While your free Gmail or Outlook account may be perfect for your personal needs, it simply won’t cut it when it comes to your business email – no matter how large or small your enterprise or project is. These email services aren’t bad by any means – they just aren’t sufficient for your business or personal brand.
But why do you need specific email hosting for your company, startup or growing side hustle? Not only do these premium email hosting services provide better security and anti-spam protection, but they also allow you to create a custom email address you can use to market your brand, establish legitimacy, and reassure customers that you’re the real deal.
Keen to learn more? Just keep reading to discover everything you need to know about email hosting, including what it is, why you need it, the types of email hosting on offer, and how to choose the right email hosting provider for you.
What is email hosting?
If you're asking yourself ‘what is email hosting?’, you've come to the right place.
In simple terms, email hosting is a service that allows you to send, receive, and store emails on a server owned or operated by a hosting provider – like Fasthosts. For example, if you’re a business and you use an email hosting service, all the associated messages and files your company exchanges over email are stored on this separate mail server.
Unlike free webmail platforms like Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo, hosted email services allow you to use a custom domain name (like you@yourcompany.com), which will boost professionalism, brand visibility, and brand trust.
Email hosting vs web hosting
Despite their similarities, email hosting and web hosting are two different services – although they’re often bundled together.
Whereas email hosting involves the provision of server space to send, receive and store emails, web hosting involves the provision of server space to store website files and data, which allows your website to be accessible on the internet. Since you’ll likely need both a website and a custom email address if you have a business, many business owners choose to get their web hosting and email hosting services from the same provider – often within the same bundle. For example, here at Fasthosts, our web hosting customers can get multiple free email addresses depending on the package they choose, in addition to multiple free domains to create these custom emails.
Choosing a bundle deal like this is often a great way to keep your monthly costs down, especially if you own a smaller business and only need a more basic email hosting package. Because you’re already renting server space from a hosting provider, it’s easy to add email storage space onto your hosting plan without a big price increase. Plus, you may find it easier to manage your website, domain name and email address all from one place.
However, if you’re not attracted to the convenience of a hosting with email bundle, you can choose to purchase your hosted email separately from your web hosting and domain name. This may be the best option for you if you’re looking for lots of storage space and advanced email hosting features – such as the 100GB mailboxes and enhanced productivity tools you can get with a Fasthosts Exchange Email Hosting plan!
Why do you need business email hosting?
So, why is email hosting important? You may be wondering why you can’t just use your free personal email from Gmail or Yahoo to keep costs down during the initial setup of your business, but here’s why you should hit the ground running with a professional custom email address from day one:
1. Professional business image
Creating a bespoke business email domain (i.e., you@yourcompany.com) will clearly indicate to any current (or prospective) customers that you take your company seriously. A free email solution with a generic domain like @gmail or @outlook may give the impression that you don’t want to invest in your business or aren’t serious about your long-term goals. Make a good impression from the very start with professional business email hosting.
2. Legitimacy
Similarly, the right email address will speak to the legitimacy of your organisation. Customers are rightly concerned about the possibility of being tricked by someone posing as a business, so if they notice an @hotmail.com or @gmail.com email address, they may be put off for fear of encountering a scam. Therefore, a branded email domain can improve customer trust and reinforce your credibility.
3. Better security and spam protection
Paid email hosting providers usually offer more robust security measures than free equivalents on the market, including features such as two-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption, DMARC and SPF protocols, advanced spam filters, and malware scanning. This means you can both protect your business from data breaches and protect your customers’ data, which will then further improve customer trust and brand reputation.
Advanced spam filters will help keep your inboxes clear of harmful messages, and at the same time, the enhanced security offered by your paid email host will make it much less likely for scammers to breach your defenses and start sending spam from your email address. Plus, since your customers will recognise your custom email address, they’ll be much less likely to accidentally mark your legitimate emails as spam, potentially leading to a higher email open rate.
4. Data protection compliance
Thanks to the higher level of security offered by paid email hosting services, you’ll find it much easier to comply with essential data protection regulations like the GDPR. If you work in an industry where you handle sensitive customer data, such as payment details or financial, medical or legal information, it’s even more vital that you choose a robust email hosting solution with clearly defined security features and 24/7 support.
5. Marketing your brand
Another core advantage of paid business email is the extra visibility it gives your brand name. Think of your hosted email as a very low-cost marketing tool – by reminding recipients of your company name with every email you send, your business email hosting will help to solidify your brand image and reputation.
6. Team collaboration tools
Depending on the type of email hosting service you choose, you may also get lots of extra features in your package that make it easier for your team to collaborate effectively – even if you work 100% remotely. For example, Fasthosts Exchange Email gives you access to online productivity tools like shared folders and calendars, and if you’re looking for an even more advanced email solution for your business, you can choose our Microsoft 365 Hosting to get all of your favourite Microsoft apps (including Word, Teams and Excel), plus up to 1TB OneDrive cloud storage.
