How to Set Up a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes

A business email address uses your company’s domain (yourbusiness.com) and your personal name (frank@yourbusiness.com), giving your brand a professional image. Set up a free business email address in five minutes or less by choosing a domain and hosting provider, registering a new email address, and connecting it with your email client.

Most business email address providers come with a cost, but you can get a business email account from Bluehost. First, you’ll need a website and a domain name. Bluehost includes five free email addresses and a free domain with their $2.95-per-month web hosting package, making it a great choice for those in need of a website. Click below to check it out.

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What a Business Email Address Is & Why It’s Important

A business email address is one that uses your business’ domain name, such as name@yourbusiness.com. Every business should create a business email address; they make your brand appear more professional, instilling confidence in customers and, by extension, increasing customer loyalty.

Here are the top reasons for having a business email address:

• Appear professional to customers: For your business to be taken seriously, you need to have coherent professional branding, which includes email. Every employee should have an email address with the same domain to maintain brand consistency.
• Increase brand awareness: A business email address uses your domain name—which almost always includes your business name—so every time an email is sent, your brand name is displayed to customers. This increases brand awareness.
• Build customer loyalty: A professional email address not only increases brand awareness, but conveys integrity and reliability. This makes customers more likely to do business with you.
• Keep costs low: Startup businesses with limited budgets can keep costs down and still create a professional image with a business email address, as they are often available for free with web hosting packages.

How to Get a Free Business Email Address

There are very few options for finding a truly free business email address. However, we have found two great options to choose from: signing up with either Bluehost or Zoho. Bluehost is best for businesses that need web hosting, domain creation, and a free email address, while Zoho is best for those who already have domain hosting and simply want a business email account.

These are the two primary ways to get a free business email address:

1. Bluehost Free Business Email Address

Best for: Businesses that need a domain name, web hosting, and free business email.

If you don’t have a website name (domain), or a place for your website (hosting), Bluehost offers free email as well as a free domain and website hosting starting at $2.95 per month. Click here to check it out.

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2. Zoho Free Business Email Address

Best for: Businesses that have a domain name and need a free business email account.

If you have a domain already, you can use Zoho to create a business email address completely free. It’s also great for businesses that use email marketing, as Zoho includes built-in email marketing tools.

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Below, we’ll walk you through the exact steps to get a free business email address, including instructions on how to connect your new business email with Gmail, Outlook, and other third-party clients. We’ll start with Bluehost, then move on to Zoho as well as a bonus later in this article. Alternatively, read our article on the best email hosting services.

Set Up a Business Email Account With Bluehost

Bluehost provides up to five business email addresses and a free domain name for your small business website when you purchase their $2.95-per-month web hosting plan. To set up a business email account with Bluehost, start by going to their website, choosing a hosting plan that’s right for your business, selecting a domain, setting up an email address, and connecting it to a third-party email provider.

Here’s how to set up your business email account using Bluehost in four steps:

Step 1: Choose Your Plan & Domain

Navigate to Bluehost.com. Click “Get Started Now” and select the subscription package you want. The basic plan should be sufficient if you don’t need more than five email accounts. If you need unlimited email addresses, you will only need to pay about $2.50 more per month. Then, check domain name availability and, once your domain is selected, complete the registration.

Check Domain Name Availability

After you select your plan type, you will need to choose a domain. Every plan comes with a free domain, so use the search tool provided after selecting your plan to find one that suits your business. Alternately, you can use the search tool below.

Selecting your domain name is a critical step in setting up your business email account, as it will affect how people perceive your business. If it is different than your business name, it may confuse customers and affect rankings in search engines. For tips on how to come up with the right domain name, see our article on how to create a custom email address.

Complete Registration

Next, you’ll enter your account information and finalize the order. There will be add-ons available before you confirm your order; you can select any of them, but it’s recommended that you at least pick Domain Privacy Protection. By law, your contact information becomes public after registering a domain. By selecting Domain Privacy Protection, however, Bluehost will add their own information to the registry rather than your own, limiting spam messages in your inbox.

