The 6 best email hosting services in the UK in 2026

Updated on 8 Jun 2026

Not every business needs a website on day one. But even a sole trader working from a kitchen table looks more established with a branded email address than with a Gmail account. Standalone email hosting lets you register a domain and set up you@yourbusiness.co.uk without buying web hosting you don't need yet. And if you do build a site later, the email address comes with you.

At the other end of the scale, larger businesses sometimes want email on a separate domain from their website – a dedicated address for support enquiries, a second brand or an internal team that sits outside the main company domain. Standalone email hosting handles that without touching your existing web hosting setup.

In between, there's the most common reason – you've outgrown the basic mailbox that came bundled with your web hosting. You need more storage, shared calendars, Outlook integration or the ability to add team members without upgrading your entire hosting plan. That's where a standalone email hosting provider earns its keep.

But the big question is often which email hosting provider to go with.

How we assessed each provider

We evaluated these 6 email hosting services against 5 criteria – starting price (including introductory vs renewal pricing), mailbox storage on the entry-level plan, UK data centre availability, support channels and hours, and the upgrade path to Exchange or Microsoft 365. Where possible, we cross-referenced Trustpilot review scores and read recent customer feedback on email-specific issues. 

Below we've noted where our first-hand knowledge gives us more detail than we have for competitors.

Quick comparison: Top email hosting providers for UK customers

Best email hosting providers in the UK

1. Fasthosts: Best email hosting UK (overall)

Topline stats:

• Ratings: 17,742 as of April 2026 (Trustpilot)
• Best for: Everyone (from beginners to advanced users, including UK small businesses, developers and agencies)
• Price: From £1/month for the first 12 months
• Data centre locations: UK, Germany, Spain, France, US
• Web hosting integration: Yes – email included in web hosting services

Archie & James provided excellent customer service. I had email issues with another provider and they seamlessly switched me to a Fasthosts mailbox. Fasthosts have always provided a professional service and you get human support services rather than an AI bot.

– Roger, Trustpilot, 12 February 2026

We offer powerful email hosting for individuals, teams and growing businesses alike, with various different plans available to suit your unique needs and preferences, including:

• Standard Professional Email Hosting
• Cheap Professional Email Hosting
• Microsoft Exchange Email
• Microsoft 365
• Professional Business Email Hosting

Looking for the best email hosting service for small businesses? You can opt for our cheap email hosting deals starting from just £1 per month. However, if you need up to 100GB mailboxes, shared calendars, productivity tools, antivirus and anti-spam protection, a custom domain, and the ability to support multiple users for your growing business, you can easily upgrade to our more advanced Exchange Email packages whenever you need.

Moving from Standard Email to Exchange or Microsoft 365 takes a few clicks in the control panel. You keep your address and, more importantly, your data stays in the same UK-based data centres. Upgrade flexibility, combined with pricing that starts at £1/month, is what puts Fasthosts ahead for many UK users. Choose Fasthosts for endless ways to customise and upgrade your email hosting plan to suit your needs, without compromising on security, low latency or availability. Fasthosts guarantees 99.99% uptime, which can be verified by visiting our status page.

Pros:

• Standard Email: 5x 2GB mailboxes with webmail, IMAP/POP3
• Exchange Basic: 5GB mailbox with Outlook Web Access (increasing to 100GB mailbox for Exchange Pro)
• Office 365: 50GB inboxes, full MS Office apps, 1TB OneDrive cloud storage
• UK data centres (minimal latency and GDPR-compliant)
• 24/7 UK-based support via phone, chat, and email
• Built-in virus/spam protection and spoof filtering

Cons:

• Standard plan mailbox size (2GB) may be limiting for some
• Some advanced features require upgrading to Exchange or 365

Fasthosts manages over 1.1 million domain names and has more than 580,000 customer mailboxes hosted on their UK data centres. We’ve held an ISO 27001 certification since 2017 and run our Tier IV data centre in Worcester on 100% renewable energy.

2. Hostinger: Affordable and high-storage

Topline stats:

• Ratings: 66,138 as of April 2026 (Trustpilot)
• Best for: Beginners
• Price: From £0.39/month per mailbox for a 48-month term
• Data centre locations: UK, US, Brazil, France, Germany, Lithuania, India
• Web hosting integration: Yes – email included in web hosting services

Hostinger provides one of the cheapest ways to host professional email, with large mailbox sizes up to 50GB and simple management tools ideal for small businesses or freelancers. With prices starting from just £0.39 per month per mailbox, Hostinger has quickly become a favourite among individuals and small businesses looking for affordable email hosting solutions. Hostinger's high review count reflects its global scale, though many of those reviews relate to web hosting rather than standalone email.

However, whilst it’s possible to upgrade your email hosting service to access more storage and advanced features, there are far fewer options compared to other email providers. Its email service doesn't include Exchange or Microsoft 365 integration, which limits options for businesses that rely on shared calendars or Outlook.

