What is Email Hosting and How to Find Best Email Hosting Service

Are you looking to get an email hosting service for your business?

Creating a custom email address for your website or organization with your brand helps build trust and credibility. With the right hosting service, you can easily manage and secure your emails.

In this article, we will show you what email hosting is and how to find the best email hosting service.

What is Email Hosting?

Email hosting is a service you can use to have your own domain names as for email addresses, with storage for email content and attachments. You can create business email addresses by subscribing to an email hosting provider.

The difference between using email hosting vs. free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo is that you get to use your brand name in the email address.

For instance, a free email service will use its own domain name in the email address. It will look like this: john.doe@gmail.com.

On the other hand, you can create branded email addresses using an email hosting service. Your emails will look like this: john.doe@example.com

Why Use an Email Hosting Service?

Using an email hosting service makes your emails look more professional. It helps build credibility and trust with your audience. A branded email address also leaves a lasting impression on your users and creates brand awareness.

Besides that, you get enhanced security with email hosting. Many providers offer 2-factor authentication (2FA), spam protection, anti-phishing and anti-spoofing features, end-to-end encryption, and more.

Another advantage of using an email hosting provider is that you get increased storage capacity. Standard email service would offer limited storage space, which can quickly run out. However, email hosting services can offer extended storage options.

Let’s see what factors you should consider when finding the best email hosting service.

How to Choose the Best Email Hosting Service?

When it comes to choosing the best email hosting provider, you should consider the following things:

• Email Storage – Each email hosting service will allot a specific storage space for your mailbox. You should choose a service that offers flexible storage options to store attachments and other email content.
• Email Protocols – There are different email protocols like IMAP, SMTP, and POP3. They help with email deliverability and accessing emails on different devices. When you’re selecting an email hosting service, see how the provider supports these protocols.
• Email Security Features – One of the advantages of email hosting is the advanced security features it offers. The best services should offer end-to-end encryption, spam protection, scan attachments for viruses and malware, 2-factor authentication (2FA), and anti-phishing features.
• Email Aliases – You can create additional email addresses or aliases without creating a new account. This allows you to forward emails addressed to the alias to your main account. When picking email hosting, check if the provider lets you create email aliases.
• Pricing – An email hosting service will cost you money, so when deciding on a provider, you should take prices into consideration. Some services offer multiple pricing plans with different features and storage limits. We recommend choosing a host that fits your budget.

Now, let’s look at some of the best email hosting services you can choose.

Finding the Best Email Hosting Service

There are many email hosting providers in the market. Here are some of the best services you can choose from.

1. Google Workspace

Google Workspace, previously known as G Suite, is an email hosting service that offers a lot of value. It offers flexible plans that are great for all types of businesses and enterprises.

The best part about Google Workspace is that you can use Gmail for your custom-branded emails. You won’t have to map Gmail to other email hosting providers, which saves a lot of time and complexity.

At WPBeginner, we use Google Workspace and can honestly say it is the best email hosting provider.

Another benefit of using Google Workspace is that you get to use multiple Google products along with setting up a professional email address in Gmail. For instance, you get Google Drive storage, Google Docs and Sheets access, Google Teams, and more.

With Google Workspace, you get storage space from 30GB going all the way to 5TB. Plus, it offers up to 1000 participants in video meetings. Besides that, you’ll get tons of security features like 2 step verification, phishing and spam protection, an ad-free email experience, and more.

That said, Google Workspace can be expensive for startups or small businesses. It’s more suitable for organizations that don’t have budget limitations and can explore custom plans as well.

Pros:

• Use a branded email address with Gmail
• Get 30GB to 5TB of storage
• Phishing and spam protection
• Multiple security features
• Access to different Google products

Cons:

• Expensive pricing plans, especially for small businesses
• It doesn’t offer an unlimited storage option

Pricing: Google Workspace prices start from $6 per user per month, and you get 30GB of storage. There are other plans that offer more storage, security options, and other features.

2. Hostinger

Hostinger is one of the fastest WordPress hosting services in the market. If you’re just starting a new WordPress website and selecting a web hosting provider, then Hostinger offers free email addresses with each pricing plan.

The best part, you don’t have to pay extra for email hosting, and you get to create up to 100 email addresses. Each mailbox also gets 1GB of storage space.

The web hosting plans also include free domain names, WHOIS protection, free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth, website backups, and more. This makes Hostinger great value for money.

That said, Hostinger also offers standalone email hosting plans, which are powered by Titan. This allows you to get more storage space, up to 50GB.

Other features include an inbuilt calendar and contacts, auto-reply, email templates, follow-up reminders, up to 10 email aliases, IMAP/POP3 support, spam and phishing protection, anti-virus and malware checker, and much more.

Pros:

• Get free email hosting with web hosting plans
• Fast performance and load times
• Up to 50GB storage space
• 24/7 customer support
• Free domain name and SSL certificate
• Advanced security features

Cons:

• High renewal costs

Pricing: Hostinger offers an exclusive 80% discount to WPBeginner users on web hosting plans, with prices starting from $1.79 per month. If you want more email addresses, then consider getting the WordPress starter plan for $2.69 per month.

3. Bluehost

Bluehost is the largest WordPress hosting company in the world that lets you create professional email addresses. You can use your domain name to set up domain-specific emails.

Just like Hostinger, you get email hosting included in the web hosting plan with Bluehost. Not to mention, you also get a free domain name, SSL certificate, and much more.

