Plenty of good businesses run on a Gmail address. It's free, the spam filter is excellent and the app is familiar. So why would anyone move to an address on their own domain?
For most businesses that expect to grow, it is worth doing, though not for the reasons ads usually give.
What people see
[email protected] tells a customer you exist as a business. [email protected] tells them you started recently and might change address next year.
That's perception, but perception matters at the moment someone decides whether to pay a deposit. It also matters when your mail goes to a company's accounts team, where unfamiliar free-mail addresses get extra scrutiny.
Who owns the address
This one is quieter and more important. A Gmail address belongs to Google's account system. If the account is locked, flagged or compromised, you can lose years of correspondence and the address your customers know.
Your domain belongs to you. You can move it between mail providers and keep the same addresses. Customers never notice. That portability is the real selling point of owning the domain. A good mail host is replaceable, and your identity isn't tied to it.
Control and structure
With your own domain you can create info@, billing@ and support@ without opening new accounts. You can give each new hire an address and remove it the day they leave. You can forward sales@ to two people at once. None of that is possible when everyone shares one personal Gmail login.
Role addresses are worth setting up early, since they also keep your personal address out of public web pages, where it collects spam.
Deliverability: Gmail wins one round, loses another
Gmail's own infrastructure is well trusted by other providers. Mail you send from a Gmail address starts with a good reputation.
On your own domain, you start with no reputation, and you're responsible for authentication. If SPF, DKIM and DMARC aren't set up, your mail will struggle. That's the work you take on. It's a one-time job: what an SPF record is, what DKIM does and DMARC explained cover it, and a good host hands you the exact records to publish.
Once it's done, the reputation is yours, and you control it. You aren't affected by what millions of other Gmail users do.
Cost
| Free Gmail | Business email on your domain | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | [email protected] | [email protected] |
| Domain cost | None | A domain, usually renewed yearly |
| Mailbox cost | Free | Varies by provider |
| Storage | 15 GB shared with Drive and Photos | Set by your provider |
| Calendar, docs, chat | Included with the Google account | Usually not included |
| Setup | None | DNS records, about half an hour |
We won't pretend price is the whole story. A mail host is cheaper than a full suite because it does less. You pay for mailboxes, not for documents and video calls you may not use.
What you lose and what you can keep
Moving to your own domain doesn't mean abandoning Gmail's interface. You can read your domain mailbox in the Gmail app and send as your domain address from Gmail on the web. We explain that in using a custom domain email in Gmail.
What you do lose: the integrated calendar and Drive. If your team relies on shared documents, a suite may suit you better. If you use email and a separate set of tools, you lose nothing.
A practical middle path
You don't have to choose all at once. Plenty of people keep their personal Gmail for everything personal and add one or two addresses on the business domain. Start with hello@ or your own name, put it on the website, and move the rest over as it makes sense. Because the domain is yours, nothing you do in week one locks you in for year three.
When free Gmail is still fine
- You're a sole trader testing an idea
- Your customers find you through a marketplace, not by email
- You send almost no email on behalf of the business
When to switch
- You're printing the address on anything, such as a website, invoice or van
- More than one person needs to answer the same inbox
- You send automated messages like receipts or codes
- You want to hand over the inbox if someone leaves
Next step
If you're ready, setting up professional email on your own domain takes about half an hour. Mailions gives you mailboxes you can read in the browser or in any email app, plus aliases and forwarding. Contact us with your domain and we'll set up a trial.