13 Best: Free Domain With Email Hosting (April 2023)

Free Domain Email Hosting

Finding that free domain with email hosting plans is a boon for those looking to make a strong first impression. Sure, a Gmail account is free and easy to set up, but 75% of consumers think having a custom email address that matches your website domain is an important factor for building confidence.

A strong handshake goes a long way toward giving an impression of confidence and competence, just like a matching domain name and email addresses.

Luckily for small businesses, finding a free domain with an email hosting plan is common. Learn which hosts make uniting your inbox and website enjoyable for both you and your email recipients.

Best Overall for Free Domain and Email Hosting

Simply put, customers flat-out expect your business to have a domain name and a website. Even if you run a brick-and-mortar shop, customers will turn to your online presence to learn about your brand’s location, hours, products, and prices.

Registering a domain name typically costs about $10 to $15 per year. However, the vast majority of hosts will include the first year of your custom domain as a free perk for signing up for a long-term plan. When shopping for a new email hosting provider, be sure to keep an eye out for this feature.

Our clear favorite company that provides the perfect balance between email hosting service and free domain management tools is Bluehost.

Read through and click on our review of the web hosting company below for more information:

1. Bluehost.com

Bluehost review

Monthly Starting Price $2.95

  • FREE domain and unlimited emails
  • Secure email with 3 webmail solutions
  • $200 in advertising credits with Google and Bing
  • Google app integration available
  • FREE Office 365 mailbox for your first 30 days
  • Get started on Bluehost now.

EMAIL
RATING
4.9 ★★★★★ Our Review

Bluehost: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): For email hosting with security and tons of available features, Bluehost is one of our favorites. The company includes a free domain name for a year, POP3 and IMAP security for unlimited emails, plus email forwarding and three web-based email solutions…. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

See other top email hosts »

In addition to boosting your credibility with a custom domain name and professional-grade email hosting, Bluehost is a trusted partner to help your business grow online.

The well-known provider has long built a reputation as a WordPress host, but any company powering more than 2 million websites has to know what it’s doing across the hosting spectrum.

For an affordable rate, Bluehost gives customers unlimited email and mail forwarding accounts and three webmail solutions, plus supports POP3 and IMAP secure protocols for retrieving and accessing incoming emails.

Whichever mail client you’d like to use, Bluehost will surely integrate its services with ease. When in doubt, check in with the web host’s 24/7 support staff.

Best “Cheap” Email Hosting With Free Domain

Of course, starting up a new business means there will be some lean times as you establish a customer base and steady profits. But just because you need to save money doesn’t mean you have to accept shoddy and unreliable products.

Because fast and secure email services are so critical to your business, don’t sacrifice features or performance when selecting a host.

Whether you’re communicating directly with customers about individual orders or using it to power ambitious email marketing campaigns, look for a professional email host that emphasizes performance, security, and reliability.

What’s more, many top and affordable providers combine email and web hosting into one plan, further streamlining your investment into your online presence.

For us, no one checks all the boxes for a more affordable price than iPage. By seamlessly pairing custom domain names and robust email hosting features — along with scalable and high-performance web hosting — iPage is a great full-service option for those on a budget.

2. iPage.com

iPage review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

  • FREE site transfers and 1-year domain registration
  • Unlimited domains, storage, and email addresses
  • Email forwarding, autoresponders, and webmai
  • Market your site with $200 in ad credits
  • FREE online store and site-building tools
  • Get started on iPage now.

EMAIL
RATING
4.7 ★★★★★ Our Review

iPage: Our Expert's Review

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com): With iPage, users get a free domain name and email account, plus unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, and MySQL databases. The brand offers POP3/IMAP support for unlimited emails, plus autoresponders, virus checking, and spam filters. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unlimited FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

See other top email hosts »

You’ll want to measure hosts based on their virus and spam filters, number of accounts, amount of email storage space, and the ability to create aliases and a forwarding address.

Free migrations are always helpful, and IMAP support means you’ll be able to access your messages from any device. As a bonus, look for compatibility with familiar programs such as Office 365, G Suite, or Zoho Workplace; incorporating your custom email domain with familiar software will help you work and communicate more effectively.

Of course, the final cherry on top of the email hosting sundae is friendly, personal support. Look for a company that provides a thorough and helpful knowledgebase, as well as 24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email tickets.

