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Business email hosting: what it costs per mailbox

Business email runs from $10 a year for a whole Purelymail account to $7 a user a month at Google and Microsoft. Totals for 3, 10 and 25 mailboxes, with limits.

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Business email on your own domain costs anywhere from $10 a year for an entire Purelymail account to $7 per user a month (paid yearly) for Google Workspace Business Starter or Microsoft 365 Business Basic. For a 10-person team that is the difference between $10 and $840 a year. In between sit Zoho Mail Lite at $1 per user a month, Hostinger’s mailboxes from $0.39 a month on a four-year term, Neo from $2.49 and Fastmail Standard at $5. Prices in US dollars, as of November 1, 2026.

We haven’t used these services ourselves. The prices come from each provider’s pricing page, read on November 1, 2026, or from the prices AskGPU already tracks (with the date each was checked). Limits come from the providers’ help centers and service descriptions. Where a company doesn’t publish a figure, we say so.

How much does business email hosting cost per mailbox?

There are two pricing models. Most providers charge per mailbox (or per user). A few charge per account, so you can add mailboxes for no extra cost until you hit a storage or sending limit.

Provider and plan Price Billing Model Storage
Purelymail $10 a year Yearly Per account, “no hard limits” on users, domains or storage No hard limit
Migadu Micro $19 a year Yearly only Per account, unlimited mailboxes 5 GB (soft, whole account)
Migadu Mini $9 a month or $90 a year Monthly or yearly Per account 30 GB (soft, whole account)
Migadu Standard $29 a month or $290 a year Monthly or yearly Per account 100 GB (soft, whole account)
Hostinger Business Email Starter $0.39 a mailbox a month ($18.72 for 48 months), renews at $1.59 Paid upfront, 48-month term Per mailbox 5 GB
Hostinger Business Email Standard $0.99 a mailbox a month ($47.52 for 48 months), renews at $2.79 Paid upfront, 48-month term Per mailbox 20 GB
Zoho Mail Lite $1 per user a month Yearly only Per user 5 GB (10 GB option)
Neo Business Starter $2.49 a mailbox a month Term not shown on the page Per mailbox 15 GB
Fastmail Standard $5 per user a month ($60 a year), or $6 monthly Yearly or monthly Per user 60 GB
Google Workspace Business Starter $7 per user a month on the annual plan, $8.40 on the Flexible Plan Annual or Flexible Per user 30 GB pooled per user
Microsoft 365 Business Basic $7 per user a month paid yearly, $8.40 paid monthly Yearly or monthly Per user 100 GB mailbox

Notes on the table:

  • Migadu says its pricing is “per account, not per mailbox,” and its limits are counted across the whole account. Micro has no monthly option.
  • Hostinger: “All plans are paid upfront,” and the monthly figure is “the total plan price divided by the number of months in your plan.” The page also showed a “Buy 2 mailboxes, get 1 free” offer tagged “Black Friday” on November 1, 2026; we leave it out of the totals because Hostinger calls it a limited-time deal.
  • Zoho: the $1 price is from AskGPU’s data (checked October 17, 2026). Zoho’s pricing page loads prices with JavaScript, so we couldn’t re-read the number today; it does say Mail Lite has “No monthly plan.”
  • Neo shows $2.49 “/mailbox/mo” with “Save 20%” but doesn’t say which billing term that price is for, or what renewal costs.
  • Google: the Flexible prices ($8.40, $16.80 and $26.40) are on Google’s Flexible Plan help page. The annual plan works out to $84 per license a year for Business Starter, Google’s own example. Google’s pricing page didn’t display prices when we read it.
  • Microsoft: Business Basic prices are from AskGPU’s data. Microsoft’s site returned errors to our requests on November 1, 2026, so we couldn’t re-read them; see our Microsoft 365 page.

Proton’s business plans cost more than these entry tiers; we compare them separately in Proton Mail vs Gmail for a small business. Namecheap’s email page returned an error to automated reading, so Namecheap isn’t in this comparison.

What does it cost for 3, 10 and 25 mailboxes?

Here’s the first-year cost on the cheapest billing option each provider shows, before tax. For per-account plans we pick the smallest plan whose sending limit gives each person at least a handful of emails a day (more on that below).

