The most important decision about your business email is not which provider you use. It is whether the address runs on your own domain. A [email protected] address looks and feels completely different to [email protected] or, worse, [email protected]. That distinction affects whether people take you seriously before you have even replied to them.
Once you are on your own domain, the choice of provider comes down to a few practical questions. What does the rest of your business already use? How many people need access? Do you need anything beyond email, such as shared calendars, file storage, or video calls?
For most small businesses, the decision comes down to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Google Workspace suits people already comfortable in Gmail who want a clean, browser-based setup that works across devices without much configuration. Microsoft 365 suits businesses already using Office applications, or that need the familiarity of Outlook. Both are reliable, both include good spam filtering and security, and both cost roughly the same per user per month. If you are starting from scratch with no strong preference either way, both will serve you well. If your team is already in one ecosystem, stay there.
There are cases where neither is the right answer. Registered charities may qualify for Microsoft 365 at no cost, or at a significant discount, through Microsoft’s non-profit programme, which is worth checking before committing to a paid plan. Some businesses are better served by email hosted through their web server, which can be the most straightforward and cost-effective option for a sole trader who does not need the full suite of extras that come with Workspace or 365.
What to avoid is straightforward: free personal email addresses for business use, any setup where your email is tied to a broadband contract rather than a domain you own, and providers with poor deliverability records. Email that consistently lands in spam is no different from email that was never sent.
If you need help choosing a provider, migrating from one setup to another, or getting professional email configured properly for the first time, that is something I handle directly. Get in touch and I will work out what suits your situation.
