Email is the most important online service you use — it’s essential
your online passport, used to login to most apps you use — but it’s
often the most neglected. Sure, we check our email all the time, but how
much time did you put into finding the best place to keep your email?
Have you ever thought about the possibility of needing to switch email
services, and how much that would affect your life?
Now’s the time to think about it. Let’s take a look at the best email services out there today, and how you use them to make sure you never lose all of your email. And perhaps, you’ll find an email service that you like even better than you’re using right now.
Remember the first email account you had, likely an old Hotmail or Aol. account, or a company or school account, or possibly an email account from your ISP? Do you still use it today? Odds are, you don’t. And while Gmail is ubiquitous today, it’s actually only been around since 2004. 10 years from today, who’s to say what the dominant email provider will be.
When you rely on email for as many things as most of us do today, you need to make sure it’ll be around for the long haul. The best way to do that is to use your own domain for email. That way, no matter what service you use, you can get your email — and you can always switch to another service in the future if you want, without having to change your email address.
If you don’t have your own domain name, you should go ahead and invest in one. It’ll only cost around $10/year from most registrars, and you can find a nice one easily with apps like Domainr. Then, you can get email at yourname@yourdomain.com, and never worry again about having to switch emails.
Of course, if you have your own domain — or are running the email for your company — then you already know this, and just want to find the best place to host your email today. That’s what’s next.
I know, I know: we just derided Gmail, and said the free option is gone. It is — though there’s a semi-official way
to get a single email address on your own domain for free via Google’s
App Engine, and that’s one of the best options still if you’re just
wanting to use email yourself on your own email address. You’ll need to
make an App Engine account, add your domain to the account, and then
you’ll get a single Google Apps account with your domain. Not simple,
but worth it if you really want the Gmail experience.
Beyond that, Google Apps cost $5/month for each user or email address you use on your domain. For that, you get everything you’d expect from Gmail and Google Drive, but with 25Gb of storage and real support. If you’re someone who’s ever said you’d pay for Gmail, here’s your chance — this time, with your own domain, so you’ve still got the freedom to move to another service if you ever want to.
Price: $5/month, single email address accounts free if you jump through some hoops
Microsoft’s Hotmail service holds the honor of being the first free
web mail online, and even though it’s now been rebranded with a Windows 8
style interface and the Outlook name, it’s still free — even for your
own domain. The new Outlook.com’s interface is nice if spartan, and
integrates with the new Office Web Apps. It’s now got 2-step verification,
and Skype-powered online video chat. It even supports push email via
Exchange ActiveSync to your smartphone or tablet — though sadly, it
doesn’t support IMAP sync, which makes it frustrating at best to use in
desktop email apps other than Outlook.
To get your own domain on it, you’ll need to head over to the Windows Live Domains site, which oddly looks rather dated as though it hasn’t been updated since Bing was called Windows Live Search. Hopefully that doesn’t mean they’ll be doing away with allowing you to bring your own domain to Outlook.com. At any rate, for now, you can add your domain there, and get up to 500 Outlook.com powered email addresses for your domain for the low, low price of free.
Price: Free for up to 500 email addresses; $19.95/email account/year to remove ads with Outlook.com Plus
For email on your own domain, Microsoft’s Office 365 for Business is
where the main action is. Here, for $4/month, you can get the full power
of Exchange on your own domain, with all the configuration options
you’d want. You’ll have full Exchange push email, or IMAP and POP3 sync,
and you can use the new Office 2013-styled Outlook Web Access
to check your email online. Bump that up to $5/month (with a small
snag: you can’t upgrade from the $4 to the $5 account directly, so
choose wisely at first), and you’ll also get Sharepoint with Office Web
Apps to collaborate with others on your team or just work on your own
documents online. Add an extra $7 to that and you’ll get full Office
2013 for your PC or 2011 for your Mac. Not such a bad deal, one that’s
actually competitive with Google’s pricing.
Price: $4/user/month for just email; $5/user/month for email and Office collaboration; $12.50/user/month for that plus Office for your desktop
The nicest looking 3rd party alternate to Exchange and Google Apps is Atmail Cloud, hands-down. We loved it in our review,
even if it did still have a few rough edges, and found its interface to
be more on par with Apple’s iCloud even while it offered more of the
features you’d expect from Gmail. There’s every sync option you’d think
of — Exchange ActiveSync, IMAP, and POP3 — and tools to manage a whole
team. And it only costs $2/month for its beautiful web apps and great
service. The only problem is, it won’t work so good if you only need one
email address on your domain, since it requires a minimum of 5 users.
There is one alternate, though: if you host your website with Media Temple, you can get their Atmail powered email for free.
Price: $2/user/month, though a minimum of 5 users
If you follow a number of tech blogs, you’ve likely heard of people
switching to FastMail. It’s been the most popular alternate to Google
Apps for email on your own domain for years now, and for good reason.
It’s cheap, starting at just $39.99/year for one email address on your
own domain. Its web apps might leave something to be desired — though
they are improving rapidly — but you can sync with any email app you
want via IMAP and POP3. And, there’s family account options and business
email options if you need more than just one account. One interesting
fact: FastMail is owned by Opera, the browser company that never can
quite get much traction in the desktop browser market.
