We live in a tech-centric world, where email is regarded as one of the top means of communication. People use it for both professional and business purposes. Fortunately, getting a professional email address with your domain name has become very straightforward.
But they come at a price. Most small businesses do not want to put in a lot of money to avail of email hosting. So, naturally, they seek the best email service for small businesses on a budget.
The best email providers for small businesses come with advanced security features to handle the technical details like filtering phishing scams and spam mail, letting you send emails from your domain, and storing files.
Jump To
- Best Email Hosting For Small Business
- Why Is It Advantageous To Use Business Email Hosting Instead Of Freebies?
- Types Of Email Providers For Small Business
- Frequently Asked Questions
Some email solutions for small businesses also offer a suite of productivity, conferencing, and collaboration tools like contact management or calendars.
Hence, there are several tools providing such service. Each of the software has its unique capabilities. This guide will address some of the top email servers.
We compared and contrasted different tools and finally settled on the below-listed top 12 best email systems for small businesses. Let us get started and discuss them one by one.
Top Email Hosting For Small Businesses
1. Google Workspace
Ranked number one on our list for the best email service for small businesses is Google Workspace. It is one of the best email providers for small businesses. The tools help teams that wish to collaborate on tasks, small businesses interested in using Gmail, beginners seeking business emails, with reliable productivity. You can avail of it at a starting price of only $6 per month. There is a 14-day free trial.
Features
- Host of advanced tools like Shared docs, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, and video conferencing
- Starting plan offers a 30GB per user storage limit
- 5TB and 2TB storage options available in premium plans
- Easy setup
Pros
- Top-end security features and controls
- Month-to-month, easy to cancel plans
- Has comprehensive plans with everything required to set up your professional email
- Ideal for beginners who seek high-end productivity features
- High storage limit even in the starting plan
- Has several productivity tools
- Several apps and integrations are available
Cons
- You have to buy the domain separately
- Do not offer an unlimited storage plan like Bluehost
- Maximum attachment limit capped at 25 MB
2. Zoho
Zoho is one of the top email solutions for small businesses. You can find both free and paid versions of the service. You receive basic features like a web-based client to receive or send emails in the free version. But, you cannot avail a custom domain service or set up a business account with the free version.
In this best email system for small businesses, the paid version allows both and supports email forwarding, IMAP, and POP service. Organizations with five or fewer employees can opt for the free version. You can add the sixth employee at only $1 per month. Standard plans start at $3 per user per month.
Features
- With this email hosting for small businesses, you get productivity tools like file editing and collaboration, contacts, calendars, file storage, sharing, and hosted email.
- Collaboration and community apps like Cliq for team chat, Office Suite for collaborating and creating docs, spreadsheets, and presentations, and WorkDrive for cloud storage
- Seamless integration for other Zoho offerings
- Accessible from Android and iOS devices
- Packed with social networking-style features
- Allows over 50 keyboard shortcuts
- Shared email inboxes
Pros
- 5GB storage in the basic plan, and 30 GB and 100 GB storage in higher plans
- You can tag people and share folders with them
- A tabbed app allowing seamless switching between draft email, calendar, and inbox
- Free if you have five or fewer employees
- It has an expense tracker
- Advanced searches
- Ad free, clean design
- Allows archiving and deleting emails in bulk
- Free email hosting for up to 5 users
Cons
- No month-to-month contracts
- The Admin panel is not the most intuitive
- Cannot import contacts from social media
- Suitable only for small businesses
- It does not come with a free domain
- You cannot integrate with Gmail.
3. Microsoft Office 365 Outlook
It is the best email service for small businesses for every Microsoft user. Under the Office 265 suite, you can access all the vital tools like PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook. Their Business Standard Plan for these email solutions for small business comes with 50 GB storage and hosted email for 300 accounts cost $5 per user per month.
Their Exchange Online Plan 1 costs $4 per month per user and includes global address lists, shared calendars, and email hosting.
Features
- Ensures spam and data loss prevention
- Custom domain addresses
- Seamless email sending and receiving
- Mobile app for iOS and Android devices
Pros
- Packed with productivity tools like PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, Excel, Outlook, Access, and OneNote
- 1 TB OneDrive storage and 50GB of mailbox storage
- Access to Microsoft’s new era workplace tools like Microsoft Teams
- Allows sharing of large file attachments
- Access to video, voice, collaboration, and social networking like tools
- Easy integration with Skype and Outlook calendar
Cons
- At times, loading may take some time
4. Amazon SES
When someone refers to cloud-based services, Amazon is one of the first names to pop into the head. Living up to its reputation, Amazon launched Amazon SES. It is one of the best email hosting for small businesses that can effortlessly scale to keep up with your business needs.
Their pay-as-you-go attribute makes them one of the best email providers for small businesses. They have a pricing calculator that helps you receive a quotation to match your requirements.
