When you send a quotation to a client, [email protected] looks more trustworthy than [email protected]. Most teams know that. What surprised us is how much small teams pay for it, often for a whole office suite when they mainly need email.
We spent a few weeks looking at the main options: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho, Proton Mail, and our own product, Roomie. This is what we found.
Why custom domain email still matters
Email is still how you win clients, handle support, send invoices and keep the team aligned. A custom domain helps with:
- Trust: customers expect a business address.
- Branding: every email carries your company name.
- Control: the address belongs to the company, not to whoever opened the Gmail account.
- Team addresses:
support@,sales@andjobs@that more than one person can use.
The real question is which service gives you what you need without paying for a lot you will not use.
What we compared
Price, storage, what comes with the mailbox, how easy setup is, and privacy.
The options
Google Workspace
Good for: teams already working in Google Docs and Drive.
You get Gmail on your domain, plus Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet and Chat.
Price: Business Starter is about $7 per user per month on annual billing, with 30 GB of storage shared between mail and Drive. Higher plans add more storage and features.
Our take: Google Workspace is excellent. But many small teams pay for the whole suite and mainly use email and calendar. Also note that Business Starter no longer sells extra storage, so a full mailbox means upgrading the plan.
Microsoft 365
Good for: teams that work in Excel, Word and Outlook every day.
You get Outlook on your domain, plus the Office apps, Teams and SharePoint.
Price: Business Basic is about $7 per user per month with a 50 GB mailbox and the web versions of the Office apps. The desktop apps come with the more expensive plans.
Our take: if your team lives in Excel and PowerPoint, it makes sense. For a team that mainly needs email, it is a lot of product, and the admin centre takes time to learn.
Zoho Mail
Good for: teams on a tight budget that only need email.
Zoho is the low-cost option for professional email.
Price: Mail Lite starts at about $1 per user per month with 5 GB. Workplace Standard, at about $3, adds 30 GB and Zoho's office apps.
Our take: for mailboxes and nothing else, Zoho is hard to beat on price, and it sells extra storage per user cheaply. You will need other tools for chat and project work as the team grows.
Proton Mail
Good for: people and teams where privacy comes first.
Proton is built around encryption, with data kept in Switzerland.
Price: business plans start at around $7.99 per user per month.
Our take: Proton is strong on privacy. For general team work it offers less around the mailbox, so it suits journalists, lawyers and anyone handling sensitive data more than a typical small business.
Roomie
Good for: teams that want email together with chat, tasks and a calendar, at a low price.
We built Roomie, so we are biased. We got tired of paying for email, then Slack, then a project tool, so we built one workspace.
Price: free for up to 3 users, then $2 per user per month, with every feature included.
See what Roomie Mail includes, and if you set it up, our step-by-step DNS guide covers the records you need.
What you get:
- Email on your own domain: a mailbox per user plus 5 aliases
- 15 GB of storage per user
- Team chat with unlimited history
- Tasks with sprint boards
- A team calendar and video huddles
- AI that can turn an email into a task
- An MCP server for Claude and other AI agents
Our take: Roomie is not only email. You get email, chat, tasks and calendar in one place, for less than the entry plan of Google or Microsoft. Setup is quick: Roomie generates the DNS records, you add them at your domain registrar, and it shows you when each one is verified.
Price comparison
Here is what each costs per user per month. Prices change, so check each provider before you decide.
To get email, chat, tasks and meetings from separate tools, a team of ten typically pays around $250 a month: Google Workspace for email, Slack for chat, Jira for tasks, and Zoom for calls. The same ten people on Roomie pay $20 a month.
Feature comparison
Why teams choose Roomie
What teams tell us after they switch:
- One bill instead of five. Email, chat, tasks and calendar in one tool.
- Emails become tasks. A client asks for a change by email, and it becomes a task on the board with the email attached.
- AI that helps with the busywork. It can suggest tasks from emails, draft replies and summarise long threads. It is not perfect, but it saves time.
- Less to learn. Fewer features you will never open.
- Privacy options. We do not scan your email for ads, and if you want full control, you can host Roomie on your own servers.
Which one to choose
- Roomie if you want email together with chat and tasks at a low price.
- Google Workspace if your team already works in Google Docs and Drive.
- Microsoft 365 if you need the desktop Office apps.
- Zoho Mail if you only need email and want the lowest price.
- Proton Mail if privacy is the top priority.
Final thoughts
A professional email address is not optional for a business. But you do not have to pay for a full office suite just to get one. There are more good options now than Google and Microsoft.
If you are already paying for several tools, Roomie is worth trying. At $2 per user, the worst case is that you save some money.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my existing domain?
Yes. Any domain you own works. Roomie gives you the DNS records to add, and most domains are working within the hour.
How many email addresses can I create?
One mailbox per user, plus up to 5 aliases each, like [email protected] going to [email protected].
Can I move from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?
Yes. Your old mail can be imported over IMAP, and we can help with the move. Write to us for help.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. Roomie is free for up to 3 people with no time limit. On the free plan you connect one email domain and get an inbox that receives email; sending from your own domain needs the paid plan.
What if I need more storage?
Most teams find 15 GB per user is plenty for email. If someone fills up, another 15 GB is $2 a month, charged to that person only, not to the whole plan.