Price: $39.99+/year for your own domain
Now, tons of hosting providers offer email services, but they’re
usually nothing worth writing home about. But Rackspace does have more
to offer with its email hosting than most. They have their own email
service for just $2/user, or you can use their Exchange-powered email
for $10/month — and you can switch between the two on the same domain.
There’s only one catch: you’ll have to spend a minimum of $10/month,
which means at least 5 users like Atmail Cloud for their cheaper email,
or 1 Exchange account.
Price: $2/user/month for Rackspace Mail, $10/user/month for hosted Exchange — minimum $10/month commitment
You might have never heard of Hushmail, but that might be by design.
Hushmail prides itself on offering extra privacy with its email,
with HiPPA-compliant privacy, built-in OpenPGP encryption, unlimited
email aliases, and more. If you’re fleeing the Google ship because
you’re tired of the Gmail Man reading your emails, and want more privacy
and security, then this might be the service to check out.
Price: $5.24/user/month, plus a one-time $9.99 setup fee
Zoho is the most forgotten web app company, and you never hear of
them in most press. However, they offer an impressive suite of web apps
for everything from office to CRM, and even offer professional email
hosting. You can get started with it for free, or pay just
$2.50/user/month for more storage and features. It’s got no ads, a
familiar if slightly dated interface, push email and full sync support,
and more.
Price: Free for up to 5 users, $2.50/user/month after that
so Don't wait register with one of these domains registrat's soon. and get awesome experience with your own mail's .
cheer's Shubh. (do follow us) .
Now’s the time to think about it. Let’s take a look at the best email services out there today, and how you use them to make sure you never lose all of your email. And perhaps, you’ll find an email service that you like even better than you’re using right now.
Wait: Isn’t Gmail Ok?
Perhaps your current email solution is fine. It’s working now, after all. But the question isn’t about today, it’s about the future.Remember the first email account you had, likely an old Hotmail or Aol. account, or a company or school account, or possibly an email account from your ISP? Do you still use it today? Odds are, you don’t. And while Gmail is ubiquitous today, it’s actually only been around since 2004. 10 years from today, who’s to say what the dominant email provider will be.
When you rely on email for as many things as most of us do today, you need to make sure it’ll be around for the long haul. The best way to do that is to use your own domain for email. That way, no matter what service you use, you can get your email — and you can always switch to another service in the future if you want, without having to change your email address.
If you don’t have your own domain name, you should go ahead and invest in one. It’ll only cost around $10/year from most registrars, and you can find a nice one easily with apps like Domainr. Then, you can get email at yourname@yourdomain.com, and never worry again about having to switch emails.
Of course, if you have your own domain — or are running the email for your company — then you already know this, and just want to find the best place to host your email today. That’s what’s next.
Now, How Do I Get Email?
Got your own domain? Good. Now you’re ready to pick out the email service to use with your domain. The default choice for email on your own domain used to be Google Apps, as it used to have a free account for up to 10 email accounts per domain. That’s now gone, so it’s best to look around and see what’ll work best for you. The good news is, there’s a lot of great options. Here’s the best:Google Apps for Business
Really, it’s still one of the best options.
Beyond that, Google Apps cost $5/month for each user or email address you use on your domain. For that, you get everything you’d expect from Gmail and Google Drive, but with 25Gb of storage and real support. If you’re someone who’s ever said you’d pay for Gmail, here’s your chance — this time, with your own domain, so you’ve still got the freedom to move to another service if you ever want to.
Price: $5/month, single email address accounts free if you jump through some hoops
Outlook.com
The new Outlook.com isn’t your father’s Hotmail.
To get your own domain on it, you’ll need to head over to the Windows Live Domains site, which oddly looks rather dated as though it hasn’t been updated since Bing was called Windows Live Search. Hopefully that doesn’t mean they’ll be doing away with allowing you to bring your own domain to Outlook.com. At any rate, for now, you can add your domain there, and get up to 500 Outlook.com powered email addresses for your domain for the low, low price of free.
Price: Free for up to 500 email addresses; $19.95/email account/year to remove ads with Outlook.com Plus
Office 365 Small Business
Exchange, in Microsoft’s Cloud, with a side of Office
Price: $4/user/month for just email; $5/user/month for email and Office collaboration; $12.50/user/month for that plus Office for your desktop
Atmail Cloud
A beautifully designed alternate way to host your email
Price: $2/user/month, though a minimum of 5 users
FastMail
The popular non-Google option for your own email
Price: $39.99+/year for your own domain
Rackspace Email
The option with options
Price: $2/user/month for Rackspace Mail, $10/user/month for hosted Exchange — minimum $10/month commitment
Hushmail
Shhhhhh…
Price: $5.24/user/month, plus a one-time $9.99 setup fee
Zoho Mail
The underdog online office suite company that offers so much more
Price: Free for up to 5 users, $2.50/user/month after that
so Don't wait register with one of these domains registrat's soon. and get awesome experience with your own mail's .
cheer's Shubh. (do follow us) .
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon