Gmail alternatives for business email on your own domain

For most small businesses, Microsoft 365 or Zoho Mail: both host email on your own domain, work in any mail app and cost about the same as Gmail through Google Workspace or less. If privacy and EU hosting come first, Proton Mail or Fastmail with its EU region. If you are a team of one, iCloud+ can be enough.

Gmail itself is two products. Free Gmail gives you an @gmail.com address, which looks unprofessional on an invoice and belongs to Google’s consumer terms. Gmail for business comes with Google Workspace and puts your own domain on it. This article is for people who want to leave either one and keep a professional address.

How we chose

• Own domain: each option hosts an address like you@example.com on your domain, not a shared one.
• Price per user: public prices as of the date of this article, with billing basis and currency.
• Hosting region and GDPR: where mail is stored and whether a DPA is offered.
• Apps and IMAP: whether you can keep using the mail app you like.
• Migration: how you bring your Gmail history across.
• AI: what writing or sorting help is included.

If you are setting up company email for the first time, read business email on your own domain first.

Prices are public list prices on 2026-10-05, in the currency each vendor's page showed, excluding tax unless stated.

1. Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online

Outlook on your domain is the most common Gmail alternative in business. Exchange Online Plan 1 is mail only: US$4 per user per month paid yearly, with a 50 GB mailbox. Microsoft 365 Business Basic adds Teams, OneDrive and web Office apps for US$7 (€6.07 in Spain, excluding VAT) with a 100 GB mailbox. Microsoft can import Gmail over IMAP, and customers signing up in the EU are covered by its EU Data Boundary.

Best for: teams whose customers send Word and Excel files, or who already prefer Outlook. Trade-off: Copilot inside Outlook is a paid add-on.

2. Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is the low-price option with a full admin console. Mail Lite costs €0.90 per user per month with 5 GB, and Mail Premium €3.60 with 50 GB, both billed annually only. Paid plans include IMAP, mobile and desktop apps and the Zia AI assistant; a migration agent helps companies with more than 50 users. A free plan exists for up to 5 users on one domain, but without IMAP and only in some data centres. EU accounts are hosted in Amsterdam with a backup in Dublin.

Best for: a tight budget. Trade-off: annual billing only on the mail plans, and fewer integrations than Gmail. See Zoho Mail alternatives.

3. Proton Mail

Proton Mail, from Switzerland, encrypts mail end to end so Proton cannot read it. Mail Essentials is €6.99 per user per month billed yearly, or €7.99 monthly, with 15 GB and up to three custom domains. Its primary data centre is in Zurich. To use Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird you run Proton Mail Bridge on your computer; mobile uses Proton’s own apps.

Best for: lawyers, health and anyone who handles sensitive mail. Trade-off: encryption limits search and integrations. More in Skein vs Proton Mail.

4. Fastmail

Fastmail does mail, calendar and contacts with a fast web app and full support for other mail apps. Custom domains start on Standard, €5 per user per month billed yearly (€6 monthly) with 60 GB; the Basic plan does not support custom domains. Since August 2026 you can choose an EU region with the primary copy of your data in Amsterdam; backups and logs stay in the US.

Best for: people who liked Gmail’s simplicity and want a paid service with no ads or upsell. Trade-off: no office suite. Compare in Skein vs Fastmail.

5. Tuta

Tuta, made in Germany, encrypts mail and calendar end to end and hosts them in ISO 27001 certified data centres in Germany. Business plans are Essential at €6, Advanced at €8 and Unlimited at €12 per user per month billed yearly, with 50 GB to 1,000 GB. Because of its encryption there is no IMAP or CalDAV: you use Tuta’s apps. Importing old mail is listed only on Unlimited.

Best for: privacy at a low price. Trade-off: no Outlook or Apple Mail, and importing Gmail needs the top plan.

6. HEY for Domains

HEY, from 37signals, is an email host with a different idea of the inbox: you screen first-time senders and sort mail into a few places. HEY for Domains is US$12 per user per month, with the first user at US$10, and includes your domain, shared threads and group addresses. There is no IMAP: you use HEY’s apps on web, desktop and mobile.

Best for: small teams who want a calmer inbox and will commit to HEY’s way of working. Trade-off: no other mail apps, no AI features listed.

7. iCloud+ with a custom domain

If you pay for iCloud+, you can use up to five custom domains with up to ten addresses each, from €0.99 per month for 50 GB. It works in Apple Mail and any IMAP app. Apple says it does not support managed accounts, and there is no admin console or business DPA that we could find.

Best for: a freelancer or a team of one on Apple devices. Trade-off: not built for a company with employees.

8. Hostinger Email

Hostinger sells business mailboxes from US$0.39 per month on a 48-month term, renewing at US$1.59 for Starter with 5 GB. Standard (US$2.79 on renewal) and Premium (US$3.99) add AI writing and summaries. It works with Outlook, Gmail and other apps over IMAP, and every plan includes Agentic Mail, an API that lets AI agents use the mailbox.

Best for: many mailboxes at the lowest price. Trade-off: low prices need long prepaid terms, and the hosting region for email is not stated.

9. Skein

If you leave Gmail for the threads that slip, not for the price, it is built for that. Business email on your own domain with an agent that follows up on every conversation. Hosted in the EU. The agent notices when a customer, investor or candidate is waiting and drafts the follow-up in your tone. By default nothing is sent without your OK, from the app or, at launch, from Slack or WhatsApp, and every send has a few seconds to undo. For the contacts you choose, you can let it send on its own. Mail and agent run in Frankfurt, and you can keep reading mail in Apple Mail, Outlook or the Gmail app over IMAP. It imports your Gmail history, so the agent knows every open thread.

It is pre-launch: teams reserve a spot by paying their first month, refundable until they start (pricing). The interactive demo shows the app with sample data. Trade-off: not available yet, and no docs or drive.

• Lowest cost per person: Zoho Mail, then Exchange Online Plan 1.
• Mail stays in Europe: Proton, Tuta, Zoho’s EU data centre or Fastmail’s EU region. See European email providers.
• You want to keep your mail app: avoid Tuta and HEY, which have no IMAP.
• You want Google’s suite without Gmail: not possible inside one Workspace account; keep a separate Google account for Docs.
• Your inbox is mostly follow-ups: a host with follow-up help, or an assistant on top. See AI email assistants.

1. 1If you are on free Gmail, buy a domain first. If you already use Workspace, you keep the same domain.
2. 2Create your mailboxes at the new provider and add its DNS records: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
3. 3Import your Gmail history with the provider’s import tool or over IMAP.
4. 4Set a forward or auto-reply on the old Gmail address for a few months, and update the address on your website, invoices and accounts.

Our guides to MX records and migrating from Google Workspace walk through each step.