For a small business, the best email hosting depends on who answers the messages and which tools they already use. A sole trader with straightforward correspondence may be well served by a mailbox on an existing hosting plan. A team that needs shared addresses and calendars should compare Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft 365. Google Workspace makes sense when the business already works in Gmail, Docs and Drive.
You can keep email separate from your website hosting. If you are also commissioning a WordPress site, I recommend considering Krystal’s managed WordPress hosting alongside your chosen email provider. Its Onyx plans charge separately for email; include that add-on if you want both services there.
The best fit for each type of business
- One person, ordinary sending and receiving: check the mailbox already available with your web hosting before buying a productivity suite.
- Email and calendars without a full suite: Exchange Online Plan 1 is a focused option to compare.
- A team using Microsoft’s web tools: Microsoft 365 Business Basic combines business email with web and mobile productivity apps.
- A team working in Gmail and Google documents: Google Workspace Business Starter keeps those habits while adding your business domain and central administration.
- An occasional receiving address: forwarding may be sufficient, provided you have checked where replies come from. It is a different purchase from a mailbox.
First count people, then addresses. One person might use hello@, accounts@ and their own named address without needing three separate inboxes. Three people answering hello@ need a way to see the same conversation and avoid replying twice. That difference matters more than the number printed beside “email addresses” on a hosting page.
For simple mail alongside a website: check your hosting package
A conventional hosted mailbox is a sensible starting point for a sole trader who wants to send quotes, receive replies and keep correspondence on a phone and computer. Look for webmail, supported email-app connections, adequate storage and a recovery process you can actually use.
Krystal’s shared hosting includes mailboxes. Its published comparison distinguishes this from Onyx managed WordPress hosting, where email is an add-on. “Unlimited mailboxes” describes the number of accounts, not unlimited space in each one: check the mailbox allowance and the total package limits for the plan you choose.
This route is most attractive when the website package already fits your needs and its email facilities are sufficient. If the site is happily hosted elsewhere, moving it merely to obtain a mailbox creates extra work. Compare a separate email subscription first.
It is also worth asking how someone covers your inbox while you are away. A basic mail account used on several devices does not automatically provide individual staff permissions, conversation assignment or a reliable record of who has dealt with an enquiry. Those requirements can justify a different service even when storage use is modest.
For email without the wider suite: Exchange Online Plan 1
Exchange Online Plan 1 is worth shortlisting when you want business-domain email and calendars, but already have the other software you need. Microsoft lists a 50 GB mailbox for this plan. Treat mailbox storage separately from any file-storage subscription.
The buying question is whether you need email alone or would use the extra services in Microsoft 365 Business Basic. Compare the full annual charge for the people who need accounts. Do not assume an email subscription also licenses every installed desktop application you want to use.
For a small team, Exchange’s shared-mailbox model is a useful reason to investigate this route. Staff use their own licensed accounts to access the shared address. Before ordering, check the relevant subscription and permissions with whoever will administer it; an info@ address is not a workaround for licensing the people using it.
For Microsoft collaboration: Business Basic
Microsoft 365 Business Basic suits a business that will use its email, web and mobile apps and file collaboration together. It is a better comparison than email-only hosting when staff already exchange Office documents and need a common place to work.
Business Basic’s app entitlement is for web and mobile versions. If installed desktop Word or Excel is part of the requirement, compare a plan that explicitly includes them or account for an existing licence. Microsoft also lists versions with different Teams inclusions, so compare the exact UK plan names rather than the headline “Microsoft 365”.
A small firm can waste money by buying overlapping subscriptions through a registrar, a web host and Microsoft directly. Before adding seats, list what each person already has, which account owns it and when the commitment renews. Keep a separate line for setup and ongoing administration: someone still has to manage access when a colleague joins or leaves.
For a Gmail and Docs workflow: Google Workspace Business Starter
Google Workspace Business Starter is the natural shortlist choice for a team that prefers Gmail and regularly works together in Google documents. It provides business-domain email and 30 GB of pooled storage per user, shared across the organisation’s relevant services. That is not a separate 30 GB email allowance plus another 30 GB for files.
Consider what the team stores before choosing the entry plan. A business exchanging short messages has different needs from one accumulating large attachments and project files. Compare the next plan when the combined allowance is restrictive; buying more than you need simply because it has more features is unnecessary. If you are already seeing quota warnings, use the business email storage guide to identify the limit before upgrading.
For a shared enquiries address, Google Groups can provide a Collaborative Inbox with assignment and completion controls. That workflow needs its own setup and permissions. Try the actual process your staff will use rather than expecting it to behave identically to an Outlook shared mailbox.
Price the people and the work, not just the address
Ask for the ordinary recurring charge after any introductory offer, the commitment period, VAT treatment and what happens when you add or remove a user. A monthly payment can still sit inside an annual commitment.
For a hypothetical three-person business, start with three named users. Then specify what hello@ must do: deliver copies, hold a shared history or let colleagues assign responsibility. The provider can then price the actual configuration. Counting hello@ as a fourth paid user without checking the service model may overstate the cost; assuming all shared addresses are free may understate it.
- Recurring: user subscriptions, hosting or mailbox add-ons, extra storage and any required desktop-app licences.
- One-off: mailbox creation, copying old mail, configuring devices and staff training.
- Ongoing work: account recovery, access changes, retention and email backup and recovery arrangements appropriate to the business.
- Leaving: notice periods, export help and an overlap with the old provider during a move.
Write down what is included in a migration. Mail folders, contacts, calendars and local archives are different items; a promise to copy email should not silently stand for all four. Our website and email migration guide explains how to keep the service dependencies visible.
Prove the daily workflow before committing
Use a trial or a demonstration to follow one enquiry from arrival to completion. Send it from an outside account, reply using the intended business address and inspect the reply as the customer would see it. Open the conversation on a second device. For a team, check that a colleague can find the sent reply and tell whether further action is needed.
If a test message lands in junk, use the outgoing business email checks to identify the affected sending route before choosing a replacement provider. Keep website notifications and invoicing-platform messages separate from ordinary mailbox replies in that investigation.
Also ask who controls the domain and email administration. Recovery must remain possible if the person who set it up is unavailable. Record the owner, recovery route and renewal responsibility without putting passwords in a shared project document.
If only one person needs an occasional receiving address, work through the forwarding decision before buying a suite. If several people answer enquiries, settle the shared-address workflow before comparing storage figures.
Planning a new website or a move for a business in Formby, Freshfield or L37? Tell us about the website project, including where email currently lives and who answers enquiries. That helps us scope the website work around the services you want to keep.
Plan features and provider documentation checked 16 October 2026. The recommendations are based on the stated features and the working needs described above. Check the exact plan, commitment and current UK checkout total before ordering.
