Is there an alternative to Microsoft 365?
Yes, and the right one depends on what your team uses Microsoft 365 for. If it’s Word, Excel and Teams, you need another office suite. The usual pick is Google Workspace, which has cost the same per user since July 1, 2026. If it’s mostly Outlook, you don’t need a suite at all. A Microsoft 365 alternative for email only, like Digismak, gives everyone an address on your domain plus shared inboxes like support@. You pay for one Cloudflare plan instead of a license per person.
Why teams look for an alternative to Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 charges per person, and on July 1, 2026 the price went up. Business Basic rose from $6 to $7 per user per month on a yearly subscription, and Business Standard from $12.50 to $14. Monthly subscriptions cost 20% more than yearly ones. Existing customers move to the new prices at their first renewal after July 1, 2026.
| Plan | Before July 1, 2026 | Yearly subscription now | Monthly subscription now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Basic | $6 | $7 | $8.40 |
| Business Standard | $12.50 | $14 | $16.80 |
| Business Premium | $22 | $22 | $26.40 |
For a team of 10 on Business Basic, the rise alone adds $120 a year. The bigger cost is what the plan bundles. If your people open Outlook every day and rarely touch Word, Excel, Teams or OneDrive, you’re paying for a suite to use its email.
What Microsoft 365 costs a small team, next to Digismak
Microsoft bills every person on the team. Digismak runs on one Cloudflare plan for the whole domain, $5 a month paid to Cloudflare, and Digismak itself is free during early access:
| Team | Google Workspace Business Starter | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Digismak |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 people | $35 | $35 | $5 |
| 10 people | $70 | $70 | $5 |
| 25 people | $175 | $175 | $5 |
| 40 people | $280 | $280 | $5 |
On a monthly subscription, Microsoft costs 20% more: $84 a month for 10 people on Business Basic. Microsoft also sells its plans without Teams, for less. On the Digismak side, Cloudflare’s plan includes 3,000 sent emails a month for the whole account, then $0.35 per 1,000, and receiving is unlimited.
Over a year, 10 people on Business Basic pay Microsoft $840. The same team on Digismak pays Cloudflare $60. The gap widens with every hire: your eleventh person adds a Microsoft license, and Digismak stays at $5 a month.
What you keep, and what you give up
Read this part before you move anyone. Digismak replaces the email in Microsoft 365. It doesn’t replace the rest.
You keep
- An address on your own domain for every person, like sam@yourcompany.com
- Shared addresses like support@ and orders@ that everyone on the team can read and answer, at no extra cost
- An inbox in any browser, on a computer or a phone, with conversations, reply all, forwarding, attachments and search
- Sign-in without passwords: people get a 6-digit code at the address they already use
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your domain, set up for you
You give up
- Word, Excel and the other Office apps
- Teams chat and meetings
- OneDrive file storage
- A calendar
- Desktop Outlook, Apple Mail and Thunderbird: Digismak has no IMAP, POP or SMTP access, so it works in the browser only
- Your old mail, for now: Digismak can’t import it from Microsoft yet
When Microsoft 365 is the better choice
Stay with Microsoft 365 if your team works in Word and Excel every week, meets in Teams, keeps its files in OneDrive or depends on desktop Outlook. Digismak does none of those things.
Microsoft is also generous with shared mailboxes. An Exchange Online shared mailbox needs no license of its own up to 50 GB. So support@ costs nothing extra, as long as the people who open it have licensed mailboxes. Each shared mailbox takes up to 25 users, and going past 50 GB needs a license on the mailbox. If everyone on your team needs a Microsoft license anyway, shared mailboxes aren’t a reason to leave.
The difference in Digismak is that there are no per-person licenses at all, so adding a part-time helper to answer support@ doesn’t change the price. See how shared inboxes work in Digismak.
What changes for your team day to day
Most of the work looks the same: conversations, reply, reply all, forward and attachments, in a browser tab instead of Outlook. A few things are different, and it’s better to know them before the first Monday:
- People sign in with a 6-digit code sent to the email address they already use. There’s no password to reset.
