Finding reliable, full-featured email hosting is more affordable than one might think—with plans starting at $6 a month or less. Cheap email hosting providers don’t mean losing out on features, either. Many providers deliver advanced features like productivity suites, video conferencing, chat tools, and more. You can even get a free business domain with some providers.
We ranked the 10 best cheap email hosting providers to help you choose the right one for your small business. Here’s how they stacked up:
- Best overall cheap email hosting: Google Workspace
- Best free plan: Zoho Mail
- Cheapest email hosting with free domain: IONOS
- Best for unlimited accounts: DreamHost
- Most advanced features: Microsoft 365
- Most secure cheap email hosting: Proton
- Best for small teams: Scala Hosting
- Best standalone plans: Hostinger
- Best chat-like email interface: Spike
- Best customer support: InMotion Hosting
Best Cheap Email Hosting Providers at a Glance
Google Workspace | |||
4.89 out of 5 | From $6 a month |
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Zoho Mail | |||
4.86 out of 5 | Free-forever plan Paid plans from $1 a month* |
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IONOS | |||
4.83 out of 5 | From $1 a month* |
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DreamHost | |||
4.81 out of 5 | From $2.95 a month* |
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Microsoft 365 | |||
4.77 out of 5 | From $6 a month |
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ProtonMail | |||
4.73 out of 5 | Free-forever plan Paid plans from $6.99 per user, per month* |
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Scala Hosting | |||
4.73 out of 5 | From $2.95 a month* |
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Hostinger | |||
4.38 out of 5 | From $1.59 a month* |
| or |
Spike | |||
4.35 out of 5 | Free-forever plan Paid plans from $6 per user, per month* |
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InMotion | |||
4.25 out of 5 | From $3.49 a month* |
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*Billed annually; may renew at a higher rate; monthly billing may be available
**U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Pro tip: When comparing plan pricing, watch the fine print. The pricing above reflects the monthly cost with a 12-month, annually billed plan. Bluehost’s and DreamHost’s rates increase after the first year, whereas Hostinger and Scala Hosting offer bigger savings if you opt for a 24-month or longer contract.
Google Workspace: Overall Best Cheap Email Hosting
Google Workspace is an industry-leading email and business software provider. If you’re looking for the best overall email experience, its business email hosting package is it. Google Workspace is extremely intuitive, packed with added value, and affordably priced, starting at $6 per user, per month. It’s also the most popular business email software in the United States, which is just one of the reasons it made our list of the best email apps for small businesses.
An uncluttered interface means you won’t miss important emails as they come in. Google Workspace includes a full productivity suite that includes the ability to share documents and work collaboratively—even with people outside your organization. Gmail business email setup and customization are simple, ideal for non-tech-savvy owners who don’t want to spend much time on email setup or maintenance.
Notably, collaborative teams can work on documents, spreadsheets, and slides at the same time. In addition, users can communicate instantly via video conferencing or chat with teammates, prospects, and customers right from the Gmail interface. You can also integrate it with messaging apps like Slack, WhatsApp, and Messenger to streamline communication even more.
How Much Google Workspace Email Hosting Costs
Google Workspace’s plans all come with Gmail business email, and all Gmail features come with each plan. Learn more about what else is included below:
For teams that work collaboratively, sales-oriented companies that need a full featured communications suite, and businesses relying on remote staff, we recommend Google Workspace. With cheap plans starting from $6 per month and no long-term contracts, there’s no risk in seeing if it’s the best email host for your small business.
Zoho Mail: Best Free Email Hosting Solution
Zoho Mail offers a surprisingly robust free version for up to five users, which is why it ranks so highly on our list of cheap email hosting providers. If you own a domain, you can set up as many as five email addresses—absolutely free forever. Zoho Mail also offers Workplace plans with communications and office software similar to Google and Microsoft starting at just $3.
The Zoho software ecosystem extends far beyond office software, however. Zoho Mail easily integrates Zoho’s other business apps for sales, accounting, customer service, and more. To get started at no cost, read our guide for how to set up Zoho free business email accounts. If you already own a domain or purchase one separately, you can get up to five free Zoho Mail business email accounts on your domain.
Zoho Mail has two Workplace plans meant explicitly for businesses. Like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, these plans include productivity software for collaborating on documents, spreadsheets, and slide-based presentations, as well as backup and restoration features and even video conferencing.
How Much Zoho Mail Costs
All Zoho Mail plans are $3 or less monthly, and like Google and Microsoft, these are per user. Apart from the free version, there are no multi-user plans to save you money. Here’s what each plan includes:
Zoho Mail is one of the most user-friendly cheap email hosts we reviewed, rivaling the ease of Google Workspace. There are detailed, step-by-step instructions for everything from registering for a plan to connecting your domain. If you get stuck, live chat and email ticket support are there to help. Best of all, it’s risk-free to try since you can start for free.
