t your most important factor, check out our article on the best business email providers.
1. Zoho Workplace
Zoho Workplace is an email hosting provider that offers multiple email addresses per account in addition to business productivity and collaboration tools—including calendars, document collaboration, notes, tasks, instant chat, and more—all for $1 per user, per month. For this reason, it best serves businesses looking for a secure and cheap productivity and collaboration suite along with email hosting.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Low cost at $1/month | Limited storage space |
Built-in security | Must own a domain |
Includes collaboration tools | Email may get flagged as spam |
Pricing & Features
Zoho’s $1 per month Mail Lite plan offers one email address, 5GB of storage, 25MB email attachments, email forwarding, domain aliases, Zoho Calendar, and Zoho’s Cliq communication tool. The $3 per month Standard plan moves up to 30GB storage, 30MB attachments, and G Suite integration—in addition to Zoho’s suite of productivity tools. Learn more about affordable business email, including how to get free business email.
Tip: Think Zoho might be right for you? Read more about what users think about Zoho Workplace here.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost is a web and email hosting provider that offers a full suite of secure email and web hosting features starting at $2.95 per month. This includes a free domain name, five free email accounts with desktop and mobile accessibility, web hosting, encryption of customer communication, and anti-virus and spam filters to protect sensitive data. It is perfect for businesses needing an affordable turnkey solution for both email and web hosting.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Low cost | Requires an annual subscription |
Includes a free domain name | Limited storage of 100MB |
Connect to Gmail or Microsoft Office | Does not include collaboration tools |
Pricing & Features
Businesses with a WordPress site will find Bluehost to be a good solution for email hosting because its web hosting plans include free email hosting. Its entry-level plan starts at $2.95 per month and includes five free business email addresses, whereas its Plus plan starts at $4.95 per month and includes unlimited email hosting. Plans also include a free domain name and give users the ability to connect their business email to providers such as Gmail.
Tip: Want to learn more about Bluehost? Read more about what users have to say on our Bluehost reviews page.
3. Microsoft 365 Business
Microsoft 365 Business (formerly known as Office 365) is an email hosting service and business software provider starting at $5 per month. While they boast many features, they stand out as a perfect solution for teams that are used to Microsoft products. They also feature cloud storage and a suite of office, collaboration, and productivity tools for easy remote working. Given these assets, Microsoft 365 Business is great for companies that regularly collaborate on large projects or presentations and can afford to spend $5 per user per month.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Generous storage limit of 50GB | Does not include a domain name |
Includes Microsoft Office suite | Does not include cPanel access |
Well-known and well-trusted | More expensive than alternatives |
Pricing & Features
The Microsoft 365 Business Essentials is $5 per user per month when billed annually. It includes a custom email address, 50 GB of storage, anti-spam, and anti-virus protection, and business communication and collaboration tools like web-based Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, calendars, and contact lists. It’s not the most affordable option, but it is good for those who want to use the Microsoft Office suite in addition to Microsoft 365 email.
4. G Suite
G Suite is an industry-leading email hosting provider that is extremely intuitive, starting at $6 per user per month. With an uncluttered interface, straightforward navigation, and built-in collaboration tools, Gmail makes email setup and customization simple. Given these features, G Suite is an ideal email and collaboration solution for non-tech savvy businesses that don’t want to spend a lot of time on email setup or maintenance.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Easy to use | Does not include a domain name |
Includes G Suite tools | Most expensive option |
Ample storage limit of 30GB | Does not include web hosting |
Pricing & Features
G Suite plans start at $6 per user, per month for a secure email account that uses your own domain (with up to 30 email aliases), productivity tools, and 30GB of storage. While it’s possible to get cheaper email hosting that connects to Gmail, the real selling point is access to G Suite, which includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, as well as calendars, team messaging, and video conferencing—making it the best option for collaborative teams.
Tip: Not sure whether G Suite or Office 365 is right for you? Check out the in-depth look at G Suite vs Office 365.
5. Rackspace
Rackspace is a web, app, and email hosting provider that guarantees users 100% uptime and starts at $2.99 per month. If hosting is interrupted at any point, users get a full or partial month refund, depending on the length of downtime. Given this reliability, Rackspace is ideal for companies that depend heavily on 24/7 site and email access by customers, including breaking news and medical support sites.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
100% uptime guarantee | Min. $10 purchase required |
Ample storage limit of 25GB | Does not include productivity tools |
Pricing & Features
Rackspace’s entry-level plan costs $2.99 per user per month for 25 GB storage, unlimited email aliases, spam and virus protection, and multidevice email access. Users can upgrade to 30 GB of cloud storage, shared calendars, and contacts for $3.99 per user per month. What’s unique about Rackspace is that plans include a 100% uptime guarantee. However, on the downside, it has a minimum purchase requirement of $10 per month, so you have to purchase multiple plans.
6. 1&1 IONOS
1&1 IONOS is a web hosting and business applications provider that offers low-cost email hosting. They stand out by offering basic, secure email hosting for only $1 per month. This includes spam protection, modest storage, a domain name, and customer support, but very little else. This service is best for companies working with extremely limited budgets, like freelancers and early-stage startups.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Ultra-cheap | Emails often get marked as spam |
Includes a domain name | Can be difficult to cancel the plan |
Includes web hosting for one site | Does not include productivity tools |
Pricing & Features
1&1 IONOS offers bare-bones business email hosting. Plans start at $1 per month for up to 25 users. However, this only includes 2 GB of storage and a maximum attachment size of 6 MB. So while $1 for 25 email accounts and a free domain sounds like a great value, it’s not sufficient for many businesses given the restrictive storage limit. It also does not include collaboration tools, which most businesses require and will, therefore, need to purchase separately.
Bottom Line: Cheap Email Hosting Providers for Business
An email hosting plan allows you to create a custom business email address like sarah@yourbusiness.com. Most small businesses need a turnkey email solution that’s affordable, so our ranking considered plans that cost less than $5 per month and offer ample storage, security, and extras to make email communication and collaboration easy.
There are plenty of email hosting plans to meet these needs for under $5 per month, but some offer more features than others. While Zoho is the cheapest email hosting provider for those who want email with productivity and collaboration tools, those who do not need the extra tools will find Bluehost to be the best value as it offers low-cost plans that include a free domain name and unlimited email addresses.
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