Provider 3 mailboxes 10 mailboxes 25 mailboxes
Purelymail $10 $10 $10
Migadu $19 (Micro) $90 (Mini) $290 (Standard)
Hostinger Starter (per year of a 48-month term) $14.04 $46.80 $117
Zoho Mail Lite $36 $120 $300
Neo Business Starter $89.64 $298.80 $747
Fastmail Standard (yearly) $180 $600 $1,500
Google Business Starter (annual plan) $252 $840 $2,100
Microsoft 365 Business Basic (yearly) $252 $840 $2,100

How the numbers work:

  • Zoho: 10 users × $1 × 12 months = $120.
  • Neo: 10 × $2.49 × 12 = $298.80, assuming $2.49 is what you pay every month. Neo doesn’t say which term it applies to.
  • Fastmail: 10 × $60 = $600. Paid monthly it would be 10 × $6 × 12 = $720.
  • Google: 10 × $84 = $840. On the Flexible Plan, 10 × $8.40 × 12 = $1,008.
  • Hostinger: you pay the whole 48 months upfront. Ten Starter mailboxes cost 10 × $18.72 = $187.20 today, which is $46.80 a year spread over four years. The table shows that yearly share; your card is charged the full $187.20.

The cost per mailbox per month at 10 mailboxes makes the spread clearer: Purelymail $0.08 ($10 ÷ 10 ÷ 12), Migadu Mini $0.75 ($90 ÷ 10 ÷ 12), Hostinger Starter $0.39 (rising to $1.59 at renewal), Zoho $1, Neo $2.49, Fastmail $5, Google and Microsoft $7.

What do you actually get for the money?

Price tracks what comes with the mailbox. The two $7 plans are office suites with email included; the cheaper ones are email only.

Provider What’s included beyond email Access
Purelymail Routing rules and sieve filters, webmail IMAP, POP3 and SMTP with “any mail client you want”
Migadu Unlimited mailboxes, addresses and domains; Micro leaves out mailbox limit settings and multi-admin access Standard mail apps and webmail
Hostinger Business Email Aliases (5 on Starter, 10 on Standard, 30 on Premium) and forwarding rules (5, 20, 50) Webmail and standard mail apps, with or without Hostinger hosting (per AskGPU’s data)
Zoho Mail Lite Calendar, migration help (per AskGPU’s data) Zoho’s pricing page lists IMAP, POP and ActiveSync as missing only from the free plan
Neo A free co.site domain and one-page site while you subscribe (per AskGPU’s data) Webmail, apps, IMAP/POP
Fastmail Standard Shared addresses such as support@, shared calendars, custom domains Fastmail apps and standard mail apps
Google Business Starter Gmail, Meet, Drive, Docs and the rest of Workspace Gmail web and apps, plus other clients
Microsoft 365 Business Basic Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, web and mobile Office apps (no desktop Office) Outlook and other clients

If you’d use Docs, Drive and Meet or Teams anyway, the $7 plans replace other subscriptions. If you only need mail on your domain, the cheaper rows do that job. Our Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 guide covers the difference between the two suites in detail.

How much storage and sending do you get?

Storage and sending limits are where cheap plans differ most, and where some catch teams out.

Provider Storage Sending limit
Purelymail “No hard limits”; heavy users may be moved to usage pricing Not stated; mailing lists aren’t allowed
Migadu Micro / Mini / Standard / Maxi 5 / 30 / 100 / 500 GB for the whole account (soft) 20 / 100 / 500 / 2,000 outgoing a day for the whole account
Hostinger Starter / Standard / Premium 5 / 20 / 50 GB per mailbox Not stated on the pricing page
Zoho Mail Lite / Premium 5 GB or 10 GB / 50 GB per user Not checked
Neo Starter / Standard / Max 15 / 50 / 100 GB per mailbox 500 / 1,000 / 1,000 a day
Fastmail Basic / Standard / Professional 6 / 60 / 150 GB per user 4,000 / 8,000 / 16,000 messages a day per user; 120 a day on a trial
Google Workspace Business Starter 30 GB pooled per user 2,000 messages per user a day; 500 on a trial
Microsoft 365 Business Basic 100 GB mailbox, 50 GB archive 10,000 recipients a day, 30 messages a minute

The details that matter:

  • Migadu’s limits are shared. On Mini, 100 outgoing emails a day is for everyone on the account. Ten people get about 10 each. Migadu says it tolerates up to 25% over the limit with a warning; beyond that, outgoing messages are rejected. Incoming mail over the limit is deferred, and if the account stays over day after day, it bounces. Storage limits are soft: “Mail is never bounced because storage is full.”
  • Purelymail’s “no arbitrary limits” has a soft edge. If your usage is “significantly more” than $10 a year’s worth, Purelymail may move you to advanced pricing. Its published advanced rates include $0.56 per compressed GB a year of storage, $0.23 per 1,000 emails sent to outside recipients (plus $0.18 per GB), $0.03 per 1,000 received (plus $0.04 per GB) and a $4 yearly account fee.
  • Google’s trial is capped. Trial accounts can send 500 messages a day, and Google says limits can rise after a domain has paid at least $100, which “can take up to 75 days.”
  • Microsoft counts recipients, not messages. One email to 50 people counts as 50 toward the 10,000 a day. Microsoft’s example: send to 5,000 people at 9 AM, 2,500 at 10 AM and 2,500 at 11 AM, and you can’t send again until 9 AM the next day.
  • Fastmail counts each recipient as a separate email, and caps messages at 70 MB.