Best “Beginner-Friendly” Email Hosting With Free Domain

As a relative newcomer to the affordable hosting industry, Hostinger has gained significant traction since its 2011 launch. The full-service provider covers the gamut of hosting solutions, but we specifically recommend Hostinger for beginners. The pricing is competive, the feature set is comprehensive but not overwhelming, and the customer experience is exceptional.

The hosting company takes a refreshing approach to building an infrastructure driven by open-source solutions and friendly, personable customer support. In addition to the up to 100 email accounts and free domain registration included with the company’s upgraded packages, customers can leverage performance-minded technologies, including LiteSpeed and CloudFlare.

Compare Hostinger’s email and domain hosting options by clicking on our review below:

3. Hostinger.com

Hostinger review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

  • Easily import contacts, messages, and calendars
  • FREE domain name with annual plan
  • 1-click integrations with 50+ productivity tools
  • Collaborate with polls, shared to-do lists
  • Less than $1 per mailbox per month!
  • Get started on Hostinger now.

EMAIL
RATING
4.5 ★★★★★ Our Review

Hostinger: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Showing major value, Hostinger email plans come complete with all the collaboration and productivity tools you’d expect from higher-priced hosts. We especially love the easy integrations with platforms like Twitter, Google Drive, and others. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 1 GB per mailbox FREE (1 year) 3 minutes

See other top email hosts »

Hostinger’s self-stated mission is to make life easier for its customers. From our perspective, this mission is realized through an intuitive yet powerful control panel — a make-or-break feature of easy email and domain management. If you’re a first-time hosting customer, explore the suite of services available with Hostinger. You’re likely to find a plan that suits your unique personal or professional needs.

Best “Business” Email Hosting With Free Domain

Although social media and texting have surpassed email in terms of popularity and staying in touch with friends, email remains an essential top choice for communicating about business and transactions. business email address

Well-crafted emails are a great way to communicate with your customers or potential clients, all around the world. Phone calls can be daunting, labor-intensive, and tough to schedule, while social media is often too fleeting and unprofessional.

Email messages introduce a level of sophistication and importance and allow recipients time to absorb and act upon the information when it’s convenient for them.

As your brand becomes more established and your messaging starts to resonate with your customer base, you’ll need larger storage capacities, more email addresses, and more tools for collaboration and productivity.

Fortunately, several top-tier email hosts remove these restrictions for customers from the get-go. No matter which plan you choose with our favorite business email hosting provider, InMotion Hosting, you’ll receive unlimited email accounts and storage — and, of course, a free email domain name.

Learn more about InMotion in our review:

4. InMotionHosting.com

InMotion review

Monthly Starting Price $2.29

  • FREE domain registration or no-downtime transfer
  • Unlimited SPAM Safe™ email with IMAP
  • 1-click app installer and FREE marketing tools
  • Business-class hardware and eCommerce-ready
  • SSD storage plus FREE backups and SSL security
  • Get started on InMotion now.

EMAIL
RATING
4.8 ★★★★★ Our Review

InMotion: Our Expert's Review

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com): For business-class email hosting, look no further than InMotion. They offer a free domain name, SSD drive, and secure IMAP email. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days 100 GB SSD - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

See other top email hosts »

The company’s helpful support teams will seamlessly transfer your contacts and messages to its email server for free, and InMotion’s proprietary SpamSafe filtering service saves customers time and money by weeding out junk mail.

Although email may seem outdated when compared with newer communication strategies, technologies, and platforms, entrepreneurs can act more efficiently and see much greater success using a free business email.

Numerous studies tout the effectiveness of the email marketing channel in building sales and customer engagement.

According to the Direct Marketing Association and Demand Metric, email carries an average return on investment of 122% — more than four times higher than other marketing formats, including social media, direct mail, paid search, and online display ads.

Another study discovered that, while many businesses designate about 16% of their marketing budget to email campaigns, the messages contributed to 23% of total sales.

Best for “Multiple Domains” and Email Hosting

Your business only has one name, so it’s completely natural to register one domain when you decide to move your brand online.

That short-sighted approach, however, can majorly affect your company’s future growth and effectiveness as it expands.

Instead of just yourname.com, consider the .org, .net, and other domain extensions; you’ll be able to redirect any web traffic to your main site and business email address, ensuring no potential customers will slip through the cracks.

