TL;DR: To get a business email address (you@yourbusiness.com), you need three things: a domain, an email provider, and a few DNS records that connect the two. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user per month with a one-year commitment (Google) or $8.40 month to month (Google Workspace Help), Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7 per user per month paid yearly (Microsoft), and Zoho Mail has a free plan for up to 5 users on one domain (Zoho). Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo expect every sender to have SPF or DKIM set up (Google, Yahoo). WebZum doesn’t sell mailboxes. Its Professional plan ($34/mo) registers your .com, and you add Google, Microsoft or Zoho email to it by pasting their records into the WebZum chat. Build your site free first and see it in about five minutes.
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Disclosure: WebZum publishes this blog and makes an AI website builder. We don’t sell email, so we have no stake in which provider you pick. Prices come from each provider’s own page, linked inline.
Verified October 29, 2026. US prices before tax. Email prices and promos change often, so check before you pay.
What do you need for a business email address?
You need a domain you control and a company to host the mailboxes. The domain is the part after the @. The mailbox host (Google, Microsoft, Zoho and so on) stores your mail and gives you the inbox app. DNS records on the domain tell the rest of the internet where to deliver your mail and which servers are allowed to send it.
Those are usually two separate purchases, and that trips people up. Buying a domain doesn’t automatically give you email, and an email plan doesn’t give you a domain. Microsoft says it plainly: if you don’t connect a domain you own, your addresses end in a default “yourbusiness.onmicrosoft.com” domain (Microsoft).
How do you get a business email, step by step?
Get the domain, pick a provider, create your users, add the provider’s DNS records, then test. Most of the work is the records, and that part isn’t hard once you know where they go.
Step 1: Get a domain
Use your business name if you can, and get the .com if it’s free. If you’re still choosing, see how to name your business and get the domain and how to buy a domain name. If you already have a website, you probably already have a domain. Use that one, so your email matches your site.
Step 2: Pick an email provider
For most small businesses it comes down to Google Workspace (Gmail with your domain) or Microsoft 365 (Outlook with your domain). Pick the one whose app you already know. The cost table is below.
Step 3: Create your users before you switch anything
Set up every mailbox first, then point the domain’s mail at the new provider. Microsoft tells you to “add users and set up mailboxes” before updating the MX record so email “continues to work without interruption” (Microsoft Learn). Remember that each person usually counts as a paid user. Shared addresses like info@ or orders@ can often be free aliases instead.
Step 4: Add the provider’s DNS records
Your provider gives you a short table of records. For Google Workspace, the main one is an MX record with the value smtp.google.com and priority 1, and Google says to remove any other MX records because “your email might not work correctly if you keep old or incorrect MX records” (Google Workspace Help). You’ll usually add:
- A verification TXT record, which proves you own the domain.
- MX, which says where incoming mail goes.
- SPF (a TXT record), which lists the servers allowed to send as you. Google’s is
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all(Google Workspace Help). - DKIM, which is a signature key that proves the mail really came from you.
- DMARC (a TXT record at _dmarc), which tells other servers what to do with mail that fails those checks. Google suggests you start with the policy set to none and tighten it later (Google Workspace Help).
Step 5: Wait, then test
Send a message to a personal Gmail address and reply to it. Google says new MX records can take “up to 72 hours” to be recognized (Google Workspace Help), and SPF can take up to 48 hours to start working (Google Workspace Help). It’s often much faster, but don’t panic on day one.
How much does a business email cost?
Expect roughly $5 to $8.40 per person per month for a mainstream mailbox on your own domain, plus the domain itself. Here’s what each provider showed on October 29, 2026:
| Provider | Price per user | Billing | Free option | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace Business Starter | $7/mo with a 1-year commitment, $8.40/mo flexible | Billed monthly either way; the flexible plan can be cancelled anytime | 14-day trial | 30 GB pooled storage per user (Google) |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7/mo | Paid yearly | One-month trial, card required | 1 TB cloud storage per user, web and mobile Office apps (Microsoft) |
| Zoho Mail Forever Free | $0 | None | Yes, up to 5 users | 5 GB per user, one domain, no IMAP/POP/ActiveSync (Zoho) |
| Fastmail Standard | $6/mo ($5 paid yearly) | Monthly or yearly | Trial | 60 GB per user (Fastmail) |
| Hostinger Mail Starter | $0.39/mo | Only on a 48-month prepay ($18.72 up front), renews at $1.59/mo | No | “All plans are paid upfront” (Hostinger) |
| WebZum | Not sold | n/a | n/a | No mailboxes. Professional ($34/mo, month to month) includes a .com WebZum registers (covered up to $20/yr) and lets you add any provider’s email records |
A note on the Google price: the $7 on the pricing page is the “Annual (Save 16% with 1 year commitment)” price. Google’s Flexible Plan, which you can cancel anytime and pay only for the accounts you had that month, is $8.40 per user for Business Starter (Google Workspace Help). The pricing page also showed a half-price introductory offer for new customers, for the first 20 users and 12 months (Google). Microsoft’s prices on that page are “paid yearly,” and its paid plans come with a seven-day window for a prorated refund (Microsoft).
Can you get a business email for free?
Yes, with Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan, as long as you already have a domain and can live with its limits. It covers one domain and up to 5 users with 5 GB each, but IMAP, POP and ActiveSync aren’t included, so you use Zoho’s own web and mobile apps rather than Outlook or Apple Mail. Zoho also says the free plan is “available only in select data centers,” and its paid Mail plans are billed yearly with “no monthly plan” (Zoho).
What’s never free is the domain. Some web hosts bundle email for the first year and charge after that, so read the renewal line. If you’re paying a few dollars a month anyway, a Google or Microsoft mailbox is the safer long-term home for a business that plans to grow.
