Individual users often go for free email accounts, and for good reason. However, if you own a small or large business, freelance, or offer consultancy, you may want something more professional-looking and secure than a Yahoo! Mail email address. Email services for business help you develop your brand, run successful email marketing campaigns, and boost your employees’ productivity and performance. Continue reading to find out what makes an email hosting service great and the best ten email service providers on the market.
There are a few factors that determine whether an email hosting service is good for you or not. Consider your business’s requirements, such as data privacy, storage capacity, number of employees, workflow, customer support, and software tools you already use. Don’t forget about the costs associated with an email service provider. Although no one desires this to happen, please review how difficult it is to migrate from one provider to another. In a nutshell, here are the features of a good email hosting service:
| Best for | Main Feature | Price |
Google Workspace | Businesses using Google ecosystem | Integration with Google services and apps | From $6/user/month |
Microsoft 365 | Businesses using Microsoft software | Integration with Microsoft services and apps | From $6/user/month |
Zoho Workspace | Small businesses requiring collaborative work | Collaborative and communication tools | From $2.7/user/month |
Fastmail | Small businesses with data privacy requirements | Email service and email management | From $3/user/month |
IceWarp | Businesses with more than 10 employees | Email service with multiple communication tools and AI-based features | From $23/10 users/month |
Proton Mail | Businesses with high data privacy requirements | End-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption | From $6.99/user/month |
Neo | Entrepreneurs | Business email, AI-powered site builder, third-party mail app | From $1.86/user/month |
Postmark | Developers | Transactional and marketing email service | Free for up to 100 emails/month; from $15/month for more than 100 emails/month |
Amazon WorkMail | Corporations with complex email infrastructure | Corporate email infrastructure management | $4/user/month |
DreamHost | Businesses looking for web hosting and email hosting services | Basic email hosting service | From $1.67/mailbox/month |
Google Workspace, a comprehensive solution, incorporates Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheet, Docs, Meet, Gemini, and more. It provides a custom email for your business, seamless integration with all Google services, tools for collaborative work, and all the mobility one needs. Google Workspace's AI algorithms offer a user-friendly experience, with features like an AI writing assistant that drafts emails for you, simplified search tools, and concise summaries of your emails to help you catch up with your correspondence faster, making your work more efficient and less time-consuming.
The plan you choose determines how much storage space you get. The Business Starter plan, for example, provides 30GB of pooled storage per user.
Main Features: Secure custom business email, AI-based functionalities, advanced security controls, integration with Google services and other tools, and features for collaborative work.
Pros: It is easy to use, has good mobility, and integrates Google services (calendar, video conferences, shared work, etc.).
Cons: Small storage space for starting plans.
Pricing: Plans start at $6/user/month for 1 year commitment.
Like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 provides not only an email hosting service but other tools as well. It includes Microsoft Outlook for managing emails but also Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Microsoft’s flagship products), Clipchamp for creating videos, Loop for shared work, OneDrive, Editor for help with your writing, and other Microsoft apps. In addition, Microsoft Copilot, an AI-based app, is included in all the different apps to boost productivity and improve your work.
Regarding email hosting, Outlook supports multiple email accounts, provides calendars and note-taking tools, checks for spelling and grammar errors, and integrates with OneDrive to easily access your files. It runs as a web app (which is free), a desktop program, and a mobile app. Regardless of the plan you choose, you get 1TB of cloud space to store your files and emails.
Main Features: Custom business emails, identity and access management for up to 300 users, AI-based functionalities, integration with Microsoft services and other tools, and features for collaborative work.
Pros: Microsoft 365 offers a large cloud space, robust calendars, and communication tools (e.g., calls, chats, meetings), ensuring you have all the resources you need for your business. Its smooth integration with Microsoft apps, good mobility, and free web apps make it a secure and efficient choice for your business needs.
Cons: Redundant if you don’t use Microsoft apps.
Pricing: Plans start at $6/user/month for an annual subscription.
