Email hosting is a service that is very similar to web hosting. Like web hosting, email hosting requires a server from which emails are sent [using SMTP protocol] and another server into which emails are received [using either POP3 or IMAP4 protocols]. In addition to these two servers emails also require a piece of software called “email client” which is used to type and send emails and to open and read emails. The most popular email clients are Apple Mail, Gmail, and Outlook.
The good news is that in majority of the cases if you get a web hosting plan for your domain or website you automatically get a number of email accounts as part of that service as well. Oftentimes web hosting providers offer only a limited number of email accounts. But for most personal blogs or small businesses one does not need more than half a dozen email accounts anyways. Interestingly, quite a few web hosting providers also offer unlimited number of email accounts with their web hosting plans as well.
To help you pick the Top-20 Best Unlimited Email Hosting Plans as well as The Top-20 Cheapest Email Hosting Plans plans [see below] we have analyzed 72 Email Hosting plans across 32 web hosting providers. About half of these 72 email hosting plans [37 to be exact] offer Unlimited number of Email accounts and all of them are included as part of the regular web hosting plans. Another half [or 35 to be exact] offer a specific number of Email accounts [ranging from 1 to 2,500] either as part of their overall web hosting plans or as a stand-alone email hosting service.
So, what are the typical things that you might need from your email service plan? The list below aims to list the email hosting features in the order of importance. However, depending on your specific personal or business needs this order might be different.
- Inbox maximum storage space: in our analysis it ranges from 1GB to Unlimited
- Ability to sync up emails with your cell phone or tablet: about half of analyzed plans offer an IMAP technology / protocol feature which allows to synchronize and view your emails on any devices you have
- Ability to check your emails online via a regular browser: about half [or 39 to be exact] analyzed plans also offer the Webmail capability, which allows to check your emails online using any browser like Chrome, Edge, Safari, Mozilla, Firefox, etc.
- Email Autoresponders: for many users it is important to be able to set up their email system to respond automatically to any incoming email in cases they are on vacation, or on a business trip, or on some sort of emergency and therefore cannot respond to the sender themselves right away. Our analysis shows that only 1/3 of all email and web hosting plans explicitly offer the “autoresponding” feature in their plans.
- Email Forwarders: many email users prefer not to deal with dozens of email systems and would rather view all their emails in just one, their favorite email system [whether it’s Gmail or Outlook or Apple, it is a matter of taste and habit]. The email feature called email forwarding is created to help with this. You can basically set up any email inbox to forward all emails coming in to another email which you check on a regular basis. Our analysis shows that 31 [out of 72 email plans we analyzed] do offer the email forwarding capability as well.
- Other: for some users it might also be important to have some other features included in their email system. Such features include (a) a more advanced anti-spam system or (b) contacts feature, or (c) calendar feature, or (d) tasks or notes type of feature. Our analysis shows that in most cases these “rich” features are offered by such email clients as Google Mail, Microsoft 365, and a few lesser known providers. But majority of the plans we have analyzed do not even mention these capabilities as something included in their plans. So, if this is something that is important, you may need to buy the Google or Microsoft 365 email licenses, which cost quite a bit [$6+ per email user].
| Chosen Top-1 Email Hosting Provider [Unlimited Email Accounts] |  | Visit NameHero |
| Chosen Top-1 Email Hosting Provider [Cheapest Email Accounts] |  | Visit iPower |
Please note, the chosen Email Hosting Providers may change as key factors, included in the side-by-side comparison do change over time.
