# What Business Email Costs for a Team of 10 (and an Agency With 10 Client Domains)

Source: https://lotsmail.to/blog/business-email-cost-team-of-10-agency-10-domains
Published: 2026-10-19T15:40:12.039+00:00

A team of 10 on one domain pays $70 to $84 a month on Google Workspace Business Starter, $70 on Microsoft 365 Business Basic, and $5 on LotsMail Starter. An agency with 10 client domains and 2 people on each pays $140 to $168 on Google, $40 on LotsMail Pro and $50 on LotsMail Starter. Flat hosts (Purelymail, Migadu) and Zoho Mail Lite cost less still.

I opened every provider's own pricing page on 19 October 2026 and worked out both bills, monthly and yearly, because per-person pricing hides its real cost until you multiply it. LotsMail prices were checked on 26 October 2026. Prices are US dollars before tax. Where a provider shows an introductory discount for new customers, I used the standard price you pay once the offer ends.

## The two examples

- **A team of 10 on one domain.** Ten people, each with their own mailbox on yourcompany.com, plus role addresses like hello@ and support@.
- **An agency with 10 client domains.** You set up email for 10 clients, 2 people on each domain, 20 people in all, plus a support@ inbox per client that the right people share.

"Monthly" means you pay month to month and can stop any time. "Yearly" means you commit to a year: some providers bill it once, others bill monthly at the lower rate. I show yearly as a monthly figure and as the year's total so the two compare directly.

## Business email for a team of 10: what it costs

| Provider and plan | You pay for | Monthly billing | Yearly billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| **LotsMail Starter** | The domain | **$5 a month** | **$50 a year** ($4.17 a month) |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | Each person | $84 a month (10 × $8.40) | $70 a month (10 × $7), $840 a year |
| Google Workspace Business Standard | Each person | $168 a month (10 × $16.80) | $140 a month (10 × $14), $1,680 a year |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Each person | Not listed (paid yearly only on the plans page) | $70 a month (10 × $7.00), $840 a year |
| Proton Mail Essentials | Each person | $79.90 a month (10 × $7.99) | $69.90 a month (10 × $6.99), $838.80 a year |
| Fastmail Standard | Each person | $60 a month (10 × $6) | $50 a month (10 × $5), $600 a year |
| Zoho Mail Lite (5 GB) | Each person | No monthly plan | $10 a month (10 × $1), $120 a year |
| Zoho Workplace Standard | Each person | $40 a month (10 × $4) | $30 a month (10 × $3), $360 a year |
| Migadu Mini | Your account | $9 a month | $90 a year ($7.50 a month) |
| Purelymail | Your account | Not offered | $10 a year |

*Provider prices checked on 19 October 2026 on each provider's own pricing page (links at the end); LotsMail checked on 26 October 2026.*

Two things the table doesn't show:

- **Role addresses don't always cost a seat.** Google Workspace lets you add up to 30 aliases per user at no extra cost and can turn a group into a shared Collaborative Inbox. Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes need no license up to 50 GB. So hello@ and support@ don't have to raise a per-person bill. Every new person does.
- **Sending allowances differ.** Every LotsMail domain includes 1,000 outbound deliveries a month (each recipient counts once). A busy team of 10 that sends a lot can add more sending to the domain; add-ons are on the [pricing page](https://lotsmail.to/pricing). Migadu Mini allows 100 outgoing messages a day across the whole account.

## Business email for an agency with 10 client domains

| Provider and plan | How it adds up | Monthly billing | Yearly billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| **LotsMail Starter** | 10 domains, everyone included | **$50 a month** | **$500 a year** (extra domains at your plan's rate) |
| **LotsMail Pro** | 10 domains, everyone included | **$40 a month** (5 domains in the plan, 5 extra at your plan's rate) | **$400 a year** |
| **LotsMail Business** | Up to 20 domains, white-label on each | **$60 a month** | **$600 a year** |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | 20 people | $168 a month (20 × $8.40) | $140 a month (20 × $7), $1,680 a year |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | 20 people | Not listed | $140 a month (20 × $7.00), $1,680 a year |
| Proton Workspace Standard (Mail Essentials allows 3 domains) | 20 people | $299.80 a month (20 × $14.99) | $259.80 a month (20 × $12.99), $3,117.60 a year |
| Fastmail Standard | 20 people | $120 a month (20 × $6) | $100 a month (20 × $5), $1,200 a year |
| Zoho Mail Lite (5 GB) | 20 people | No monthly plan | $20 a month (20 × $1), $240 a year |
| Migadu Standard | Your account | $29 a month | $290 a year |
| Purelymail | Your account | Not offered | $10 a year |