Tip: If you use LeaveBoard for PTO tracking, You can single sign-on with both Microsoft 365 email and with Google Workspace email.
Zoho Workspace provides an email hosting service packed with a collaboration suite. It’s designed for flexible work schedules, such as working from home or location, and features an email service, support for calls and video conferences, messaging tools, task management tools, calendars, tools for editing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. In addition, this email service provider offers a built-in migration tool to bring your data from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, ultra-large attachments (up to 1GB), email archives, and 24/7 support.
The lowest-priced plan offers 30 GB of mail storage space per user, and Zoho adds 100GB of WorkDrive space per team.
Main Features: email hosting for multiple domains, collaborative and communication tools, a migration tool for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, online and offline access, and the Office suite.
Pros: Zoho Workspace offers a large attachment size, IMAP and POP access, mobile and desktop access, and a simple migration tool for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, ensuring a smooth migration and making your work easier.
Cons: Small mail storage space, less user-friendly interface than other email service providers.
Pricing: Plans start at $2.7/user/month, billed annually.
Fastmail focuses on delivering reliable email services. It provides custom business emails for all your employees, reliable servers and backup systems, two-factor authentication, data encryption, and 24/h customer support. You’ll appreciate the powerful spam and phishing protection that protects your emails and reduces your catching-up on email time. You also get calendars, tools for managing your correspondence, and a Fastmail mobile app for when you are on the go.
Fastmail integrates with other apps, such as Dropbox and BitWarden. The lowest-priced plan offers 5 GB of mail storage space per user, with an additional 1GB for file storage.
Main Features: Secure email service with custom business emails, safe logins, calendars, and email management tools.
Pros: Straightforward email service, simple management
Cons: Small mail and file storage space with few integration options.
Pricing: Plans start at $3/user/month.
IceWarp integrates a robust email service with other tools businesses find useful, such as teamwork, calls, meetings, and collaboration tools. It relies on AI algorithms to provide smart features for planning, multitasking, including large attachments, and drafting emails. IceWarp runs as a desktop and mobile app, supports Office documents, provides 1TB of cloud space, and features a comprehensive dashboard to manage everything, from emails to chats, meetings, documents, and tasks. You also have multiple options to request support and even the possibility to purchase priority support.
Mail storage space for the lowest price plan is 200GB per user, with an additional 1TB for file storage.
Main Features: Email hosting, AI-based algorithms for intelligent features, desktop and mobile apps, and collaborative and communication tools.
Pros: A complex solution for managing your work, from business emails to chatting with your team or clients.
Cons: Price plans favor companies with more than 10 employees, and a steep learning curve is required.
Pricing: The standard plan costs $23/10 users/month, and the business plan costs $3.5/user/month.
Proton Mail is an encrypted email service that provides end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption. It means no one other than you will read your emails. The provider doesn’t scan your content and doesn’t profit from your data in any way. At the same time, Proton Mail is ad-free. If you already have an email service provider, you can seamlessly migrate to Proton Mail, taking your emails, calendars, and contacts to the new mail service provider.
Proton Mail includes additional services like Calendar, Drive, password manager, and VPN. You’ll appreciate the writing assistant, the straightforward email managing tools, and the mobility tools (Proton Mail runs on the web, desktop, and mobile).
The lowest price plan offers three custom email domains and up to 15GB of storage per user.
Main Features: encrypted email service, calendars and scheduling tools, cloud storage, Proton Scribe writing assistant.
Pros: End-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption, secure calendars, ad-free.
Cons: It doesn’t include collaborative and communication tools or integrate with other management tools.
Pricing: From $6.99/user/month billed annually
Neo is a business email service you can set up in minutes. Furthermore, it features a built-in calendar and an AI-powered site builder, tools for checking grammar and spelling, AI-based writing assistance, IMAP and POP access, and support for desktop and mobile devices. This email service allows You to share the calendar with your department, make appointments, and import events from other calendars. You will also love the signature designer, the multitude of email templates, and the customizable reminders that make your work more professional and efficient.