Bluehost email hosting offers a custom inbox and calendar. You can also schedule tasks and automatically save contact information. Depending on the plan you get, Bluehost offers up to 80GB storage and 50 email aliases.

Besides that, you get different security features like spam filters, antivirus, safe unsubscribe service, real-time anti-phishing, file encryption, and more. Bluehost also supports different email protocols, including IMAP and POP.

Bluehost is the best solution if you’re looking to purchase a hosting plan or already using Bluehost for your WordPress website. Its email hosting plans are affordable and offer tons of features for businesses of all sizes.

Pros:

• Free domain name, CDN, and SSL certificate
• 3-month free trial for email hosting
• Advanced email security options
• Up to 80GB storage space & 50 email aliases
• Quick and easy setup
• Great customer support
• Officially recommended by WordPress

Cons:

• High domain renewal prices

Pricing: Bluehost offers an exclusive 73% off for WPBeginner users on hosting plans, with prices starting from $2.95 per month. You can use our Bluehost discount coupon to get started.

4. Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is another popular email hosting service that is similar to Google Workspace. You can easily set up a professional business email using Office 365 and get access to a bunch of tools offered by Microsoft.

Microsoft 365 offers up to 50GB of storage with each mailbox. Plus, you get advanced security features like spam and malware cloud-based email filtering, multifactor authentication, custom permissions, password policy creation, and more.

Aside from that, you can use other tools like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OnePoint, Publisher, SharePoint, and more. You also get up to 1TB of cloud storage and real-time monitoring of online threats for your mailboxes.

Microsoft Office 365 is a great solution for sites or organizations that are looking to use Microsoft Suite for their operations. If you’re confused about whether to pick Google vs Microsoft, then please see our comparison between Google Workspace and Office 365.

Pros:

• Create branded emails using Outlook
• Get 50GB of storage for mailboxes
• Access powerful Microsoft tools with a professional email address
• 1TB of cloud storage
• Advanced security features

Cons:

• Expensive pricing plans
• It can be tricky to use, especially for beginners

Pricing: Mircosoft Office 365 prices start from $6 per user per month. There are higher pricing plans that include more features and advanced security options.

5. Namecheap

Namecheap is one of the cheapest email hosting providers on our list. It’s also a popular domain registrar and helps you find custom domain names for your business.

With Namecheap email hosting, you get up to 15GB of email storage and up to 30GB of file storage space. It also lets you create unlimited aliases in the highest pricing plan, along with mobile sync support.

Other than that, Namecheap supports SMPT, IMAP, and POP3 email protocols. It also offers decent security features like 2-factor authentication, anti-spam protection, and email storage security.

Namecheap is an excellent option for startups and new website owners who are looking for a cheap email hosting service.

Pros:

• Affordable pricing plans
• Unlimited aliases with the Ultimate plan
• Offers document viewer, calendar, contacts, and other tools
• Supports SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 protocols
• Mobile sync support

Cons:

• Basic security features
• Limited storage size, even in the Ultimate plan

Pricing: Namecheap email hosting plans start from $1.24 per month for 1 mailbox. You also get a 60-day free trial to try the service.

6. Rackspace Email

Rackspace Email is the next email hosting service on our list. It offers a lot of solutions to SaaS companies, including an email hosting solution for small businesses.

The service offers a 100% uptime guarantee, which means it is highly reliable. It has data centers spread across the world and you get 24/7 support in case anything goes wrong.

Besides that, Rackspace offers 25GB mailbox storage space and up to 30GB file storage space. You also get unlimited aliases, group lists, and email forwarding rules. It even offers free email migration from another provider.

Pros:

• A reliable email hosting solution
• 24/7 customer support
• 25GB mailbox storage
• Easily integrates with Microsoft Office 365 tools
• Spam and virus protection

Cons:

• Requires a high learning curve to use the service
• You’ll need to pay extra for email archiving
• Limited additional features

Pricing: Rackspace email prices start from $2.99 per user per month. You also get a 14-day free trial to try the service.

7. Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is one of the most popular email hosting services in the market. It offers a secure platform to host emails and create a branded email address.

With Zoho, you get dedicated apps for desktop and mobile to manage and organize your emails. Other than that, it offers up to 50GB of mailbox storage, domain aliases, email forwarding, and offline access.

One of the standout features of Zoho Mail is its SecurePass email. This allows you to send confidential information over emails using a passcode.

Besides that, it supports IMAP and POP3 protocols, up to 1GB of email attachment options, anti-spam and malware protection, email encryption, and more.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use email hosting platform
• Dedicated apps for mobile devices
• Strong security features
• Send password-protected emails with SecurePass

Cons:

• Pricing per user can be expensive for small businesses
• Integration with third-party tools is tricky

Pricing: Zoho Email prices start from $1 per user per month and you get 5GB of mailbox storage.

Which Email Hosting Service Should You Choose?

After reviewing multiple email hosting services, we believe that Google Workspace is the best solution for your email needs.

For starters, it lets you use Gmail with your custom-branded email domain name. Plus, you get access to other powerful tools included in the Google Workspace suite.

At WPBeginner, we also use Google Workspace and highly recommend it.

That said, if you’re looking for a more affordable email hosting service, then you can give Hostinger and Bluehost a try. Both are perfect if you’re just starting a new website since they include email hosting in their web hosting plans.

We hope this article helped you learn what is email hosting and how to find the best email hosting service. You may also want to see our guide on the best email marketing tools and the ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed.

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