In a recent study, 75% of consumers considered a professional email address as a strong trust signal for a business/ website.
And I would have to agree.
Take raysplumbing@gmail.com Vs contact@raysplumbing.co.uk for example. What would you put more trust in? I for one would definitely choose the latter.
Because having a professional custom email address is critically important. I have made this best email hosting UK guide for small businesses, website owners and even bloggers!
3 Different Types Of Email Hosting Services
In large part, email hosting is the act of renting out email servers from an email hosting provider.
By doing so, users can send and receive emails with ease.
As for the different formats of email web hosts. They primarily come in 3 different forms, with each having their own positives and drawbacks.
This is typically a free add-on provided by a website host in which users can add a custom email address to their website domain name. For new website owners, this is a great choice! Some providers include BlueHost, SiteGround and FastHosts to name a few.
For a more complete email hosting experience, this is a great alternative as it gives users more features and flexibility across devices. Think services like Google G Suite and Outlook 365.
Last but not least are the free email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail (now Outlook) which are ad-driven and mainly for personal use.
How I Picked The Best Email Hosting Providers
After being in business for over 9 years, I have tried many email hosting providers to manage my clients and workflow.
During this time, I have come to understand what’s really important plus the things to avoid. I’ve also had my fair share of s**t providers along the way!
So here is the criteria that I have applied to each email host when compiling this list of reviews.
When it comes down to it, sending and receiving emails should be a seamless interaction. But even in 2019, there are still many email providers that haven’t caught up with the times.
These clunky email interfaces quickly become a headache to use and turn a simple task into a mission. To add on top of that, many providers don’t have a good mobile or desktop app.
Because of this, I have included email hosts that have easy to use platform and are easy to learn.
Another thing I considered was of course price. While email hosting/ web hosting providers are relatively cheap, pence can quickly add into pounds.
As all small business owners know, getting a handle on your fixed expenses is important to keeping profit margins high. So I have only included providers that strike a good balance between price and features.
In this day and age, small businesses and website owners expect more from their email host than just sending and receiving mail.
For empale, many providers in 2019 offer additional cloud storage, calendar organisation, spreadsheet/ word document integration, video calls and even internal messaging.
So while it might only be for email, there is a lot more than a good email host should provide.
While this isn’t a must-have, a good email host worth their weight in salt should offer the ability to add extra and manage email accounts.
Say for example your business/ blog starts to grow and you take on employees or virtual assistants. In this instance, you’ll need to be able to add a new email account with ease.
Another very important factor is the ability to check email on all devices and platforms. Whether that be on an iPhone, iPad, Android or iOS.
On top of that, these apps should be easy to use and have the ability to attach documents and photos directly from the smartphone/ tablet.
Best Email Hosting UK 2024: Top 7 Providers
1. BlueHost (Best Website & Email Hosting Provider)
Do you know who is WordPress’s top recommended web host that also has 5 included free email accounts for their beginner hosting plan?
Spoiler alert… It’s BlueHost!
While BlueHost is widely known for their hosting solutions, they also offer up a great email hosting package that is included for free with all of their plans.
On the website hosting side of things, this includes 50GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, free domain, and free email hosting for a cheap price of £2.33/mo.
As for the details of their email hosting, BlueHost includes 5 free accounts and 100Mb of storage per account on their beginner plan. This integrates with their own internal webmail using Horde, RoundCube, and SquirrelMail.
Users can also take advantage of POP3 (also known as email forwarding) to platforms such as Outlook and Gmail with their own personal email.
P.S. If users upgrade to any of their larger plans, they then offer an unlimited amount of email accounts and storage 😱. P.P.S. I use BlueHost for this very website. Highly recommended!
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2. G Suite (Best Dedicated Email Hosting Solution)
Up next is an amazing email hosting solution by Google that I personally use across my whole business.
While Google G Suite isn’t widely known to the general public. Amongst small business owners, it is adored by many.
