A new client is about to pay your first invoice and stops to ask: is yourbusiness123@gmail.com really your company’s address? A professional email address like you@yourbusiness.com answers that before anyone has to ask.
There are four ways to get an address on your own domain, from a paid business suite to free forwarding into the inbox you already use. They differ in price, in limits and in one big thing: whether you can send from the new address or only receive.
This guide maps the four routes with facts from the providers’ official pages, then walks through the five setup steps they share.
Quick steps
- Get a domain, or find where yours is registered.
- Sign up with an email provider.
- Add the MX and other DNS records your provider shows you.
- Create your mailbox and aliases, like info@.
- Add the account to your phone and computer.
What a professional email address is (and what you need first)
It’s an address that ends in your business domain instead of @gmail.com or @outlook.com. Before you pick a provider, have three things ready:
- A domain. Google says plainly that to use Google Workspace, you need a domain, and every route here starts from one.
- Access to the domain’s DNS settings, usually in the account where you bought the domain.
- A short list of who needs a mailbox and which shared names (info@, billing@) you want.
Four ways to get a professional email address
A business email suite
Google Workspace Business Starter includes secure custom business email and 30 GB of pooled storage per person. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes custom business email (you@yourbusiness.com), web and mobile Office apps and 1 TB of cloud storage per user. Both go up to 300 users. To choose between them, see our comparison of Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365.
Email included with your web host or domain registrar
Many registrars and hosts sell mailboxes next to your domain. Namecheap’s Private Email plans start with a 30-day free trial that converts to an annual plan, and every plan lists webmail and a calendar. GoDaddy’s business email FAQ says select hosting plans include professional email for the first year, so check your hosting plan before buying a separate mailbox.
A free business email plan
Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan offers email hosting for one domain for up to 5 users, with 5 GB of mail storage per user. Per the Zoho Mail pricing page, IMAP, POP and Active Sync aren’t included, and the plan is available only in select data centers. If you upgrade, the free users don’t carry over: every user on a paid plan is billed.
Email forwarding only
Forwarding passes every message sent to your domain address into an inbox you already have. There’s no new mailbox.
- Cloudflare Email Routing is available on the Workers Free plan with unlimited inbound email, but your domain must use Cloudflare DNS. Per Cloudflare’s pricing page, sending to arbitrary recipients requires the paid Workers plan.
- Namecheap Email Forwarding gives you up to 100 forwarding addresses on Namecheap’s DNS. Its help article says it “does not allow creating fully-featured email accounts and sending outgoing emails”.
If you planned to reply through Gmail’s Send mail as feature, read Google’s notice about third-party email accounts first. Starting January 2027, Gmail will stop supporting “Send as” for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com or @outlook.com. For businesses that rely on it, Google suggests a desktop mail client with IMAP/SMTP, the provider’s own interface, or Google Workspace for a custom domain.
How to choose: a quick comparison
| Route | Official example | Listed price | Send from the address? | Limits worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business suite | Google Workspace Business Starter | $7 per user per month with a 1-year commitment ($8.40 on the Flexible plan) | Yes | 30 GB pooled storage per person |
| Business suite | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7.00 user/month, paid yearly ($8.40 with a monthly subscription) | Yes | 1 TB cloud storage per user |
| Registrar email | Namecheap Private Email Launch | $14.88/yr after the 30-day trial | Yes | 1 mailbox, 5 GB, 10 aliases |
| Free plan | Zoho Mail Forever Free | Free | Yes | Up to 5 users, 5 GB each, no IMAP/POP/Active Sync |
| Paid upgrade | Zoho Mail Lite | US$1 /user/month billed annually (no monthly plan) | Yes | 5 GB per user |
| Forwarding | Cloudflare Email Routing | Free (Workers Free plan) | No; needs Workers Paid | Cloudflare DNS required |
| Forwarding | Namecheap Email Forwarding | Free | No | Up to 100 forwarding addresses |
Prices checked in October 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm on the official pricing page (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho Mail, Namecheap) before you buy. These are US prices in US dollars. For three people on Business Starter, that’s $7 × 3 = $21 per month with a 1-year commitment.
- You only need to receive mail at your domain: forwarding is free, but you can’t reply from that address.
- You work alone on a small budget: a free plan or a single registrar mailbox.
- You have a team, or want shared storage: a business email suite.
Step 1: Get a domain
If you own a domain, find the account where you bought it; you’ll add DNS records there in Step 3. If you don’t, Google says you can buy one from Google during sign-up for an additional fee, separate from the Workspace price. Microsoft notes that a connected domain stays registered with your registrar; until you add one, you get a default like yourbusiness.onmicrosoft.com.
Step 2: Sign up with an email provider
- Google Workspace: no cost for 14 days, then paid. For the full setup, follow our guide to setting up Google Workspace for a small business.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: paid, yearly or monthly.
