Choosing an Email Provider: Free and Cheapest to Most Expensive

Introduction
Gmail Send As Instructions
Transactional Email Provider
Free Services
Paid Services
Additions
Changelog

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Introduction

The following is a list of email providers that are free and cheapest to most expensive.

Gmail Send As Instructions

In this article, Gmail Send As will be mentioned. Instead of repeating the instructions multiple times throughout this article, here are the instructions once.

To send, you need to set up 2FA on your account and create an application password, and then you can create a “Send As” address and use the Google SMTP service with the application password.

Transactional Email Provider

You can also use a transactional email provider to send emails versus Gmail Send As. As long as the transactional email provider supports SMTP.

Free Services

Cloudflare Forwarding + Free Gmail

Set up your DNS on Cloudflare, and set up Cloudflare free email forwarding. For SMTP, you can use Gmail Send As or a transactional email provider. (Instructions at the top of this article)

Zoho Mail Free Tier

There is a free tier of Zoho Mail that is free, the catch? No IMAP or SMTP access, web or mobile app access.

ImprovMX Free + Free Gmail

The free tier provides a single domain. For SMTP, you can use Gmail Send As or a transactional email provider. (Instructions at the top of this article)

Paid Services

Zoho Paid ($15/year per account)

This is an excellent deal at $15/year per account with SMTP and IMAP access, including calendar and contacts in their web and mobile apps. Granted, if you need more than one account, Migadu might be better.

Migadu ($19/year unlimited domains)

Provides webmail, IMAP and SMTP per usage with unlimited domains.

ForwardEmail ($36/year unlimited domains) + Free Gmail

Use forwardemail.net + a free Gmail account. For SMTP, you can use Gmail Send As or a transactional email provider. (Instructions at the top of this article).

ForwardEmail includes unlimited domains.

MXRoute ($109 Lifetime or $49/year for unlimited)

MXRoute is DirectAdmin which includes webmail, IMAP, and an SMTP. They offer a lifetime deal for $109 or $49/per year. There are restrictions, so definitely read up.

Microsoft 365 ($72/year per account)

The Business Basic plan gives you Microsoft 365 Exchange, which only includes webmail and not a Microsoft Office license to use Outlook. You can still use IMAP and SMTP.

Google Workspace ($72/year per account)

Business Starter gives you a Google Workspace account,

ImprovMX Paid ($108/year)

You get 100 domains and free SMTP with a daily restriction of 100 emails per day. But you can still use Gmail Send As or a transactional email provider. (Instructions at the top of this article).

Microsoft 365 Family ($99/year) (Discontinued November 2023)

If you have Microsoft 365 Family, you can add a domain name for free at GoDaddy or purchase a domain through GoDaddy.

However this has been discontinued starting November 2023

Additions

If you feel I’ve missed a service, please comment or contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Gmail Send As Instructions

Transactional Email Provider