email hosting plans explained for growing organizations

What to expect in a plan

Choosing a provider involves more than price. Look for per-user storage (e.g., 25–100 GB mailboxes), an uptime SLA of 99.9%+, and responsive support. Plans differ on shared calendars, custom domains, and archiving; read the fine print on sending limits and attachment size.

• Security: TLS in transit, encryption at rest, spam and malware filtering, optional MFA.
• Deliverability: Tools to publish SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Management: Aliases, groups, catch‑all, and role-based admin controls.

Security and compliance essentials

Serious plans offer retention policies, legal hold, audit logs, and regional data residency. Ask about S/MIME support, outbound scanning, and phishing protection, as well as backup and restore options with defined RPO/RTO.

Migration and daily use

Evaluate migration paths-IMAP import, cutover, or staged-plus tools for DNS changes and zero-downtime switchover. Check mobile sync (IMAP/SMTP or Exchange ActiveSync), webmail usability, and integrations with calendars and contacts. Finally, confirm transparent overage rules, clear exit procedures, and whether you can export all mailboxes without penalties.