As a business owner, you need a reputable email hosting provider to facilitate secure email communications between employees and customers. But without knowing which features are essential, it can be difficult to make sense of the different email hosting packages.
The best email hosting services offer sufficient storage space, productivity tools, enhanced security features, and much more. You’ll also need a custom domain to improve email deliverability and establish trust with recipients.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at email hosting for businesses and discuss some key factors to consider when choosing a solution. Then, we’ll explore three of the best email hosting providers. Let’s get started!
What Is Business Email Hosting (And Why Do You Need It)?
Email hosting services work a bit like web hosting services. But rather than providing servers that host websites, an email hosting provider offers servers that host email domains.
There are tons of free email hosting providers that are popular for personal use, including Google and Yahoo. The difference with business email hosting services is that you’ll get custom domain email addresses that reflect your brand or business name.
This is vital for building trust with new customers and establishing credibility. After all, an email address that uses the email host’s branding (like [email protected]) doesn’t look as professional as a branded domain (like [email protected]).
Therefore, a custom domain is key to building brand awareness through email communications with customers.
You’ll usually rent a server as part of email hosting packages. In most cases, you’ll also get access to extra tools, customer support, and advanced security features. This functions as a cost-effective option for small and medium businesses.
Another option is to set up your own email server. This can be very expensive and it’s better suited to large organizations.
If you require web hosting, you can often bundle email hosting into the plan.
What to Look For in an Email Hosting Service
When choosing the right email hosting service for your business, it’s important to consider some key factors:
- Custom domains. You’ll need an email host that lets you create email accounts that use your website domain, regardless of where you purchased it from.
- POP3 and IMAP support. Both of these protocols make it possible to connect your email account to an email client. This ensures that your inbox is easily accessible.
- Storage space. You’ll need to think about the amount of mailbox and cloud storage space. If employees regularly communicate via email, you’ll need sufficient storage to archive old emails.
- Security features. The best email providers offer advanced security features like end-to-end encryption, spam filtering, anti-phishing protocols, and more. Not only is this vital for preventing various threats, but it can also help you remain compliant with data privacy laws.
- Ease of use. A user-friendly interface can help speed up your workflow and keep your inbox clean and tidy. Beyond that, 24/7 support is always recommended to help you quickly resolve issues.
- Extra tools. Although it’s not required, some of the best email hosting services provide additional productivity tools or team collaboration tools.
- Pricing. When choosing an email hosting provider that suits your budget, you’ll want to make sure that you take a close look at renewal fees or hidden costs.
It’s also important to think about the type of email hosting that will work best for your business. Email hosting with web services tends to be the most convenient option. Plus, it’s super easy to maintain.
Third-party email hosting offers dedicated resources and tools, but you often need to purchase higher-tier plans to make this worthwhile. Alternatively, you can self-host email servers which grants ultimate freedom to manage resources, but it’s a very expensive option.
The Best Email Hosting Services for 2024
Now that you know what to look for in email hosting providers, here are some of the best options for your business.
1. NameHero
NameHero is a popular web hosting service and domain registrar, but it also provides email hosting services (which you can bundle with your web hosting plan). NameHero also offers free migration services to help you move away from your existing provider.
Thanks to NameHero’s web-based email, your inbox will be easily accessible from any device or browser. Better yet, you can set up a business email that matches your domain name.
With NameHero, you’ll also get access to additional tools like an integrated calendar. Plus, you’ll benefit from several security features, including superior spam protection. And, with premium email deliverability tools, you can ensure that your emails never land in the junk folder.
NameHero creates and stores backups of your mailbox. This simplifies disaster recovery should your inbox ever get hacked (or suffer from other attacks). It also means that you’ll have a safe copy of your mailbox, which helps you remain GDPR-compliant.
Price
The Starter Email plan costs just $2.77 a month. Meanwhile, the dedicated Business Email solution costs $9.30 per month if you require more storage and email accounts.
You can also check out NameHero’s web hosting packages if you’d rather manage your resources and domains from one central dashboard.
2. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is another good option for small businesses. It’s great if you’d prefer to use a cloud-based platform, or if you would benefit from the built-in integration with Google Drive cloud storage and Google Docs.
You can also host and record meetings, and there are various real-time collaboration tools available. In terms of security, you’ll get access to the Vault for compliance archiving, phishing and spam protection, two-factor authentication, and more.
There are three business plans and an enterprise solution. You’ll get at least 30GB of cloud storage per user, and all packages come with a custom email domain. The higher-tier plans provide more storage, more video participant meetings, and enhanced support.
Price
The Business Starter plan costs $6 per user per month.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Business Plus plan, which starts at $18 per user per month. You can also test the email hosting service for free for 14 days.
3. Zoho Workspace
Zoho Workspace is Zoho’s alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. You’ll get access to the hosted email service (Zoho Mail), calendars, contacts, and a range of productivity and communication tools that facilitate team chats and collaborative editing.
It’s worth noting that the Zoho Mail interface is slightly less intuitive than other options. But this might not be a huge deal breaker for some businesses, especially considering that small companies can use Zoho Mail for free.
The downside is that you’ll require a top-tier plan to benefit from enhanced security, including email backups, custom user roles and permissions, and an exclusive security policy. That said, this is still likely to be a cheaper option than many other email hosting providers, including Google Workspace.
Price
If you have less than five employees, you can use Zoho Mail for free. After that, you’ll pay just $1 per user per month.
If you want access to the entire Zoho suite of tools, plans range between $3 and $7 per user per month. Plus, you can try it for free for 15 days.
Conclusion
Reliable email hosting services enable you to securely send and receive emails internally and externally. But there are extra considerations when choosing the best email hosting service for your business. For example, you’ll need custom domains, spam protection, and ample storage space.
To recap, here are three of the best email hosting services for your business:
- NameHero: An all-in-one solution that enables you to bundle your business email together with web hosting and custom domains.
- Google Workspace: Ideal for those who use other Google products.
- Zoho Workspace: A good option for very small teams, or those that require real-time collaboration tools.
Do you have any questions about email hosting services? Let us know in the comments below!
Sophia is a staff writer at WordCandy.co, where she produces quality blog content for WordPress plugin and theme developers, hosting providers, website development and design agencies, and other online businesses.
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