Business email

Business email puts your mail on your own domain, such as hello@yourbusiness.com, instead of a free address. It looks more trustworthy to customers, it stays yours if you change providers, and it lets you add addresses for staff or roles as the business grows.

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are the two big suites. Both bundle email with calendar, file storage, video calls and office apps, and both now include AI assistants, Gemini and Copilot, that draft replies and summarize long threads on eligible plans. Zoho Mail offers a similar suite with its own assistant, Zia. Proton Mail focuses on encryption and privacy and has its own AI writing assistant. Fastmail is an independent paid service with no ads. Titan is built for small businesses and is often sold through hosts and site builders.

Many web hosts include basic email with their plans. That can be enough to start, but host email is tied to the hosting account, so moving hosts means moving mail. A separate email provider keeps your inbox stable when the website changes.

Setting up any of these means adding records at your registrar so mail is delivered to the right place, plus records that help your messages avoid spam folders. Providers publish the exact records, and many registrars have one-click setups for the common ones.

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6 hosting tools in business email

Google Workspace

by Google

Gmail on your own domain with Calendar, Drive and Meet, and Gemini AI features for writing and summarizing.

  • Built-in AI features
  • Mobile app

Microsoft 365 Business

by Microsoft

Outlook email on your own domain with Teams, OneDrive and Office apps, plus Copilot AI features on eligible plans.

  • Built-in AI features
  • Mobile app

Zoho Mail

by Zoho

Business email on your own domain with calendar and files, and Zia, Zoho's AI assistant, for writing help.

  • Built-in AI features
  • Mobile app

Proton Mail

by Proton

Encrypted email from Switzerland with custom domains on paid plans and an AI writing assistant called Proton Scribe.

  • Built-in AI features
  • Mobile app

Fastmail

Independent paid email service with custom domains, calendar and contacts, and no ads.

  • Mobile app

Titan

Business email built for small businesses and often sold through web hosts and website builders.

Before you pick, check storage per user, how shared mailboxes and aliases work, how you will move old mail in, and where the AI features send your data. Turn on two-step sign-in for every account from day one.

If you already use free Gmail or Outlook for the business, moving to your own domain is mostly a one-time job: create the new mailbox, forward the old address to it for a while, and update the address on your website, invoices and accounts. Customers will start writing to the new address within a few weeks.

Plan the addresses before you buy seats. A shared address such as hello@ or orders@ can often be set up as an alias or group that forwards to real mailboxes, which is cheaper than paying for a separate user. Keep a personal mailbox for each person who needs to sign in, so access can be removed cleanly when someone leaves.

Check what happens to mail when a plan lapses or a user is removed. Some providers keep data for a short period, others delete it quickly, so export anything you need to keep.

Questions about business email

Is email from my web host good enough?

It can be for a start. The drawback is that it is tied to the hosting account, so changing hosts means moving your mail. A separate provider keeps email stable when the website changes.

Do I need Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

Only if you want the whole suite of calendar, files and office apps. If you only need email on your domain, smaller providers such as Fastmail, Zoho Mail or Titan cover that.

Should I turn on the AI email features?

They help with drafting and summarizing busy inboxes. Check how the provider handles your data, read drafts before sending, and keep anything sensitive out of prompts if you are unsure.

What DNS records does email need?

MX records tell the internet where to deliver your mail. SPF, DKIM and DMARC records help prove messages really come from you. Your provider lists the exact values to add.

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