Pros:

• Starting from £0.39/month/mailbox
• 10 - 50GB mailbox storage
• Free domain included with some plans
• Anti-spam filtering and antivirus scanning
• Easy management dashboard with 99.9% uptime

Cons:

• Fewer options compared to Fasthosts (e.g., no Exchange email) – may be harder to scale for larger business operations
• No phone support – live chat only
• Lacks integrated productivity tools like Zoho or Microsoft 365

3. IONOS: Secure UK email hosting

Topline stats:

• Ratings: 39,121 as of April 2026 (Trustpilot)
• Best for: Most customers, but especially more experienced users or growing businesses
• Price: From £1/month (excl. VAT) for the first 12 months
• Data centre locations: UK, Germany, Spain, France, US
• Web hosting integration: Yes – email included in web hosting services

IONOS offers a great balance between performance, value and support. Customers can choose the features and storage they need according to their requirements and budget, and they can also opt for more advanced plans like Exchange email and Microsoft 365 if they need features like calendar and productivity tool integrations. What’s more, the IONOS personal consultant feature gives users a named contact for setup and issues, which is ideal for less technical users.

On the other hand, some customers have reported issues with the IONOS interface feeling outdated and not as user-friendly as competitors, so this may not be the best choice for total beginners.

Pros:

• UK-based data centres
• From £1/month excl. VAT (with free domain)
• 2 - 50GB mailbox options
• Built-in spam/virus filtering
• Free domain and domain-based email addresses
• “Personal Consultant” 1-on-1 guidance

Cons:

• Mail client setup (SPF/DKIM) can be more complex than others
• Past users have reported reliability concerns during peak times

4. Zoho Mail: Best free plan with business features

Topline stats:

• Ratings: Not on Trustpilot, but the Zoho CRM is
• Best for: Those looking for standalone email services
• Price: From £0.80/user/month
• Data centre locations: US, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Japan, Australia
• Web hosting integration: No – email only

Zoho Mail works well for a team of 2 - 5 people who already use Zoho CRM and want their inbox, contacts and deal pipeline in one place. If you're not already in the Zoho ecosystem, the lack of Microsoft integration and the absence of a UK data centre (the nearest is Ireland) may be dealbreakers for businesses handling sensitive UK customer data.

Pros:

• Affordable – from £0.80/user/month
• Integrated calendar, contacts and tasks
• Access via webmail, IMAP/POP3, mobile apps

Cons:

• No UK data centre (but one located nearby in Ireland) – primarily hosted in the US or India
• Limited support – web/email only unless on enterprise plans
• Fewer integrations with Microsoft ecosystem

5. SiteGround: Great for web and email hosting in one place

Topline stats:

• Ratings: 3,418 as of April 2026 (Trustpilot)
• Best for: Email and web hosting beginners looking for a simple integrated solution
• Price: From £2.99/month excl. VAT
• Data centre locations: UK, US, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia
• Web hosting integration: Yes – email included in web hosting services, but no standalone email service

SiteGround is popular for its managed WordPress hosting services, but it also offers solid email tools as part of its web hosting plans. This is great for users who want their website and email handled together. But unlike competitors like Fasthosts and IONOS, SiteGround doesn’t offer a standalone email hosting service in addition to their bundled website and email hosting, which reduces its overall flexibility.

Despite this issue with flexibility, SiteGround does have a lot to offer in terms of value for money (thanks to its integration with web hosting) and strong security features like SSL-encrypted connections and daily backups. However, if you want more advanced email features and integrations with productivity tools, you may want to consider a standalone email hosting service rather than a basic integrated one.

Pros:

• 10GB mailbox size with hosting plan
• SpamExperts filtering included
• Webmail access (RoundCube)
• UK data centre option available
• 24/7 support via phone, chat and ticket

Cons:

• No dedicated email-only plan – must buy web hosting
• Limited scalability compared to dedicated email hosting
• No native calendar/contact syncing

6. Simply Webmail: Basic, budget-friendly email hosting

Topline stats:

• Ratings: 9,750 as of April 2026 (Trustpilot)
• Best for: Those looking for cheap, basic email hosting
• Price: From €0.30/month for the first year
• Data centre locations: Denmark (with name servers in Denmark, UK and Belgium)
• Web hosting integration: No – email only

Simply Webmail costs €0.30/month for the first year, making it the cheapest option on this list by a wide margin. For a sole trader who needs a single branded mailbox for client correspondence, that's a reasonable deal. You get webmail access, IMAP/POP3 support and basic spam filtering.

Simply does support calendar and contact syncing through CalDAV and CardDAV, which are open standards that work with Apple Mail, Thunderbird and most Android calendar apps. But you'll need to configure the server URLs and credentials manually on each device, and Outlook may require a third-party plugin to connect. That's a long way from the plug-and-play experience you get with Exchange or Microsoft 365, where calendars and contacts sync automatically the moment you sign in. If shared calendars or mobile push notifications are part of your workflow, the setup effort here probably isn't worth the savings. 

Pros:

• 1GB storage
• Basic webmail interface
• Spam/virus filtering
• Supports IMAP/POP3
• Low yearly pricing

Cons:

• No productivity tools or business features
• No UK data centre
• Limited support and no phone assistance
• No bundled domain or advanced security tools

Looking for the best email hosting service in the UK that offers maximum reliability, 24/7 support and flexible plans suited to all your needs? Check out the Professional Email deals available at Fasthosts!

Whether you’re launching your first website, managing client projects or planning to rapidly scale your business operations, Fasthosts has something for everyone. Choose from a wide range of email hosting plans – including Exchange email, Microsoft 365 and more – to find your perfect match.

Explore our unmissable deals today, or get in touch for personalised support and expert advice during your email host search.