8 Best Email Hosting Services of 2024: Brutally Honest Reviews

Let me guess: you’re tired of all those biased paid or affiliate articles. You couldn't find anyone who actually gave you a satisfactory answer for running your agency or cold email campaigns.

Email hosting services have undergone a significant makeover, introducing a mix of veterans and fresh faces who vow to boost sales and productivity without compromising security.

Choosing the right email host can make or break your sales funnel because it directs how businesses of all sizes operate.

We're exploring the top 10 email hosting services, from Mailforge.ai's cutting-edge tools to Microsoft 365's rock-solid performance. We'll examine each service's performance, interface, and bang for your buck, helping you pick the perfect fit for your organization's needs.

Key Takeaways

• Mailforge.ai is known for its fast setup of email inboxes, deliverability on par with Google Workspace and best-in-class cold email campaigns.
• Google Workspace is praised for its seamless integration, highest deliverability, and reliable cloud-based services.
• Microsoft 365 is recognized for comprehensive collaboration tools and productivity suites.
• Proton Email is commended for its top-tier security features and privacy-focused services.

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What is the Best Email Hosting Service in 2024?

Mailforge.ai is the best email hosting service in 2024 for running cold email campaigns, thanks to its lightning-fast setup process.

As a Co-Founder of Mailforge, I may be biased, but here's why Mailforge.ai is the real deal: With Mailforge.ai, launching cold email campaigns is lightning fast, making it the best solution for SaaS founders looking to book demos or agency owners trying to land clients.

Users can simply bring their domains, create emails, and be good to go! There's no need to mess around with SPF, DKIM, or DMARC technical BS; it's all automated.

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What Factors Matter in Choosing an Email Hosting Service?

These eight key factors must be considered when choosing your email hosting company.

Firstly, seamless integration with cold-email tools like ours is a must for streamlined outreach. Secondly, easy scalability fits our growth-oriented strategy.

Cost-effectiveness is critical, reflecting our prudent financial approach. Prioritizing great sending capacity and top-notch email deliverability aligns with our commitment to effective communication.

High inbox placement rates and avoiding IP blacklisting are vital for maintaining credibility, helping our users to land more emails in inboxes, and actually getting them to read.

Lastly, proactive customer support is crucial for us, ensuring responsive service.

1. Seamless integration with Cold-Email tools
2. Easy Scalability
3. Cost-effectiveness
4. Great sending capacity
5. Excellent email deliverability
6. High inbox placement rate
7. Avoidance of IP blacklisting
8. Proactive customer support

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How Did We Choose These Email Hosting Providers?

In selecting these email hosting providers, we conducted thorough research in multiple ways.

1. Combining insights from popular Facebook groups
2. Collecting feedback from current clients
3. Interviewed our agency-owner friends
4. Reverse-engineered popular warm-up tools email.

By integrating our findings with your considerations, we ensured that these providers meet the essential criteria for easy setup with Cold-Email tools, affordability, ample sending capacity, excellent email deliverability, high inbox placement rate, avoidance of IP blacklisting, cold email campaign scalability, and reliable customer support.

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1. Mailforge.ai

Mailforge.ai excels in automating cold email tech setup and scaling cold email campaigns, making it the ideal choice for businesses seeking to enhance their email outreach efficiently and cost-effectively.

Unlike more costly options like Google Workspace, Mailforge.ai leverages a robust infrastructure that supports healthy shared IP addresses and proactive spam elimination. This technology parallels the deliverability maintenance seen in big names like Gmail and Outlook, securing comparable deliverability rates without breaking the bank.

The platform easily integrates with existing cold email tools, simplifies the technical setup, and facilitates smooth campaign execution.

As businesses grow, Mailforge.ai scales effortlessly, ensuring that expanding your outreach doesn't have to mean escalating costs.

With its strong sending capacity and impressive deliverability, Mailforge.ai stands out as an intelligent, budget-friendly choice for your emailing needs.

To get started, you can migrate your cold email domains to the Mailforge platform by changing the nameserver or purchasing domains from us. Then, you can create email inboxes, and the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC technical setup will be automatically taken care of within minutes.

Best For: Businesses looking to efficiently scale their cold email outreach without incurring high costs, particularly those needing speed and simplicity in campaign setup.

Pros:

1. Offers a large infrastructure for reliable delivery and spam management.
2. Simplifies integration with existing cold email tools for streamlined operations.
3. Provides scalability to grow with your business needs without significant additional expenses.

Cons:

1. Limited to email campaigns, not suitable for organizations needing broader marketing services.
2. Only offers additional drive storage per user like Google and Outlook.

