All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
Best for modest use
Best for high sending limits
/images/2025/09/24/namecheap_logo.svg.png){kind=logo}
Supports only 1 WordPress site per plan
Best for single inbox
/images/2024/12/05/hostinger-logo-horizontal.png){kind=logo}
IONOS is the best cheap email hosting service you can get, starting at just $5.00/mo with a free domain name thrown in for the duration of your contract. You also get IMAP/POP access, mobile sync, and adequate storage for light use.
Namecheap comes in at a close second at $9.88/mo. It beats IONOS in several ways, but especially with its higher email sending limits. The top plan caps you at triple the number of emails per hour that IONOS allows.
Hostinger ranks third, thanks to its advanced AI features, clean interface, and low price. All three prove that cheap email hosting doesn't have to mean compromising on features.
Affordable email plans come with a free domain for the life of your contract
Easily customize your emails with templates, signatures, and more
Send up to 1,500 emails per hour and create unlimited inboxes and forwarding aliases
Generous 60-day free trial gives you plenty of time to see if it works for your business
Grab a free email plan with all Hostinger web hosting plans
Built-in AI features, 10 GB of storage to start, and easy aliases
/images/2025/09/24/logo_ionos_blue_rgb.png){kind=logo}
|
/images/2025/09/24/namecheap_logo.svg.png){kind=logo}
|
/images/2024/12/05/hostinger-logo-horizontal.png){kind=logo}
| |
| Best for | Best for overall savings and modest use | Best for multiple inboxes, with high sending limits | Best for a single inbox, with AI features |
| Star rating | |||
| Starting price | $5.00/mo | $9.88/mo | $2.99/mo |
| Money-back guarantee or free trial | Yes — 60 days free trial (50 emails per hour per domain cap) | Yes — 30-day money-back guarantee | |
| Email accounts | 1 - 25 | 1 - 999 | 1 - 500 |
| Storage | 2 - 50+ GB/user | 5 - 15 GB/user* | 10 - 50 GB/user |
| Email sending limits | 50 - 500/hour | 500 - 1,500/hour | 1,000 - 3,000/day |
| Email features | Email scheduler, spam filter, reusable email templates | Email aliases, spam filter, customized email signatures | Email aliases and forwarding rules, AI features on tier 2 plan, spam, virus, and phishing protection |
| Support | 24/7 support | 24/7 support | 24/7 support |
| Free domain | Yes, with all plans, for the life of the plan | On Business (tier 2) plan, with annual contract | |
| Learn more | Get IONOS | Get Namecheap | Get Hostinger |
Affordable email plans come with a free domain for the life of your contract
Easily customize your emails with templates, signatures, and more
Free domain: IONOS offers a free domain deal, and all its email hosting plans include a free domain for the life of your contract. Since the plans are inexpensive, this puts IONOS among the cheapest email hosts on the web.
Email templates: Reusable templates can save a lot of time when sending out messages and recurring newsletters. This feature is usually included with pricier mass email marketing services, but IONOS offers it at an affordable price.
Email signature: IONOS allows you to easily create custom email signatures that are automatically added to outbound emails.
Rules to filter emails: The IONOS email hosting plans allow you to organize incoming email messages with one or more rules. You can trigger actions, including moving emails to a specific folder, forwarding them to another address, or marking them as read.
AI email assistant: Although the AI mail assistant is a paid add-on, it might be worth it if you deal with a lot of incoming email or receive or respond to emails in multiple languages. The tool provides summaries, quick replies, and translations in 7 languages. It can also help you rewrite messages until they sound just right.
/images/2025/11/23/ionos_email-basic-plan-inbox-welcome-1.png)
No middle ground on storage: The default storage on the entry-level Basic plan is only 2 GB. This isn’t a problem by itself, since the plan is geared toward basic use, but if you want more, you need to upgrade to the more expensive Business plan with 50 GB per inbox.
Virus protection is a paid add-on on lower-level plans: Although all email hosting plans feature a spam filter, only the third-tier Business plan includes premium antivirus protection.
/images/2025/11/23/ionos_settings-add-rules.png)
We tested the IONOS email hosting Basic plan. It’s automatically included with IONOS’s web hosting, making it a great option if you’re looking for a web and email hosting combo plan.
Accessing the email functionality from our IONOS account was straightforward. After creating an email address and selecting the Basic plan, the setup process was intuitive.
With the basics out of the way, we spent some time in the “Settings” area, testing all the features. We made an email signature, created a template, and set up some basic email filtering rules. All in all, it was a great user experience.
/images/2025/11/23/ionos_create-email-signature.png)
IONOS email is simple to use but still offers high-powered features. Thanks to its free domain name offer, it’s also one of the cheapest email hosting options available. Even though the Basic plan lacks antivirus protection and AI features, that's acceptable given its cost and the generally reasonable IONOS pricing.
IONOS received a high star rating of 4.7 due to its highly intuitive dashboard, comprehensive features for affordable prices, and impressive performance.
