Cheapest business email by team size
It depends on how many people need an address. Every other plan in this cheap business email comparison charges by the mailbox, or in Namecheap’s case by the bundle, so the bill climbs with each hire. For one or two people, Zoho, Hostinger and Namecheap cost less than Digismak. Digismak works the other way round: the whole team shares one $5 a month Cloudflare plan, so from 6 people it costs less than every per-mailbox plan here.
| Plan | 2 people | 10 people | 40 people | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digismak | $2.50 ($5 total) | $0.50 ($5 total) | $0.13 ($5 total) | Monthly, paid to Cloudflare; Digismak is free during early access |
| Zoho Mail Lite (5 GB) | $1 ($2 total) | $1 ($10 total) | $1 ($40 total) | Yearly only |
| Hostinger Business Starter, renewal price | $1.59 ($3.18 total) | $1.59 ($15.90 total) | $1.59 ($63.60 total) | 48-month term, paid upfront |
| Namecheap | $1.75 ($3.49 total), on the 3-mailbox Expand plan | Scale (5 mailboxes) plus extra mailboxes | Scale (5 mailboxes) plus extra mailboxes | Yearly, in bundles of 1, 3 or 5 mailboxes |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | $7 ($14 total) | $7 ($70 total) | $7 ($280 total) | Yearly plan; $8.40 per person month to month |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7 ($14 total) | $7 ($70 total) | $7 ($280 total) | Yearly plan; $8.40 per person month to month |
How to read the table:
- Hostinger advertises Business Starter at $0.39 a mailbox a month. That price needs 48 months paid upfront, and the plan then renews at $1.59, the figure used here. At the intro price, Digismak costs less from 13 people.
- Zoho Mail Lite can only be paid yearly, so 10 people pay $120 for the year in one go.
- Namecheap sells bundles of 1, 3 or 5 mailboxes for $14.88, $41.88 or $71.88 a year. With every mailbox used, that’s $1.16 to $1.24 a mailbox a month. A promo code lowers the first year only. Past 5 people you add mailboxes at a separate price, so check Namecheap’s page for your team size.
- Google and Microsoft are shown on yearly billing, and both include office apps. If that’s what you’re weighing, see our Google Workspace alternative page.
One or two people? A per-mailbox plan costs less than $5 a month. Two people on Zoho Mail Lite pay $2, and on Hostinger $3.18 at the renewal price. Zoho’s free plan costs nothing where Zoho offers it: up to 5 users, in the browser and Zoho’s app only. Digismak starts to pay off as the team grows.
What $5 a month includes
One Workers Paid plan covers every address on your domain. For $5 a month, paid to Cloudflare, your team gets:
- Unlimited addresses: one for each person, plus shared addresses like support@, hello@ and orders@ that everyone on the team can read and answer.
- Unlimited receiving, through Cloudflare Email Routing.
- 3,000 sent emails a month for the whole account, then $0.35 per 1,000.
- Sign-in without passwords: each person gets a 6-digit code at an email address they already use.
- An admin console to add, suspend and remove people.
- An inbox that works in a phone’s browser, with images from senders blocked until you allow them.
Adding a person or an address doesn’t change the price. Sending is the only part that can cost more. Take a team of 40 that sends 10,000 emails in a month. It pays $5 plus $2.45 for the 7,000 over the allowance: $7.45, or about $0.19 a person.
Why it’s cheap: it runs on your own Cloudflare account
Hosts like Hostinger and Zoho run mailboxes on their own servers and charge for each one. Digismak uses Cloudflare’s mail products in your account instead. Email Routing receives your mail, and a small relay Worker in your account hands it to the Digismak inbox. Email Sending sends your replies, signed for your domain.
Cloudflare bills that per account, not per person: the Workers Paid plan is $5 a month whether your team is 2 people or 40. Digismak itself is free during early access. Setup uses an API token you create and can delete at any time, and any Email Routing rules you already have keep working.
Your Cloudflare accountCheap email hosting that costs less than Digismak
Some hosts charge per account instead of per mailbox. Two are worth knowing about, and one of them costs less than Digismak at any team size.
Purelymail is $10 a year for the whole account, with no hard limits on users, domains or storage; heavy use moves you to pay-as-you-go pricing. It sends about 3,000 emails a day and works with desktop mail apps over IMAP. In its own words, it’s a small team with no 24/7 support, and it doesn’t allow marketing email.
