# How do I set up email only for my domain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639 "2023-05-05T22:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/1 "2023-05-05T22:11:08Z")
I have a domain and want to set up an email using that domain. Can anyone recommend a company/site where I can do this? What can I expect to pay? It will just be one address. I’ve googled but it looks like everyone wants me to create a web page or use their service for my domain. I’m confused. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/2 "2023-05-05T22:36:25Z")
I’m no great expert for that, but I would first look if the company where you got your domain registered offers email service. That’s often the case, often in a bundle with your domain fees. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/3 "2023-05-05T23:33:46Z")
Yes, as @EinsteinsHund says. Good bet your DNS provider also offers email services. But, let me offer a warning. I have had exactly the service you seek for the last couple+ decades. I had a personal / business domain through Brand X domain registrar / DNS provider / etc. and also used their email services to provide me with several email boxes at e.g. [blahblah@LSLEnterprises.com](mailto:blahblah@LSLEnterprises.com). Meanwhile I never had a website at [www.LSLEnterprises.com](http://www.LSLEnterprises.com). (that’s a fake name, not my real one, but you get the idea.) Easy peasy, and $50/year bought me a scad of email boxes and plenty of email storage. Plus the small fee to keep the domain alive & publish the DNS pointing to them. The problem was that the registrar / DNS provider was unable / unwilling to properly configure the necessary modern anti-spam entries in DNS for my domain. That is SPF, DKIM, etc. And they prevented me from doing so either. As time went on from 2000 to now, the practical result is that increasingly Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, and the various Microsoft domains such as [Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com), [msn.com](http://msn.com), [hotmail.com](http://hotmail.com), and [Live.com](http://Live.com) all rejected nearly all my emails to them, assuming they were spam. Only other tiddler ISPs like my own or corporations like my bank or employer would accept emails from [LSLEnterprises.com](http://LSLEnterprises.com). And sometimes not even them. With no notice of course; nobody auto-replies to suspected spammers anymore telling them they’ve been blocked. Your email is simply black-holed and you’re none the wiser that nobody ever saw it. That was bad. By about 2020 it had became intolerable. Well over 80% of my emails simply disappeared into nowhere because all the big suppliers always assumed I was a spammer. What I ended up switching to was a service that MSFT had then but no longer offers where I could rig up MS Exchange services through their cloud via Office 365 and point the [LSLEnterprises.com](http://LSLEnterprises.com) domain to them via a different domain registrar (Godaddy) than the one I had used. They (MSFT) had partnered with Godaddy exclusively to know how to rig up SPF, DKIM, etc., so they pointed properly to MSFT’s servers and suddenly my emails got through to everybody. Once this was in place I abandoned the DNS & email provider I had used for the last 20 years. What a relief. If I had to do it over again starting now I would seriously question the idea of having a personal domain versus just using [LSLGuy@gmail.com](mailto:LSLGuy@gmail.com) or whatever. The unprofessional “stigma” of having an email address at gmail, live, outlook, or whatever is not what it was back in 1995. My advice is that _if_ you don’t already have an email or web presence at e.g. [FCM.com](http://FCM.com), _then_ don’t start one. If you are creating a significant business that’s different. But for personal or family email, or a couple-person hobby/business, just don’t bother. Nobody today scoffs at e.g. [FCM@Gmail.com](mailto:FCM@Gmail.com) like they might have 15-20 years ago. Nobody. You’ll be much happier at all the trouble you avoid. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/4 "2023-05-05T23:45:10Z")
5 years ago, the way to go would be to set up a G Suite personal edition, which gives you GMail on your own domain. It was free at the time, but they started charging (except for people that got grandfathered in). It’s still not a bad deal: $6/mo/person, and comes with some extra goodies. But it’s a far cry from free. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nobody today scoffs at e.g. [FCM@Gmail.com](mailto:FCM@Gmail.com) Well, maybe not _nobody_ 🙂 . But at least it isn’t @aol.com… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/5 "2023-05-06T00:01:21Z")
If I was already Google-centric rather than MSFT-centric I’d totally go for that deal. **FCM** might feel the same. Assuming the custom domain feature is still actually available. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/6 "2023-05-06T00:03:34Z")
The custom domain service is certainly still available; it’s part of their business offerings. It’s the free, “personal” version of that that no longer exists (except via being grandfathered in). But $6/mo ain’t so bad. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/7 "2023-05-06T00:12:30Z")
We got our domain thru Bluehost. It was used for a business that has since been dissolved and the webpage has been taken down. But for the moment, the email is still hosted by the company that did the webpage. However, they don’t do just-email, and it costs around $200/yr to maintain the email thru them. Which is too much. We don’t want to lose the email address since it’s pretty widely disseminated. I looked on Bluehost’s site and they do email with Google Workspace but it mentions gmail, which we don’t want. I guess we need to contact them during business hours and see if they can do what we want. I tried reading the info, but it just confused me. I do appreciate the suggestion to check with our domain provider - it didn’t occur to me that they might provide the service. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/8 "2023-05-06T00:15:02Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I looked on Bluehost’s site and they do email with Google Workspace but it mentions gmail, which we don’t want. Why not? It has good anti-spam protection, never has issues with rejected mail, and is compatible with third-party clients if you want (i.e., IMAP support). You don’t have to even know you’re using GMail most of the time if you don’t like the native interface. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/9 "2023-05-06T00:21:37Z")