Most email hosting providers only hand out one free domain registration with their services. That said, domain names are an easy investment to make: At the cost of roughly $1 per month per domain, you’ll be protecting and boosting your brand presence.

Some hosts, however, limit customers to the number of domains that can be hosted on one account. Instead of throwing in the towel, sign up with a provider like iPage that gives you unlimited disk space, scalable bandwidth, and the freedom to host as many domains and email addresses as you want.

5. iPage.com

iPage review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

  • FREE site transfers and 1-year domain registration
  • Unlimited domains, storage, and email addresses
  • Email forwarding, autoresponders, and webmai
  • Market your site with $200 in ad credits
  • FREE online store and site-building tools
  • Get started on iPage now.

EMAIL
RATING
4.7 ★★★★★ Our Review

iPage: Our Expert's Review

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com): With iPage, users get a free domain name and email account, plus unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, and MySQL databases. The brand offers POP3/IMAP support for unlimited emails, plus autoresponders, virus checking, and spam filters. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unlimited FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

See other top email hosts »

In addition to webmail, forwarding services, and autoresponders, iPage provides customizable spam filters and virus scans at a surprisingly low rate. The company streamlines the hosting experience with its one-size-fits-all approach to email, web, and domain hosting.

Effective online marketing means consumers will find your website or subscribe to your email lists from all over the world. Be ready to take advantage of the new revenue opportunities by developing a strong, forward-thinking domain portfolio.

Illustration of top-level domains

With more than 1,000 top-level domains on the market, be sure to cover all your bases.

Perhaps you chose a domain name based on your localized business — but what happens when you grow beyond your town to serve a statewide or even national audience?

Also, look for common misspellings or domain names similar to your brand to make sure competitors don’t give you any headaches. The stronger your domain portfolio, the stronger your business’s overall brand.

Best of the Rest: Free Domain Registration With Email Hosting

A custom email address that uses your domain name instead of the generic Hotmail, Yahoo, or — gasp — Gmail account domain echoes your branding and oozes professionalism.

A custom domain shows you’re serious about your company and that it’s not just some part-time hobby in which you’re unwilling to invest modest amounts of time or money.

Related, don’t automatically rule out a web hosting company if the provider doesn’t provide a free domain name. Many top-notch hosts, including the likes of A2 Hosting, DreamHost, SiteGround, and Rackspace, offer incredibly modern and affordable email and web hosting without a free domain.

We’ve described the best email hosting providers that include a free domain name in four categories, covering price, scale, and functionality, but there are countless other options to explore. Which company is the best for, say, WordPress? Windows hosting? Scalability?

Because the free plan for domain registration tends to be the first included perk of signing up for an annual email or web hosting package, we’re covering all the bases below by giving you nine more options to compare.

These hosts represent the cream of the crop when it comes to domain management, email performance, marketing tools, productivity add-ons, and security features.

6. GoDaddy

With more than 77 million domains under management, GoDaddy is a clear first choice for all things domain name registrations.

The beginner-friendly host and domain registrar offers a growing number of advanced features to usher customers and their brands across the full spectrum of hosting needs.

Affordability is a top perk with GoDaddy, which has been trusted since 1997 to deliver well-supported hosting, design, and productivity services.

While GoDaddy is a popular all-around host, its email service options are lighter than competitors. The company focuses more on website builders and design tools, opting to give web hosting customers a free domain name and one year of free email hosting via Microsoft Office 365, which is hosted on a Microsoft Exchange server.

The perk enables site owners to get a sneak peek into a premium email experience, for sure, but they will need to renew and pay for the service annually.

GoDaddy.com

GoDaddy Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

  • Manage your domain and hosting under one roof
  • Choice of cPanel or Plesk control panels
  • Up to unlimited bandwidth and storage
  • Microsoft 365 inboxes included FREE for first year
  • Get 70% OFF by signing up today
  • Get started on GoDaddy now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.6 ★★★★★ Our Review

GoDaddy: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): A major pull factor for GoDaddy's hosting services is certainly the cost. It's hard to beat web hosting for just a few dollars per month, especially when the company includes a free domain name, control panel, impressively fast load times, and unlimited websites with most plans. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 25 GB - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

7. HostGator

A leading host founded in Florida in 2002, HostGator has expanded beyond the southeast to serve millions of customers worldwide.

