How much does email hosting cost?

How much does Google Workspace cost per user?

• Business Starter costs $7 per user per month on annual billing, or $8.40 month to month, with 30 GB of pooled storage.
• Business Standard runs $14 per user per month annually, adding 2 TB of storage and meeting recordings.
• Business Plus is $22 per user per month annually, with 5 TB of storage and advanced security.
• Enterprise pricing is custom and removes the 300-user cap on the business tiers.
• Google started including Gemini AI features in Workspace Business and Enterprise subscriptions in 2025, alongside the pricing changes that raised the Business plan rates.

Workspace is priced per licensed user, so the headline rate is only the start. Each person or standalone inbox that needs its own login generally needs a paid license, but role addresses like info@ or support@ can often be handled with aliases or Google Groups instead of separate paid users, depending on how you want the inbox to work.

How much does Microsoft 365 cost per user?

• Business Basic is the entry plan at $6 per user per month, with Outlook email, Teams and web and mobile apps.
• Business Standard costs $12.50 per user per month and adds the desktop versions of Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Business Premium runs $22 per user per month, layering on advanced security and device management.
• Basic includes 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per user, more generous than Google’s entry tier, plus Exchange business email.
• Copilot AI is separate: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is listed at $21 per user per month paid yearly, with promotional pricing currently showing from $18, while enterprise Microsoft 365 Copilot is listed at $30 per user per month paid yearly.

Note: For Microsoft 365 Business suites with Teams, Microsoft raises Business Basic to $7 and Business Standard to $14 on July 1, 2026, while Business Premium stays at $22. No-Teams suite pricing differs.

The base plans are close to Google’s, but the AI math differs. Google folds Gemini into the price, while Microsoft sells Copilot separately, so the cheaper headline plan can cost more once AI is added.

How much does email hosting cost per mailbox?

• Email-only hosting, with no office suite attached, is far cheaper at about $1 to $5 per mailbox per month.
• Zoho Mail Lite starts at $1 per user per month annually for the 5 GB plan, with a higher 10 GB Mail Lite option also available.
• Zoho Mail Premium runs $4 per user per month billed annually, adding 50 GB of storage, archival and eDiscovery.
• Other providers and reseller channels vary: Namecheap and Hostinger offer entry mailboxes from under $1 per month on annual or long-term terms, while Titan is sold through partners with pricing that varies by partner.
• The savings come from dropping the bundled office apps and large cloud storage of a full suite.

If you only need professional email on your own domain, a dedicated email host is the cheapest route. You give up the document and video tools of a full suite, but you keep the custom-domain inbox that matters most.

Are there free email hosting options?

• Free email hosting exists, with Zoho Mail’s free plan supporting up to 5 users on one custom domain in select data centers.
• The free Zoho tier gives 5 GB per user but is web-only, with no IMAP or POP for outside email apps.
• Many web hosts bundle free mailboxes with a hosting plan, so your email costs nothing extra.
• Free tiers suit a few low-volume addresses, but they cap storage, users and features.
• Custom-domain email on a free plan is rare, which makes Zoho’s free tier stand out.

Free email works for a startup or side project on a budget. The moment you need outside email clients, more storage or stronger deliverability, a low-cost paid plan like Zoho Mail Lite is the natural next step.

Is included hosting email cheaper than a dedicated email suite?

Note: this comparison is general, since deliverability and features vary by host and plan.

• Email bundled with a hosting plan is the cheapest option, often included at no extra cost.
• A dedicated suite costs $1 to $22 per user per month, but adds reliability, features and support.
• Host-bundled email can struggle with deliverability, since shared mail servers may carry a weaker sending reputation.
• Dedicated suites offer stronger spam handling, better uptime, mobile apps and collaboration tools.
• For a few low-volume mailboxes, included email saves money, while business-critical email justifies a suite.

The cheapest path is the email already bundled with your hosting. The question is whether your messages need to land reliably in inboxes, since that is where a dedicated suite earns its monthly fee. For the hosting side, see our web hosting cost research.

Sources & additional resources

• “Google Workspace Pricing Plans.” Google Workspace.
• “Microsoft 365 for Business Plans and Pricing.” Microsoft.
• “Zoho Mail Pricing and Editions.” Zoho Mail.
• “Zoho Mail Secure Business Email.” Zoho Mail.
• “Google Workspace Pricing Breakdown.” Email Vendor Selection.
• “Microsoft 365 Pricing and Packaging Updates.” Microsoft Licensing Resources.
• “Microsoft 365 Copilot Business.” Microsoft.
• “Microsoft 365 Copilot Enterprise Pricing.” Microsoft.
• “Add or Delete an Alternate Email Address.” Google Workspace Admin Help.
• “Create a Group in Your Organization.” Google Workspace Admin Help.
• “Gemini AI Features Now Included in Google Workspace Subscriptions.” Google Workspace Admin Help.
• “Hostinger Mail Pricing.” Hostinger.
• “Private Email Plans Comparison.” Namecheap.
• “Titan Email Pricing.” Titan.
• “Purchase Titan Email.” NameSilo.

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