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2. Google Workspace

Google Workspace excels as a cloud-based solution, ideal for businesses seeking robust collaboration and communication tools integrated with their email hosting. Formerly known as G Suite, it offers a seamless blend of enterprise-level Gmail with essential productivity apps like Google Docs, Meet, and Calendar. This platform guarantees a 99.9% uptime and advanced spam filters, enhancing communication reliability and efficiency.

With Google Workspace, organizations can leverage various tools, including Hangouts for messaging, Keep for note-taking, and Team Drives for collaborative file storage. The robust security features offer two-step verification and endpoint management to protect data. Although it's priced on the higher side, the value delivered justifies the investment, making it a top contender for those who mean serious business.

Best For: Businesses needing an all-encompassing cloud-based suite for enhanced collaboration, communication, and productivity.

Pros:

1. Integrates seamlessly with productivity tools like Google Docs, Meet, and Calendar.
2. Offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and advanced spam filters for reliable email hosting.
3. Highly secured email servers, including two-step verification and endpoint management.

Cons:

1. Higher cost compared to other email hosting options.
2. Difficult to scale for cold emailing.

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3. Microsoft 365

For those deeply integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft 365 offers robust email hosting services alongside its extensive suite of productivity tools.

In addition to being an email solution, Microsoft 365 integrates seamlessly with Outlook. It includes an impressive array of applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Skype, Yammer, Microsoft Teams, and Planner. This platform is ideal for users ranging from individual freelancers to large corporations, offering tools that enhance collaboration by allowing direct document sharing and real-time editing, avoiding the clutter of email attachments.

Microsoft 365 also tailors its offerings with various packages to suit different needs. The Business Premium plan, for instance, is packed with essential features like custom domain addresses, spam protection, and data loss prevention.

While the base plan has substantial cloud storage, enterprise users can upgrade to unlimited storage options. Additionally, potential users can explore these features with a 30-day free trial, making it a compelling choice for those committed to Microsoft's best way of doing business.

Best For: Microsoft 365 is ideal for those already using Microsoft products, ranging from individual users to large corporations, seeking seamless integration and extensive collaboration tools.

Pros:

1. Comprehensive suite of applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and Microsoft Teams.
2. Advanced collaboration features that allow real-time document sharing and editing.
3. Flexible plans with options for custom domain addresses and enhanced security features.

Cons:

1. Base cloud storage can be limited without an upgrade to enterprise-level packages.

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4. Proton Email

Proton Mail, acclaimed for its robust privacy features, is ideal for users seeking to enhance their email security without compromising functionality. Offering a free basic service with options to upgrade, Proton Mail prioritizes user privacy with zero-knowledge encryption—meaning even the nosiest intruders can't peek into your emails.

If you're feeling cramped by the free version's limitations, their Plus edition, at $3.99 per month, might be the ticket to a more expansive email experience. For security enthusiasts, the Unlimited level, at $9.99 per month, not only enhances your email capabilities but also throws in a suite of privacy tools, including a VPN, password manager, and encrypted drive.

Best For: Individuals and organizations seeking a highly secure email service with advanced privacy features and additional security tools.

Pros: 

1. Offers zero-knowledge encryption, ensuring only the user can access their emails. 
2. Provides a free basic service with options to upgrade for more features. 
3. Includes additional privacy tools like VPN, password manager, and encrypted drive at the Unlimited level.

Cons:

1. The free version has limitations, which might be restrictive for some users.

5. Fastmail

Fastmail excels as a privacy-focused email hosting service, ideal for managing multiple domains efficiently. Starting at just $3 per user per month, Fastmail can handle anywhere from 4,000 to 16,000 emails per user per day. While it may not provide round-the-clock customer support, its strengths lie in its robust privacy tools and domain management capabilities. Users can manage mail from FastMail addresses or up to 100 custom domain-based accounts all through a unified inbox, which is quite the digital juggling act made easy.

Additionally, Fastmail allows the creation of numerous email aliases with its Masked Email feature, enhancing user privacy. The flexibility to mix and match plans caters to varied business needs, although the base plan's 2 GB email storage might be a tad limiting for data-heavy users. Conversely, the professional plan includes 100 GB of storage and an email retention archive, which is essential for legal compliance. Shared calendars and company address books support up to 100,000 contacts, ensuring no one is left off the memo.

Best For: Privacy-conscious businesses and entrepreneurs needing to manage multiple domains and email aliases efficiently.

Pros:

1. Up to 100 custom domains, plus one per user.
2. Generous daily email send limits. - Masked email for increased privacy.

Cons:

1. It doesn't offer additional features like office applications or storage.

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6. Hostinger

Hostinger is ideal for businesses seeking an affordable yet robust email hosting solution. It offers customizable templates and spam protection for as low as $1.59 monthly.

