Websites and email: email at your own domain

Why use email at your own domain

An address like [email protected] looks more trustworthy than a free Gmail or Outlook address, and it stays with the business when staff change. It also keeps working when you change website builders, because your email doesn’t live inside your website.

Your website and your email share a domain, but they usually run on different services. Your domain’s DNS settings point the website to one company and your mail to another. A record type called MX (mail exchange) tells the internet where to deliver your mail. Our glossary entry on email hosting covers the basics.

That split is good news. You can pick an email provider on its own merits, and you can move your site later without moving your inbox. The one thing both depend on is the domain, so make sure it is registered in your name. Our page on who owns your website explains why.

Your options and what they cost

You have three kinds of choices: a full mailbox from an email company, a mailbox bundled with your builder or host, or free forwarding to an inbox you already have. Prices below come from each company’s own pages.

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365

Their entry plans cost the same: $7 per user a month billed yearly. Pick the one whose apps you already use. Microsoft also sells Business Basic without Teams at $5.40 per user a month billed yearly ($6.48 billed monthly).

Read the contract terms. Google’s help page says the Flexible plan lets you add or remove users and cancel any time. The Annual plan only lets you reduce licenses at renewal, and canceling early means paying the rest of the contract.

Proton and Zoho

Proton’s Mail Essentials plan is $6.99 per user a month billed yearly and covers 3 custom domains, which helps if you run more than one business domain.

Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan is the only true free mailbox in this list, with limits. It allows up to 5 users with 5 GB each on one domain, works only in Zoho’s web and mobile apps (no IMAP, POP or ActiveSync access), and is offered only in select regions.

Email through your builder or host

Most website builders don’t include mailboxes in their plans. Webflow and Framer list no email hosting on their pricing pages, for example. A few bundle or resell it:

• Squarespace resells Google Workspace. Starter is $84 a year per user, which works out to the same $7 a month as buying the Annual plan from Google. The first year of Starter is included with Core, Plus and Advanced plans, but not Basic.
• Hostinger includes mailboxes with its hosting plans, which also include its AI website builder: 2 per website on Premium and unlimited on Unlimited and Cloud Startup. They are free for the first year only.

Bundled email is convenient, but plan for the price after the first year, and remember that it may end if you cancel the plan.

What it adds up to

Email is a cost people forget when they price a site. A two-person team on Google Workspace Business Starter billed yearly pays $7 x 2 people x 36 months = $504 over three years. A solo owner on Squarespace Core gets year one included, then pays Squarespace’s listed $84 a year for years two and three, or $168 in total, plus tax. Our website cost guide builds email into the 3-year total.

Free forwarding: good for receiving, limited for replying

Forwarding gives you an address at your domain that passes mail on to an inbox you already have. It costs nothing, and it is a sensible start for a one-person business.

• Cloudflare Email Routing forwards mail for your custom addresses to a verified mailbox, and Cloudflare’s docs say routing is available on the free plan. Sending mail from your own apps is a separate feature that isn’t on the free plan.
• Namecheap Email Forwarding works for domains on Namecheap’s BasicDNS, PremiumDNS or FreeDNS and allows up to 100 forwarding addresses. Namecheap’s guide says it can’t be combined with another email service. The addresses are virtual, so you can’t send outgoing mail from them; that needs a paid mailbox.

The catch: replies go out from your personal address unless you add a sending service. Once customers write back and forth with you, a real mailbox is usually worth it.

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: what they do

These three DNS records prove your mail really comes from you. They help keep it out of spam folders and make it harder for scammers to send mail pretending to be you. Google’s admin help describes them this way:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) lists which servers may send mail for your domain. Think of it as a guest list.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature so the receiver can tell the message wasn’t changed on the way. Gmail asks for DKIM keys of at least 1024 bits.
• DMARC tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails SPF or DKIM, and can ask for reports. A policy of p=none only monitors, p=quarantine sends failing mail to spam, and p=reject bounces it.

Your email provider gives you the exact values to copy into DNS, wherever your DNS lives: your registrar, Cloudflare or your builder. A DMARC record is a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain. Google advises waiting 48 hours after setting up SPF and DKIM before you add DMARC. DMARC.org recommends starting at none and moving to quarantine, then reject, as you gain experience.

Every service that sends mail as your domain needs to be covered, not just your mailbox: your newsletter tool, your store and your website’s forms. On WordPress, which we build on every week, contact form notices are the weak spot we run into most. The site sends them through the web host, and if the host isn’t covered by your SPF and DKIM records, the notices can land in spam. An SMTP plugin that sends through your email provider usually fixes that.

Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft sender rules

The big inbox providers now set minimum rules for anyone sending to their users. Most of the strict parts apply only to bulk senders, but the basics apply to everyone.

Gmail

• Everyone sending to personal Gmail accounts since February 1, 2024 needs SPF or DKIM, valid forward and reverse DNS, a TLS connection and a reported spam rate below 0.3%. Google recommends staying below 0.1%.
• Bulk senders, those sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, need SPF, DKIM and DMARC (a policy of none is allowed), a From domain that aligns with SPF or DKIM, and one-click unsubscribe on marketing mail. Google says to honor unsubscribes within 48 hours.
• A sender that crosses the bulk line once is treated as a bulk sender permanently. From November 2025, Gmail ramped up enforcement, including temporary and permanent rejections.
• These rules apply only to mail sent to personal Gmail accounts, not to Google Workspace accounts, per Google’s sender FAQ.

Yahoo

The Yahoo Sender Hub says Yahoo began enforcing matching rules in February 2024. All senders need SPF or DKIM, valid forward and reverse DNS and a spam rate below 0.3%. Bulk senders need SPF and DKIM, a passing DMARC policy of at least p=none, one-click unsubscribe, and must honor unsubscribes within 2 days.

Microsoft

For Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses, Microsoft says domains sending 5,000 or more messages must publish SPF and DKIM, publish a DMARC record (such as p=none) and pass DMARC with alignment. Mail that fails is rejected with error 550 5.7.515.

What this means for a small business

If you send normal one-to-one mail through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, the bulk-sender thresholds likely don’t apply to you, but the rules for everyone do. Add the SPF and DKIM records your provider gives you to your DNS; adding DMARC at p=none costs nothing. If you send a newsletter, make sure the tool is set up to sign mail with your domain and offers one-click unsubscribe.

CAN-SPAM basics

This section is general information, not legal advice. The FTC’s compliance guide says CAN-SPAM covers all commercial email, with no exception for business-to-business mail. The main rules:

• Use accurate From, To, Reply-To and routing information.
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines, and identify the message as an ad.
• Include a valid physical postal address.
• Give a clear way to opt out, and honor opt-outs within 10 business days.
• You stay responsible even if you hire another company to send your marketing.

Each separate email in violation can bring a penalty of up to $53,088. The FTC said in September 2026 that its penalty amounts stay unchanged for 2026. Our guide to website laws in the US covers this alongside privacy and accessibility rules.

Keep your email working when you move your website

Email doesn’t move with your website, so the risk during a site move is in DNS. Our website migration guide covers the full process. The email part comes down to a few rules:

1. If you only repoint the website, leave the MX records alone. Changing the records that point to your site doesn’t touch email.
2. If you move your nameservers, copy every record first. That means the MX records and the TXT records for SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Copy them to the new DNS host before you switch.
3. Check your domain transfer steps. Wix’s guide says that when you transfer a domain away, the Wix site disconnects and email needs its MX records set up again. See how to transfer a domain.
4. Move bundled mailboxes before you cancel. If your mail came with the old plan, as with Hostinger’s first-year mailboxes, set up a new provider first.
5. Re-create forwarding if DNS moves. Namecheap’s free forwarding works only on Namecheap’s DNS, so moving DNS elsewhere means setting forwarding up again at the new host.
6. Never let the domain expire. ICANN’s renewal policy says that after a domain expires, the registrar must interrupt its DNS before deletion. Your website and your email both stop.

Which option fits

• Solo, mostly receiving mail: free forwarding from Cloudflare or Namecheap.
• Small team that lives in Gmail or Google Docs: Google Workspace Business Starter.
• Team that uses Outlook, Word and Excel: Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
• Several domains on one plan: Proton Mail Essentials, which covers 3 custom domains.
• Zero budget, up to 5 people, fine with web and app only: Zoho Mail Forever Free, if it is offered in your region.
• Already on Squarespace Core or higher: use the included first year, then compare the renewal with buying direct.

What to do next

• Make sure your domain is in your name: who owns your website.
• Learn how domains and DNS fit together in domains 101.
• Moving platforms? Follow the email step in how to migrate a website.
• Add email to your budget with our website cost guide.

In the Web Building Encyclopedia: CAN-SPAM Act, DNS.