Family email, compared
Most email services can work with your own domain. Very few will buy it and set it up for you.
Updated
Short answer
Side by side
Prices change by country and by year, so they have their own page, dated and linked to each provider: what each option costs a family.
| Provider | How it's priced | Your own domain | Who sets up the DNS | Apple Mail, Outlook | If you stop paying |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| InboxFamily | One price for the household | Included, renewals too | We do | Yes | The domain is yours and leaves with you |
| Gmail (free) | Free | No, @gmail.com only | Nothing to set up | Yes | Nothing to stop |
| Outlook.com (free) | Free | No, @outlook.com only | Nothing to set up | Yes | Nothing to stop |
| Microsoft 365 Family | Per household, yearly | Not for new setups since November 2023 | You, through GoDaddy | Yes | The mailbox stays, premium features go |
| iCloud+ | Storage plan, shared with family | Up to 5 domains | You, unless you buy the domain through iCloud | Yes | Custom domain mail stops |
| Proton Mail | Per person, or a family plan | Paid plans only | You do | Only through Proton Bridge on a computer | Back to the free plan |
| Fastmail | Per person | Yes, on every plan | You do | Yes | The mailbox closes |
| Zoho Mail | Free for up to 5 people, then per person | Yes, one domain on the free plan | You do | Not on the free plan | The mailbox closes |
| Google Workspace | Per person, every month | Yes, you buy it | You do | Yes | Data is deleted after a short grace period |
InboxFamily
- How it's priced
- One price for the household
- Your own domain
- Included, renewals too
- Who sets up the DNS
- We do
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- The domain is yours and leaves with you
Gmail (free)
- How it's priced
- Free
- Your own domain
- No, @gmail.com only
- Who sets up the DNS
- Nothing to set up
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- Nothing to stop
Outlook.com (free)
- How it's priced
- Free
- Your own domain
- No, @outlook.com only
- Who sets up the DNS
- Nothing to set up
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- Nothing to stop
Microsoft 365 Family
- How it's priced
- Per household, yearly
- Your own domain
- Not for new setups since November 2023
- Who sets up the DNS
- You, through GoDaddy
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- The mailbox stays, premium features go
iCloud+
- How it's priced
- Storage plan, shared with family
- Your own domain
- Up to 5 domains
- Who sets up the DNS
- You, unless you buy the domain through iCloud
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- Custom domain mail stops
Proton Mail
- How it's priced
- Per person, or a family plan
- Your own domain
- Paid plans only
- Who sets up the DNS
- You do
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Only through Proton Bridge on a computer
- If you stop paying
- Back to the free plan
Fastmail
- How it's priced
- Per person
- Your own domain
- Yes, on every plan
- Who sets up the DNS
- You do
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- The mailbox closes
Zoho Mail
- How it's priced
- Free for up to 5 people, then per person
- Your own domain
- Yes, one domain on the free plan
- Who sets up the DNS
- You do
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Not on the free plan
- If you stop paying
- The mailbox closes
Google Workspace
- How it's priced
- Per person, every month
- Your own domain
- Yes, you buy it
- Who sets up the DNS
- You do
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Yes
- If you stop paying
- Data is deleted after a short grace period
What you'd do yourself anywhere else
Every paid option in the table can put your family on its own domain. With most of them, three jobs stay with you:
Buy the domain
Pick a registrar, pay for it, and set a reminder so it doesn't lapse next year.
Write the DNS records
MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Get one wrong and mail lands in spam or doesn't arrive.
Pay for every person
Most plans charge per mailbox. A family of five pays five times.
We do all three. You pick a name, pay once for the domain and $19 a month for the family, and the mailboxes are ready a few minutes later. Nobody in the family has to know what an MX record is.
Can you get a custom email domain for free?
Not completely. The domain always costs money, usually $10 to $20 a year for a .com. Some providers host the mailboxes for free, with limits: Zoho's free plan, for example, only works in Zoho's own app.
The other free route is forwarding, where a service like Cloudflare Email Routing passes mail for anna@yourname.com on to an existing Gmail account. Receiving works. Sending from the new address means setting up Gmail's "Send mail as" and a few more DNS records, and that's where most families give up.
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Your family's name, set up for you
$19 a month for the whole family. Six mailboxes, the domain included, and the DNS done.
Find your family's domain