Types of email hosting services
As mentioned above, you can choose from a variety of different email hosting services depending on your budget, the resources and storage space you need, and the extra features you want (e.g., productivity tools like shared calendars). Understanding the different types of email hosting can help you choose the solution that best fits your needs, so let’s take a look at the main ones below:
1. Shared email hosting
This is a cheap email hosting solution where multiple users share the same server resources. It's cost-effective since server costs can be split across many customers, but the downside is that you may experience limitations in performance, storage space and security. However, if you’ve currently got a tight budget and only need a small amount of storage, this could be a great place to start.
2. Dedicated email hosting
Dedicated email hosting gives you exclusive access to your own server – as the name suggests, it’s dedicated to you. These email hosting plans offer better performance, storage, features and security, but at a higher cost.
3. Cloud email hosting
Cloud email hosting utilises the provider’s cloud infrastructure to deliver computing resources and storage over the internet. Since you share virtual space with other users, you’ll benefit from lower costs compared to dedicated email hosting, in addition to enhanced scalability and flexibility as server load can be shared across the cloud network.
4. VPS email hosting
Instead of hosting your email on an entire physical server (dedicated email hosting) or utilising the cloud (which can sometimes come with data protection issues), you can choose to host your email on a virtual private server (VPS). This is a single virtual compartment within a physical server, which means you save on costs by sharing with other customers but still benefit from greater performance, security and storage space thanks to your virtual isolation.
5. Hosted Exchange Email
Exchange Email is a Microsoft email hosting solution offering advanced features like shared calendars, contacts and tasks, which is ideal for businesses requiring robust collaboration tools for more efficient remote work. Many email hosting providers – like Fasthosts – offer Exchange Email hosting packages that are designed specifically for the needs of businesses large and small. If you’re looking for professional business email hosting, this type of service should be at the top of your list.
6. Microsoft 365 email hosting
Another great email hosting option for businesses is Microsoft 365 email hosting. This service combines email hosting with productivity tools like Word, Excel and Teams, and is fantastic for businesses seeking an integrated solution for their email and remote collaboration needs.
What to look for in an email hosting provider
Once you know what kind of email hosting service you’re looking for, you can start searching for the right email web host offering this service. There are so many domain hosting, web hosting and email hosting providers out there, so make sure you use the following criteria to find a host you can trust with your business’s and customers’ vital data:
1. Sufficient resources and storage space
Before you get started with your search, evaluate your business’s current needs in terms of email storage space and productivity tools. Do you need an integrated email and productivity tools solution? How much storage do you currently need to support your email needs – accounting for future growth?
Remember to always consider the projected growth of your business before choosing an email hosting plan that may be too restrictive for you. You’ll need to balance the cost of a more advanced email hosting plan with the positives associated with investing in your business’s growth.
2. Easy-to-use GUI
This is most relevant for email hosting beginners, but everyone will benefit from an intuitive, easy-to-use GUI (graphical user interface) that makes it super simple for you to manage your emails. Does your chosen email web host offer their own control panel for their email hosting and/or web hosting plans, or do they offer popular solutions like cPanel instead? If you’re familiar with an option like cPanel, it may be best to find a provider that offers this, or if you’re choosing a provider with their own control panel software, make sure you check out some tutorials that show you how to use the GUI before making your decision. Email management could become a real headache if you pick an email web host with a frustrating GUI, so choose carefully.
3. Custom domain support
As discussed earlier, creating a custom email address with your business’s domain name is crucial for establishing business legitimacy and reputation, as well as marketing your brand and building customer trust and loyalty. Therefore, it’s vital that you choose an email hosting plan that offers custom domain support.
4. Security
Not only is it important to protect your business’s data, but protecting customer data is essential for maintaining customer loyalty and complying with data protection regulations in your industry. Always evaluate the security features offered by email providers to see if they’re robust enough for your needs. For example, do they offer two-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption, malware scanning and other security measures? If in doubt, discuss your security concerns with their customer support team before you purchase a plan.
5. Spam protection
Similarly, you’ll need to evaluate your chosen email host’s anti-spam measures to ensure your inboxes stay spam-free. Having effective spam filters is about more than just removing the annoyance of spam emails – it’s about flagging even the most sophisticated phishing emails to keep your business safe from scammers.
You should also ensure that there are robust outgoing spam filters in place too. This will help you immediately identify if a hacker has compromised one of your inboxes and is sending out spam using your company email – which could be very damaging to your reputation.
6. Backups
Email backups are crucial for protecting your data in the event of a cyber attack or technical issue. Your email hosting provider should offer a simple way for you to implement automatic or manual backups for your peace of mind.
For extra security and disaster recovery capabilities, your hosting account should ideally come with an offsite backup system. This means every inbox will be backed up and the data will be sent to a remote server in a different data centre, ensuring that no data will be lost.
Cloud backup is a great way to store vital data in a secure, offsite location. To learn more about cloud backup and data backup best practices (including the popular 3-2-1 rule for data security), check out our ‘What is cloud backup?’ blog post.
7. Reliable uptime
Uptime refers to the amount of time a service or system is running without any interruptions or downtime. Naturally, if you’re dealing with a lot of emails, you’ll want your email hosting services to have the highest uptime possible – ensuring you can send all the emails you need and receive all important communications in good time.
