Four hosts that all refuse to charge per seat. Three of them are hobbyist favourites with very low sticker prices. One of them is built to run a business on. This page shows what each one charges, what the price leaves out, and where the real cost of email ends up.
In short
Faivelo is the best flat-rate email host for a business. It is the only one of the four that sets up your DNS and authentication for you. It is the only one with its own phone apps and webmail, and the only one with a migration tool. It is also the only one that can send your newsletters and transactional email. Purelymail, Migadu and MXroute are good products for a technical person running hobby domains. Their sticker prices are lower. Once you count the hours of setup, the lack of support, and the tools you will have to buy elsewhere, they are not cheaper for a company.
- Best for a business: Faivelo
- Best for a tinkerer: Migadu
- Lowest sticker price: Purelymail
- Prices dated: September 2026
Same pricing idea, very different products
All four hosts on this page share one idea: the account is the unit, not the person. You bring your domains, create as many mailboxes as you like, and the bill does not move when you hire. That is the right model for a small business, and it is why per-seat suites are not on this page.
The difference is who the product is for. Purelymail, Migadu and MXroute are run by one person or a very small team, for people who enjoy being their own email admin. Faivelo is built for the business owner who wants email to work and never think about it again. Everything below follows from that.
Side by side
| Faivelo | Migadu | Purelymail | MXroute | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Flat, $6/mo ($5 annual) | Flat by storage, from $19/year | Flat, about $10/year | Flat, about $45/year |
| Mailboxes and domains | Unlimited mailboxes; 3 domains on Starter, unlimited from Growth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 10 GB Starter, 200 GB Growth, 1 TB Pro | 5 GB Micro, 30 GB Mini | 10 GB, then pay per GB | About 10 GB |
| DNS records | Placed for you at ten registrars, verified everywhere | You paste them | You paste them | You paste them |
| SPF, DKIM, DMARC | Configured automatically | You configure | You configure | You configure |
| Webmail | Own webmail, branded login per company | Roundcube or SOGo | Roundcube | Roundcube or Crossbox |
| Phone apps | iPhone and Android | None | None | None |
| Migration tool | Built in, runs in the background | None | None | None |
| Calendar and contacts | Included from Growth | CalDAV and CardDAV | Basic | None |
| Newsletters | Included from Growth | Not allowed | Not built for it | Forbidden |
| Transactional API | Included from Growth | None | None | None |
| Booking page and Drive | Included on Pro | None | None | None |
| Support | Support desk, people who run mail | Email, small team | One person | Small team |
| Free trial | 14 days, full product, no card | 30 days | Test account | None |
| Company | Faivelo, EU servers | Small company, Switzerland | One person, United States | Small team, United States |
Public list prices and documented features as of 11 September 2026. Plans change; confirm on each pricing page.
The sticker price versus the real cost
Purelymail, MXroute and Migadu Micro cost less per year than Faivelo Starter. That is true and this page will not pretend otherwise. What the sticker price leaves out is the work. On the indie hosts you find the DNS page at your registrar and paste an MX record and three TXT records. You generate a DKIM key and write a DMARC policy. You set up each device by hand and copy your old mail across with a third-party tool. Then you are the person who gets the call when something bounces.
Here is a five-person business with hello@ and support@, seven mailboxes, in its first year. Setup time is a conservative estimate for someone who has done it before, valued at $50 an hour.
| Host | Plan | Subscription | Setup and admin time | First-year cost | Tools you still need |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faivelo | Starter, annual | $60 | About 15 minutes | About $72 | None |
| Faivelo | Growth, annual | $120 | About 15 minutes | About $132 | None |
| Migadu | Mini | $90 | About 3 hours | About $240 | Newsletter tool, migration tool |
| MXroute | Entry annual | About $45 | About 3 hours | About $195 | Newsletter tool, calendar, migration tool |
| Purelymail | Simple | About $10 | About 3 hours | About $160 | Newsletter tool, calendar, migration tool |
A newsletter tool alone is $10 to $20 a month elsewhere. Add that, and the cheapest indie host costs a business more than Faivelo Growth every year, before anyone has spent a minute on DNS.
Faivelo: flat price, with the setup done for you
Starter is $6 a month for unlimited mailboxes on up to three domains. Growth is $12 for unlimited domains and 200 GB. Connect your registrar and the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are placed for you. That works at Cloudflare, Vercel, Netlify, DigitalOcean, WordPress.com, Google Cloud DNS, Porkbun, Gandi, Name.com and NameSilo. Everywhere else, each record is verified as you paste it, with a green tick per record.
Beyond the inbox there is our own webmail with a branded login for each company, and iPhone and Android apps. A migration tool pulls in Gmail, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP account in the background. Calendar and contacts come with Growth. Newsletters, a transactional API and a booking page come on the higher plans, so a growing business never has to add a second vendor. Every account starts with 14 days of the full product without a card.
Why it wins for a business
- The only host here that configures DNS, SPF, DKIM and DMARC for you
- The only one with its own phone apps and branded webmail
- The only one with a built-in migration tool
- The only one that sends newsletters and transactional email
- A support desk staffed by people who run mail servers
- One flat price whether you have two mailboxes or forty
Where the others have a point
- Higher sticker price than Purelymail, MXroute and Migadu Micro
- Starter is capped at three domains; Growth lifts it
- Younger company than Migadu
- No PGP encryption in the webmail
Migadu
Migadu is a small Swiss company that prices by storage. Micro is $19 a year for 5 GB, Mini $90 for 30 GB, Standard $290 for 100 GB. All plans have unlimited mailboxes and domains. It is the best-run of the indie hosts, with clear documentation, a DNS checker in the admin panel, and proper CalDAV and CardDAV support. Setup is still entirely manual, there are no apps and no migration tool, and the small plans carry daily sending limits that surprise people.
