01Business email cost for teams of 1, 3, 5, and 8
These are annual costs at prices checked July 29, 2026. The calculation assumes one full mailbox per person and annual billing where the provider offers it. Shipmail uses the lowest eligible plan and mailbox add-on combination that covers both the people and mailbox count. A team that shares fewer role inboxes may fit a lower Shipmail setup.
| Team size | Shipmail | Zoho Mail | Fastmail | Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $40.00/year | $12.00/year | $60.00/year | $64.80/year | $84.00/year |
| 3 people | $90.00/year | $36.00/year | $180.00/year | $194.40/year | $252.00/year |
| 5 people | $120.00/year | $60.00/year | $300.00/year | $324.00/year | $420.00/year |
| 8 people | $290.00/year | $96.00/year | $480.00/year | $518.40/year | $672.00/year |
This is price math, not a feature ranking. Compare storage, shared-inbox access, sending limits, migration, and suite features in the full benchmark below. Check current Shipmail plans and mailbox limits.
02What we compared
We priced the lowest custom-domain plan that could reasonably serve teams of 1, 4, 10, 25, and 50 people in the full benchmark. The quick table above calculates the same checked prices for teams of 1, 3, 5, and 8. Both tables assume one full mailbox per person and use annual commitment prices when the provider publishes them.
Currencies stay separate. A first-year offer stays marked as one. We don't score providers: a privacy suite, a bare mailbox host and a shared inbox do different jobs, so one score would be made up.
03Key findings
- Eight of 13 providers use per-user pricing. Three use bundles, one uses a flat account price, and one uses usage-based pricing.
- For 10 people, verified USD annual commitments range from $10 to $840. Those products don't do the same things, so treat the range as a starting point, not a value score.
- We kept USD and EUR prices apart. GoDaddy is marked as a first-year offer because we couldn't verify its renewal price.
04Annual cost by team size
One row is different. GoDaddy's uses the published first-year offer, because we couldn't verify what it renews at. Check the renewal price before you buy.
| Provider | 1 person | 4 people | 10 people | 25 people | 50 people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shipmail Plans for every team size | $40.00 | $90.00 | $290.00 | $625.00 | $1,250.00 |
Google Workspace Business Starter | $84.00 | $336.00 | $840.00 | $2,100.00 | $4,200.00 |
Microsoft 365 Business Basic without Teams | $64.80 | $259.20 | $648.00 | $1,620.00 | $3,240.00 |
Zoho Mail Mail Lite | $12.00 | $48.00 | $120.00 | $300.00 | $600.00 |
Fastmail Standard | $60.00 | $240.00 | $600.00 | $1,500.00 | $3,000.00 |
Proton Mail Mail Essentials | $83.88 | $335.52 | $838.80 | $2,097.00 | $4,194.00 |
Migadu Micro | $19.00 | $19.00 | $19.00 | $19.00 | $19.00 |
Yandex 360 Basic | $47.88 | $191.52 | $478.80 | $1,197.00 | $2,394.00 |
GoDaddy Professional Email Email Essentials. First-year offer | $23.88 | $95.52 | $238.80 | $597.00 | $1,194.00 |
Namecheap Private Email Launch with added mailboxes | $14.88 | $41.52 | $94.80 | $228.00 | $450.00 |
mailbox.org Business Light with the Silver service package | €312.00 | €348.00 | €420.00 | €600.00 | €900.00 |
Purelymail Simple pricing | $10.00 | $10.00 | $10.00 | $10.00 | $10.00 |
Tuta Essential | €72.00 | €288.00 | €720.00 | €1,800.00 | €3,600.00 |
07Provider notes
What the headline price leaves out.
independent
Shipmail
$4/month for up to 2 mailboxes
- Storage
- 15 GB per mailbox on Solo and Pro
- Shared address
- Shared inboxes included
- Automation
REST API, webhooks,SDKs,JMAP, and officialMCP
Bottom line
Solo is single-user at $4/month for up to two mailboxes. Multi-user access starts on Pro at $9/month for up to five members and four mailboxes.
suite
Google Workspace
$7 per user/month on annual billing
- Storage
- 30 GB pooled per user
- Shared address
- Google Groups collaborative inbox
- Automation
- Gmail API and Google Workspace tooling
Bottom line
The price buys the wider Google suite, not email alone.
suite
Microsoft 365
$5.40 per user/month on annual billing
- Storage
- 100 GB mailbox
- Shared address
- Exchange shared mailbox
- Automation
- Microsoft Graph
Bottom line
Shared mailboxes have licensing and admin conditions.
budget
Zoho Mail
$1 per user/month
- Storage
- 5 GB per user on the entry plan
- Shared address
- Shared mailbox is documented
- Automation
- Zoho Mail
REST API
Bottom line
Regional prices and plan details can differ.
independent
Fastmail
$5 per user/month on annual billing
- Storage
- 50 GB for mail, calendar, and contacts; 10 GB for files
- Shared address
- Shared addresses and delegated access
- Automation
JMAP,IMAP,SMTP, andOAuth
Bottom line
The cheaper Basic plan does not cover custom domains.
privacy
Proton Mail
$6.99 per user/month
- Storage
- 15 GB per user
- Shared address
- Addresses and users, not an operational queue
- Automation
- Bridge and app integrations; verify API needs
Bottom line
Choose it for its privacy model, not the lowest seat price.
budget
Migadu
$19/year
- Storage
- 5 GB soft storage limit across the account
- Shared address
- Mailbox sharing is not the product focus
- Automation
- Admin API
Bottom line
The Micro plan allows 200 incoming and 20 outgoing messages a day.
suite
Yandex 360
$3.99 per employee/month
- Storage
- 100 GB of Disk storage per employee; mailbox storage is unlimited
- Shared address
- Shared mailboxes are documented
- Automation
- Mail for Domain API and
IMAP/SMTP
Bottom line
Checkout and availability depend on billing region.
suite
GoDaddy Professional Email
$1.99 per mailbox/month for the first year
- Storage
- 10 GB email storage
- Shared address
- Microsoft 365 mailbox model
- Automation
- Depends on the Microsoft 365 tenant and plan
Bottom line
The public page shows a first-year price. Its steady renewal amount was not published when checked.
budget
Namecheap Private Email
$14.88/year for 1 mailbox
- Storage
- 5 GB on Launch
- Shared address
- Aliases and forwarding
- Automation
IMAP,SMTP, POP3, CalDAV, and CardDAV
Bottom line
Added Launch mailboxes renew at $8.88/year each.
privacy
mailbox.org
€1 per user/month net, plus a service package
- Storage
- 2 GB mail storage
- Shared address
- Team and groupware options
- Automation
- Business admin API
Bottom line
The required Silver service package adds €25/month for up to 50 mailboxes.
budget
Purelymail
$10/year
- Storage
- No hard limit; soft resource limits apply
- Shared address
- Aliases and routing rules
- Automation
IMAP,SMTP, POP3, and account tools
Bottom line
Heavy accounts may need advanced usage pricing.
privacy
Tuta
€6 per user/month on annual billing
- Storage
- 50 GB per user
- Shared address
- Shared mailbox costs the same as another user
- Automation
- No
IMAP; check app-specific workflow needs
Bottom line
Shared mailboxes add a paid seat. Essential does not include email import.
For journalists, analysts, and researchers
Reuse the underlying data or chart with attribution. The versioned files stay frozen so citations remain reproducible.
Suggested citation: Shipmail Research, “The real cost of business email for small teams,” 2026 edition, prices checked July 29, 2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