In addition, Neo provides data encryption, two-factor authentication, and advanced antivirus and antispam solutions. The lowest price plan offers 15GB/user of storage space.
Main Features: Encrypted email service, built-in calendar, AI-powered site builder, signature designer.
Pros: Data privacy, multiple email customization options, shareable and updateable calendar.
Cons: Small storage space, no communication tools.
Pricing: Plans start at $1.86/user/month.
Postmark provides API libraries for many programming languages, allowing you to send marketing and transactional emails effortlessly. In this case, it isn’t about how many employees you have but how many monthly emails you want to send. This email hosting service offers maximum deliverability, seamless integrations with REST and SMTP services, analytics, and knowledgeable customer support. You’ll also get an iOS app, email templates, message streams, integration support with marketing-friendly email tools and management tools, and rebound notifications.
Main Features: API libraries for sending transactional and marketing emails, detailed analytics, and email templates.
Pros: Programmatical methods for sending over 1,5 million emails per month.
Cons: Require programming knowledge.
Pricing: Free for up to 100 emails/month, from $15/month for more than 100 emails per month.
Amazon WorkMail is a secure business email service that allows employees to access their accounts using email client apps like Outlook, iCloud, Gmail, or any other client application supporting the IMAP protocol. Without a dedicated professional mail app, you can access your emails via a web browser. Amazon WorkMail replaces on-premises email servers, encrypts data, and integrates with Microsoft Active Directory and Outlook. It also automatically takes care of backups, upgrades, and patches, minimizing corporate email infrastructure.
In addition, Amazon WorkMail provides tools for managing emails, spam and virus protection, easy migration, and custom security policies for mobile device users. The paid plan includes up to 50GB of mail storage per user.
Main Features: Secure business email and calendar service, Microsoft Outlook and Active Directory integration, support for IMAP protocol, and encrypted data.
Pros: Data privacy, automatic backups, and upgrades, easy corporate email infrastructure management.
Cons: Too complex for small businesses
Pricing: $4/user/month.
DreamHost mainly provides web hosting services, but it also offers email hosting services. The same vendor has multiple offerings. It also allows you to open a professional email address with a custom domain, get 25GB of storage space per mailbox, and benefit from ad-free webmail with spam, virus, and anti-phishing protection. You don’t have to use their web hosting services to use the email service. You can integrate DreamHost’s email service with any domain name you own. In addition, the email hosting service includes filters, route messaging tools, and support for IMAP access. You can access your email accounts from desktop and mobile devices.
Main Features: Email hosting service, custom business domain, spam, virus, anti-phishing protection, and email filters.
Pros: It is easy to acquire a domain if you don’t have one yet.
Cons: There are fewer functionalities than other similar email services.
Pricing: Plans start at $1.67/mailbox/month, billed annually.
FAQ
What is email hosting?
Email hosting is a service that allows users to send, receive, and manage emails using a custom domain email address through a desktop, mobile, or web-based app.
What are the key features to look for in an email hosting provider?
The main features to consider are data privacy and security, storage space, reliability, customer support, IMAP and POP access, mobility, and price.
How do I set up email hosting for my small business?
First, you need to choose an email service provider and purchase a domain. Some providers offer custom domains, too. Then, create an account and follow the provider’s instructions for linking your domain with the newly created account.
Tip: You might look for free email accounts.
How can I migrate my existing business emails to a new email hosting service?
Most email service providers offer detailed procedures and support for migrating from a different email hosting service. Some of them even have dedicated tools that guide you step by step. If the provider of your choice doesn’t have these tools and procedures in place, contact customer support and request assistance.
What's the difference between an email provider and email hosting?
An email service provider offers a mailbox with a custom or generic domain and an app to manage your account. Email hosting services provide additional control, such as email backups and security settings. You may also get storage space, multiple accounts that use the same custom domain name, and support for popular email protocols such as POP3 and IMAP.
What types of email hosting exist for small businesses?
There are three types of email hosting for small businesses:
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