Pros
- Fair storage-based pricing
- Swiss jurisdiction and a transparent company
- Good documentation and standards support
Cons
- Manual DNS, DKIM and DMARC
- No phone apps, no migration tool, no newsletter sending
- Daily sending caps on the plans a small business would pick
- Stock Roundcube or SOGo webmail
Where Migadu is the better choice. A technical person who wants Swiss hosting, will do the setup once, and will never send a newsletter. For that reader, Migadu Mini is excellent value.
Purelymail
Purelymail is a one-person company in the United States. It charges roughly $10 a year for unlimited users and domains, with 10 GB included and more billed by use. It is deliberately minimal: Roundcube webmail, IMAP and SMTP, spam filtering, and nothing else. The owner says so on the site, and the people who choose it like it for that.
Pros
- The lowest price anywhere for real mailboxes on your domain
- Unlimited users and domains from the first dollar
- No marketing, no upsells
Cons
- One person runs it; there is no support desk and no guarantee of one tomorrow
- Everything is on you: DNS, DKIM, DMARC, devices, migration
- No apps, no calendar to speak of, no sending tools
- Stock Roundcube
Where Purelymail is the better choice. A developer with side projects who wants the cheapest possible bill and is happy to be the admin. Not somewhere to put a company's support@ address.
MXroute
MXroute is a small American host known for unlimited domains and mailboxes at very low prices, and for lifetime deals sold through hosting forums. Plans start around $45 a year. It runs on DirectAdmin with Roundcube and Crossbox webmail and is explicit about being email only: no calendar, no contacts sync, no extras. Its terms of service are strict about sending, and the team enforces them.
Pros
- Unlimited domains and mailboxes for very little
- Lifetime deals exist if you catch one
- Direct support from the people who run it
Cons
- Email only: no calendar, contacts or apps
- Manual setup in a dated DirectAdmin panel
- Newsletters and anything bulk are forbidden
- Lifetime pricing raises long-term questions for a business
Where MXroute is the better choice. Someone hosting a pile of hobby domains who knows DNS and wants the lowest cost per domain. For a company, the sending rules alone rule it out.
Moving from any of them to Faivelo
None of these hosts lock you in, which is one thing they all get right. Your domain is yours and mail is standard IMAP. Moving to Faivelo takes an afternoon, most of it waiting for the copy to finish.
- Add the domain and create the same mailboxes. Nothing changes for the outside world until the DNS does.
- Run the migration. The migration tool signs in to the old host over IMAP and copies every folder in the background. It reports what it moved.
- Connect the registrar. MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC are replaced for you at connected registrars. Elsewhere, paste the four records and watch each one tick green.
- Keep the old account for a month. Mail in flight during the DNS change lands at whichever host answered. Check the old inbox weekly, then close it.
The flat-rate host built for a business
Faivelo hosts unlimited mailboxes from $6 a month. It places your DNS records at the registrar and signs your mail. It adds the apps, migration and sending tools the indie hosts leave out. Try it for 14 days without a card.
- Automatic MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC at ten registrars
- Own webmail, iPhone and Android apps
- Migration from Migadu, Purelymail, MXroute or any IMAP host
- Newsletters, API and booking page on Growth and up
FAQs
Which flat-rate email host is best for a small business?
Faivelo. It is the only one of the four that configures DNS and authentication for you. It has phone apps and a migration tool, and it can send newsletters and transactional email. The others are built for technical hobbyists.
Is Purelymail really cheaper than Faivelo?
On the sticker, yes: about $10 a year against $60. Count three hours of setup, the newsletter tool you will buy elsewhere, and the absence of any support desk, and a business pays more on Purelymail.
Is Migadu better than Faivelo?
For a technical, privacy-minded person who will do the setup once and never send a newsletter, Migadu Mini is excellent and cheaper. For a company that wants the setup done and those tools available, Faivelo.
Can I send newsletters from Migadu, Purelymail or MXroute?
No. MXroute forbids bulk mail outright, Migadu caps daily sends on its small plans, and Purelymail is not built for it. Faivelo includes campaign sending from Growth, with per-domain ramping and separate limits so newsletters never block normal mail.
Can I move from Purelymail, Migadu or MXroute to Faivelo?
Yes. All three are standard IMAP hosts. Faivelo's migration tool copies the folders in the background, and the DNS switch is placed for you at connected registrars.
Do any of these hosts have phone apps?
Only Faivelo. The others rely on whatever IMAP mail app you set up by hand on each device.
Where is my mail stored?
Faivelo on EU servers, Migadu in Switzerland, Purelymail and MXroute in the United States.
Are the prices on this page current?
They are the public list prices on 11 September 2026. All four hosts change plans occasionally; treat the numbers as orientation and confirm on each pricing page.
Set up your business email today
Unlimited mailboxes on your own domain for one flat price, with DNS, DKIM, SPF and DMARC configured for you. Live in a few minutes, free for 14 days, no card needed.