Email is one of the most convenient ways to communicate with colleagues, provide customer support, acquire new clients, and much more. For small to mid-sized businesses especially, using an email web host is the perfect way to establish credibility, create a strong brand identity, and control communications. For a small expense, your business can benefit from features such as custom email addresses to add professionalism and safeguarded messages to protect sensitive user data. This only scratches the surface of what can be achieved using email web hosting! 81% of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) rely on email as their primary customer acquisition and retention channel!
If you’ve decided that you want to use email hosting to elevate your business, then the first step is to choose a suitable hosting provider. Since there are so many hosts available, each providing plans with a unique set of features at differing prices, it can be hard to know which is truly the right one for you. We’ve listed the top seven criteria that need to be considered before selecting an email host and have also laid out our top recommendations to help you make your decision easier. Keep reading to discover the best email hosting providers in 2023!
The best email hosting providers quick guide
- Bluehost – Best overall choice
- A2 Hosting – For advanced email tools
- Scala Hosting – Ideal for larger businesses
What to look for in email web hosting providers
Before committing to a particular email hosting provider, you first need to decide what features you’re after. Some hosts offer only basic email tools whilst others provide users with advanced features, robust security, and more. To help you make your decision, we’ve laid out some of the key criteria that every email hosting provider should offer.
- Price – As important as email hosting is, it doesn’t have to be a huge expense for your business. Reputable hosting providers will offer email hosting with a range of useful features at a small monthly fee. Many hosts also provide a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can test out their services before committing to an annual or triennial plan.
- Custom domain – Having a custom domain name for your email address is one of the most crucial features available with email hosting. When you have a custom domain, instead of your email address ending in @gmail.com, it’ll end in @buisnessname.com. Custom domains help advertise your business, avoid spam filtering, and make your brand seem much more trustworthy. Not only does having a custom email domain look great, but it will also make your business appear more legitimate, potentially leading to increased acquisition and retention of customers.
- Storage – Your chosen web host should provide enough storage so you and your employees can declutter mailboxes by archiving past emails. The amount of storage needed can vary between different businesses based on their size, employee count, and other factors. If you conduct most of your business online, for instance, then you’ll likely require a higher amount of email storage.
- Security – It’s vital for your email host to provide adequate security tools to protect you and your customers’ data against potential attacks. Your chosen provider should offer several important security tools including data loss prevention, spam-filtering, and antivirus protection.
- Support – To ensure that you quickly resolve any issues and maximise the potential of your email hosting, you need a hosting provider that provides exceptional customer support. Ideally, your chosen host should have a knowledge support team available 24/7 to assist you whenever you need help. Additionally, you’ll want a web host that has plenty of resources that can guide you through setting up and managing your email hosting account.
- Extra features – Bonus features that are fantastic to have with your email hosting plan include mail forwarders, auto-responders, and web-mail software. Some hosts additionally offer unlimited email addresses in their plans, which is ideal for larger eCommerce businesses. Finally, your chosen hosting provider should have an average uptime of at least 99.9%, so you never lose out on customers or revenue due to regular downtime.
Our top recommended email hosting providers in 2023
Now that you know what to look for in an email hosting provider, you’re one step closer to finding the perfect option for your needs. With the above criteria in mind, we’ve thoroughly researched and handpicked the top email hosts in the market. All our recommendations are reliable, fast, and packed full of features. So, let’s take a closer look at the best email hosting providers in 2023 –
- Bluehost
Bluehost is the best all-in-host web and email hosting provider. With low-cost plans, advanced features, and top-notch customer support, Bluehost takes the crown for best email hosting provider. This web host is beginner-friendly, so you won’t need any prior hosting experience to quickly set up and manage your emails. Additionally, Bluehost has a 99.9% uptime guarantee, so you can expect a highly stable hosting experience.
Bluehost’s shared and WordPress hosting plans already come equipped with a free 30 days of a Microsoft 365 email Essentials licence. After the free trial, you can decide to stick with the Essentials plan (15 GB mailbox storage) or upgrade to the Business Plus plan (50GB mailbox storage). This plan also includes 1 TB Cloud Storage, online access to Microsoft 365 software (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), access to Microsoft Teams video conferencing software. You additionally gain access to Microsoft’s Sharepoint, a centralised digital workspace that allows businesses to efficiently store, organise, manage, and share information for easier collaboration and increased productivity.