Migadu also charges per account. Its Micro plan is $19 a year but allows 20 outgoing emails a day for the whole account, which is tight for a team. Mini, at $90 a year, allows 100.
If the lowest price and a desktop mail app matter most, pick Purelymail. Pick Digismak if you’d rather send and receive through your own Cloudflare account, with shared addresses in a browser inbox and no passwords to manage. There’s a side-by-side on Purelymail vs Digismak.
Will cheap email land in spam?
Receiving servers can’t see what you pay. They check three DNS records on your domain. SPF says which servers may send for it. DKIM proves your domain signed the message and nobody changed it. DMARC tells them what to do when those checks fail.
Digismak’s setup adds all three. It adds an SPF record for Cloudflare and turns on DKIM signing through Cloudflare Email Sending. If your domain has no DMARC record, it adds one at p=none, a monitoring mode that doesn’t block anything else that sends as your domain. The last setup step sends a real email through the whole path. To see what your domain has today, run our free SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker.
How to get started
Setup is automatic and usually takes a few minutes, most of it Cloudflare verifying your domain.
Check your domain
Enter it on this page. Digismak reads its DNS and current email setup. If Google, Microsoft or another provider receives your mail today, setup says so and waits for you to confirm before switching.
Connect Cloudflare
Create an API token limited to that one domain and paste it in. You can delete the token on Cloudflare at any time.
Let setup run
Digismak turns on Email Routing, adds the MX and SPF records, turns on Email Sending with DKIM, and sends a test email through the whole path.
Add your team
Give each person an address and add shared ones like orders@. On Cloudflare’s free plan, receiving works straight away and sending switches on when you upgrade to Workers Paid.
The catches
Read these before you sign up:
- Your domain’s DNS must be on Cloudflare. Moving it there is free, and the domain can stay registered where it is.
- It’s a browser inbox. There’s no IMAP, POP or SMTP access, so Outlook, Apple Mail and Thunderbird can’t connect. It works in your phone’s browser.
- It’s for people writing to people, not newsletters. Each email goes to at most 50 recipients, and each person can email up to 200 people in 24 hours. Cloudflare also starts new accounts on a lower daily sending quota that rises over time.
- Outgoing attachments can be up to 3.5 MB per email.
- There’s no calendar, documents or video calls, and no import of old mail yet.
- Digismak is free during early access. That isn’t a promise that it stays free.
Questions
What is the cheapest business email?
It depends on team size. For one or two people, Zoho Mail Lite at $1 a person a month, billed yearly, costs less than Digismak. Purelymail’s $10 a year per account is lower still. Digismak is $5 a month for the whole team, so from 6 people it costs less than any per-mailbox plan we compared at regular prices (US prices, September 2026).
How much does sending cost after 3,000 emails a month?
Cloudflare charges $0.35 per 1,000 sent emails after the 3,000 included in the Workers Paid plan. Receiving is unlimited and free. A team that sends 10,000 emails in a month pays $7.45 in total.
Is there free business email with my own domain?
Zoho’s free plan covers up to 5 users on one domain, in the browser and Zoho’s app only, and only in some regions. With Digismak, receiving works on Cloudflare’s free plan, but sending from your domain needs the $5 a month Workers Paid plan.
Does the price go up when I add people?
No. Cloudflare’s $5 Workers Paid plan covers every address on the domain, including shared ones like support@. The only extra cost is sending more than 3,000 emails a month, at $0.35 per 1,000.
What’s the catch with cheap email hosting?
Often the headline price is an intro price. Hostinger’s $0.39 a mailbox needs 48 months paid upfront and renews at $1.59, and Namecheap’s promo code lowers the first year only. Check the renewal price and the term before you compare.
Can I get cheap email hosting with a domain included?
Digismak doesn’t sell domains. Buy one from any registrar, including Cloudflare, and keep its DNS on Cloudflare. Among per-mailbox hosts, Hostinger’s Business Premium email plan includes a free domain for one year.
Will cheap business email go to spam?
The price of your plan isn’t visible to the servers that receive your mail. They look for SPF, DKIM and DMARC records on your domain. Digismak’s setup adds all three, then sends a test email through the whole path.
Can I use Outlook or Apple Mail with Digismak?
No. Digismak has no IMAP, POP or SMTP access, so desktop and phone mail apps can’t connect to it. It’s a browser inbox that works on computers and in your phone’s browser.