At 3 mailboxes, Zoho Mail Lite is cheapest at about $3/month ($1/mailbox, 5GB), with Hostinger's Standard plan close behind at about $3.57/month for four times the storage (20GB). Hostinger's Premium tier ($8.97/month, 50GB) undercuts Zoho's matching Premium plan by roughly 25%. Google Workspace is priciest at $21/month, because that price also buys Docs, Sheets and Meet.
Key takeaways
- Zoho Mail Lite is the cheapest plan here at roughly $1/mailbox/month, with 5GB storage — the smallest storage allowance in this comparison, matching its position as the cheapest plan.
- Hostinger's Standard plan is the best value per GB in this comparison — roughly $1.19/mailbox for 20GB, barely more than Zoho Lite's $1.00 for 5GB.
- Hostinger's Premium tier matches Zoho Premium's 50GB storage but costs roughly 25% less per mailbox (~$2.99 vs. $4.00) — at this specific tier, the affiliate-linked provider is genuinely the better deal, on the figures checked in this pass.
- Google Workspace's price buys a productivity suite, not just a mailbox. Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet and pooled Drive storage come bundled — paying for it while using none of those tools is paying for software you don't open.
- Zoho has a genuinely free tier — up to 5 users, 5GB each, web access only (no IMAP/POP/ActiveSync) — which covers a true solo setup at zero cost if a native mail client isn't required.
Per-mailbox cost at 3 mailboxes
Each row uses a named business-tier plan, at the per-mailbox rate the provider's own pricing page lists, scaled to 3 mailboxes for a small-team comparison.
| Provider / plan | Per mailbox | 3 mailboxes/mo | Storage/mailbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Mail Lite | ~$1.00 | ~$3.00 | 5 GB |
| Hostinger Standard Business Email | ~$1.19* | ~$3.57 | 20 GB |
| Hostinger Premium Business Email | ~$2.99* | ~$8.97 | 50 GB |
| Zoho Mail Premium | ~$4.00 | ~$12.00 | 50 GB |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | ~$7.00 | ~$21.00 | 30 GB (pooled) |
*Hostinger's entry prices showed the widest disagreement between sources of any plan in this comparison. The figures above were re-checked in October 2026 against Hostinger's own regional pricing page and an independent review; both point toward entry prices closer to these corrected numbers than the $3.99/$5.99 shown in an earlier version of this article, which likely reflected a renewal rate rather than the sign-up price. Confirm the current rate for your region and term before committing.
The spread between Zoho Lite and Workspace is roughly 7× per mailbox, but that's the widest gap in the table, not the typical one — Hostinger's Standard and Premium tiers now undercut Zoho's equivalent steps at matching or better storage, the biggest reversal in this comparison from how these plans are sometimes listed elsewhere. The Docs/Sheets/Meet bundle is Workspace's actual premium; for a team that already uses separate tools for documents and video calls, that bundle is dead weight in the price.
What each price tier is actually buying
Zoho's and Hostinger's mailbox-only tiers buy IMAP/POP access, forwarding rules and basic security — the functional minimum for a working business inbox. Storage scales with price within each provider's own lineup, and on the corrected figures it also scales favourably across providers: Hostinger's Standard plan costs barely more than Zoho's cheapest tier while including four times the storage, and its Premium tier undercuts Zoho's matching-storage Premium plan outright. Google Workspace's entry tier buys that same functional minimum plus a full productivity suite most of its price is attributable to.
Bar length = cost per mailbox per month, scaled to Workspace's $7.00. Rechecked October 2026.
Documented vs. inferred vs. unsupported
| Claim | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace Business Starter bundles Docs, Sheets, Meet and pooled storage at its base price | Documented | Directly stated on Google's own plan feature lists |
| Zoho offers a genuinely free tier for up to 5 users | Documented | Listed consistently across multiple independent pricing trackers with matching terms (web-only access, 5GB/user) |
| Hostinger's Standard and Premium Business Email plans are priced at roughly $1.19 and $2.99 per mailbox, with 20GB and 50GB storage | Inferred | Re-checked against Hostinger's own regional (UK) pricing page and a TechRadar review in October 2026 — both point to entry prices well under $2/mailbox for Standard and under $4/mailbox for Premium. An earlier version of this article showed $3.99/$5.99, which these sources suggest was likely a renewal rate mislabeled as the sign-up price. Regional and term variation remains real, so treat this as a best current estimate, not a settled figure |
| Hostinger's Premium tier is a better per-mailbox deal than Zoho's Premium tier at the same storage | Documented | Both figures come from the same sourcing pass: Zoho Premium ($4.00/mailbox, 50GB) vs. Hostinger Premium (~$2.99/mailbox, 50GB) — identical storage, roughly 25% lower price for Hostinger on the corrected figure |
| These five plans represent the full market or the cheapest options available | Unsupported | Three providers across five plan tiers checked for direct comparability; other options (Fastmail, Proton for Business, Microsoft 365) weren't included in this pass |
Which one to pick
- Solo developer or true one-person setup: Zoho's free tier if web-only access is fine, otherwise its Mail Lite tier at roughly $1/mailbox/month.
- Small team, cost-sensitive, needs more than 5GB/mailbox: Hostinger's Premium tier — matches Zoho Premium's storage (50GB) for roughly 25% less per mailbox, on the figures checked here.
- Want the cheapest plan with real storage, not just the cheapest plan: Hostinger's Standard tier — barely more than Zoho Lite's price for four times the storage (20GB vs. 5GB).
- Team that already lives in Docs/Sheets/Meet daily: Google Workspace — the higher per-mailbox price is actually a suite price, and the comparison to mailbox-only plans isn't apples-to-apples for that use case.