HOSTING / RUN YOUR MAILBOXES
Email Hosting Explained
Email hosting gives people a place to receive, store and send messages. Owning a domain name or creating an email alias is not the same as having a working mailbox.
What You Are Buying
A mailbox holds messages and supports user access. An alias is another address that routes to a mailbox or group; it is not necessarily another login or extra storage. Forwarding passes mail elsewhere and may not include authenticated sending. Transactional email delivery for receipts and password resets is a different service from a staff mailbox; bulk marketing has its own consent and sending requirements.
When You Would Use It
- Give staff addresses on your domain with separate accounts and MFA.
- Use shared addresses for teams, subject to the platform’s access and licensing rules.
- Keep business mail independent of the company hosting your website.
What You Still Manage
You manage account access, recovery, retention choices and correct DNS. MX records direct incoming mail; SPF, DKIM and DMARC help authenticate sending. They do not guarantee inbox placement. Check migration, export and recovery before moving existing mail.
Privacy Considerations
Mail content, attachments, sender and recipient details, and delivery logs can all be sensitive. Provider filtering and indexing, plus authorized organizational administrators, may have access depending on the service design. Transport TLS is not automatically end-to-end encrypted email. Ask about mailbox access auditing, retention, archives, export and deletion of recovery copies.
Compare provider access, logs, retention and encryption →
Consumption, Allowances & “Unlimited”
Storage per mailbox, pooled storage, user licenses, maximum message size, recipients per message and sending rates are separate limits. “Unlimited aliases” is not unlimited storage or unlimited outgoing mail. Archive space can have separate access, licensing, retention and expansion rules.
Read the plan’s resource limits and acceptable-use policy together. Ask what happens at the threshold: an extra charge, reduced speed, rejected requests or suspension. Understand the billing language →
Questions to Ask Before Buying
- Is storage per user or pooled, and what happens when one mailbox fills?
- Which aliases, shared mailboxes and archives need separate licenses?
- What are the sending, recipient and message-size limits?
- How do users export mail, recover deleted messages and keep ownership of their addresses?
The takeaway: Compare storage, seats and sending policy separately. One unlimited label cannot describe all three.
Technical reference: Microsoft: examples of distinct mailbox and sending limits.
Linked for its explanation of the technology, not as a provider recommendation. Features and contract terms vary.