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› What Is Email Hosting
Email hosting is the service that stores and delivers your email — the infrastructure sitting behind any email address you send from or receive to. This reference explains what it is, how it differs from free webmail, what protocols make it work, and the decision framework for UK users choosing a hosting provider.
Email hosting is a service that runs a mail server for you. The mail server accepts incoming messages addressed to your mailbox, stores them, and delivers outgoing messages when you send. You interact with the mailbox via a webmail interface or a desktop/mobile mail client; the hosting provider runs the infrastructure underneath.
Without email hosting, you cannot meaningfully send and receive email on a custom domain — you would need to run your own mail server, which is a substantial technical undertaking and not realistic for most users or businesses.
Several models exist:
- Shared web-hosting email. Bundled with a website hosting plan. Adequate for small volumes; limited features, often weak deliverability.
- Dedicated email hosting. A service focused on email alone. Better deliverability, more features, more professional. SmartXHosting Business Email fits here.
- Productivity suite with email. Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — email as part of a broader bundle of Office apps, storage, chat.
- Self-hosted. You run your own mail server on a VPS. Maximum control, substantial operational overhead, rarely worth it below a dedicated-engineer scale.
- Privacy-focused hosts. Proton Mail, Tutanota — end-to-end encryption, specific privacy positioning.
- Free consumer webmail. Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo — free but ad-supported or data-use-supported. Constrained for custom-domain business use.
The right choice depends on your scale, budget, compliance needs and data sovereignty preferences.
- SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Sends mail between servers and from clients to servers. Standard ports 25, 465, 587.
- IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). Fetches mail from server to client while leaving messages on the server. Standard port 993 with SSL.
- POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3). Older alternative to IMAP; downloads mail and typically removes it from the server. Port 995 with SSL.
- Webmail (HTTPS). Browser-based access to mailbox; the hosting provider's web application talks to the mail server on your behalf. Port 443.
- CalDAV / CardDAV. Open standards for calendar and contacts sync. Port 443 typically.
- Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). Proprietary protocol from Microsoft for push mobile sync. Supported by some non-Microsoft platforms including Axigen.
SMTP delivers mail; IMAP or POP3 retrieves it; webmail wraps it all in a browser UI.
DNS (the Domain Name System) tells the internet how to route mail for your domain. Key DNS records involved in email:
- MX records. "Mail eXchange" records point mail servers where to deliver messages for your domain.
- SPF records. TXT records listing authorised sending servers for your domain — anti-spoof.
- DKIM records. TXT records holding public keys that verify messages signed by your domain.
- DMARC records. TXT records telling receivers how to handle mail failing SPF/DKIM.
- Autodiscover/Autoconfig. Optional CNAME records so mail clients auto-configure.
Your email hosting provider usually provides the exact values to publish at your DNS registrar. Changing DNS takes minutes to hours to propagate globally.
Free email hosting from Google, Microsoft and others is ad-supported or data-supported. Paid hosting charges a subscription.
| Aspect | Free webmail | Paid email hosting |
|---|
| Cost | £0 | £1-20/mailbox/month |
| Custom domain | Usually no | Yes |
| Ads and content scanning | Often yes | No |
| Storage | 15 GB typical | 5 GB to unlimited |
| UK GDPR DPA | Rarely | Standard |
| Support | Limited, forum-only | Full human support |
| Business use | Unsuitable for most | Standard |
Most email hosting is shared — your mailboxes live on servers hosting mailboxes for other customers. Shared is cost-efficient and perfectly fine for normal use.
Dedicated hosting — your own mail server, not shared — suits:
- Very large deployments (hundreds of mailboxes).
- Regulated industries with strict tenant-isolation requirements.
- Specific performance or customisation needs.
- Dedicated sending IP reputation for high-volume senders.
For most UK SMEs and private users, shared is the right default.
- Subscription. Monthly or annual per-mailbox fee. Free tiers exist (epost.plus Basic, free Gmail).
- Domain. If you want a custom address, register a domain: £8-15/year for a UK domain.
- Migration. Moving between providers: often free for small scales, quoted for larger.
- Add-ons. Archiving, advanced threat protection, dedicated sending IPs, compliance features — separately priced depending on provider.
- Ancillary. A desktop mail client (eM Client, Outlook) if you want desktop as well as webmail.
Questions to answer before choosing:
- Do I need a custom domain or is a provider domain (like
@epost.plus) enough?
- Personal use or business use?
- How many mailboxes do I need now, and likely in 1-2 years?
- Does my use case involve UK personal data (triggers UK GDPR compliance requirements)?
- Do I need calendar and contacts integration?
- Do I need mobile push sync (ActiveSync) or is IMAP adequate?
- Is UK data residency important to my customers or regulators?
- What budget is realistic?
Answering these narrows the shortlist quickly.
- SmartXHosting. UK-owned, Axigen platform, UK data residency, Business and Private Email tiers. £1.25-£7/user/month on Business; free tier on Private.
- Microsoft 365. Global player, US-owned, UK regions available, extensive feature set, higher price.
- Google Workspace. Global player, US-owned, UK residency configurable, Gmail-familiar UI.
- Mythic Beasts. UK-based technical-oriented host, sysadmin-friendly.
- Fastmail. Australian, some UK customer base, email-only focus.
- Proton. Swiss, privacy-focused, higher price.
For UK users prioritising UK sovereignty, SmartXHosting and Mythic Beasts are the straightforward UK-owned choices. For broader productivity ecosystem, Microsoft or Google dominate.
SmartXHosting is UK-owned email hosting. Private Email for personal use starts free;
Business Email for your own domain from £1.25/mailbox/month. UK data centres, UK support, no CLOUD Act exposure.
Q: Is email hosting the same as web hosting?
A: Related but distinct. Many providers offer both bundled. Dedicated email hosts (like SmartXHosting Business Email) focus on email specifically; web-hosting-with-email bundles include email as an add-on.
Q: Can I use email hosting without owning a domain?
A: Yes, via provider-domain services like epost.plus. The address is at the provider's domain, not yours.
Q: Do I need a domain to use SmartXHosting?
A: For Business Email on your own domain: yes. For Private Email on @epost.plus: no — the domain is provided.
Q: Can I host my own mail server?
A: Technically yes. In practice, running production-quality mail is a full-time job — deliverability, spam filtering, abuse complaints, backups. Hosted services do it better for most users.
Q: What is the difference between email hosting and webmail?
A: Webmail is the browser interface to a mailbox. Email hosting is the underlying service that runs the mail server, including webmail as one of several ways to access the mailbox.