Custom domain email cost: 11 plans compared

From free to $8.40 a month per user, with the renewal prices after the first-year deals, and what replaces the Gmail trick when it ends.

Prices side by side

The cheapest plan from each provider that lets you send and receive as [email protected], ordered by price. Prices are US list prices per user per month, before tax, and where a first-year deal exists the table shows what you pay after it.

Cheapest plan for email on your own domain across eleven plans, with price per user per month in US dollars, storage and limits
Plan	Per user, per month	Storage	Limits
Zoho Mail Forever Free	Free	5 GB	Up to 5 users and 1 domain. Webmail and Zoho's app only
iCloud+ 50GB	$0.99 per account	50 GB, shared with iCloud	5 domains. Needs an Apple device to subscribe
Zoho Mail Lite	$1, yearly only	5 GB	$1.25 with 10 GB
Namecheap Private Email Launch	$1.24 ($14.88 a year)	5 GB	1 mailbox
Hostinger Business Starter	$1.59 at renewal	5 GB	1 mailbox. $0.59 in the first year
Proton Mail Plus	$3.99 at renewal	15 GB	1 user, 1 domain. $2.49 in the first year
Exchange Online Plan 1	$4, yearly	50 GB plus 50 GB archive	Email only, no Office apps
Fastmail Individual	$5 yearly, $6 monthly	60 GB	1 user
Proton Mail Essentials	$6.99 yearly, $7.99 monthly	15 GB	3 domains
Google Workspace Business Starter	$7 yearly, $8.40 monthly	30 GB	Gmail on your domain, up to 300 users
Microsoft 365 Business Basic	$7 yearly, $8.40 monthly	100 GB plus 50 GB archive	Web and mobile Office, Teams, 1 TB OneDrive

Many pages are priced by country. Opened from Norway, Google showed €6.80 for the same Workspace plan, Zoho €0.90 for Mail Lite and Fastmail kr 65, so check the price in your own currency at checkout.

The free Gmail trick ends in January 2027

For years the standard free setup was to forward mail for your domain into a normal Gmail account, then add the address under “Send mail as” so replies came from your domain. Google is removing that. Its help page says Gmail will stop supporting “Send as” for addresses outside Google in January 2027, on the web and in the apps, and that new setups may already be refused during the rest of 2026. Fetching mail from other accounts over POP and Gmailify end on the same date.

Two parts keep working. Mail your provider forwards into Gmail still arrives, and Google’s FAQ says the change doesn’t touch it. And “Send as” still works for addresses Google hosts itself, which is what a Workspace account gives you. If you rely on the trick today, your choices are to pay for one of the plans above, or to send from your provider’s own webmail or app. Google points businesses to Workspace or a desktop mail app.

What free still gets you

Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan is a real mailbox: up to five users on one domain, 5 GB each. It has no IMAP, POP or ActiveSync, so you read mail in Zoho’s webmail or its own phone app and can’t connect Outlook or Apple Mail. A sixth user moves everyone to a paid plan, and Zoho says the free plan is only offered in some of its data centers.

Cloudflare’s Email Routing is free and takes unlimited incoming mail, but it only forwards. Without its sending service you can send only to your own verified addresses. That sending service is in beta, needs the $5 a month Workers Paid plan, and Cloudflare’s FAQ says it is for transactional email only, so it can’t stand in for a mailbox you write from.

Dotted pixel art of turquoise sea and small white reef shapes seen from above.

Which plan fits which person

One person on an iPhone or Mac

Every iCloud+ tier includes Custom Email Domain, and the 50 GB tier costs $0.99 a month in the US. That covers up to five domains with 10 addresses each, and you can share a domain with five other people. The price is per account, so up to six people can share one $0.99 subscription. You need an Apple Account with two-factor authentication, and Apple’s subscription page only lists Apple devices and iCloud for Windows as ways to buy it.

A small team on a tight budget

Zoho Mail Lite at $1 per user, paid yearly, adds IMAP and the normal mail apps to what the free plan has. Namecheap’s Private Email Launch is $14.88 a year for one 5 GB mailbox, and Hostinger’s Starter is $0.59 a month for the first year and $1.59 a month at renewal.

People who already live in Gmail or Office

Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user a month on a yearly plan or $8.40 month to month, with 30 GB per user. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is the same price and gives a 100 GB mailbox, a 50 GB archive and web versions of the Office apps. If you only need the mailbox, Exchange Online Plan 1 is $4 per user a month, yearly, with 50 GB.

Privacy first

Proton Mail Plus is the cheapest Proton plan with your own domain: one domain, 10 addresses, 15 GB. It costs $29.88 for the first year, then $47.88 a year, or $4.99 month to month. Proton’s business plan, Mail Essentials, is $6.99 per user a month yearly and allows three domains. Fastmail Individual is $5 a month yearly with 60 GB.

First-year prices and 2026 price rises

Several of the low prices only last a year. Proton Mail Plus goes from $2.49 to $3.99 a month, Hostinger from $0.59 to $1.59 and Namecheap from $11.88 to $14.88 a year with its promo code. Google was offering new customers 50% off Workspace when we checked. The table above uses the price after any deal ends.

Microsoft raised Business Basic from $6 to $7 per user a month on 1 July 2026, and added 50 GB of email storage. Existing customers keep the old price until their next renewal. Older comparison pages that list Business Basic at $6 a month are out of date.

Whatever you choose, the mailbox depends on the domain. If the domain lapses, mail stops arriving, and our guide to what happens when a domain expires has the days at each registrar.

How this was checked

On 13 November 2026 we read each provider’s pricing and help pages, using the US versions for prices in dollars. Every price and limit in the table links back to a URL and a quote in the raw JSON. We did not buy any of the plans. Prices change often, and promotional prices change fastest. This article was prepared with help from AI.

Common questions

Do I need web hosting to get email on my domain?

No. Email is set up with your domain’s MX records, which point to the mail provider. Your website can be hosted somewhere else entirely, or not exist at all.

Can I keep using Gmail for my domain email?

You can keep forwarding mail into Gmail. After January 2027 you can’t reply from your domain inside a free Gmail account, so you’d answer from your mail provider’s app or move to Google Workspace.

Is iCloud+ per person or per family?

Per account. One iCloud+ subscription can share its custom domain with up to five other people, and each of them can create their own addresses on it.

Sources

All checked on 13 November 2026.