*Provider prices checked on 19 October 2026; LotsMail checked on 26 October 2026.*

On LotsMail, Starter covers 1 domain, Pro 5 and Business 20. Each extra domain costs your plan's rate, paid from LotsTech Credits a little each day. Without any plan, pay as you go is $6 per domain a month. White-label on Business means no "Powered by LotsMail" and account emails from your client's own domain; the known limit is that each domain's MX and DNS records point at LotsMail.

Now do what agencies actually do and grow. A client hires a third person: on Google that's another $7 to $8.40 a month, on Microsoft another $7.00, on Fastmail another $5 to $6. On LotsMail it's nothing. Add a project inbox, an accounts@ or a mailbox for a contractor: still nothing, because mailboxes, addresses and teammates are unlimited on every LotsMail plan. The bill only moves when you add a client domain.

## Where flat hosts and Zoho Mail Lite cost less

I'm going to be plain about this, because you'll see it in the tables anyway:

- **Purelymail is $10 a year** for the whole account, with no hard limits on users or custom domains (heavy use can move you to usage-based pricing). It has IMAP, POP3, SMTP and webmail. It's the cheapest option here by a long way.
- **Migadu** charges per account, not per domain or mailbox: Micro $19 a year (yearly only), Mini $9 a month or $90 a year, Standard $29 or $290. Sending and storage limits are shared by every domain on the account. It supports SMTP, IMAP and POP3, and its FAQ welcomes agencies hosting client domains.
- **Zoho Mail Lite is $1 a person a month**, billed yearly (no monthly plan), so 10 people cost $120 a year and 20 cost $240. Paid Zoho plans include IMAP, calendar and a migration tool, and Zoho has a free plan for one domain and up to 5 users without IMAP.

If price is the only thing that matters, pick one of those. LotsMail is for agencies and teams that want shared inboxes with access set per mailbox, a full inbox in the browser for people who don't want to configure mail apps, ChatGPT or Claude working in the inbox under rules you set, and a bill that never moves when someone joins.

## What you get for $5 a domain on LotsMail

- **Your whole team on your own domain.** Unlimited mailboxes, addresses and teammates on every plan. Keep your DNS provider and website; add the records LotsMail shows you and point mail when you're ready. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are checked for you.
- **Shared inboxes with access per mailbox.** Give each client's support@ to the people who answer it. Nobody passes a password around, and private mailboxes stay private, even from the workspace owner.
- **A full inbox on every device.** Threads, search, drafts, sent, archive and attachments in the browser on phone, tablet and desktop. Each send shows its delivery status and bounces are reported.
- **Plans by domains, not headcount.** Starter covers 1 domain, Pro 5, Business 20 (white-label on every domain). Every domain has 10 GB of shared storage and 1,000 deliveries a month, so one busy client doesn't eat into another's. [See pricing](https://lotsmail.to/pricing).
- **If a payment lapses,** sending stops at once, incoming mail keeps arriving for 14 days and then pauses, and your mail is never deleted.

**Coming soon:** desktop and phone mail apps (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird over IMAP and SMTP). LotsMail has no calendar. A client's current provider keeps its existing mail, and you can copy it into LotsMail with Import mail: Gmail, Google Workspace, Zoho, Yahoo or any host with IMAP, using an app password. Import from Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com isn't available yet (planned, no date), and calendar and contacts aren't imported. If a client must keep Outlook today or is on Microsoft 365 and wants its old mail moved first, a per-person suite fits that client better for now. LotsMail is for normal business email only: no newsletters, marketing or cold email.