IONOS: Cheapest Email Hosting Provider (+ Free Domain)
IONOS offers web hosting plans from $1 per month, inclusive of email, a free domain, and free SSL, which could save your business even more as you build your brand presence online. This makes IONOS the cheapest option for paid email hosting available. If you’re a freelancer, startup, or small business with a limited budget, any of these plans could be right for you.
How Much IONOS Email Hosting Costs
With IONOS, you can grab a standalone email hosting plan that comes with a free domain and SSL or get a web bundle to build your brand presence online. All plans are billed annually with no month-to-month option, but the starting price is so cheap, that’s almost completely irrelevant. Browse each plan’s options:
IONOS offers a variety of email hosting options that make it easy for small businesses to get both a domain and email in a cheap plan. The plans are somewhat basic in features, but if all you need is basic email, IONOS is probably your best bet. If you run into trouble, you’ll have access to a dedicated consultant if you need help with setup, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find it’s not right for you.
Pro tip: Need a completely free business email solution? Learn more about affordable business email, including eight legit ways to get a completely free business email.
DreamHost: Best Host for Unlimited Emails & a Free Domain
DreamHost offers a web hosting service with unlimited basic email addresses on your domain. Even if you don’t need web hosting, this is a deal that’s too good to pass up if you need a bunch of email addresses for a large team. Unlimited plans start at just $2.95 per month, billed annually.
Accessing your email via the web is simple, as DreamHost uses Roundcube, a user-friendly and mobile-friendly interface. You can also add your email address to any popular mail app via POP or IMAP protocols. Among others, you can use Gmail, Outlook, Mac Mail, or the mail app on an iPhone or Android.
If you don’t want to purchase the annual unlimited plan, you can still use DreamHost’s email hosting service as a standalone product. Each email will cost you $1.67 per month, billed annually. But each mailbox comes with one feature: 25GB of storage, which is much more than either IONOS or Zoho provides in their basic email accounts.
How Much DreamHost Email Hosting Costs
Get email hosting from DreamHost in standalone packages or in hosting bundles that come with a free domain. Find out all that’s included below:
Depending on your business needs, you can get a standalone email address or unlimited email addresses, both for affordable prices. Email hosting comes with a free domain, free SSL certificate, and the ability to access your email via the web or any popular email app. DreamHost is one of the most reputable and reliable hosting companies, and trying it is virtually risk-free. It offers an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee.
Microsoft 365: Most Advanced Business Email Features
Microsoft 365 and Outlook business email combine to form one of the most advanced email systems available. Outlook email offers advanced security, integrates the collaboration, chat, and video conferencing features of Microsoft Teams, and can automate tasks and workflows. For example, when a new email arrives, it could serve as a trigger that starts an automated workflow by creating a task, assigning a date for follow-up, or automatically forwarding the email to everyone on a team.
Additionally, no other email software comes close to what you can do with Outlook via Microsoft 365 business plans. You can automate email management and handling with multi-layered, complex rules. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Exchange-based business plans have built-in appointment booking tools and allow users to manage the calendars and inboxes of other users. Outlook can also be used to manage corporate resources, like conference room bookings.
Like Google, Microsoft 365 plans include Outlook email hosting as well as a full suite of office software. Among these are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams (video conferencing and chat), and Microsoft Bookings. Read our comparison of Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 to compare the office suites.
How Much Microsoft 365 Email Hosting Costs
Microsoft 365 will arguably provide the most bang for your buck, given the advanced email and Office suite, which is included. You’ll still need to purchase a domain separately, which adds $10 to $20 per year. Learn what comes in the cheapest plan as well as what features might require an upgrade:
While it comes with advanced features not matched by other providers, Outlook also makes it easy for you to organize emails. Its interface is fairly intuitive and simple to navigate. You can configure Outlook to create rules for each incoming email so that it can be automatically sorted into a folder you create for each message category—or even set auto-replies based on message type. A 30-day free trial lets you see if it’s the best email host for your business needs.
ProtonMail: Most Secure Cheap Email Hosting Service
If your business operates in an industry where security is a major concern, ProtonMail provides the most secure email experience available. Email is encrypted end to end, even in the free plan. It is also the only cheap email service offering zero-access encryption, meaning even ProtonMail employees can’t decrypt your data. ProtonMail is particularly useful for medical providers, as its encryption and security standards meet HIPAA requirements.
How Much ProtonMail Costs
All ProtonMail plans, including the free one, are per user. For multiple users, ProtonMail isn’t the cheapest, but for security, it may be worth it. Find the best option for your company below:
ProtonMail’s business plans are fully compatible with GDPR rules and are HIPAA compliant, making them great for anyone handling confidential patient information. This makes it the best cheap email host for businesses prizing security, hands down. You can get an idea of the user experience and interface by trying the free version before committing.