When looking for an email hosting provider (and/or a web hosting provider), always choose a company with a clear uptime guarantee of at least 99%. Here at Fasthosts, our servers offer an exceptional 99.99% uptime guarantee, which is enshrined in our service level agreement (SLA).
8. Scalability
It’s important to balance affordability with your future growth plans. If you’re starting out as a solo entrepreneur or running a small business, you’ll likely be looking at cheaper email hosting plans with fewer resources and less storage space. This may seem like a smart move, but consider whether your business is likely to grow significantly in the coming months and years. At this stage, you’ll need to upgrade your email hosting service and storage, so it’s best to choose an email web host that offers plenty of scalability for you to upgrade your service as needed, or allows you to easily switch to one of their more advanced plans. Considering this early on can help you avoid a lot of headaches later down the line.
9. Webmail access
You’ll usually access your business emails through a client application, but what if you need to access them on the go or using a device that isn’t your own? In this case, it’s essential that your email hosting plan has Webmail access, which means that you can access your inbox via a browser if you don’t have access to the client application. This is especially important for those who frequently travel and don’t always have access to their desktop.
10. 24/7 support
When you’re running a business, any downtime or interruptions can seriously impact your productivity, profits, and customer experience. Downtime and technical issues can’t always be avoided, so when you encounter a problem with your email service, you need reliable, competent, around-the-clock customer support from your email host.
The level of support on offer should be highlighted on the provider’s website, but if you want to quickly check their responsiveness yourself, contact their customer support team with some initial queries and see how prompt and helpful they are.
11. Reviews and testimonials
Another thing you can easily check yourself is the email host’s reputation. Online reviews and testimonials aren’t always 100% trustworthy, but by checking out multiple review sites (and not just the main company website), you can start to see the bigger picture regarding the provider’s main pros and cons. Are there any key issues repeatedly being flagged that would be a deal breaker for you? If so, you may need to continue your search.
12. Fair pricing
This almost goes without saying, but if the price isn’t right, you may need to look elsewhere. However, don’t fall into the trap of just picking the cheapest option you can find. These services are often cheap for a reason, and if you want the best customer service, robust security and advanced email and productivity features, you may need to spend a bit more. After all, investing in your email service (within your budget) is part of investing in your business’s future growth!
Before making your decision, take some time to compare the features and prices offered by different companies to see which ones offer the best deals. With a bit of research, you’ll be able to get the resources and features you want for the most reasonable price.
13. Extras like money-back guarantees
During your price comparison research, make sure you take into account extra features like money-back guarantees. If you’re nervous about the cost of a more advanced email hosting service, you can always try it out for a month or so if there’s a money-back guarantee, and this will allow you to test whether you really want to invest the extra cash to get more email storage or advanced productivity and collaboration tools.
Another great feature offered by some email hosts is the ability to pay less for a certain number of months, giving you more time to really evaluate whether the service is right for you before you start paying the full amount. For example, here at Fasthosts, our Standard Email customers will only pay £1 per month for the first 12 months, and our Microsoft 365 customers can test out this service for just £1 per user for the first month!
14. Bundled hosting services
Another way to keep costs down is to bundle your email hosting services with your web hosting. If you’re starting a business or personal project, you’ll need your own website and domain name anyway in order to create your custom email address, so bundling these services together is a no-brainer. Plus, when you choose a hosting bundle, you’ll be able to manage your website, domain and email services all from the same control panel, making website and email management a breeze!
Interested in a ‘hosting with an email’ bundle? Check out our Fasthosts Web Hosting services to get at least one free domain and email address included in our affordable packages, or get 5 free domains and 8 free email addresses with our Pro package – perfect for hosting multiple client websites!
Why choose Fasthosts for email hosting?
Fasthosts provides some of the best-value, high-performance email hosting solutions in the UK. Don’t believe us? Take a look at some of our amazing email hosting packages:
Cheap email hosting
- Starting at budget-friendly prices of £1 per month for the first 12 months
- Great for freelancers, personal use or side projects
- 2GB of storage and anti-spam protection
Professional business email
- Perfect for SMEs and teams
- Enhanced reliability, larger inboxes, 24/7 UK support
Exchange Email hosting
- Premium solution for businesses needing advanced functionality
- Shared calendars, contacts and superior syncing
Microsoft 365
- Full access to Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams
- Ideal for businesses already using Microsoft tools
Each plan comes with easy setup, expert support and flexible upgrade options, giving your business or side project all the room it needs to grow. Visit our main Email Hosting page for more information, or contact customer support at any time for answers to all your questions.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need email hosting?
Whether you’re starting a business or establishing a side hustle or personal project, you’ll need email hosting to help you manage your inbox and create a professional email address separate from your personal email – ideally using your domain name. This will improve organisation and management, establish legitimacy, improve customer trust, and market your personal or business brand.
What’s the difference between email hosting and web hosting?
Web hosting and email hosting are often bundled together, but they’re actually two separate services targeting different areas. The helpful table below shows you the main similarities and differences between these two hosting services:
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Email Hosting |
Web Hosting |
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| Purpose |
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| Services |
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| Domain integration |
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| Can it be bundled? |
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