## ChatGPT or Claude in the inbox, under your rules

LotsMail works with the AI agent you already use. Connect ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client to `https://api.lotsmail.to/mcp` and sign in with your Lots account. There's no built-in AI and no model cost on our side: your own assistant reads and drafts.

For each mailbox you choose what the assistant may do: **read**, **draft** or **send**. Sending by agents is off until you turn it on, so replies wait in Drafts for you. For an agency, that means you can let your assistant triage every client's support@ without giving it the power to send a word.

Try this once it's connected:

> In LotsMail, check the support@ mailbox on each of my client domains. List the unread threads that need a reply today, grouped by client, and write a reply draft for each. Don't send anything.

Domains, DNS, mailboxes, team access and billing stay in the LotsMail dashboard, which does the whole job on its own. Setup steps for each assistant are on the [connect page](https://lotsmail.to/mcp).

**Start free:** new accounts get 5,000 free credits, valid 90 days, no card. [Start with LotsMail](https://lotsmail.to).

## FAQ

### How much does business email cost per user?

On 19 October 2026: Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 a user a month with a one-year commitment or $8.40 month to month; Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7.00 a user a month paid yearly; Fastmail Standard is $5 yearly or $6 monthly; Proton Mail Essentials is $6.99 yearly or $7.99 monthly; Zoho Mail Lite is $1, billed yearly. LotsMail doesn't charge per user: it's $5 a month per domain with unlimited mailboxes.

### What does Google Workspace cost for 10 users?

$70 a month ($840 a year) on Business Starter with a one-year commitment, or $84 a month on monthly billing, checked on 19 October 2026. Business Standard is $140 a month yearly or $168 monthly. Google often shows introductory discounts for new customers; these are the standard prices you pay afterwards.

### What is the cheapest business email for an agency with many client domains?

Purelymail at $10 a year and Migadu from $19 a year, both flat per account, then Zoho Mail Lite at $1 a person a month billed yearly. LotsMail is $5 a month per domain with unlimited people, which is less than Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Fastmail or Proton as soon as a domain has more than one person, and it adds shared inboxes with access per mailbox.

### Is yearly billing cheaper than monthly?

Usually. Google Workspace's yearly commitment saves 16% against monthly, Fastmail's saves $1 a user a month on Standard, Proton's saves 13% on Mail Essentials, and LotsMail's yearly plans are two months free. Zoho Mail Lite and Mail Premium have no monthly plan, and Microsoft's plans page lists yearly prices only.

### Do shared addresses like support@ cost extra?

Not on LotsMail: mailboxes and addresses are unlimited on every plan. Google Workspace allows up to 30 aliases per user at no extra cost and can use a group as a Collaborative Inbox, and Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes need no license up to 50 GB. What raises a per-person bill is each new person who needs their own mailbox.

### Can I use Outlook with LotsMail?

Not yet. Mail apps over IMAP and SMTP are coming soon, and LotsMail has no calendar. Today LotsMail works in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and through ChatGPT, Claude or any MCP client. You can copy your old mail in with Import mail (Gmail, Google Workspace, Zoho, Yahoo or any host with IMAP, using an app password).

## Sources (provider pages opened 19 October 2026, LotsMail pricing checked 26 October 2026)

- LotsMail: [pricing](https://lotsmail.to/pricing), [connect page](https://lotsmail.to/mcp), [agent docs](https://api.lotsmail.to/docs.md)
- Google: [Workspace pricing](https://workspace.google.com/pricing) (annual and monthly views), [email aliases](https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327), [Collaborative Inbox](https://support.google.com/a/answer/167430)
- Microsoft: [Microsoft 365 business plans](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-plans-and-pricing), [shared mailboxes](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/email/about-shared-mailboxes)
- Zoho: [Zoho Mail pricing](https://www.zoho.com/mail/zohomail-pricing.html)
- Fastmail: [pricing](https://www.fastmail.com/pricing/)
- Proton: [Proton Mail for Business pricing](https://proton.me/business/mail/pricing) (monthly and yearly views)
- Migadu: [pricing](https://www.migadu.com/pricing/)
- Purelymail: [pricing](https://purelymail.com/pricing)