I use Fastmail for this and pay $5mo/account. I’m switching over to Microsoft 365 since I get a better deal through work, but Fastmail was great. You can make Fastmail your DNS provider with the registrar and they set it up for you. Very easy. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/10 "2023-05-06T00:23:55Z")
If you have exclusive control of that domain, another feature to consider is having a blanket rule that all emails to that domain, no matter what the qualifier, get sent to you. so anything from [Aaaaaa@donkey.com](mailto:Aaaaaa@donkey.com) through [zzzzzz@donkey.com](mailto:zzzzzz@donkey.com) and everything in between gets sent to your inbox. Couple of advantages : you can set up different emails (sales@, info@, your.name@ etc) that all arrive to you but you can use incoming filtering to manage on the inbox side. If someone sends an email with a typo you still get it You can sign up to services with a specific qualifier to prioritise or depriortise incoming emails and reduce spam. Google offer(Ed)? This feature and might still do? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/11 "2023-05-06T00:28:42Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > We don’t want to lose the email address since it’s pretty widely disseminated. I looked on Bluehost’s site and they do email with Google Workspace but it mentions gmail, which we don’t want. …I’m assuming that you mean this: > **[Google Workspace with Bluehost | Business Email & AI Tools](https://www.bluehost.com/google-workspace)** > > Get discounts on Google Workspace with Bluehost. Set up professional email, connect your domain and access Google AI-powered productivity tools with expert support. This would get you what you want: an email using your domain, pretty easily and effortlessly. This wouldn’t get you a fairychatmom @ gmail . com address, but a yourname @ fairchatmom . com address. If you don’t like the gmail interface then you can set up and use an email client. > **[Set up Gmail with a third-party email client  |  Sync data  |  Google...](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/sync/set-up-gmail-with-a-third-party-email-client?hl=en&visit_id=639252348811624121-1960531137&rd=1)** If you don’t want to use google in general, then there are other options like Zoho Mail that you can use. > **[Secure & Professional Business Email for your Organization | Zoho Mail](https://www.zoho.com/mail/)** > > Ad-free Business Email Hosting with a clean, easy-to-use interface. Secure & professional with integrated business Calendar, Contacts, Notes & Tasks. It is very easy for this to be confusing. I set email up for other people several time a year and even I’ve got to have a checklist that I work through in order to make sure everything is working correctly. The workspace option with your current host would probably be your easiest option. It wouldn’t hurt if you know anyone tech savy in person to help you work through the process. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/12 "2023-05-06T00:39:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The problem was that the registrar / DNS provider was unable / unwilling to properly configure the necessary modern anti-spam entries in DNS for my domain. That is SPF, DKIM, etc. And they prevented me from doing so either. I’m confused by this. DKIM etc is a feature of the outgoing email server; that is, your SMTP server will add the DKIM signature to your outgoing email. I believe the OP was asking about setting up an email inbox; accessible by IMAP (or POP, but don’t use POP). In my experience, outgoing email is normally handled by your ISP, not your DNS registrar or whoever handles incoming email. The inbox provider can _verify_ DKIM signatures on incoming messages if it wants to, but your description of the failure of other services to accept your email doesn’t seem to have anything to do with your incoming email service. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/13 "2023-05-06T00:47:32Z")
Yes. And my outgoing ISP’s SMTP service needs to append my domain’s DKIM data to the outgoing emails. Not the data of the domain of the underlying ISP I use. Separately, my DNS needs to contain the SPF records that point to the outbound SMTP servers my ISP uses to transmit my email. So that when some other server someplace gets an email from my ISP’s outgoing SMTP server they can look up my domain’s SPF records and find my ISP’s outgoing SMTP servers’ IP address(es) are authorized transmission points for my domain. The OP was asking about configuring both sending and receiving. You’re never configuring one without the other; it’s always both your outgoing SMTP from your client to your hosting server plus POP or IMAP from your hosting server to your client. All the antispam features are about you providing publicly accessible info to authenticate your host’s sending SMTP servers and your email bodies as your own to the recipients’ incoming SMTP servers. The link from your target’s hosting server to your target client for your outgoing email is immaterial for anti-spam stuff. As is the link from your own hosting server to your own client for incoming emails. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/14 "2023-05-06T15:00:44Z")
Outgoing mail is only handled by your ISP is they are also your email provider. DKIM has one components on the sending email server AND a DNS record. For example: My email is on Office 365, but my DNS records are on Cloudflare. The record on Cloudflare provides the public key that the receiving server needs to decrypt the encrypted portion on the message. That portion was encrypted using the private key stored on my Office 365 tenant. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/15 "2023-05-06T15:11:55Z")
[Apple will host it](https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/add-a-domain-you-own-mma473945269/icloud) for as little as $0.99/month with an iCloud+ account. If you use Apple stuff, this is a very cheap way to use your own domain for email. If you use Apple stuff and are already paying for extra cloud storage on iCloud, then all you have to do is go through setup. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-email-only-for-my-domain/983639/16 "2023-05-07T16:41:31Z")
Network Solutions [Professional Email](https://www.networksolutions.com/email/professional-email) is a cromulent option for what you are looking for. When I retired and shut down my business, closing my website but keeping the URL of my email was exactly what I wanted.