Simply put, G Suite enables those with an existing website to create a custom email address (like contact@hostreviews.co.uk) using the Gmail backbone.
So if you are fond of using the feature-heavy but minimalist Gmail, then you’ll be right at home.
As for the price and features, G Suite Basic starts from £4.60/mo per user account and has 30GB of storage, 30GB of cloud storage, 24/7 support, integration with Google Docs, Drive, and all of Googles other awesome tools.
What I also like about using G Suite is the seamless integration between my desktop and mobile devices. Whether I’m on the road or in the office, I’m able to have full control at all times. Can’t go wrong!
3. SiteGround (UK Based Servers + Included Email)
Moving onto another standout email hosting provider is SiteGround.
Much like BlueHost, SiteGround is another one-stop-shop provider that gives new users a free .co.uk domain, 10GB storage, 10,000 monthly visitors, and also an unlimited amount of email accounts.
Yup, you read that right. An unlimited amount of email accounts, even for their beginner plan!
When it comes to the nitty-gritty of the email side of things. SiteGrounds beginner plans start from £2.95/mo (excluding VAT) and have their own internal webmail interface with email forwarders and autoresponders.
While SiteGround is more pricey and has less website storage when compared to BlueHost, they make up for it with having servers located in the UK and the Netherlands for blazing-fast speeds. You can see my full SiteGround review here and my post on the best web hosting providers for Brits!
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4. Office 365 (Best Enterprise Email Host)
Next up on my list is nonother than Microsoft Office 365 which is more than just an email hosting solution.
If your business/ website is after a professional email address and a suite of productivity apps such as Excel, Word, Powerpoint plus 1TB of cloud storage. Then this might be the solution for you.
As for the email side of things, Office 365 users the Microsoft Outlook platform with a 50GB email inbox limit which is available on up to 5 devices across mobile and desktop platforms.
Oh yeah, Office 365 also has the ability to send files of up to 150Mb in size. Almost 3 times the amount of their competitors.
When it comes to the price, this is the most expensive provider on my list (£9.40user/ month) for their business premium plan.
5. FastHosts (UK Operated Web & Email Host)
I decided FastHosts earned a spot on this list as they are one of the top-performing and well priced UK based email/web hosting providers out there.
Just like SiteGround & BlueHost, FastHosts is a web hosting provider that also boats great email functionality baked into their website hosting plan.
For new users on their beginner plan, they get a free .uk .co..uk .london or .com domain, free SSL certificate, 10GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, 5 x 2GB mail boxes, email forwarders and anti virus/ anti spam protection.
As for the price, this comes in at a cheap £2.50/mo (not including VAT) which is billed annually.
Also if you already have a website, FastHosts does have a standard email hosting package from £0.99/mo which will give you a you@yourcompany.com email address. For more detail on FastHosts, you can see my full review of them here.
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6. ZoHo Mail (Cheapest Email Host)
Moving onto my second last pick definitely had to be ZoHo mail. I primarily decided to include ZoHo mail as they are an incredibly cheap and surprisingly easy to use/ feature-packed platform.
When it comes to the pricing, their beginner plan starts from just £0.80/mo per user which includes 5GB of storage, domain alias, 25Mb attachments, IMAP/ POP, synced calendars plus full encryption and privacy features.
There’s also an iOS and Android app available for the web client and calendars that is extremely easy to use and minimalist. Overall, a well-rounded email hosting provider.
7. Gmail (Good Free Alternative)
Last but not least on my guide is the much loved and free Google Gmail.
If you are just starting out with your business/ website o blog, but not yet ready to fork out for a premium email host. Gmail is actually a great alternative for low volume personal emails.
While this is a free service, Gmail actually has some awesome features included and different inboxes for ads, promotional and personal emails.
It also integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Docs for collaboration. Overall a great free webmail option.
Free Vs Paid Email Hosting
After setting up dozens of email accounts for clients, one question I always get asked is “what’s best, free or premium email hosting?”.
