Purelymail vs Zoho Mail (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Purelymail if

• Fits if you have a few domains and want one low flat fee for all of them
• Works for people who just want plain mailboxes

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you send marketing mail or newsletters, as the terms ban it and accounts may be removed without refund
• Tight if you send a lot, as sending is capped at about 3,000 external messages a day, and less on trials
• Watch out: there's no 24/7 support staff
• Watch out: some small mail servers may block its mail for a day or two

Pick Zoho Mail if

• Fits if you run a small business and want addresses on your own domain for $1 a person a month
• Works for teams already on Zoho CRM or Projects, which plug into the inbox

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you just want a free personal inbox, because Gmail and Outlook need no domain and no setup
• Not for you if you want Apple Mail or Outlook on the free plan, which has no IMAP, POP or ActiveSync and isn't in every data centre
• Tight if you never delete anything, as Mail Lite gives each person 5 GB, or 10 GB for $1.25
• Watch out: Mail Lite and Mail Premium are yearly only, and retention, eDiscovery and S/MIME start at $4 a person
• Watch out: the phone app gets reports of missing emails and a delete button that misbehaves

Purelymail

• Marketing mail, mailing lists, spam and domain warm-up are banned by the terms, and accounts breaking them may be removed without refund.
• Sending is limited to roughly 3,000 external messages a day, and trial accounts have much lower sending limits.
• The vendor says it has no 24/7 support staff and that some small mail servers may block its mail for a day or two.
• It lists automatic alias generation as not yet supported, and says its own interface is not always intuitive.

Zoho Mail

• The free plan covers one domain and 5 users, has no IMAP, POP or ActiveSync access, and is offered only in select data centers.
• Mail Lite and Mail Premium are sold on yearly subscriptions only. Monthly billing exists only for the Workplace plans.
• Email retention, eDiscovery and S/MIME are limited to Mail Premium and Workplace Professional.
• Zoho states 24x7 support by email, phone and live chat for paid plans, and guided migration by a dedicated agent only for companies with more than 50 users.

Purelymail

Unlimited custom domains and users

Any number of users on any number of your own domains at no extra charge, with routing rules and catch-alls.

Standard mail access

IMAP with IDLE, POP3 and SMTP work with third-party apps, and Roundcube webmail is provided.

Filters and spam control

Sieve filters or webmail rules, with SpamAssassin spam filtering that can learn.

Calendar, contacts and files over DAV

CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV give basic calendar, contact and file sync.

Encryption and 2FA

Mail is encrypted at rest, and you can set the account so the vendor cannot read it without your password. Two-factor sign-in is supported.

Zoho Mail

Email on your own domain

Addresses at your company's domain with group addresses and email and domain aliases. SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI are built in.

Calendar, tasks, notes and bookmarks

A calendar, contacts, ToDo, notes and bookmarks sit inside the mailbox, so events and tasks are handled in the same window as mail.

Streams and shared drafts

Streams lets a team comment, assign tasks and post announcements around email. Drafts, single emails and whole folders can be shared for review or delegation.

Zia AI assistant

Zia drafts replies and summarizes long threads, and Zoho Mail can be connected to AI apps through Zoho Mail MCP.

Admin console and compliance

Role-based access, security policies, audit logs and two-factor authentication for admins. Retention, eDiscovery and S/MIME come with Mail Premium and Workplace Professional.

Migration tools

A free automated tool moves email, contacts and calendars from Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP provider, with migration specialists available at no extra charge.

Purelymail

• Simple pricing$10

  per year, for all users and domains on the account

  One flat fee with no hard limits on users, custom domains or storage; heavy use may be moved to advanced pricing.

• Advanced pricing$10

  one-time credit purchase at sign-up, then used as you go

  Pay per resource: $4 a year account fee, $0.56 per GB of storage a year, $0.23 per 1,000 emails sent externally.

Zoho Mail

• Forever Free$0

  One domain and up to 5 users with 5 GB of mail storage each. No IMAP, POP or ActiveSync access; offered only in select data centers.

• Mail Lite$1

  per user / month, billed annually (no monthly plan)

  Custom-domain email with 5 GB of mail storage per user, or 10 GB for $1.25, plus calendar and tasks. No file storage.

• Workplace Standard$3

  per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly)

  30 GB of mail storage per user plus WorkDrive, the office apps, Cliq, Meeting and Vault. File storage starts at 100 GB per team.

• Mail Premium$4

  per user / month, billed annually (no monthly plan)

  50 GB of mail storage and 50 GB of retention storage per user, with email retention and eDiscovery, S/MIME and mobile access management.

• Workplace Professional$6

  per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)

  100 GB of mail and 100 GB of retention storage per user, 1 TB of team file storage, the Premium compliance tools and Zoho Connect.

• Workplace EnterpriseCustom

  Custom limits across the Workplace products, with Active Directory cloud sync and endpoint controls. Priced through Zoho sales.

Purelymail

No public discounts listed.

Zoho Mail

• Annual discount

  About 20% off with annual billing

  Zoho's pricing FAQ cites a discount of roughly 20% for annual billing. Workplace Standard is $3 per user / month billed annually against $4 monthly, and Workplace Professional $6 against $7.

• Nonprofit

  Special pricing for nonprofits

  The pricing FAQ says non-profit and charitable organizations get special pricing, arranged by contacting Zoho sales.