Business email cost for a small business website

Key takeaways

Business email on your own domain typically costs a UK small business about £5 to £15 per user a month through hosted services such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Some web hosts include basic mailboxes, but these often lack storage, security and reliability. For a five-person team, budget about £300 to £900 a year.

• Hosted business email: about £5 to £15 per user a month.
• Five users: about £300 to £900 a year.
• Hosting-included email: cheap but limited.
• Security set-up: SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.

How much does business email cost?

Business email typically costs about £5 to £15 per user a month through hosted services, based on published UK plans. Higher tiers add storage, video calls and security features. Google publishes current Workspace pricing, and Microsoft publishes similar plans for 365.

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Is email included with web hosting good enough?

Email included with web hosting can be enough for one or two light users, but often lacks storage, spam filtering and reliability. If the website host has a problem, email can go down too. Most growing businesses move to a hosted email service.

• Limited storage and features.
• Weaker spam and security filters.
• Shared fate with your website hosting.

• Website hosting for UK small businesses

What set-up does business email need?

Business email needs domain records that prove your messages are genuine: SPF, DKIM and DMARC. The NCSC recommends these to stop criminals spoofing your domain. Without them, your emails are more likely to land in spam. Set-up usually takes an hour or two of technical time.

Who should control email accounts?

Your business should control the email admin account, not a former employee or supplier. Use two-step login and keep an admin recovery route. Remove leavers' accounts promptly to stop paying for unused licences.

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When can you avoid paying for email?

You can avoid paying when forwarding from your domain to an existing inbox is enough, such as for a sole trader with low volume. It looks professional to customers, but sending from that address and security features are limited.

What does this look like in practice?

At Global Bridge Labs (GBL), a UK building firm paid for 14 email licences but had nine staff. Former employees' accounts had never been removed. Converting them to shared mailboxes or deleting them saved about £400 a year and closed accounts that no one was watching.

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Business email checklist

• Choose a hosted email service.
• Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
• Keep the admin account in business hands.
• Use two-step login for all users.
• Remove leavers promptly.
• Review licence counts yearly.

• Domain name cost in the UK: registration and renewal
• SSL certificate cost: do you need to pay at all?

Next step

Count your active email users and compare with licences billed. Remove or convert any you no longer need.