Why not just use a Gmail address?
Because customers notice, and because your other tools may need to send as you. In a survey of 5,450 online consumers run for Verisign by 451 Research (December 2019 to January 2020), 85% agreed that “a business using a branded email address is more credible than one using a free email account” (Verisign / 451 Research). That’s a domain-industry study, so read it as such, but it matches what most owners hear from customers.
The practical problem shows up when software sends mail for you. Invoicing apps, booking tools and newsletters often send “from” your address. Google tells senders, “Don’t impersonate Gmail From: headers,” and warns that doing so “might impact your email delivery” (Google). With your own domain, you can authorize those tools in your SPF and DKIM records. You can’t do that with an @gmail.com address.
What do SPF, DKIM and DMARC actually do?
They prove your mail is really from you, and the big inboxes now expect them. Starting February 1, 2024, Google required anyone sending to Gmail to “set up SPF or DKIM,” and senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Mail that isn’t authenticated “might be marked as spam or rejected with a 5.7.26 error” (Google). Yahoo’s rules match: SPF or DKIM for everyone, and a DMARC policy of “at least p=none” for bulk senders (Yahoo Sender Hub).
Here’s the mistake to avoid. A domain gets one SPF record, and every service that sends as you goes inside it. Microsoft says that if an SPF record already exists, “don’t create a new one.” Instead, add Microsoft’s value to the existing record, so you end up with “a single SPF TXT record” (Microsoft Learn). Google’s list of senders to include covers things like “Contact us” forms and any third-party service that emails on your behalf (Google Workspace Help).
How do you add email records to a WebZum domain?
You paste your provider’s record table into the WebZum editor chat and type “add these records.” WebZum reads the table and gives you an Update DNS button. Nobody has to explain to you what a TXT host field is.
This works on the Professional plan ($34/mo), which is the plan with a custom domain. On Basic ($19/mo), your site lives at yourbusiness.webzum.com, and you can’t put email on that address. Here’s the flow:
- Get the domain on Professional. WebZum registers and pays for your .com (covered up to $20 a year while you’re on Professional), or you connect a domain you already own.
- Sign up with your email provider and go to its domain setup screen. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both show a table of MX, TXT and CNAME records. On Microsoft’s manual setup, choose the option where you add the records yourself.
- Copy the whole table and paste it into the WebZum chat with “add these records.” Then click Update DNS. If a long DKIM key gets pasted in pieces, WebZum joins it back together.
- Check it. Ask “where is my DNS” to open the DNS panel, where you can see, add, edit or delete A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and SRV records yourself. Zoho’s records, or a DMARC line, can go in there directly. Changes take a few hours to spread.
- Undo if needed. “Undo that DNS change” rolls it back.
Two guardrails are built in. WebZum keeps one SPF record per domain, so add a second sender by combining the two into one line rather than creating another record. Also, the records that keep your website up are locked: the nameservers, the main domain and www pointing at your site, the certificate checks, and CAA. You can’t take the site down by accident while setting up email.
Already have email on your domain? When you bring a domain to WebZum, it copies your existing mail records (MX, SPF, DMARC and the DKIM for your detected mail provider) into the new setup before the switch, so your email keeps working in most cases. The exception is DKIM from services that use random key names, such as Amazon SES or Postmark. You’ll need to re-add those from the service’s dashboard.
Which business email provider should you pick?
Pick the inbox your team already knows how to use. The differences matter less than getting the records right.
- Choose Google Workspace if you and your staff already live in Gmail and Google Calendar.
- Choose Microsoft 365 if you work in Outlook, Word and Excel, or your accountant sends you Office files all day.
- Choose Zoho Mail Forever Free if you’re five people or fewer, money is tight, and you’re fine using Zoho’s apps.
- Choose Fastmail or Proton Mail if privacy matters most. Proton’s Mail Plus supports one custom domain and lists $4.99 a month, or $3.99 a month billed yearly (Proton).
- Add WebZum Professional if you need the website too. You get the domain, the site, SSL and a DNS panel you run by chat in one monthly bill, and you bring whichever email provider you chose above.
FAQ
How do I get a business email?
Get a domain, sign up with an email provider like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Zoho, create your mailboxes, then add the provider’s MX, SPF, DKIM and verification records to your domain. On a WebZum domain, paste the record table into the chat and click Update DNS.
Can I get a business email for free?
Zoho Mail’s Forever Free plan gives up to 5 users on one domain at no cost, with 5 GB each and no IMAP/POP. You still need to own the domain. Google and Microsoft offer free trials, not free plans.
Does WebZum include business email?
No. WebZum doesn’t sell or host mailboxes. Professional ($34/mo) includes a .com that WebZum registers (covered up to $20 a year) and a DNS panel, so you can add Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Zoho email to it yourself in a few minutes.
Is a professional email address the same as a business email?
Yes. Both mean an address on your own domain, like hello@yourbusiness.com, instead of an @gmail.com or @yahoo.com address.
How long does it take for a new business email to start working?
It’s often faster, but Google allows up to 72 hours for new MX records and up to 48 hours for SPF (Google Workspace Help). Send a test to a personal Gmail account before you print the address on anything.
Do I need a website to have a business email?
No, just a domain. But people who get an email from you@yourbusiness.com often type yourbusiness.com into a browser next. If nothing loads there, the address loses much of its point. Once the site is up, see contact forms that actually work.
Make the address lead somewhere
A business email does its best work when the domain behind it opens a real website. Start a free WebZum preview: answer a few questions, and in about five minutes you’ll see a finished multi-page site you can edit by chat, free for 30 days with no credit card. When you move to Professional, your .com comes with it, and your email is one pasted table away. Every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.