- Shared addresses like support@ appear in everyone’s inbox, each conversation labeled with the address it came to.
- Outgoing attachments can be up to 3.5 MB per email.
- Each email can go to up to 50 recipients, and each person can email up to 200 people in 24 hours. Cloudflare says its sending service isn’t for marketing email, so send newsletters from a newsletter tool.
- Images in incoming mail stay blocked until you allow the sender, and you see a live preview of your email as you write it.
How switching from Microsoft 365 works
Your domain’s DNS has to be on Cloudflare. If it’s somewhere else today, moving it is free, and Cloudflare copies your existing DNS records when you add the domain. Check your website’s records are listed before you switch nameservers. Then:
Check your domain
Enter it on Digismak. We read its mail records, tell you that Microsoft receives its mail today, and change nothing until you confirm the switch.
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 and adds the MX and SPF records. It turns on Email Sending with DKIM and adds a DMARC record at p=none if the domain has none. Then it sends a real test email through the whole path. It usually takes a few minutes, most of it Cloudflare verifying the domain.
Add your team
Give each person an address and add shared ones like support@. Everyone signs in with a code sent to the email they already use.
New mail starts arriving in Digismak once your MX records point to Cloudflare. Your old mail stays in Microsoft 365. Digismak can’t import it yet, so keep access to those mailboxes or save a copy before you cancel your licenses. Everything runs on your own Cloudflare account; here’s how the Cloudflare side works.
Other alternatives to Microsoft 365
Digismak is one answer. Depending on what your team uses, one of these may fit better:
| Option | Suits | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | Teams that want a full suite and prefer Gmail, Docs, Drive and Meet | From $7 per user a month on a yearly plan, the same as Microsoft since July 1, 2026 |
| Cloudflare Email Routing on its own | One person who only needs mail to the domain forwarded to an inbox they already have. Replies go out from that inbox’s address, not your domain | Free |
| Digismak | Teams who need addresses and shared inboxes on their own domain, and no office apps | $5 a month to Cloudflare for the whole team; Digismak is free during early access |
Our Google Workspace pricing page lines the two suites up plan by plan, with a calculator for your team size.
Questions
Is there an alternative to Microsoft 365?
Yes. Google Workspace is the other full suite, at the same per-user prices since July 1, 2026. If your team only needs email, Digismak gives everyone an address on your own domain for one $5 a month Cloudflare plan, without Office apps.
What’s a cheaper alternative to Microsoft 365 for email?
If email is all you use, Digismak costs $5 a month for the whole team, paid to Cloudflare. Digismak itself is free during early access. Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs $7 per user per month on a yearly subscription, so 10 people pay $70 (US list prices, September 2026).
How much does Microsoft 365 Business Basic cost now?
$7 per user per month on a yearly subscription, up from $6 before July 1, 2026, or $8.40 on a monthly subscription. Existing customers move to the new price at their first renewal after July 1, 2026 (US list prices, September 2026).
Can I keep using Outlook with Digismak?
No. Digismak has no IMAP, POP or SMTP access, so desktop Outlook, Apple Mail and Thunderbird can’t connect to it. It’s a browser inbox that works on computers and phones.
Do shared mailboxes cost extra in Microsoft 365?
Not up to 50 GB. An Exchange Online shared mailbox needs no license of its own below that size. Everyone who opens it needs their own licensed mailbox, and it supports up to 25 users. Going past 50 GB needs an Exchange Online Plan 2 license on the mailbox.
What happens to my old Microsoft 365 email?
It stays in your Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Digismak can’t import old mail yet, so keep access to Microsoft or save a copy before you cancel. New mail moves to Digismak only when setup switches your MX records, which it does after you confirm.
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 to Cloudflare is free, and Cloudflare copies your existing records when you add the domain.
Does Digismak include a calendar or file storage?
No. Digismak is email only: no calendar, documents, file storage, video calls or office apps. If your team needs those, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is the better buy.