Although we had a positive testing experience with IONOS, it received in a lower score in the experience category due to the upsells on various pages of the dashboard. IONOS also lacks built-in content delivery network.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 4.5 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.8 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 4.5 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.9 |
Send up to 1,500 emails per hour and create unlimited inboxes and forwarding aliases
Generous 60-day free trial gives you plenty of time to see if it works for your business
60-day free trial: This generous trial period let us thoroughly test Namecheap's email services, and it gives you more than enough time to do the same.
Upgrade inboxes to infinity: Adding inboxes to Namecheap's plans is simple, and the prices are reasonable. There’s also no cap, so you can scale to effectively unlimited email accounts, though you do have to contact support if you need more than 50.
Document viewer: Namecheap lets you view all your documents in one place, and the email host’s system then selects the best preview mode based on the file type (e.g., .docx, .txt, .ppt, etc.).
Email aliases: Namecheap’s email aliases don’t have their own inbox or storage, but they act as forwarders. For example, you could create info@mywebsite.com and support@mywebsite.com as aliases that route to me@mywebsite.com.
High-capacity sending limits: Where IONOS caps you at 500 emails per hour, Namecheap starts at 500 on its Starter plan, then scales up to 1,000 per hour on Pro, and 1,500 per hour on Ultimate.
/images/2025/11/23/namecheap_email-purchase-confirmation-blurred.png)
No mobile integration on Starter plan: Not being able to sync your email to your phone is inconvenient if your business requires you to be on the go and use both mobile and desktop devices.
Outdated interface: The Namecheap interface feels like it's from 2010 and uses a modified version of Microsoft Outlook. It works, but it’s blocky and ugly. This is a minor issue, but it did stand out during our testing.
/images/2025/11/23/namecheap_access-email-from-dashboard.png)
Namecheap offers a 60-day free trial on all three of its email hosting plans, so we decided to take its lowest tier for a spin, maintaining parity with the entry-level IONOS plan and the Hostinger free plan that we tested.
Overall, the setup process wasn’t difficult, but accessing the email inbox after creating it was a bit of a treasure hunt. We found the link in a dropdown menu, next to a button labeled “Edit Storage,” which doesn’t obviously point to your inbox. Nevertheless, the email inbox did have solid features, which were organized well, even if the design felt a bit dated when compared to Hostinger and IONOS.
/images/2025/11/23/namecheap_email-interface.png)
What Namecheap’s email hosting lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in basic features. You get email signatures, a calendar, a task scheduler, cloud storage, and more. One major missing feature is the lack of AI integration, which both IONOS and Hostinger offer.
Where Namecheap gains ground, though, is in its significantly higher sending limits on the Pro and Ultimate plans. If you prioritize sending large numbers of emails, the lack of AI is an acceptable tradeoff.
Namecheap earned a near-perfect star rating of 4.8 because it provides intuitive setup process (especially for beginners), various hosting types and security features, and reliable performance.
Namecheap's managed WordPress plans are fairly priced, but it uses older generation SSD storage and doesn't offer integrated AI tools.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 5.0 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.6 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 5.0 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.7 |
Grab a free email plan with all Hostinger web hosting plans
Built-in AI features, 10 GB of storage to start, and easy aliases
Free plan with web hosting: Notably, Hostinger offers free email hosting with its web hosting plans. The features are limited compared to the two paid plans, but it’s enough for basic email, and it provides a buffer before you have to buy a plan.
High storage on the tier one plan: The Starter plan gives you 10 GB of storage, which is twice the amount that Namecheap’s Starter plan comes with, and five times the amount provided by the IONOS Basic plan.
AI features: Hostinger allows you to generate email drafts with simple prompts and choose from multiple conversation tones and styles.
Email aliases and forwarders: Given that Hostinger’s plans are priced at one inbox per plan, being able to create aliases and forwarders gives you flexibility to create alternate email addresses, even if they ultimately go to the same inbox.
/images/2025/11/23/hostinger_email-hosting-inside-hpanel.png)
Only 1 GB storage on free plan: It’s tough to nitpick when the price is $0, but being allocated only 1 GB of storage will have you housekeeping your inbox before the free plan even expires. In comparison, the IONOS Basic email hosting plan, which is included for free with its web hosting, gives you 2 GB, and it’s free for as long as you maintain a web hosting plan.
Hostinger ad in email signature on free plan: All emails have “Sent with Hostinger Mail” added to the footer. This would be justifiable for a free trial, but you're paying for web hosting, and they're still making money off of you.
/images/2025/11/23/hostinger_email-interface-inside-hpanel.png)
We used our Hostinger web hosting account to access the free 1-year email plan. Of the three hosts, Hostinger’s setup process was the easiest to follow. Its hPanel color scheme, with deep purple buttons against a white background, made it impossible to get lost.
Once we created our email inbox, we tapped the “Login” button, which opened the email login screen. We entered our credentials and were greeted with a pleasing modern interface.
After skipping through the brief guided tour, we browsed the settings, made an email signature, and spent some time testing the AI feature. It was obvious how much of a time-saver it could be, and particularly so for businesses.