For even more features, you can upgrade to Bluehost’s Business Pro email hosting plan. With this plan, you’re also provided with desktop access to Microsoft 365 software, access to Microsoft’s desktop publishing application, Publisher, and an Outlook Customer Manager account. This plan also includes a specialised online scheduling and invoicing tool, in addition to allowing users to use multiple devices to access their mail and the other provided tools.
All of Bluehost’s email hosting plans are equipped with email and calendar integration, Outlook web access, advanced security protocols (including disaster recovery protection, and custom domain names. With these hosting plans, your account is managed from Microsoft’s intuitive and user-friendly dashboard.
Bluehost users are entitled to 24/7 customer support from their expert help team. If you need any guidance setting up your email hosting then you can contact the team via live chat or phone for informative and prompt replies. Bluehost also has a wide knowledge base that’s full of articles, instructions, and how-tos. There are also plenty of email-specific resources available, such as a setting up guide, an email troubleshooting forum, and an email management tutorial.
Try out one of Bluehost’s email hosting plans for free for 30 days with their money-back guarantee!
- A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is another excellent hosting provider that offers full-featured plans at an affordable price. This web host is renowned for its super-fast speeds, robust security, and reliable hosting services. Additionally, A2’s flexible hosting plans allow users to seamlessly migrate email addresses into their business accounts. All this combined with a 99.9% uptime commitment makes A2 hosting a terrific choice for email hosting.
With A2 Hosting, all shared, managed WordPress, managed VPS, and dedicated hosting plans come equipped with free email hosting and unlimited email addresses. There are plenty of features available including webmail software (with pre-installed Horde, Squirrelmail, and RoundCube), email forwarders, email authentication, and auto-responders. A2 secures all user accounts with the automated spam filtering system, SpamAssassin, as well as protecting against other common cyber threats including malware, ransomware, and phishing attempts.
A2’s email hosting is managed through the user-friendly cPanel control panel where users can create and edit email accounts, set passwords, and configure IMAP and POP3 settings. There are also several time-saving tools at hand including mailing lists, Webmail, global email filters, MX Entry, and email delivery route.
A2 Hosting is fairly generous when it comes to storage for email hosting plans. FOr those combined with shared or managed WordPress web hosting, users are provided with 15 GB storage per email account created. For VPS and dedicated plans, on the other hand, users’ email storage is combined with the overall storage limits of the server. All email hosting plans are fully compatible with all major browsers in addition to native iOS and Android apps.
To help with the maintenance of your email hosting account or for assistance addressing any issues, you can contact A2 Hosting’s knowledgeable 24/7 customer support team. Alternatively, you can check out the host’s knowledge base for helpful articles and tutorials. A2 Hosting also has a range of guides regarding email hosting, including ‘How to create email backups’, ‘How to use spam filters’, and ‘How to set up email forwarders’.
Try out one of A2 Hosting’s email hosting plans for free for 30 days with their money-back guarantee!
- Scala Hosting
Scala Hosting is a notable alternative for email hosting and is especially suited for larger businesses. This is due to the hosting provider’s generous storage allowance, advanced security features, and budget-friendly plans. This host is highly flexible and makes it incredibly easy for you to scale your hosting plan at no extra cost. Scala Hosting also benefits from a near-perfect uptime, so you can expect a dependable and quality email hosting service.
There are four email hosting plans available with Scala Hosting. The mid-tier Medium plan, for example, allows up to 150 GB storage, 100 email boxes, and 10 email domains. Each plan is equipped with web-based email, so you can access your account from any device, in addition to POP3, IMAP, and SMTP email protocols. Additionally, all hosting plans are provided with free custom domains.
Larger businesses will benefit most from the top-tier Corporate plan which provides a dedicated email server with unlimited email boxes, unlimited email domains, free one-year domain name registration, and a free dedicated IP. With this plan, users can upgrade from the standard 50 GB of storage at any time using priority support tickets.
All email hosting plans are loaded with spam protection which uses blacklists to block junk mail. Scala hosting’s cybersecurity software, SShield also automatically inspects processes to catch malicious activity and provides a detailed report to the users. This ensures that your email service is never shut down due to common cyber attacks such as phishing attempts and malware.
To effortlessly migrate your account, or for help fixing any problems you might encounter, you can contact Scala Hosting’s friendly 24/7 customer support team. You can also head to the comprehensive knowledge base for detailed guides and other useful resources. For email hosting queries, there is a selection of specific tutorials that will walk you through setting up your email account, adding email signatures, and creating email auto-responders.
Try out one of Scala Hosting’s email hosting plans for free for 30 days with their money-back guarantee!