As the top contender in our roundup, Hostinger isn't just about saving pennies; it also provides many tools, like an integrated calendar, auto-reply, and ad-free service, ensuring smooth and professional communication.

Whether you're a fledgling startup or a growing enterprise, their business email package allows you to brand your email domain to match your website, elevating your professional image.

Additionally, with no pesky ads and unlimited email filters, your inbox stays clean and efficient—precisely what a bustling business needs.

Best For: Small to medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable and feature-rich email hosting solution.

Pros: 

1. Cost-effective, starting at just $1.59 per month, and includes essential features.
2. Built-in spam and antivirus protection to ensure a clean inbox.
3. Customizable email templates, an integrated calendar, and an auto-reply function enhance professional communication.

Cons:

1. Advanced features such as unlimited read receipts and follow-up reminders are only available in the more expensive Enterprise plan.
2. Providers will ban your account even if you accidentally spike their spam ratio.
3. Not suitable for running cold outreach campaigns.

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7. Rackspace

Rackspace provides exceptional migration assistance, making it an ideal choice for businesses seeking a smooth shift to a new email hosting service. With unlimited mailbox sizes and robust Microsoft integration, it caters well to businesses of all sizes.

However, the 14-day trial period might be a sprint for some, requiring quick decisions. Offering plans starting at $2.99 per user per month, Rackspace provides a cost-efficient solution with options for unlimited archiving starting at $6.99 per month.

Despite some criticisms about its customer support, the company's commitment to uptime and free migration services on all plans underscores its reputation as a reliable partner in email hosting.

Best For: Businesses needing extensive migration support and seamless Microsoft integration with flexible email hosting options.

Pros:

1. Unlimited mailbox size
2. Robust Microsoft integration
3. Comprehensive migration assistance

Cons:

1. Short 14-day trial period

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8. Namecheap

Namecheap offers an economical email hosting solution that integrates ease of setup with a reliable private email service, making it an excellent choice for beginners. Distinguished from the less desirable cPanel Email, Namecheap's Private Email Service shines with its commendable reliability and straightforward web interface.

Since its inception in 2018, users have loved its efficiency, noting that emails consistently land in the intended inbox, not spam. Despite its strengths, Taylor switched to G Suite for advanced security features like two-factor authentication (2FA), which Namecheap's IMAP solution lacks.

Nevertheless, for those starting or operating on a tight budget, Namecheap remains a solid contender, especially with features like unified inboxes and a generous 60-day free trial.

Best For: Beginners and those seeking an economical and reliable email service with easy setup and basic features.

Pros:

1. Reliable private email service with a user-friendly web interface.
2. Includes unified inboxes, email synchronization, and a 60-day free trial.
3. Economical pricing is further reducible with Namecheap promo codes.

Cons:

1. Lacks advanced security features like two-factor authentication for IMAP email solutions.
2. Worst email hosting provider for long-term cold emails. (No way to sugarcoat it; it gets burned quickly)

What is the Best Email Hosting Service Overall?

Google Workspace, formerly G Suite, is the top choice for comprehensive email hosting. Integrating Gmail with productivity tools like Docs and Meet ensures seamless collaboration. With a 99.9% uptime guarantee, advanced spam filters, and robust security features, it's ideal for businesses prioritizing efficiency and data protection.

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What is the Best Email and Web Hosting Combination?

Hostinger is the top choice for email and web hosting, offering affordability and robust features like customizable templates and spam protection from $1.59 monthly. Their business email package includes integrated calendars and auto-reply, ideal for small- to medium-sized businesses aiming for a professional online presence.

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What is the Best Email Hosting Service for Sales Teams?

Mailforge.ai shines as an optimal email hosting service for sales teams. It excels in automating tech setup and scaling cold email campaigns efficiently and affordably. With robust infrastructure supporting shared IP addresses and proactive spam elimination, it ensures comparable deliverability rates to industry giants like Gmail and Outlook, making it a bright, budget-friendly choice.

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What is the Cheapest Email Hosting for New Agency Owners?

For new agency owners seeking cost-effective email hosting, Namecheap emerges as a top choice. Renowned for its affordability and user-friendly interface, Namecheap's Private Email Service offers reliability and straightforward setup. Despite lacking advanced security features like 2FA for IMAP solutions, it's lauded for consistent inbox delivery. However, their emails get burned quickly, which could be better in the long run.

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To Wrap It All Up

The best email hosting services offer various options tailored to meet diverse needs. Each service presents unique strengths, from Mailforge.ai's automation prowess to Proton Email's fortress-like security.

When it comes down to making a decision, choosing the right provider depends on specific requirements and preferences. But these three are our top priorities -

1. Mailforge.ai
2. Google Workspace
3. Microsoft 365

Don’t forget to make an informed decision!