To which my answer is, “it depends on the type of business/ website you want to run”.
Say for example visitors to your website will be reaching out to you via a contact form or constantly via email. Also, let’s assume that you operate a lawyer’s business with very important clients.
Do you think they would be comfortable emailing their information to an email like mclawyers@gmail.com or one like contact@mclawyers.co.uk? My money is on the second one.
So, if your email address is going to be used with potential clients, customers or leads. Then investing in a paid email host is well worth it. However, if you don’t plan on receiving or sending many emails, say if you’re a freelancer, then a free Gmail account would be fine.
Email Hosting Terminology
When it comes to anything online, there are TONS of acronyms and terminology phrases that are simply confusing. So to break through the noise, there are some of the most common terms used, plus what they mean.
- Webmail: Webmail is just that. It is when you check, send and receive emails via an online internet platform via a browser or smartphone app. Instead of downloading software to a desktop, users can log in to the webmail and access contacts, calendars and messages via the cloud-hosted web servers.
- Email forwarder: When signing up with a web /email hosting provider, many times they will offer an email forwarder system. So if you don’t feel like using their webmail interface, users can actually receive email under contact@example.com and redirect the email to example@gmail.com. This gives the illusion you have a professional email address.
- POP3: Also known as Post Office Protocol 3, this is when users download a software that downloads the emails from the server onto the desktop software. Once downloaded, these emails will then be deleted from the server.
- IMAP: Known as Internet Message Access Protocol, this is a mixture of both webmail and POP3 in which emails are stored on the desktop interface while also being backed up on the email host servers.
How Do I Send Encrypted Emails
Depending on what email host you choose, they may or may not already be using encrypted emails across their platform.
While this is a more advanced feature, there is no comprise on personal data, so having the option is a must have. Luckily almost every big email provider has this ability to enable within their service.
For more information, you can see this guide on how to encrypt Gmail/ G Suite and Microsoft Outlook.
Is 100Mb Enough For Email Storage?
If you’ve been shopping around for an email hosting provider/ web host. You may have seen that some provider have a data limit of 100Mb for their webmail.
But is this enough?
Well, from my own experience, this is more than I have ever needed. Especially if you are disciplined at deleting unwanted emails or following the Inbox Zero practise.
Just keep note that I mainly send text emails with some Word Doc’s and PDF, so emails are generally small sizes. However, this may change depending on your email habits.
How To Setup An Email Forwarder
If you do opt for a web hosting/ email provider, but don’t want to use their unbuilt webmail interface. Then forwarding the emails on to a dedicated email client like Gmail or Outlook is a good alternative.
This is also a great option if you want to keep your existing inbox, but layer a more professional email address on top of it.
While this is a good setup, this process is a little complicated and will take about 15 minutes to set up with your web host and email client.
Here is a good video on how to set up email forwarding with BlueHost to Gmail.
How To Get a Better Response To Your Emails
Ok, so now you have your professional email all sset upand are ready to start doing outreach and representing your business.
But there’s just one thing… no one seems to be replying to your emails.
Well, just like verbal communication, there are some tactics and methods you can use to optimise your results.
For myself personally, I have found that having a professional email signature is another way to show you are a legit business and an actual person. Here are some good examples to get inspired by.
This is also a really good tool that generates free email signatures.
Another way to get replies to your emails is to ALWAYS follow up. I can’t stress this enough.
Being in such a fast-paced world, we can easily get distracted and have hundreds of things attracting our attention. So by sending a friendly followup email, you are giving a slight nudge for a response.
I personally use a free tool called Gmass that can be integrated with G Suite and sends follow up emails at selected intervals with text also. For more information, you can also see my guide on the best email marketing software tools for those in the United Kingdom.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, my guide on the best email hosting UK picks and shed some light on the topic and helped you make the right decision. If there’s anything that you think I missed or would like to see. Please let me know down in the comments. Thanks for reading!