Features
- Easy to integrate effectively and quickly in any business
- Reputation dashboard to get more spam feedback and track email campaign performance
- Allows rejecting and accepted emails based on the sender’s domain, IP address, and email
- Several built-in security options like DomainKeys Identified Mail and Sender Policy Framework for email authentication on both ends
- Allows sending emails in different methods like AWS SES console, the interface, or the Amazon SES API
Pros
- Affordable pricing
- Flexible
- Secure
- Enables email automation at high volumes
- Blocks sending of malware and viruses
- Straightforward integrations
- Complete control over which emails you accept
Cons
- Initial configuration is complicated
- Lacks templates
- Good email solutions for small business but no app available
- Lack of email list storage
5. Yahoo Mail
Yahoo has been around since 1994. It is one of the earliest internet companies, but in 2016, Verizon acquired it. Yahoo Mail is the best email hosting for small businesses. You get default access to their calendar, Yahoo Messenger, and Newsfeed on sign up.
It is one of the recommended email providers for small businesses as it is majorly free. But, you can buy their Pro account at $41.88 per year. The business plan costs only $1.19 per month.
Features
- With massive storage capacity of 1 TB on free accounts, it is one of the best email service for small business
- Auto deletion of trash after seven days
- SSL encryption
- Spam filter
- AI-Powered Sorting – Focused and Other
- Can create 500 disposable email addresses
- Strong attachment support
Pros
- You can find any document, video, or photo historically shared via mail
- Easy to change file attachments to inline attachments, and vice versa
- Support for keyboard shortcuts
- Built-in notepad, calendar, and web search too
- Allows you to send free SMSs
Cons
- It does not let you share large attachments over 25 MB.
- Has a history of security breaches
- Does not support smart email organizations
- No IMAP access
6. Rackspace
This best email system for small businesses offers the fundamentals required to manage contacts, calendars, and emails. You can access them all via the webmail app or sync them to the mobile or desktop email.
The basic hosted email plan starts at $3 per month per user and offers 25 GB of storage for every user, and the plus plan starts at $4 per user per month and offers 30 GB of storage and instant messaging.
You also have an $11 per user per month plan that offers 100 GB storage, exchange features, contacts, and shared calendars.
Features
- Contacts, Calendar, and Email (Basic Plan) Instant messaging, file editing, and storage (Plus plan)
- Microsoft Exchange for advanced email features
- Employs Email service and Outlook for hosting
- Seamless mail filtering
- Email archiving
Pros
- Help handle email campaigns
- 24//365 support and assistance
- 100% uptime guaranteed
- 14-day trial
Cons
- Cheap plans do not come with any bells and whistles
7. Proton Mail
Be it any email hosting for small businesses, they all usually involve some privacy compromises.
Usually all email solutions for small businesses serve ads. It can put your privacy to a toss.
But not anymore. Swiss-based email service, Proton Mail, emphasizes privacy over everything. It lets you sign up anonymously. You do not have to log the IP address. Also, all of the Proton Mail emails are end-to-end encrypted.
Essentially, the software is free. But, there is a Plus account for this one of the best email providers for small business that offers a 1,000 message-per-day allowance, 5 GB storage, and support for folders, labels, and filters, at only $5.
This best email service for small businesses also has an $8 per month, per user plan, which offers a second custom domain, email addresses, and even more storage.
Features
- Offers 500 MB storage space
- Multi-user support in paid plans
- Let’s you set the mail’s expiry date
- Autoresponder
- Spam filter
- iOS and Android apps are available
Pros
- No ads
- Tight privacy features
- End-to-end encryption for messages
Cons
- The free version supports only 150 messages per day
- Emails sent to other clients will not be encrypted
- Only 500MB of storage for free
- No encryption in free account
8. Fastmail
Though the best email hosting for small businesses, it is also one of the oldest providers in the industry. It is perfect for someone seeking a premium yet one of the most affordable email providers for small businesses. Its prices start at $3 per user per month.
Features
- Supports IMAP and PGP
- Provides custom domain email addresses
- Topic box for teams to share insights and resources
- Spam filtering keeps emails secure
- Can add a company footer to all emails
- Can share calendars and contacts
Pros
- Offers two-factor authentication
- It comes with a 30-day free trial
- Several pricing tiers to select from
- Tailored branding to the lock screen and app
- It lets you store files with email attachments for access via FTP
Cons
- No end to end encryption
- Not every advanced security-wise
9. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is the best email hosting for small businesses that let you leave a lasting impression on your customer’s minds with professional-looking emails.
Features
- It lets you preview file attachments.
- Stores mail in a secured dashboard
- Industry-standard spam filter to keep the inbox clean
- Combines sophisticated data analytics, a dedicated security experts team, and automated threat monitors to guarantee the security
- Provides an email address that matches your domain
- It lets you send invites, get reminders, and schedule reminders.
Pros
- It works well on several devices
- Syncs and keeps emails up to date
- Blocks over 300 million harmful emails every day with 256-bit encryption and anti-virus filters
- Top-notch security
- Email customization straightforward
- Ad-free plans
- Can manage online space with personalized widgets like news, weather, and sports using a webmail portal
- Mobile-friendly interface
- Works with every email
- You can restore accidentally deleted emails with just one click
Cons
- Lacks cloud hosting
- Not much default email
10. AOL Mail
Need free email hosting for small businesses with unlimited storage? AOL Mail can be your go-to option. It is another of the oldest internet companies and was initially called America Online. In 2015, Verizon purchased it. It is one of the best email service for small businesses.
