Mailbox Providers for Private Domains

Some of the links on this page may be "affiliate links". This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive a commission. To be clear, it does not cost you extra.

Imagine you get two competing commercial quotes via email – one address ending with @hotmail.com and a second ending with @privatedomain.com. When it comes to having a private domain for email IDs, the power of creating perceptions gets real. An email coming from a business ID will appear more credible and trustworthy than one sent from generic email services. This can significantly impact how your business is perceived by clients, partners, and other stakeholders.

Secondly, mailboxes on a private domain provides greater control over your email accounts, allowing for custom management, increased security, and better spam filtering, which is vital for protecting sensitive business information.

Additionally, you get the ability to create specific mailboxes for different departments or functions and streamlines communication and increases efficiency. In other words, email services setup on a private domain signals readiness for business scalability and continuity.

Unlimited host for email?

For ease of setup, site owners often buy ‘all-in-one hosting’ that include domain registration, DNS, web hosting, and domain mailboxes. Such packages are sometimes dubbed as unlimited-everything hosting plans. The marketing tactic has convinced a lot of people to rely on traditional web hosts for their business communication needs.

Frankly, traditional web hosts serve a purpose, but having your mailboxes and websites on the same server and on a box that is shared with other similar customers is a disaster in waiting.

If a website gets infected by malware, your email may become inaccessible, disrupting business communication. Secondly, because of large-sized attachments or due to the sheer number of attachments, email boxes and hence the use of storage can grow in size. On a shared hosting plan, a web host may send you notices to cut down disk usage or pay up extra. Besides, when changing web hosts, it helps to keep things simple. With emails separate from your web host, you only need to move the website and not worry about mailboxes.

Without a doubt, it is lucrative for beginners to not pay for mailboxes. Many small businesses or bloggers kick-start their online journeys on a budget, and so the popularity of this practice is easy to understand. As such, a replacement email service, even with enhanced security and reliability, should not cost an arm and a leg.

Growth of identity providers

The leading providers of public mailboxes are also the leading providers of mailboxes for private domains. Think Gmail, Microsoft, or Yandex. These companies are also known as identity providers because so many people use their gmail or outlook IDs to signup for services and subscriptions (e.g. Netflix) on the internet. Most of these large companies attract new clients with deep discounts and allied extras. Some of the extras that have become standard over the years are:

  • Cloud storage
  • Video and voice conferencing
  • Chat and team messaging
  • Scheduling calendars
  • Collaborative content apps (e.g. Sheet, Document, etc.)
  • Survey forms

This acquisition strategy has proven effective and a lot of new businsses, though they may not need all the extras, signup with them. Some of these businesses get a surprise when they get a renewal notice at the regular subscription fee. Therefore, when comparing mailbox providers we want to compare apples to apples – regular or non-discounted prices for email services only (i.e., if possible, without the extras).

Mailbox providers

When basic email services start to look comparable to or more expensive than a web host, we need options. And, just as web hosting, the mailbox hosting market is a crowded space, making it a difficult task to choose. That there are many factors to compare confounds the selection. Let us simplify it by limiting the decision criteria.

Feature Zoho MXRoute Yandex Gmail Outlook
Entry Cost* (rates are /user/annum
unless mentioned otherwise)
Free Plan $129 (LTD) $34 $33 $21
Number of Mailboxes 5 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Storage (storage is /user
unless mentioned otherwise)
5GB 10GB (total for all users) 100GB 30GB 1 TB
Webmail Access Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smartphone App Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Annualized upgrade costs in dollar terms. Please refer to providers’ websites for the latest.

As mentioned above, the large identity providers of Gmail, Outlook and Yandex offer a range of features such as calendars, collaboration apps, forms, video and voice calls, etc. On the other hand, Zoho and MXRoute plans are focused on mail services only.

How to configure mailboxes for custom domains?

Irrespective of the mailbox service provider you choose, the steps to configure email boxes for custom domains are similar.

Primary email account

To begin with, you will need a primary email address. You may use your email ID from any of the large identity providers. For instance, on Yandex, you can create a free email ID ending with @yandex.com – similar to how you’d create a free email account on Gmail.

Verify domain ownership

Once you are logged in to your desired email service provider using your primary email account, you will need to demonstrate that you own rights to the domain you are requesting to set up mailboxes for. You could verify ownership either by uploading a small file to the root folder of your website or by adding a text record to your Domain Name System (DNS).

We prefer the DNS method since it allows setting up mailboxes without first having a working website. For its ease of use, we recommend Cloudflare as your Domain Name System. On Yandex, for instance with the DNS verification method, when you provide a domain name (without the www), you will get a TXT record. Copy the value and create a verification entry in your DNS. Refer to the sample record below.

Type Name Value/Server TTL
TXT @ yandex-verification: unique alphanumeric string Automatic

Traditional Domain Name Systems can take up to 72 hours for the propagation of records globally. However, in practice, Cloudflare DNS servers are synced within minutes. Once you have added the verification record, switch back to the Yandex browser window and test. If everything is done properly, you should see a success notification.

Additionally, as the domain owner, you should maintain all authoritative records (including mail exchange or MX record) for your mail host and other email sending services on your primary DNS server. For details, refer to reliable email delivery.

Create mailboxes and configure email clients

This step should be intuitive on any modern email box service provider. For example, the Yandex Connect interface guides you to create an organization and then add persons. Adding a person in Yandex is akin to a directory entry, complete with the person’s first and last names, role in the organization, unique email id, and password, among other things.

The last step in this process is to configure email clients. Again, any modern email box service provider should provide a smartphone app and webmail. In addition, users should be able to access their mailboxes via the IMAP or POP email clients such as Thunderbird or Outlook. Please note that some of the mailbox providers may offer IMAP or POP access only on higher-priced plans.

Conclusion

As digital identities continue to evolve, the importance of using private domain mailboxes becomes even more pronounced, making them an essential tool for businesses looking to maintain a professional and organized online presence.

You not only have practical options to signup for custom-domain mailboxes, but it is also straightforward to create and manage email clients. Should you need help with any of this, please feel free to contact us.

About Us

 

Cloudkriti is in business since 2019. We design, develop, host, and maintain your websites. We are a fully managed cloud host, a hybrid service that combines managed cloud and managed WordPress for a seamless experience. If you are looking for a truly dynamic, easy-to-use, high-performance, and a secure website, we are here to help.

 

Similar Posts

Coming Soon