The company’s 24/7 support teams have answered more than 5 million chat messages, suggesting they’ll quickly help you resolve any issues you manage to uncover.

For less than $5 per month, HostGator represents a one-stop shop for building a comprehensive web presence that incorporates strong design, reliable email, and secure domain tools.

The company’s proprietary site builder pairs well with personalized, professional email and calendar systems. Customers can create unlimited accounts, all with built-in spam filters and virus scanners.

HostGator.com

HostGator Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.64

  • Host up to unlimited websites on a single plan
  • FREE SSL certificate included on all plans
  • Unlimited bandwidth & email addresses
  • 1-click WordPress installs & FREE blog tools
  • Get 67% OFF by buying 36 months upfront
  • Get started on HostGator now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.7 ★★★★★ Our Review

HostGator: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): HostGator is a great compromise between performance and price. The company offers unlimited emails, MySQL databases, disk space, and bandwidth, plus one-click installs of popular open-source projects, in addition to a 99. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

8. Hostwinds

Perfect for slightly more knowledgeable site owners or developers looking for a bit more nuance and performance, Hostwinds is a newer company launched in 2010 to provide modern infrastructure and top-notch customer support.

The standard web hosting plan merges the best of email, web, and domain hosting into affordable packages that emphasize usability with one-click software installations, the cPanel control panel, and the Weebly website builder.

Upgrading to the business-level shared hosting plan, however, introduces high-speed SSDs and LiteSpeed web servers that load pages up to 500% faster.

Hostwinds boasts an impressive 99.999% uptime guarantee at this level, as well, making the company a strong partner for your online success.

Hostwinds.com

Hostwinds Review

Monthly Starting Price $5.24

  • Unlimited SSD storage, databases, and email
  • FREE site migration with cPanel and Softaculous
  • Instant upgrades without downtime
  • FREE around-the-clock monitoring
  • Automatic nightly backups available
  • Get started on Hostwinds now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.4 ★★★★ Our Review

Hostwinds: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): A recurring theme in the Hostwinds product lineup, the company offers multiple configurations to ensure every customer's needs are perfectly met. Between the SSDs and LiteSpeed web servers, Hostwinds ekes out 500% faster performance compared with typical shared hosting plans. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
3 days Unlimited SSD New or Transfer 6 minutes

9. Web Hosting Hub

As shared hosting specialists, Web Hosting Hub specializes in serving small business owners, individual developers, and first-time site owners with scalable and affordable services.

The company’s plans have a slight skew toward WordPress and eCommerce functionality, though Web Hosting Hub will serve a wide range of needs.

The company gives customers unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts and an above-average 90-day money-back guarantee.

Along with 20-times-faster SSDs, Web Hosting Hub supports POP3 and IMAP email protocols and includes both email forwarding tools and SpamSafe protection.

On the domain name front, customers can enjoy free and secure domain locking and automatic renewals.

WebHostingHub.com

Web Hosting Hub Review

Monthly Starting Price $4.99

  • Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts
  • FREE website builder with ecommerce tools
  • FREE site transfers and personalized onboarding
  • $150 in Facebook, Google, and Bing ad credits
  • 400+ Softaculous 1-click app installers
  • Get started on Web Hosting Hub.

CHEAP
RATING
4.4 ★★★★ Our Review

Web Hosting Hub: Our Expert's Review

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com): For those on a budget looking for a first-time host, and for those who would like a few extras to go along with it, Web Hosting Hub has a plan for you. With a whole lot of features, the company is a great value — so long as you are willing to sign up for a longer plan. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days Unlimited FREE (1 year) 6 minutes

10. JustHost

As a full-service host particularly tuned to a customer’s marketing needs, JustHost combines free domain and email hosting with a drag-and-drop website builder, site analytics, and eCommerce functionality.

Despite the vast number of features, the veteran hosting company simplifies the signup and onboarding process by including everything in just one package.

In addition to unlimited support for email forwarding, add-on or parked domains, and the IMAP or POP3 protocols, JustHost provides three different webmail solutions, autoresponders, and SpamAssassin protection.

The company’s 24/7 network monitoring can alert customers to potential security vulnerabilities, while free one-click installation scripts can cover your needs for mailing lists.