Features
- Virus protection
- Advanced Spam Filters
- It lets you customize your email address.
- Free email account
- Embedded spellchecker
- Seamless integration with calendar, social networking websites, etc.
- It allows access to email via third-party email clients like Mailbird and Outlook.
Pros
- Unlimited storage space
- Top-notch user-interface
- Malware protection
- Lets you undo the sent email
- IMAP, SMTP, and POP3 support
- In-browser sound alert
- Great security
- Email contacts imported from CSV, TXT, and LDIF file types
Cons
- The maximum permissible attachment limit is 25 MB
- My address program discontinued
- It does not let you create email aliases
- No message labeling and threading
- You have to buy the domain separately
- Many ads
- Cannot attach files from an online storage
11. Bluehost
Bluehost is suitable for a business on a budget and with a small headcount. The basic plan for this one of the best email hosting for small businesses starts at $2.75 per month.
Features
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited email accounts
- Automatically updates application
- Intuitive-user-friendly dashboard
- Seamless access to office applications and tools
- 50MB file attachment limit
- It lets you collaborate with people using Microsoft teams
- Tag-based subscriber segmentation
Pros
- Affordable
- Powerful business email
- Easy configuration
- Excellent integrations with Microsoft
- 24/7 support comprising live chat, phone support, email support, live webinars, and a vast library of how-tos and tutorials
Cons
- You need to buy hosting separately
- Cheaper plans have limitations
12. Aweber
Companies who based their businesses in the web marketing industry, seeking a reliable email solution on a budget, can opt for Aweber. In the free version, you have an allowance of 3000 emails per month and 500 contacts. Their paid plans start at $16.15 per month if paid annually.
Features
- Detailed and intuitive reports
- Split tests for advanced users
- Pre-built template library
- Autoresponders
- AI-powered design assistant
- RSS to email for bloggers to share content
- Email tracking and analytics
- Campaign marketplace
- A/B testing to avail best results
Pros
- It has no learning curve, so ideal for beginners.
- Over 6000 free stock images
- The free plan allows you to send 3000 sales per month
- Drag and drop landing page and email designer
- Automated campaign features
Cons
- Landing page and forms creation can be tedious
Why Is It Advantageous To Use Business Email Hosting Instead Of Freebies?
It appears unprofessional when a business employs any freebie service for email hosting. It can make people doubt your company’s authenticity. Some people even relate it to your lack of seriousness for your business.
It also puts you at the risk of an attack by cybercriminals. Hence, instead of employing freebies like Gmail, please consider using business email hosting. The best email service for small business have several advantages. Below, we will enlist one by one.
- It builds trust.
- It shields sensitive business data from targeted ads, malware attacks, and the spam
- People take your business seriously
- It makes you look professional.
- It prevents your emails from landing in the spam.
- It guarantees privacy
- It assures routine cloud backup
- It helps create a strong brand identity
Types of Email Hosting for Small Business
Broadly, there are three kinds of best email systems for small businesses. Each software serves a different purpose. Let us understand them in brief below:
Self-hosted email servers
When you possess your servers, you can employ this hosting. They are complex but robust servers. The team operating must be technologically sound. Such servers are reliable, and you can use them to maintain, send, or receive emails. In addition, they offer more customizability and control.
Third-party email hosting
Typically, businesses like employing third-party email platforms. They are easy to use and scalable. In addition, the best email service for small businesses comes with top-notch support. But, here, you will have to bear an additional cost for the hosting service.
Shared web hosting with email service
It is available with shared email solutions for small businesses. Because of the email server limitations, you cannot utilize them for receiving or sending bulk emails.
FAQs On Best Email System For Small Business
Ques 1. What’s the essential software for email hosting service?
Ans. You require POP3, IMAP, and SMTP protocols on the email hosting server for receiving and sending emails.
Ques 2. How much does email hosting cost?
Ans. Usually, most of the best email providers for small businesses are economical. But, if the price is too low, you must check out the features offered because some providers tend to skimp on vital features like storage space and security.
Ques 3. How to choose the best email hosting provider for you?
Ans. Here are some factors to consider before selecting the best email hosting provider:
- Attachment size limits
- Security
- Accessibility
- Custom domains
- Cloud and mailbox storage
- Round-the-clock assistance
- Cost
Ques 4. What is the difference between Gmail and Gmail for business?
Ans. The primary difference lies in the services or apps you will have. One is the regular, ‘for myself’ option, and the other is for managing your business. You can use it to manage your groups, docs, calendar, Gmail, sites, and videos.
Ques 5. Can you host your email server?
Ans. Yes, there are multiple options to host your email server.
Ques 6. Is Gmail free for small businesses?
Ans. No, Gmail Workspace starts at $6 per month per user.