Bluehost Domain Name Privacy comparison

Step 2: Set Up Your Email Account

Once you’ve selected a domain and created your account, you’ll land on Bluehost’s dashboard. On the left menu, click the link that says “Email” to go to Bluehost’s Mail Manager.

Navigate to the “Email” tab in your Bluehost user dashboard

On the following screen, you will be prompted to enter an email name and password to create a new email account. Make sure you pick a professional email address format (such as “firstnamelastname” or “firstinitial.lastname”) that serves your brand, maintains your privacy, and can be used for future business email addresses. Also, make your password as secure as possible by using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Bluehost email registration

After choosing your email name and password, click “Save.” Repeat this step for each employee who needs a free business email address. When you’re ready to access your webmail inbox, go to Bluehost’s login page and click “Webmail Login” instead of Hosting Login. Alternately, you can navigate to the Mail Manager and select “More > Access Webmail” next to the address you’d like to view.

How to access webmail from the Bluehost dashboard

Step 3: Connect Email to Gmail or Outlook

If you don’t want to log into another mail account to check your email, you can connect your new business address with your current inbox, including Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, iOS, and Android Mail. While each client is different, you’ll typically need to add in your username and password, verify your account, and input mail server information in order to use your free business email.

How to Use Bluehost Email With Gmail

Log into or create your Gmail account. When you reach your inbox, click the gear in the upper right-hand corner (below your user picture), then select “Settings.” Select the “Accounts” tab at the top, then scroll down to “Add a mail account.”

How to set up Bluehost email with Gmail

This will open a pop-up window where you’ll enter your new Bluehost business email. In order to connect it to Gmail, you will need to enter your Bluehost username (your full Bluehost email address) and password, confirm your POP server is correct (this is what’s used to collect new email and should be mail.yourdomain.com), and click “Add Account” to save.

Connect Bluehost email to Gmail

In addition to receiving mail, you can select to send mail from Gmail using your new Bluehost email address. On the following screen, Gmail will ask if you want to set this up. If so, check “Yes, I want to be able to…,” then click “Next.”

On the next screen, enter your email address and password once again (like before, be sure to enter your full email address). This will prompt Gmail to send a verification code to your Bluehost address; on the next screen, Gmail will ask you to input that code.

Gmail email verification

Head back into your Bluehost account. Select “Mail Manager” and click “View Inbox.” You should see an email from Google with your verification code. Copy and paste this code and enter it into the verification field in Gmail.

How to retrieve and input your Gmail verification code

Once you’ve combined your accounts, you’ll be able to choose between your professional and personal email addresses within Gmail. Wait five to 10 minutes for the changes to take effect, then compose a new email in Gmail. You’ll notice that you can now select different “From” addresses; whichever you pick will appear on outgoing mail as your “Reply to” and “From” address. Get more details on how to set up your account with our Gmail for Business Guide.

Toggle between Gmail and Bluehost custom email

How to Use Bluehost Email With Outlook

If you want to connect your new Bluehost business email with an Outlook account, the process is very similar to Gmail. It will vary slightly, however, depending on which edition of Outlook you’re using. For instructions on how to connect your email with an Outlook account, click on one of the following guides from Bluehost below:

• Outlook 2016 for Windows
• Outlook 2016 for Mac
• Outlook Express
• Outlook 2013
• Outlook 2011

How to Use Bluehost Email With iOS, Android, or Other Clients

Bluehost free business email can be used with a number of email clients—not only Gmail and Outlook. Below are instructions on how to connect your Bluehost business email account with other commonly used email platforms:

• iOS Devices (iPhone, iPad)
• Android Devices
• Windows Phone
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• Windows Live Mail

Step 4: Set Up Email Forwarding (Optional)

Email forwarding sends a copy of all mail from one address to another automatically. This step is optional, but it’s helpful if you’ll be using a generic email address (like contact@yourbusiness.com, for example) and you want messages forwarded to your employees’ inboxes. You can set this up easily by clicking on the “Forwarders” tab on the Bluehost Mail Manager menu.