Scala Hosting: Best Email Hosting Service for Small Teams
Scala Hosting is the best standalone email service for small teams. The base email hosting plan allows for up to 10 users on your domain for $4.95 per month, billed annually, or $2.95 per month with a 36-month contract. This includes 50GB of total storage, advanced SPAM protection, and daily offsite backups to preserve your data.
Scala’s plans also scale affordably. For $5.95, you can create up to 50 email addresses on five custom domains (100GB email storage), 100 emails on up to 10 domains for $7.95 with 150GB of total storage, or create unlimited emails with unlimited domain names starting from $19.95. The highest-tier plan also adds value with white labeling for resale, a free domain, real-time malware protection, and a dedicated IP address and blacklist monitoring.
The highest Cloud tier is also a good option for marketing agencies and freelancers who want to resell email hosting or provide white-label services for clients. Plus, you can upgrade to a virtual private network to host unlimited accounts and websites for a few dollars more.
How Much Scala Email Hosting Costs
The best plan for you will depend on what type of service your business needs most: dedicated email hosting, bundled hosting, or a highly secure VPN with dedicated resources. Each plan is showcased below:
There are also comparable plans for web and email hosting, and all web hosting plans allow unlimited email accounts. But keep in mind that storage limits in web hosting plans apply to all files, meaning all your website and email files share the same storage.
We featured Scala’s VPS among the plans above because of the additional security and business email benefits provided. If you are interested in the additional data security and speed that come with dedicated servers such as a virtual private network, DreamHost and IONOS offer cheap VPN options, albeit with fewer features than Scala.
Scala’s cheap email hosting plans are perfect for startups and small teams. Create up to 10 email addresses in a standalone plan or get unlimited emails in web-and-email bundles, both starting under $5 per month. Scala offers an anytime money-back guarantee, so there’s no risk in trying it to see if it’s the best business email solution for your company.
Hostinger: Best Standalone Email Hosting Plans
For individuals needing just a single email address without web hosting or any of the frills of productivity suites and advanced security, Hostinger offers affordable business email hosting in a variety of options. Get standalone Titan email hosting for as low as $1.59 per month, billed annually. Or, get the Cadillac of standalone plans under $4 a month with a whopping 50GB of email storage, email aliases, data encryption, and more.
Standalone email hosting with Hostinger utilizes Titan Mail, a leading email hosting provider that’s on par with Gmail in terms of functionality and ease of use. The cheapest option is Business Email, which comes with 10GB of storage, a calendar, and contacts.
The Enterprise Email solution costs only nominally more but includes a slew of additional functionality and storage like follow-up reminders, scheduled sending, and an HTML composer. Both plans make doing business easier with features like templates and read receipts, and boost security with two-factor authentication, advanced anti-spam and virus protection, and data encryption.
How Much Hostinger Email Hosting Costs
The following is an overview of Hostinger email hosting options. Once you know which plan might be best for your business, head over to Hostinger for more details about your chosen plan.
We’re impressed with the level of value that Hostinger has built into its cheap email hosting plans. Whether you are just looking for a business email or you want a complete online brand-building solution, you can’t go wrong.
Spike: Best Chat-like Email Interface
Spike brings email into a new dimension with its collaborative, chat-like interface that turns email into an ongoing conversation. The Spike system sorts all incoming emails by sender—which means conversations are automatically threaded and easy to follow. With audio and video chat features built into the system, you have a full communications suite at your fingertips.
In addition to the collaboration tools, Spike provides several features that make it stand out. It is generous with storage space, even in the free plan which includes 15GB of space. Paid plans include a free, custom domain for the first year. And, both tiers of paid plans support large file attachments, up to 500MB in the Business+ tier.
How Much Spike Costs
Per user, Spike packs in a lot of features at a reasonable price. Paid plans are on par with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, with comparable email functionality. Browse the features in each plan below:
If you want to elevate your email experience into a complete communications suite, Spike’s unique email-chat interface provides interactivity and collaboration, unlike any other provider. With integrated calendars, video and audio chat, and ample storage space, Spike offers a total communications solution that’s one-of-a-kind.
InMotion Hosting: Best Customer Support
InMotion Hosting’s email offerings are pretty basic, but they are backed up via phone, chat, and email support 24/7/365. If your email goes down, you can get someone on the phone who can fix it. This provides a certain level of peace of mind that other email hosts lack. In fact, InMotion’s customer support ranks among the best in the business.
While its email boxes lack many of the advanced features of other providers we reviewed, they are affordable and offer enough storage that you should be good to go for most applications. When paired with its web hosting packages, InMotion Hosting is a one-stop shop for your email and web needs.