- Zoho Mail: Forever Free costs nothing; paid plans have no long-term contracts, and the top edition has a 15-day trial with no credit card required.
- Namecheap Private Email: 30 days free, then a paid annual plan.
- Cloudflare Email Routing: free, with Cloudflare DNS.
Step 3: Add the DNS records (MX and the provider’s checks)
MX records tell the internet where to deliver your domain’s email. In Zoho’s words, they direct incoming emails to the correct email servers. Your provider gives you the values:
- Google Workspace: MX value smtp.google.com, priority 1. New MX records can take up to 72 hours to be recognized.
- Microsoft 365: copy the value from the Add DNS records page in the admin center. Registrars that support Domain Connect can add records automatically.
- Zoho Mail: use the values under Tools & Configurations in the Admin Console, and remove existing MX entries.
- Cloudflare: adds the MX, SPF and DKIM records for you when you set up routing.
Order matters: Microsoft and Zoho both say to create your users before changing the MX record, so mail isn’t lost during the switch.
Then add the authentication records. Google’s SPF guide says SPF helps keep your outgoing email from being marked as spam, and senders to personal Gmail accounts must set up SPF or DKIM. SPF and DKIM can each take up to 48 hours to start working. Microsoft says a domain should keep a single SPF record, combining your previous provider and Microsoft 365.
Step 4: Create your address and aliases
An alias is a second address that delivers to the same inbox, handy for info@ without paying for another mailbox.
- Google Workspace: up to 30 aliases per user at no extra cost. You can’t sign in with an alias.
- Microsoft 365: go to Users > Active users, select the person, choose Manage username and email, add the alias and select Save changes. Microsoft allows up to 400 aliases per user with no extra fees; updates can take up to 24 hours. If several people answer info@, Microsoft suggests a shared mailbox.
- Namecheap Private Email: 10 aliases per mailbox on Launch.
Step 5: Set it up on your phone and computer
- Gmail app: tap Profile > Add another account, then choose Google for a Workspace address or Other (IMAP) with your provider’s IMAP settings. The Gmail app takes up to 5 email addresses.
- Outlook on a computer: File > Add Account, enter your address, select Connect, then Finish (Microsoft’s quick start).
- Outlook on a phone: on iOS or Android, select Add Account and follow the prompts.
- Zoho Mail: the Zoho Mail App is available on iOS and Android, and paid plans list mobile and desktop apps.
Finally, send a test message from a different account and reply to it.
Once your new address works, you can use it to start an email newsletter for your customers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a professional email address for free?
Yes, with limits. Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan covers up to 5 users on one domain with 5 GB each, without IMAP, POP or Active Sync. Free forwarding from Cloudflare or Namecheap only receives mail, and you still need a domain.
Can I use Gmail with my own domain?
Yes, through Google Workspace, whose MX setup ends with activating Gmail for your domain. Sending as another address from a free Gmail account is different: Google’s Send mail as help page says support for third-party addresses ends in January 2027.
How many aliases can I have?
Google Workspace allows 30 per user and Microsoft 365 allows 400, both at no extra cost. Namecheap Private Email allows 10 per mailbox on Launch, 50 on Expand and unlimited on Scale.
Sources
- Google Workspace: Compare Flexible Pricing Plan Options
- Google Workspace: What is Google Workspace & Other FAQs
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up MX records for Google Workspace
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up SPF
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up DKIM
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Add or delete an alternate email address
- Gmail Help: Send emails from a different address or alias
- Gmail Help: Changes to third-party email account support
- Gmail Help: Add another email account in the Gmail app
- Microsoft: Microsoft 365 Business Basic
- Microsoft Learn: Connect your domain by adding DNS records
- Microsoft Learn: Add another email alias for a user
- Microsoft Support: Add an email account to Outlook
- Microsoft Support: Set up the Outlook app for iOS
- Microsoft Support: Set up email in the Outlook for Android app
- Zoho: Zoho Mail Pricing
- Zoho Mail Help: Configure Email Delivery
- Zoho Mail Help: Access from Mobile
- Cloudflare Docs: Email Service Pricing
- Cloudflare Docs: Route emails
- Namecheap: How to set up Free Email Forwarding
- Namecheap: Private Email
- GoDaddy: Professional Business Email
Your Next Step
Today, decide whether you only need to receive mail at your domain or also send from it, and count who needs a mailbox. Then open the pricing page of the route that fits and set up your professional email address with one mailbox first. For more help, browse our Email & Workspace guides.
Fernando Pompeu is a journalist and digital content writer with more than 8 years of experience in media outlets and news portals. He writes to explain things clearly and without jargon. At PlainSetup, he publishes step-by-step guides to the everyday tools small businesses run on, based on each tool’s official documentation and written for owners without an IT team.