Click on “Add a New Forwarder” and select the business email address you would like to forward from the “Address to Forward” drop-down menu. Then, below that, enter the address the email should be forwarded to. If you want emails to forward to multiple addresses, simply click “Submit” and create another forwarder.

Add email forwarding in Gmail

Set Up a Free Business Email Account With Zoho

If you already have a business domain and hosting, you can use Zoho to set up a completely free business email address. In fact, they offer up to 25 free business email accounts, each with 5GB of data. To set up a business email account with Zoho, go to Zoho.com and sign up for an email account, verify your domain, update your mail server information, and create your business email address.

Here’s how to create a business email account using Zoho in five steps:

Step 1: Sign Up for a Zoho Mail Account

Navigate to Zoho Mail and click “Sign Up Now.” On the next page, select the Free Plan, which is listed below the paid options. Then, enter your current domain in the widget. Once entered, click “Add.”

Sign up for Zoho Mail

Step 2: Verify Your Domain

Next, you’ll need to verify that you own your domain. The exact steps will vary depending on which provider you used to purchase your domain. We’ll use GoDaddy as an example, as it’s one of the most commonly used domain name registries. If you want instructions for a different provider, just select your provider from the list available on Zoho and they will supply directions.

The first step is to make note of the CNAME and Destination values, which will appear on the following screen.

Set email CNAME and Destination

Once you’ve noted these, head over to GoDaddy and click “Manage” next to “Domains.”

Manage domains in GoDaddy

Click on your domain to bring up the domain submenu. Select the “DNS Zone File” tab on the top, then find “Add Record” a little further down.

How to add a record to GoDaddy domain

For the Record type, select “CNAME (Alias).” Then, in the window that pops up, enter the CNAME and Destination Values you noted from Zoho. The CNAME record should be entered under “Host” and the Destination Value should be entered under “Points to.”

Add a zone record to GoDaddy domain

Remember to click “Save” when you’re finished. Now, return to Zoho and click “Verify by CNAME” at the bottom of the screen.

How to verify a CNAME in GoDaddy

Once your CNAME has been verified, you will need to update your mail records.

Step 3: Change Mail Record With Your Domain Provider

Now that your domain is verified, you need to update your mail records with GoDaddy (or your chosen domain hosting partner). Head back to your domain host and click the “DNS Zone File” tab.

Scroll down to the MX records section and delete any MX records listed.

Access MX records

Next, add two new records. Scroll back up to the top and click “Add record.” For record type, choose “MX (Mail Exchanger).” Add the following information: “@” for “Host,” “mx.zohomail.com” for “Points to,” “10” for “Priority,” and “1 hour” for “TTL.” Click “Finish.”

Add zone record

These changes will complete the mail record setup process. It generally takes around 30 minutes for these changes to take effect, at which point you can head back over to Zoho and create your new business email address.

Step 4: Create Your Business Email Addresses

Now that your domain has been verified, you will be given the option to add email in the Zoho Mail Manager. Start by clicking on “Create Account” in Zoho Mail. Input the username you would like to use as the first half of your business email address and click the “Create Account” button below.

If you would like to create accounts for your employees, go to “Add Users” and create new email addresses. Addresses can be changed later should you need to update formatting or remove a user.

Step 5: Set Up Email Forwarding (Optional)

If you want to forward your new business email account to an existing email account, simply enter the address you want to send emails from and to and complete the prompts to finalize forwarding setup. Keep in mind that Zoho does not allow you to connect free accounts to Gmail or Outlook, so you’ll have to access all of your email using Zoho’s email client.

To set up email forwarding in Zoho, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, then select “Email forwarding and POP / IMAP” in the lower-left column.

Set up email forwarding in Zoho

Next, enter the email address you want to forward messages to at the top. Zoho will send a confirmation code to that email. Simply click “verify” and enter the code you received in Zoho Mail. Once you have verified your forwarding account, you will be able to access your business email messages in your primary email inbox.

Add confirmation code for Zoho email forwarding

Bonus Option: Free 14-day Trial From Gmail

While Google doesn’t technically offer free email, it is a popular option that includes a free 14-day trial. After the free trial, the monthly fee will be $10 per user, per month for a month-to-month contract or $6 per month on an annual plan. To get a business email account with Gmail, start by creating a Gmail account, adding your domain, creating your new business email, and confirming your choice to start a free 14-day trial.

