What is email hosting?
Whether it’s a customer emailing your business or your favourite shoe brand sending you a promotion, we all access our emails daily. But have you ever wondered where all your email information is stored?
In this guide we will explain everything there is to know about email hosting, including the benefits, the differences compared to other types of hosting, and much, much more.
What is email hosting?
Email hosting is a service offered by hosting providers, where they rent out mail servers to customers to store their email data. 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.
Sure, there are free options available, but a professional email hosting service can provide you with more power, flexibility and data. It also gives you the chance to have a uniquely branded email address, rather than relying on a generic domain like @gmail.com or @live.co.uk.
Who uses email hosting?
Many email users can get by perfectly well without paid email hosting, and use public providers that do the job. That said, there are lots of SMBs and organisations who opt for paid email services. One reason is if they often experience high volumes of email traffic and need bigger storage. But, it's also because if you're a pro, you want to use a professional email address too.
The benefits of email hosting
Juggling the day to day running of your business will definitely keep you busy, and anything that can offer a helping hand is greatly appreciated. That’s why opting for a web hosting service that benefits you, and your business, is vital.
But what else does email hosting have to offer?
1. Your domain is your email
Linking an email hosting package to your domain is a great way to boost brand consistency. Why? Well, using your domain name in your email shows users that they’re contacting the right person. Not to mention, when you send out promotional emails, you’ll want your customers to know it’s you.
2. Adding multiple email addresses
With a web hosting package you can have more than just a single email and mailbox. Depending on what your provider offers, you can have multiple different emails. This means, if you want one mailbox for enquiries and one for support, then you can. It’s easy to take care of multiple email addresses, as your provider will likely do most of the work for you, and you’ll still benefit from a large amount of storage in each mailbox too.
3. Increased email security
Protect your mailbox from nasty intruders with a safe and secure email hosting package. With advanced security and antivirus software, you can rest assured that all of your emails are protected. You will even be protected against harmful spam emails, so all you need to think about is responding to your users.
4. Upgrading to larger packages
If you decide that you need more GBs in your mailboxes, or that you want to add even more email addresses – then you can! Most email hosting providers will allow you to upgrade to a larger package if you need. For example we offer Exchange Email packages for those requiring a bigger amount of storage for all of those incoming emails.
5. Maintenance is taken care of
There’s no need to worry about managing and maintaining everything behind the scenes. With an email hosting service, your provider will look after everything. So all you need to worry about is monitoring and replying to your emails.
What’s the difference between email hosting and other types of hosting?
You’ll no doubt have noticed that the word “hosting” appears in a lot of different terminologies. But what's the difference?
Email hosting
As we’ve established, email hosting is a professional service offered by hosting providers. It uses a separate mail server that's rented out to users and handles all their incoming and outgoing emails.
Web hosting
If you've built a website, all of your data and files need to go somewhere, right? That's where web hosting comes in. Essentially, it's a service that provides the storage, bandwidth and memory needed to display a site to visitors and keep it functioning smoothly. It's similar to email hosting, except it deals with website files instead of email files.
Domain hosting
Although not an industry term, you may see "domain hosting" thrown around. The big difference is that domain names aren't really hosted in the same way as email hosting and web hosting. A provider will store your domain information and facilitate the registration of your domain names, giving you exclusive use and ownership of a specific domain.
Free email vs. paid email
If you’re setting up a business, organisation or any other type of project that needs email, you have different options to consider, the main two being free and paid.
There are benefits and drawbacks to both free and paid email, it just depends on your priorities and the nature of your project.
Pros of free email
- Free – It’s fairly self-explanatory, but free email is just that – free. So if you’re dealing with a small project or start-up that’s on a budget, a free email could be the perfect solution.
- Easy to use – Getting set up with a free email provider is super simple, all it takes is a few details and you’re up and running.
- Flexible – Given that you’re not tied into a payment plan, free email gives you the flexibility to move to a different provider at any point.
- Some free extras – Most free email providers will offer enough complimentary storage for a single user, like a freelancer, or even a very small business.
Cons of free email
- Ads – If you don’t pay for your email service, it’s likely that you’ll encounter a lot of pesky targeted ads and banners.
- Less secure – While free email is fairly secure, you don’t get the same level of protection you would with paid email hosting.
- Limited space – The amount of free storage you get is limited, so you could end up paying for more space if you exceed your allowance.
- Less professional – Using a custom domain name and then an @hotmail.com address could call your legitimacy into question and put off customers.
Pros of paid email
- Credibility – You’ll be able to set up multiple email addresses that exactly match your domain name, clearly signalling your professionalism.
- Scalable – Paid email hosting also gives you more room to grow. If you run out of storage as your project grows, you can usually upgrade your package without too much fuss.
- More secure – Most email hosting providers make security a priority. For example, we use the very latest antivirus and anti-spam protection to keep your data safe.
- Extra functionalities – This could include features like email whitelists and blacklists, varied autoresponders, archiving services and email authentication.
- Better support – Going with a third-party provider often means you get better dedicated support. Some providers, like us, will have an expert team on hand 24/7 to help you with your email hosting.
Cons of paid email
- Server dependencies – If you’ve got email hosting as an add-on to your web hosting package, you may find that your email relies on the status of your website. So if the worst happens and your site temporarily goes down, your email could go down with it.
- More expensive – When you need to cut costs, paid email could be an expense that your project can't afford.
- Contractual ties – If the provider you choose only offers long-term deals, you could end up trapped in a contract you can’t leave early.
Web hosting with email hosting
When money’s tight, you might think that using a free public email is your only choice, but some hosting providers (including us) offer complimentary email hosting with their web hosting packages.
So if you’re paying for web hosting already, it’s worth checking whether you can get email hosting as an added extra. But if you’re keen to invest in premium paid email hosting, you’ll likely get access to a range of useful features, as well as more support from your hosting provider. Overall, the type of email hosting you need depends on your budget, your long-term goals and how central email is to the daily operation of your project.
If you do opt to go down the paid route, our Email Hosting is available in a range of affordable packages, with features and support to suit your needs. We also offer an Exchange Email service for those larger mailbox requirements.
Want to find out more? Don’t hesitate to contact us today. If you’re an existing customer looking to add email hosting onto your current hosting package, talk to our support team for expert guidance.