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

Rackspace Email

• Businesses that want hosted email with admin tools and migration help
• Companies already working with Rackspace on Microsoft 365

Zoho Mail

• Small businesses that want low-cost email on their own domain
• Teams that already use other Zoho apps such as CRM or Projects
• Organizations that want to choose the country their mail is stored in

Rackspace Email

• No price could be read: the old product page returns an error and the current Email page would not load, so check with Rackspace.
• Rackspace's site now leads with enterprise cloud and Microsoft 365, and presents Rackspace Email as one of several productivity options.
• Rackspace documents setup for Outlook, Apple Mail, iPhone and Android mail apps; it names no native app of its own.

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.

Rackspace Email

Control panel administration

Admins add mailboxes and aliases, create group lists and set folder cleanup, storage and webmail settings in one panel.

Spam and virus filtering

Rackspace lists spam filtering in the panel and describes premium spam and virus protection as part of the service.

Archiving

The control panel can archive all incoming and outgoing email for a domain.

Free migrations

A self-service migration tool and assisted migrations from other providers are offered at no charge, according to Rackspace's documentation.

Multi-factor sign-in

Webmail administrators can set up multi-factor authentication for their users.

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.

Rackspace Email

Pricing could not be confirmed. See rackspace.com.

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.

Rackspace Email

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.