None of these mailboxes are meant for newsletters. Microsoft recommends a separate service for bulk email, and Purelymail doesn’t allow mailing lists. If you send marketing email, budget for an email marketing tool, and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for each sender (our guide).

Worked example: a 10-person office over four years

Say a 10-person business needs a mailbox each and plans to stay put for four years. Here’s the total, using today’s prices and assuming nothing changes:

  • Purelymail: $10 × 4 years = $40, if usage stays within the simple plan.
  • Migadu Mini: $90 × 4 = $360, with 100 outgoing emails a day shared by all 10 people.
  • Migadu Standard: $290 × 4 = $1,160, with 500 a day shared (50 each).
  • Hostinger Starter: 10 × $18.72 = $187.20 upfront for 48 months. The next 48-month term renews at $1.59 a mailbox a month: 10 × $1.59 × 48 = $763.20. So the first four years cost $187.20, and the next four cost about four times as much.
  • Zoho Mail Lite: 10 × $12 × 4 = $480.
  • Fastmail Standard: 10 × $60 × 4 = $2,400.
  • Google Business Starter or Microsoft 365 Business Basic: 10 × $84 × 4 = $3,360.

The jump from Zoho ($480) to Google or Microsoft ($3,360) is $2,880 over four years, or $72 per person a year. That buys the office suite, video calls and file storage. If your team would pay for those anyway, it’s money you’d spend elsewhere; if not, it’s money for features you don’t use.

What to watch for

  • Renewal prices. Hostinger’s intro prices need a 48-month term paid upfront and renew higher: Starter goes from $0.39 to $1.59 a mailbox a month, Standard from $0.99 to $2.79, Premium from $1.99 to $3.99. Neo doesn’t print its renewal price.
  • Annual commitments. Google’s annual plan says “you can’t remove licenses and lower your subscription price until it’s time to renew your contract,” and if you cancel early, “you’re still responsible for the full value of the commitment.” Google’s Flexible Plan lets you “cancel your subscription at any time without penalty” but costs 20% more. Zoho Mail Lite is yearly only. Microsoft’s paid plans are annual subscriptions that auto-renew, per AskGPU’s data.
  • Refunds. Fastmail says it doesn’t refund unused subscriptions. Purelymail says accounts banned for terms violations get no refund. Migadu offers a full refund within 14 days, per AskGPU’s data.
  • Shared sending caps. On Migadu, one person’s busy day uses up everyone’s allowance. Check the daily limit before you pick the cheapest tier for a team.
  • Support. Purelymail says plainly, “We don’t have a 24/7 support staff.” If email downtime costs you money, weigh that against the price.
  • Trials. Google’s 14-day trial and Proton’s 14-day trial are free; Fastmail offers up to 30 days, with sending capped at 120 messages a day. Neo’s 15-day trial charges your card when it ends.
  • Moving later. Switching providers means changing MX and other DNS records at your domain registrar and moving old mail across. The cheaper you start, the more likely you’ll move later, so pick a provider with IMAP access so your mail can be copied out.

Which should you choose?

  • One person or a family business on a tight budget: Zoho Mail Lite at $12 a year per person, or Fastmail Standard at $60 a year if you want more storage (60 GB) and a larger sending allowance. If you want it free, see our free business email guide.
  • Technical users with many addresses or domains: Purelymail at $10 a year for the account, or Migadu if you prefer a fixed limits table. Both are email only, with no office suite. See our Purelymail page and our Migadu page.
  • A site already on Hostinger: Hostinger’s mailboxes are the lowest per-mailbox price here for the first term, and Premium web hosting includes two mailboxes per site free for a year. Budget for the renewal price, not the first one. See our Hostinger page.
  • A team of 3-25 that needs mail and nothing else: Zoho Mail Lite is $36 for 3 people and $300 for 25. Migadu Standard ($290 a year) is an option at 25 people if 500 outgoing emails a day covers the whole team.
  • A team that lives in documents, calendars and video calls: Google Workspace Business Starter or Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7 per user a month on yearly billing. Pick Google’s Flexible Plan ($8.40) if headcount changes often.
  • A business that needs encrypted mail: Proton’s business plans; see Proton Mail vs Gmail.

For more options and our picks, see the business email page and Google Workspace alternatives.

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