How Much InMotion Hosting Costs
InMotion Hosting email addresses are included in their web hosting packages. See what all you get in the plans below:
InMotion Hosting’s email solutions are very basic, but for most small businesses, email is a basic tool of communication—making InMotion Hosting an affordable, ideal solution. Access to email is via email clients such as Mac Mail or Microsoft Outlook, and with InMotion Hosting’s support, setup and configuration are easy. Get started for just $3.49 per month.
How We Evaluated the Best Cheap Email Hosting Services
Small businesses and startups need safe, reliable, and affordable communication tools to connect with customers and communicate among their teams. To determine the best options for businesses on a budget, we researched low-cost business email providers with plans ranging from free to $6 monthly and compared them based on 20 separate data points. Here’s how our scores were weighted (see tabs).
35% of Overall Score
For startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses on a tight budget, the cost is often the determining factor in selecting a service provider. For this reason, it was weighted most heavily when determining which email hosting services to include.
25% of Overall Score
In addition to cost is the value offered in the plans by email hosts. We looked for providers that include multiple email addresses, alias emails and forwarding, advanced security and data encryption, as well as those with extras like a mobile app or a free domain.
Although these services are affordable, this doesn’t mean they don’t offer niche features that add value for small businesses. Several include productivity software and collaboration tools like video conferencing, shared calendars, and team chat apps.
20% of Overall Score
While most of these services are easy to self-serve in terms of both setup and management, it’s good to know that help is there if you need it. Providers offering 24/7 customer support, live chat and phone support, email ticketing, and an online help center scored higher.
20% of Overall Score
No matter how great a provider looks on paper, how it works in the real world is critical. We have firsthand experience with each of these providers and rated each as to which has great features for small businesses, which pack the most value into their plans, and which are easiest to set up and use. Finally, we considered the popularity of email hosting services based on real-world customer reviews.
Key Considerations When Choosing a Cheap Email Provider
Business email doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, but you absolutely need to make a checklist of the features you think you’ll need. Here are a few of the things to consider:
- Storage space: The more email you plan on receiving and sending, the more storage space you’ll need. A good rule of thumb is to start at 10GB and go up from there.
- Attachment size (both sending and receiving): Email hosting providers typically place limits on the size of attachments. If you’re sending large graphics files or videos, you’ll need to find a provider with higher limits. Most limit it to 10GB or less. Some allow up to 50GB.
- Contacts management: How will you keep track of email addresses? A good contact management system should be built into your email account.
- Security: Most business email hosts provide basic antivirus protection and spam filtering. If you’re concerned about security, choose a provider with advanced encryption and two-factor authentication.
- Ease of use: If the provider has a webmail interface, how easy it is to use and navigate may be a deciding factor—especially if you or your employees are not technologically savvy.
- POP/IMAP access: POP and IMAC are two mail server protocols that allow you to add your email address to external email apps like Microsoft Outlook, Mac Mail, or the mail app on your iPhone or Android device.
- User ratings: A great way to judge the quality of any product or service is through user reviews. Check sites like G2 and Clutch to see how well the provider you’re considering stacks up to the competition.
Most importantly, keep in mind that services like email and web hosting tend to be very “sticky” services. It can be very difficult to switch from one provider to another without losing stored emails, contacts, filters, and more. So before you dive into a new provider, take the time to fully vet your top contenders for cheap business email.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You can get a free email address with gmail.com or outlook.com domains, but this isn’t credible for business use. The best option for businesses is to look for services that come with free email addresses, like with the purchase of a domain or web hosting. If you own a domain, however, you can get up to five free Zoho Mail business email accounts. Zoho’s step-through guide makes configuration easy.
Email hosting ranges from $1 (or even free) to around $3 to $6 to start. If you need multiple email addresses, expect to spend around $3 a month the first year and pay from $8 to $12 a month afterward. In addition, you’ll need a business domain name for email, unless one comes bundled with your plan. Domains cost about $10 to $20 per year, and you can purchase one either from your email hosting provider or from a domain provider like Domain.com.
Some providers offer free email hosting on your domain, like Zoho Mail, as well as email hosting on subdomains like Gmail or outlook.com. Free email hosting is often included with web hosting plans as well. That being said, many free-forever email hosting plans are quite limited in features like storage space, POP/IMAP access, and searchability. If you plan on using email as a major part of your business, you should consider stepping into a paid plan.
Bottom Line
Going with a low-cost email hosting provider doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sacrifice critical features. The best providers give you the features to maximize your email experience, and some even do it for free. Cheap email hosting should include enough storage space to manage your workflow as well as business tools like sharable calendars and contact management. Some even provide advanced tools like productivity suites and video conferencing.
Though it’s not our cheapest alternative, Google Workspace consistently tops our list of cheap email hosting providers because it offers an easy-to-use interface, ample storage, and a full productivity suite. Google Workspace includes a full productivity suite that rivals Microsoft Office in functionality. It includes a word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, video meetings, and more, starting at just $6 each month. Sign-up is easy and takes just a few minutes.