Get started with your free 14-day trial with Gmail in four steps:

Step 1: Create a Gmail Account

Go to G Suite and click the blue “Get Started” button to begin the process of creating your business email address. Follow the new account registration steps, such as inputting your business name, company size, and your personal contact information.

Gmail registration process

Step 2: Input Your Business Domain

If you have already registered your business’ domain name, select the “Yes, I have one I can use” button. This will prompt you to input your business domain. If you do not have an existing domain, you can buy one by clicking the “No, I need one” button.

Connect your own domain name to your Gmail email

Step 3: Create Your Business Email Address

On the next screen, enter the username for your business email address. Remember to choose an email format that you can use for all business email addresses in the future.

Connect your own domain name to your Gmail email

Step 4: Confirm Your Free Trial & Checkout

Confirm your free 14-day trial and continue to the next screen. Confirm your business details and input your payment information. You will automatically be charged on a monthly basis after your free trial period expires. However, you can cancel anytime before that point if you choose to use a different business email provider.

Complete Gmail for business registration

To start using your new Gmail account, go to Gmail and log in. If you would like to set up email forwarding, follow the steps outlined by Google.

5 Best Alternative Business Email Hosting Providers

There are a number of good email hosting providers that offer quality plans at low prices. To help narrow down the options, we’ve found the best cheap business email providers with ample storage and glowing reviews. These include Rackspace, 1&1 IONOS, Yahoo, Amazon, and GoDaddy, all of which have quality plans for $4 per month or less.

Here are five leading alternatives for affordable business email hosts:

• Rackspace: Rackspace offers business email hosting plans starting at $2.99 per user, per month. It includes 25GB of storage, spam protection, and email forwarding. It’s also ultra-reliable with a 100% uptime.
• GoDaddy Email Hosting: GoDaddy is one of the world’s largest domain name registrars, and it also offers email hosting for as little as $1.99 per month for 5GB of storage or $3.99 per month for 50GB of storage. The benefit of using GoDaddy for email is that it makes it very easy to connect a custom domain purchased through them.
• 1&1 IONOS: 1&1 IONOS is a web hosting company that offers ultra-low-cost business email hosting with plans starting at just $4 per month. For this price, users get up to 25 email addresses that share a total of 25GB of storage per month.
• Yahoo Small Business: Yahoo offers business email hosting that uses your own domain name for $3.19 per month for one email, or as little as $1.19 per email, per month when you purchase 10 or more email hosting plans. Plans include 1TB of storage and analytics.
• Amazon WorkMail: The ecommerce conglomerate, Amazon, offers business email hosting. It costs $4 per user, per month, which includes 50GB of storage.

Email hosting providers vary more than just by price and storage. Many offer additional inclusions such as spam protection, email forwarding, and email aliases. Learn more about the best cheap email hosting providers and find out which one is right for your business.

What to Look for in a Business Email Hosting Provider

Before you choose a business email provider, consider things like the ability to connect your domain, the price per address, reliability, and the amount of storage included. Also consider if it comes with additional tools or features needed by your business.

Here’s what to look for when choosing a business email provider:

• Custom domain: A free business email address uses your company’s own domain name, so be sure your email provider allows you to choose or connect your own.
• Number of email addresses included: Some plans include only five email accounts, such as Bluehost, while others, like Zoho, include 25 addresses. Make sure you pick one that fits your business’ current needs and allows you to grow.
• Storage capacity: If you send a high volume of emails with attachments, you will want to choose an email provider with high enough storage limits—typically more than 10GB.
• Reliability: You don’t want to have to worry about your email crashing, so look for email providers that have uptimes of 99% or more.
• Business tools: When you’re picking an email provider, it’s common to find additional built-in business tools such as a calendar, video conferencing capabilities, and word processing tools. Consider these carefully when picking an email host.