Top-20 Best Unlimited Email Hosting Plans
| Rank | Email Hosting | Hosting Plan | 3-year Monthly Avg. Cost1 | Customer Review Rating2 | Action |
| #1 | | Starter Cloud | $2.69 | 4.8 | Visit NameHero |
| #2 |  | Primary | $2.99 | 3.4 | Visit HawkHost |
| #3 |  | Silver | $3.49 | n/a | Visit TrueHost |
| #4 | | Gold | $5.49 | n/a | Visit TrueHost |
| #5 |  | Power Plan | $5.49 | 4.2 | Visit WebHostingPad |
| #6 | | Plus Cloud | $5.83 | 4.8 | Visit NameHero |
| #7 | | Power Plan Plus | $5.99 | 4.2 | Visit WebHostingPad |
| #8 |  | Shared Web Hosting | $6.95 | 4.3 | Visit Omnis |
| #9 |  | Hatchling Plan | $6.95 | 2.4 | Visit HotGator |
| #10 |  | Launch | $6.99 | 3.5 | Visit InMotion |
| #11 | | Power | $6.99 | 3.5 | Visit InMotion |
| #12 |  | Platinum | $7.00 | 3.6 | Visit MyTrueHost |
| #13 | | Turbo Cloud | $8.98 | 4.8 | Visit NameHero |
| #14 |  | Startup | $8.99 | n/a | Visit A2 Hosting |
| #15 |  | Basic | $8.99 | 4.7 | Visit HostingWinds |
| #16 |  | The Original FatCow Plan | $8.99 | 2.6 | Visit FatCow |
| #17 |  | Personal Class | $9.32 | 1.9 | Visit Arvixe |
| #18 | | Platinum | $9.49 | n/a | Visit MyTrueHost |
| #19 |  | Professional | $9.97 | 4.2 | Visit KnownHost |
| #20 |  | Shared Unlimited | $10.99 | 3.0 | Visit DreamHost |
The Top-20 Email Hosting Providers are chosen by the WebHostingColumns.com staff based on comprehensive analysis of all relevant factors. Please note, the chosen Email Hosting Providers may change as key factors, included in the side-by-side comparison do change over time.
Top-20 Cheapest Email Hosting Plans with Limited Email Accounts
| Rank | Email Hosting | Hosting Plan | # of Email Accounts | 3-year Monthly Avg. Cost per Email Account1 | Customer Review Rating2 | Action |
| #1 | | Pro | 2,500 | $0.005 | 1.6 | Visit iPower |
| #2 | | Bronze | 100 | $0.01 | 3.6 | Visit MyTrueHost |
| #3 | | Silver | 300 | $0.01 | 3.6 | Visit MyTrueHost |
| #4 | | Gold | 500 | $0.01 | 3.6 | Visit MyTrueHost |
| #5 |  | Personal | 150 | $0.02 | 4.2 | Visit AccuWeb |
| #6 |  | Guru | 1000 | $0.02 | 4.0 | Visit One.com |
| #7 | | Expert | 750 | $0.02 | 4.0 | Visit One.com |
| #8 | | Enthusiast | 500 | $0.03 | 4.0 | Visit One.com |
| #9 |  | FlexCloud Site | 400 | $0.03 | 2.4 | Visit Hostway |
| #10 | | Explorer | 200 | $0.05 | 4.0 | Visit One.com |
| #11 | | Beginner | 100 | $0.05 | 4.0 | Visit One.com |
| #12 |  | Premium Shared Hosting | 100 | $0.06 | 4.2 | Visit Hostinger |
| #13 |  | Starter | 100 | $0.10 | 3.1 | Visit HostPapa |
| #14 |  | 100 Emails | 100 | $0.20 | 2.0 | Visit aPlus.net |
| #15 |  | Lite | 50 | $0.22 | 3.8 | Visit GreenGeeks |
| #16 | | Standard | 25 | $0.26 | 4.2 | Visit KnownHost |
| #17 |  | Personal Email | 1 | $0.50 | 3.1 | Visit WestHost |
| #18 | | 10 Emails | 10 | $0.60 | 2.0 | Visit aPlus.net |
| #19 | | Basic | 5 | $0.69 | 4.2 | Visit KnownHost |
| #20 | | Core | 10 | $0.95 | 3.5 | Visit InMotion |
The Top-20 Email Hosting Providers are chosen by the WebHostingColumns.com staff based on comprehensive analysis of all relevant factors. Please note, the chosen Email Hosting Providers may change as key factors, included in the side-by-side comparison do change over time.