Why makers look for alternatives to Google Workspace
Google Workspace charges for every person, whatever they use. Business Starter costs $7 per person a month on a yearly plan, or $8.40 on the month-to-month Flexible plan. On your own that’s $84 a year. Give a cofounder and a contractor their own accounts and the bill is $21 a month. The price is the same for someone who lives in Docs and someone who only reads mail.
So before you compare Google Workspace alternatives, answer one question: do you need the suite, or only the email?
Shared addresses can add to the bill. An alias like hello@ is free, up to 30 per user, but only one person receives its mail. That’s fine while you work alone. Google’s shared inbox, the kind several people work from, is an ordinary user account that others are given access to. Google licenses every user account, so in practice that inbox costs another $7 a month. The free workaround is a Google Group used as a Collaborative Inbox.
Suite prices move, too. Microsoft raised Business Basic, its entry plan, from $6 to $7 per person on July 1, 2026. Moving to the other big suite keeps the per-person bill.
Google Workspace vs Digismak: cost for one to five people
Digismak runs on your own Cloudflare account, on Cloudflare’s Workers Paid plan: $5 a month, paid to Cloudflare, for every address on every domain in the account. Digismak itself is free during early access. Here’s the monthly bill next to the entry plans from Google and Microsoft:
| People | Google Workspace Business Starter | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Digismak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just you | $7 | $7 | $5 |
| 2 people | $14 | $14 | $5 |
| 3 people | $21 | $21 | $5 |
| 5 people | $35 | $35 | $5 |
On your own, the saving against Business Starter is small: $24 a year. With three people it’s $192, and with five it’s $360. The $5 includes 3,000 sent emails a month for the whole account, then $0.35 per 1,000. Receiving is unlimited.
A new project doesn’t raise the price either. Each domain you connect from the same Cloudflare account gets its own inbox and shares that one Workers Paid plan. If you already pay for Workers Paid to run a project, sending costs you nothing more.
Google’s bigger plans widen the gap: Business Standard is $14 and Business Plus $22 per person a month. Our Google Workspace pricing breakdown lists every plan, with a calculator for any number of people.
What you keep, and what you give up
Digismak replaces Gmail. It doesn’t replace the rest of Workspace, so check this list against how you work before you move anything.
You keep
- Every address on your own domain, so the ones on your website and invoices stay the same
- Shared addresses like support@ and hello@ that you and anyone you add can read and answer, at no extra cost
- An inbox in any browser, on a laptop or a phone
- Mail signed for your domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up for you
You give up
- Google Docs, Sheets and Drive
- Google Meet and Google Calendar
- The Gmail app on your phone: Digismak runs in the phone’s browser instead
- Desktop mail apps like Outlook and Apple Mail, because Digismak has no IMAP access
If you write in Docs every day, keep your files in Drive or meet on Meet, stay with a suite. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is the right buy then, because the per-person price pays for tools you use. Digismak fits makers whose projects run on email, with files and calls handled somewhere else.
Two things work differently from Gmail. You sign in with a 6-digit code emailed to an address you already use, so there are no passwords to reset. And you add, suspend and remove people from one admin console, with no license to buy for each.
How to switch from Google Workspace without losing mail
Export, set up, switch, then cancel. Google deletes your users’ data after you cancel and can’t restore it, so cancelling always comes last.
Export your Google mail
Each person can download their own mail with Google Takeout, if the admin allows it. A super admin can export the whole organization with Google’s Data Export tool. Google says that export usually takes about 72 hours and can take up to 14 days. It’s deleted automatically after 60 days, so save a copy somewhere else.
Check your domain on Digismak
Your domain’s DNS has to be on Cloudflare; moving it there is free. Setup reads your mail records, sees that Google receives your mail today, tells you so, and changes nothing until you confirm.
Connect Cloudflare and confirm
Digismak opens Cloudflare’s token page with the permissions already filled in. Limit the token to that one domain, create it and paste it in. Once you confirm, setup points your MX records at Cloudflare Email Routing and turns on sending with DKIM. It adds a DMARC record if your domain has none, then sends a real test email through the whole path. It usually takes a few minutes.
Add your addresses
Pick your own address and your shared ones, like support@ and hello@, with the same names as before. If a cofounder or contractor had a Google account, add their address too. Everyone signs in with a code sent to an email address they already use.
Cancel Google last
Once mail has stopped arriving at Google and your export is saved, cancel in the Google Admin console under Billing, then Subscriptions.