We recommend Bluehost and Zoho for free business email. Bluehost web hosting plans start at $2.95 per month, which includes five free business email addresses. For $5.95 per month, they offer a hosting plan with unlimited free business email addresses. While you can get a free email address at Zoho if you have your own domain, paid Zoho plans with domain included only cost $1 per user, per month and include robust email marketing tools.

3 Tips for Choosing a Free Business Email Address

When choosing a free business email, choose an email address that clearly identifies the individual user and maintains that format across all of your employee addresses. This helps maintain overall organization—especially for a growing business.

Here are three tips for choosing your professional email address:

1. Choose an identifiable domain name: It’s important to choose a domain name that allows people to quickly identify your business. If you have trouble finding an available domain name, try including keywords, such as location, in your domain. See more tips on how to choose a domain name.
2. Use a standard format for all employees: The formatting of your email addresses should be universal across your company because it keeps email addresses organized. So, if you choose the “firstinitiallastname@” format for one employee, it should be the format for all employees.
3. Create special email addresses by departments: Giving visitors special email addresses to contact for support, sales, press, and general questions looks professional and keeps your business better organized. For example, for customer service, use an email such as support@yourbusiness.com on your website.

3 Tips for Deciding on a Domain Name

The best domain is typically your business or brand name. However, not all domains are available, and you might need to add additional words to your domain if your desired one is already taken. What’s more, adding keywords can help with searchability.

Here are three tips for choosing your domain name:

1. Use .com: People tend to assume that websites end in .com, and are also more trusting of .com over other top-level domains (.net, .co, and .io).
2. Include keywords (such as location) in your domain name: Adding your location not only increases the chance that the domain will be available, it also means there are more keywords in your URL that you can potentially rank for in search engines. For example, if your domain is www.maggiespizzanyc.com, it can appear for searches about “Maggie’s,” “pizza,” and “NYC.”
3. Consider adding a prefix or suffix: If your current business name is unavailable as a domain, don’t give up. You can add prefixes, such as “the,” “my,” or any short adjective. You can also add suffixes like “biz” or “co.” Don’t, however, completely exclude your business name. If people have heard of “Cornerstone Bakery” and your domain is “bestcupcakesintown.com,” it will be harder for people to find you.

Ideally, your business name will be available as a domain name with a .com extension. If not, consider the tips above in order to find an available domain. Domain names should be kept as short as possible and should make it easy for your audience to identify your domain as your business.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the most common business email address formats?

Typically, business email addresses use employees’ first name, last name, or some combination of first and last. For example, john@yourbusiness.com uses only a first name, while jsmith@yourbusiness.com uses a first initial and last name. Businesses also often use a general inbox, such as info@yourbusiness.com.

How can I find an available domain name?

Choosing the right domain can be difficult as many are already taken. Use our Bluehost domain widget above to search for available domains; you will want to choose one that uses a .com and matches your business name. When this is not available, try adding keywords, prefixes, or suffixes to your business name to find a suitable domain name that is available. Get more information on how to get a free email domain.

What are the best business email providers?

The right email provider for you depends on your needs and preferences, though the best are reliable, easy to use, include a reasonable amount of storage, are affordable, and are feature-rich. We recommend Bluehost and Zoho as they are the most comprehensive. Learn more about these providers and more in our article on the six best business email providers.

How do I setup an email signature?

Email signatures are set up within your email provider’s settings. For example, if you’re using Gmail, click the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu. Under the “General” tab, scroll down to your signature. In the text box, input your name, title, company name, and contact information, such as email address and phone number. For more guidance, check out our 25 business email signature examples.

Bottom Line: Free Business Email Address

A free business email address gives you a way of presenting your business professionally by connecting your business domain name to your email. It helps make potential clients and customers feel more confident in your business because it builds brand awareness and solidifies a professional image. Given these advantages, all businesses should create their own business email address, preferably a free one to save cost.

Creating a professional email address is a good start for your business. However, it’s equally important to have an attractive website hosted by a reliable web hosting provider like Bluehost. For only $2.95 per month, you can get a WordPress website, a free domain name, five free business email addresses, and more. Click here to get started.

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