JustHost.com

JustHost Review

Monthly Starting Price $3.95

  • Unlimited email accounts and FREE site builder
  • $200 in Facebook, Google, and Bing ad credits
  • 24/7 support via phone, email, and chat
  • Website builder, marketing tools, and SEO tips
  • FREE domain name registration
  • Get started on JustHost now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.2 ★★★★ Our Review

JustHost: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): A lot of freebies come along with JustHost, making the shared hosting brand a great value. The basic plan is very affordable, and the best deals are saved for those customers who sign up for multiple years. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 50 GB - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

11. HostPapa

By offering customers a one-on-one consultation and training session with a hosting expert, HostPapa ensures new customers will feel comfortable with the various domain and email hosting tools.

More advanced users can discover new ways to work more effectively and efficiently with a HostPapa email hosting plan.

Customers can host unlimited domains and email accounts with HostPapa’s Business and Business Pro packages, with the latter also including domain privacy to protect the personal information attached to your registration.

For an upgraded email experience, the company offers integrations with Microsoft Office 365 and G Suite, as well as basic and advanced email packages.

We particularly appreciate HostPapa’s larger-than-average 5GB of email storage and generous attachment size limits. Advanced email customers also have access to a file sharing system to deliver files that exceed limits with most other services.

HostPapa.com

HostPapa Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.95

  • FREE drag-and-drop HostPapa website builder
  • Host unlimited WordPress sites on one account
  • 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat
  • FREE domain registration and email accounts
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited bandwidth
  • Get started on HostPapa now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.1 ★★★★ Our Review

HostPapa: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Where HostPapa shines is with shared hosting, which offers affordable and feature-rich plans geared toward helping both website and small business owners grow their online presence. HostPapa wants to be more than just a web host, according to CEO Jamie Opalchuck, who told us that the company aims to be a 1-stop shop for small businesses looking for a seamless and simple experience to help them grow. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

12. GreenGeeks

For those website owners focused on saving the world, GreenGeeks is an excellent route to explore.

The hosting company returns into the power grid more than three times the energy its datacenters consume in terms of renewable energy credits.

GreenGeeks removes seemingly all restrictions on customers’ computing resources, giving them unlimited SSD storage, email accounts, bandwidth, and domain names, and includes a free website builder, domain registration, and SSL certificate for free.

GreenGeeks offers complete scalability and security at all levels of service, making notoriously difficult PCI compliance available with a simple add-on. The company does enforce sent email quotas, but they’re in line with industry standards.

GreenGeeks.com

GreenGeeks Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.95

  • Unlimited and scalable computing resources with RAID-10 storage
  • Proactive server monitoring and real-time security
  • 1-click installations of 150+ apps
  • Unlimited domains & email accounts
  • 24/7 support via phone, chat, and email
  • Get started on GreenGeeks now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.0 ★★★★ Our Review

GreenGeeks: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Perfect for small business owners, bloggers, or web developers, GreenGeeks offers an impressive blend of features that appeal to all types of site owners. More experienced customers will appreciate the unlimited domain names, SSD RAID-10 storage, and unmetered data transfers, along with nightly backups and built-in caching programs. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 50 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

13. AccuWebHosting

Equally serving high-performance Windows and Linux hosting plans, AccuWebHosting‘s offerings will particularly resonate with Windows aficionados with ultra-fast SSD storage, the latest ASP.NET core, Windows Server 2016, and SQL Server 2017.

Linux customers will appreciate the CloudLinux operating system and LiteSpeed servers; in addition to the relevant cPanel or Plesk control panel, site owners can enjoy daily backups, free migrations, and several other perks.

The company limits email accounts to 150, which should still be enough to serve the vast majority of customers. AccuWebHosting supports the POP3, SMTP, and IMAP protocols and provides an AJAX-powered webmail, calendar, and tasklist interface.

An optional, cloud-based SpamExperts add-on further protects your inboxes and time.

AccuWebHosting.com

AccuWebHosting Review

Monthly Starting Price $3.52

  • FREE RVsitebuilder & 400 templates
  • Unlimited domains and databases
  • Scalable shared cloud server option
  • CloudLinux OS and LiteSpeed server
  • Multiple DDoS protections
  • Get started on AccuWebHosting.