Digismak can’t import old mail from Google yet. Your history stays in your export, or in Google until you cancel. Check your billing plan before you pick a date. On an annual plan, Google charges the rest of the contract when you cancel. On the Flexible plan, charges stop right away.
For every Google screen along the way, from Takeout to the cancel button, follow our guide to cancelling Google Workspace without losing your email.
Other Google Workspace alternatives, and who each suits
Digismak isn’t the only way out, and for some makers it isn’t the right one. These are the alternatives we’d weigh:
| Alternative | Price | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7 per person a month, yearly, or $8.40 month to month | People who want a full suite and prefer Microsoft’s office apps and Teams. Its shared mailboxes need no license of their own up to 50 GB. |
| Zoho Workplace or Zoho Mail | Workplace Standard: $3 per person a month, yearly, or $4 monthly. Mail Lite: from $1, yearly only | People who want a cheaper suite with WorkDrive file storage (Workplace), or a low per-person price with desktop mail apps over IMAP (Mail). |
| Proton Mail Essentials | $6.99 per person a month, yearly, or $7.99 monthly | People who want a mailbox each with Proton’s own apps, 15 GB per person. Desktop mail apps need Proton Mail Bridge, a program installed on each computer. |
| Purelymail | $10 a year for the whole account, not per person | Technical people who want the lowest price and IMAP for desktop apps, and can manage without 24/7 support. Heavy use moves you to pay-as-you-go pricing. |
| Digismak | $5 a month to Cloudflare for every domain in the account; Digismak is free during early access | Makers with their domains on Cloudflare who want personal and shared addresses for each project in a browser inbox, and no office apps. |
Purelymail costs less than Digismak for any number of people. Digismak’s case is how it works: your mail runs through your own Cloudflare account, and each project gets its own inbox under one login. Against per-person plans, Digismak costs less than Zoho Mail Lite only from 6 people, so on your own, Zoho’s $1 a month is the lower price. It costs less than Workplace Standard from 2 people. Proton and Microsoft cost more even for one person. If Zoho is on your list, see Digismak vs Zoho Mail for the detail.
Questions
Is there a free Google Workspace alternative?
Zoho’s Forever Free plan covers up to 5 users on one domain, in the browser and Zoho’s app only. Zoho says it’s available only in some regions. Digismak is free during early access and can receive mail on Cloudflare’s free plan. Sending from your domain needs Cloudflare’s $5 a month Workers Paid plan, which covers every domain in your Cloudflare account.
What’s the cheapest alternative to Google Workspace for email?
Purelymail’s simple plan is $10 a year for a whole account. Among per-person plans, Zoho Mail Lite starts at $1 a person a month, billed yearly. Digismak is $5 a month in total, paid to Cloudflare, so from 6 people it costs less than Zoho Mail Lite (US prices, September 2026).
Will I lose my emails if I leave Google Workspace?
Not if you export them first. Google deletes your users’ data after you cancel and can’t restore it. Download your mail with Google Takeout or the Data Export tool first. Digismak can’t import old mail yet, so your history stays in that export.
Can I keep using the Gmail app or Outlook?
No. Digismak has no IMAP, POP or SMTP access, so the Gmail app, Outlook and Apple Mail can’t connect to it. It’s a browser inbox that works on computers and in your phone’s browser.
What’s a good Gmail alternative for business?
If you want another full suite, Microsoft 365 or Zoho Workplace. If you only need email on your own domain, Zoho Mail and Proton Mail charge per person, while Purelymail and Digismak charge per account. Digismak is $5 a month, paid to Cloudflare, for you and anyone you add.
Do I have to move my domain to Cloudflare?
Its DNS has to be on Cloudflare, but the domain can stay registered where it is. Moving DNS is free, and Cloudflare copies your existing records when you add the domain. Check your website’s records are listed before you switch nameservers.
How long does it take to switch from Google Workspace?
Digismak’s setup usually takes a few minutes, most of it Cloudflare verifying your domain. Plan around Google’s side. A full Data Export is ready no sooner than 48 hours after you start it, and usually takes about 72 hours, though it can take up to 14 days.
Do shared addresses like support@ cost extra?
Not in Digismak: shared addresses are free, and everyone on the domain can read and answer them. In Google Workspace, aliases and Google Groups are free, but a shared inbox is an ordinary user account, which in practice needs a license.