/images/2025/11/23/hostinger_ai-assistant-drafting-email.png)
Of the three cheap email hosts reviewed here, Hostinger provided the best user experience. The downsides mostly relate to the limitations of the free plan, but the paid plans resolve most of these limitations. There are two important exceptions, though: Hostinger’s pricing is based on a single inbox, and AI features are available only on the Business Premium plan. This makes Hostinger best for users with a single inbox.
Hostinger earned a near-perfect star rating of 4.5 because its user-friendly and comprehensive, provides reliable performance, and affordable for small- to medium-sized businesses.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 5.0 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.2 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 5.0 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.9 |
Email hosting and web hosting are related services with different purposes. Email hosting provides you with professional email addresses (like name@website.com) with inbox management, spam filtering, and storage.
Web hosting services store your website files and make them accessible to visitors online so they can access your website. Cheap email services focus purely on email functionality, while web hosting plans prioritize website performance, storage, and bandwidth.
Some hosting providers bundle both services, letting you manage your site and email in one place with fewer login details and a single support team. With that said, they’re two distinct types of hosting, even when they are bundled for convenience.
Looking at business email costs, cheap email hosting ranges from $0 to $6 per mailbox per month for basic plans. Zoho offers a free option that supports up to five users per domain, with 5 GB of storage per user, but it restricts you to web access (with no IMAP, POP, or ActiveSync support), limits you to a single custom email domain, and requires you to pay for the domain.
If you do need email client access (such as IMAP/POP) or more features, then the budget winners are IONOS and Namecheap. IONOS starts at $5.00/mo, while Namecheap kicks off at $9.88/mo.
In the $2 to $3 range, most low-cost email hosts offer more mailboxes, better storage, and modern AI features. At $6, you can expect premium virus protection, team collaboration tools, and enough storage that you won’t have to think about it.
We tested several cheap email hosts before narrowing our selection down to IONOS Hosting, Namecheap, and Hostinger. We tested some, like IONOS and Hostinger, through their web hosting plans, which include email hosting. For others, like Namecheap, we took advantage of free trial periods. We also tested using some of our personal accounts.
As part of our research, we took into consideration how much each host charges and what they provide in return, including:
To learn more about how we test, check out our full testing methodology here.
IONOS is the best cheap email hosting service for most users, starting at just $5.00/mo with a free domain name included for the entire duration of your contract. This makes it one of the most cost-effective options on the market, especially for individuals and small businesses with modest email needs.
The Basic plan gives you IMAP/POP access, mobile sync, and essential features like email templates and customizable signatures — and all without breaking the bank.
Namecheap comes in as a close runner-up at $9.88/mo and is the better choice if you need to send high volumes of email. It also offers substantial inbox scaling and a generous 60-day free trial.
The interface isn't as modern as IONOS or Hostinger, but the functionality is solid. If your business relies on bulk email sending or you need to manage multiple inboxes, Namecheap's higher sending limits make it worth the slightly dated design.
The cheapest email hosting service we recommend is IONOS, which offers a free domain for the life of your email hosting contract. That said, other providers do offer free email hosting with paid domains.
Email hosting generally isn’t that expensive, but there are some relatively costly plans on the market. Email hosts that charge higher prices do so because they give you more than just email, including anything from top-tier security protection to a full suite of office tools (such as spreadsheet- and document-editing tools).
Yes, you can get free email hosting with IONOS, which has cheap, high-quality plans and includes a free domain for the life of the plan. Other providers offer free email hosting, but you still need to pay for a domain.
It depends on the provider, but cheap email hosting is generally secure. The key is to check each host's security offerings and look for features like spam filtering, phishing protection, end-to-end encryption, and two-factor authentication. If a service doesn't mention security, that's a red flag, but reputable budget email hosts generally include these features.
Very affordable plans, both during the introductory period and on renewal
Excellent server speed and reliability
Managed WordPress hosting plans include guided setup through the WordPress Cockpit and its AI site builder
/images/2024/12/10/square-online-review.png)
/images/2025/04/22/canva_website_builder_review.jpg)
/images/2025/11/23/best_cheap_web_hosting_services.png)
/images/2025/11/23/understanding_error_code_522__why_it_happens_and_how_to_fix_it.png)
/images/2025/11/24/bluehost_vs._ionos___which_is_the_best_for_your_website_.png)
/images/2025/11/23/namecheap_vs._bluehost___the_steak_knife_or_the_swiss_army_knife_.png)
/images/2025/11/23/cheap_minecraft_server_hosting_providers.png)
/images/2025/11/23/cheap_email_hosting_services.png)
/authors/martin-dubovic-headshot.jpg){kind=small}
/authors/michael-simon-headshot.jpg){kind=small}
/images/2025/09/24/logo_ionos_blue_rgb.png){kind=logo}
/images/2025/09/24/logo_ionos_blue_rgb.png){kind=logo}
/images/2025/09/24/namecheap_logo.svg.png){kind=logo}
/images/2024/12/05/hostinger-logo-horizontal.png){kind=logo}
/authors/martin-dubovic-headshot.jpg)