CHEAP
RATING
4.0 ★★★★ Our Review

AccuWebHosting: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): The Swiss Army knife of shared hosting providers, AccuWebHosting showcases diversity and flexibility at the basic level of hosting. The provider offers three flavors each of Windows and Linux hosting services, plus additional configurations for applications such as WordPress, Node. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 50 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

Domain Hosting vs. Email Hosting: What’s the Difference?

Your website’s domain name is the address at which visitors can access your site. For example, typing our domain — “hostingadvice.com” — in the address bar of your favorite web browser will ultimately direct visitors to https://www.hostingadvice.com, our website’s home URL. Domain hosting is essentially the hardware, including storage of website files and content, and maintenance services required to keep that domain and all its URLs’ contents online. Without domain hosting, no one can visit and view your website.

Meanwhile, email hosting is the service required to host email account storage and facilitate email communication from one email domain, e.g., *@hostingadvice.com, to any other address. Without email hosting, no one can send messages to or receive emails from your domain’s email addresses.

Most of the time, domain and email hosting are bundled into a single shared hosting package. But larger organizations may need the additional power and resources of a VPS or dedicated server.

Why Am I Being Charged for a Domain Renewal?

Buyer beware: Most free domain hosting services actually offer a one-year domain name registration. This is a marketing carrot dangled to increase initial sign-ups, not a lifetime customer commitment.

Before signing up for a web hosting service that promises a free domain perk, note the annual domain costs to ensure the yearly renewals are in your business’s or personal budget.

Perks of Pairing a Custom Domain and Hosting With Google or Microsoft

As Robert Frost once wrote, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” Such represents the two paths facing your domain and email experience once you’ve signed up for hosting and registered a name.

Are you happy with your host’s webmail interface, or would you rather work with something more familiar? Does your host provide all the calendar, collaboration, and productivity tools you desire?

If your email host checks all the boxes with its in-house services, you’re free to get to work setting up and configuring your accounts and inboxes.

Image of someone holding a credit card to make a payment on a laptop

Cheap email hosting and free email domain registration doesn’t mean you need to scrimp on features.

Many customers, however, prefer to use an Outlook or Gmail account because of their well-established reputations. Aside from the iOS and Mac mail programs, Gmail and Microsoft Outlook represent the most popular email client options.

Each program is part of a larger platform of cloud-based software, also known as Software-as-a-Service, which includes additional programs for cloud storage, calendars, and chat, as well as the creation of text documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.

If this might be you, don’t hook up your email hosting through your host quite yet. You should explore all of your email client options to ensure you make the best choice, particularly if you want a professional email address for your business.

Even though it’s somewhat frustrating, these platforms typically aren’t included out-of-the-box with most hosting plans. You’ll need to invest another few dollars per month for these services, but many are willing to make that investment for the powerful tools.

Many providers include G Suite or Microsoft Office 365 as a paid upgrade option, combining it with an easy installation or setup wizard for changing your MX record.

Even if the Google or Microsoft logos aren’t anywhere to be found with your host, you can sign up separately and find several guides instructing you how to connect your domain to your G Suite account.

Running your email through G Suite or Office 365 provides more reliability and stability to your online presence by avoiding server resource issues or blacklisting thanks to a spammy site owner sharing your infrastructure.

There will be other caveats and third-party programs that may be more useful for bulk emailing, marketing campaigns, and transactional messages, but we deeply appreciate that ability to hit the ground running with a familiar, mobile-friendly platform such as G Suite and Office 365.

See Our Full Review of Bluehost

Whatever type of hosting plan you’re looking for, Bluehost is a solid choice no matter the scale. Our reviewer Ryan Frankel recently took Bluehost for a spin, and rated the popular host a 4.9 in the Email Hosting category out of a perfect score of 5.0. Here’s what Ryan had to say about Bluehost:

Bluehost has a rock-solid reputation in the shared and WordPress hosting communities, and the host is a long-time favorite of mine. Today, Bluehost powers more than 2 million websites, and the team touts years of experience. With well-maintained servers, competitive pricing, and excellent customer support, Bluehost is hardly a pick you’ll regret.

Before signing up for Bluehost, it’s a good idea to read through Ryan‘s full review to learn about all the features Bluehost offers. You can also compare it to other web hosts to ensure you’re getting the best deal possible:

If you decide Bluehost is the right choice, keep in mind that it takes just minutes to deploy your Bluehost server space. And at $2.95 per month, it’s a bargain considering the many great features that come in any Bluehost plan.

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