Free email from Gmail or Yahoo costs nothing and works well for personal use. For a business, an address at your own domain, such as [email protected], looks more trustworthy, stays yours when staff change, and can be authenticated so your mail reaches inboxes. This guide compares free email with the two kinds of email hosting Domain India offers, and helps you choose.
Use free email for personal mail and sign-ups. For a business, use an address at your own domain. Domain India gives you two ways to get one: the mailboxes included with shared hosting plans, and Business Email, a separate mail platform at ₹60 per mailbox per month with webmail, calendar, contacts, tasks and DKIM signing on every message. Business Email works with a domain registered anywhere, even without hosting.
1. The three options side by side
| Feature | Free email (Gmail, Yahoo) | Email with your hosting plan | Domain India Business Email |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your address | [email protected] | [email protected] | [email protected] |
| Cost | Free | Included with the hosting plan | ₹60 per mailbox per month |
| Runs on | The provider's platform | The same server as your website | A dedicated mail platform, separate from your website |
| Number of addresses | One per account | A set number per plan | As many mailboxes as you pay for, from one |
| Calendar and contacts | Yes | Depends on the control panel | Yes: calendar, contacts and tasks, syncing to phones and Outlook |
| Sending authentication for your domain | Not possible for your own domain | Managed in the control panel | DKIM on every message; SPF and DMARC records provided |
| Largest message | 25 MB attachments on Gmail | 50 MB on cPanel and DirectAdmin | 100 MB |
Prices are Domain India list prices on 19 September 2026, excluding 18% GST.
2. Why a business needs its own domain for email
Trust. An invoice from [email protected] looks like it came from a business. The same invoice from [email protected] looks like it could have come from anyone, and customers who have heard of payment scams notice the difference.
Ownership. You control every address on your domain. When an employee leaves, you change the password or remove the mailbox, and the address keeps working for the business. A free address belongs to whoever opened it.
Addresses that describe the job. info@, sales@, support@ and accounts@ tell customers where to write, and each can go to the right person.
Your address survives a change of provider. If you move to another email service, you point your domain's records at it and keep the same address. With a free address, changing provider means changing the address.
3. Deliverability: getting mail into inboxes
Receiving mail servers check whether a message really comes from the domain it claims. Three DNS records do that job:
- SPF lists the servers allowed to send mail for your domain.
- DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each message.
- DMARC tells receivers what to do when those checks fail.
With your own domain, you publish these records and your mail is authenticated. With a free address, you can only send through the provider's own servers; your website's contact form or a newsletter tool can't send as [email protected] and pass these checks. Gmail and Yahoo now expect authentication from anyone who sends in volume, so this matters more every year.
For the details, see email deliverability with SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
4. Option 1: the email included with hosting
Every Domain India shared hosting plan includes mailboxes at your domain, managed from your control panel. The number depends on the plan: for example, cPanel Starter includes 10 email accounts and DirectAdmin Starter includes 5.
It is a good fit for a small business that already hosts its website with us and needs a few addresses. Keep in mind:
- It shares the server with your website. It is intended for everyday business mail, not newsletters.
- Sending limits apply: 200 messages per hour per account on cPanel, and 1,000 per day (200 per mailbox by default) on DirectAdmin.
- Webmail opens at
https://yourdomain.com/webmailon cPanel and DirectAdmin; see how to log in to webmail.
5. Option 2: Domain India Business Email
Business Email is a separate mail platform for businesses that rely on email. It runs independently of any website, so it works whether your site is hosted with us, somewhere else or nowhere at all.
Business Email costs ₹60 per mailbox per month, starting from a single mailbox, with every feature on every mailbox. Longer billing terms are discounted at checkout. Messages can be up to 100 MB. Incoming mail is checked for spam, which is filed to your Junk folder, and scanned for viruses.
Good to know before you choose:
- IMAP only. POP3 and Exchange ActiveSync are not offered.
- Storage is not sold in gigabytes, so there is no fixed quota figure to compare.
- Office apps are not included. If you need documents, spreadsheets and video meetings from the same provider, a full office suite such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is the better fit.
- Where it runs: the Business Email servers are in the EU.
When the domain's records point to Business Email, webmail opens at https://mail.yourdomain.com:8443/. The records you need are listed in the client area; see Business Email DNS records.
- Priced per mailbox - start with one
- Email at your own domain ([email protected])
- Add and remove mailboxes yourself
- Webmail with calendar, contacts and tasks
6. Which one should you choose?
- Email is how customers and suppliers reach you
- You want calendar and contacts that sync to your phone
- Your website is hosted elsewhere, or you have no website yet
- You want mail to keep working whatever happens to your website
- You already host your site with us and need a few addresses
- Your team sends ordinary business mail, not bulk mail
- You don't need a shared calendar or contacts
- You want the lowest cost, since mailboxes come with the plan
Free email remains fine for personal mail, testing and signing up for online services. Just don't make it the address on your invoices and business cards.
7. Moving from free email to your own domain
- Get a domain.Register one, or use a domain you already own. A .in costs ₹575 for the first year and a .com ₹1,150.
- Choose where your email lives.Your hosting plan's mailboxes, or Business Email.
- Create the mailboxesin your control panel or the Business Email console.
- Publish the DNS records.Add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records wherever your domain's DNS is managed, and remove old MX records. See how to set up MX records.
- Connect your deviceswith IMAP and SMTP settings, or use webmail.
- Move old mail and tell people.Keep the old free account for a few months and forward it to your new address, and update your website, invoices and business cards. For Business Email, our support team can help move existing messages and folders from your current provider.
What is the difference between email hosting and free email?
Free email gives you an address at the provider's domain, such as [email protected]. Email hosting gives you addresses at your own domain, such as [email protected], which you control, can authenticate with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and keep if you change provider.
How much does Domain India Business Email cost?
₹60 per mailbox per month, excluding 18% GST, at Domain India list prices on 19 September 2026. You can start with a single mailbox, and every feature is included on every mailbox.
Do I need Domain India hosting to use Business Email?
No. Business Email is a standalone product and works with a domain registered anywhere. You add a few DNS records at your domain's DNS provider and your mail moves across.
Does shared hosting include email?
Yes. Every Domain India shared hosting plan includes mailboxes at your domain, managed from the control panel. The number depends on the plan; for example, cPanel Starter includes 10 email accounts.
Can I use Outlook or my phone with Business Email?
Yes. Business Email uses IMAP and SMTP over TLS, so Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, iPhone and Android all connect with standard settings. You can create a separate app password for each device. POP3 is not offered.
Will my emails go to spam if I use my own domain?
Mail from your own domain is less likely to be treated as spam when your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are published correctly. Business Email signs every message with DKIM and gives you the exact SPF and DMARC records for your domain.
Ready to use your own domain for email? Search for a name at domain registration, see Business Email, or compare cPanel hosting plans with mailboxes included.
Webmail, calendar, contacts and DKIM signing on every mailbox, from ₹60 per mailbox per month.
See Business Email