The three options in plain terms
All three give you name@yourbusiness.com. They differ in where the mail lives, what comes with it, and what happens when something goes wrong.
- Hosting email. Mailboxes included with your web hosting, opened in Outlook, the phone’s mail app or webmail. Cheap and simple — but storage is small, and it shares a server, and its fate, with the website.
- Google Workspace. Gmail on your own domain, plus Calendar, Drive and Meet. Familiar to anyone who already uses Gmail on their phone, with an excellent spam filter.
- Microsoft 365. Outlook on your own domain, plus Teams and OneDrive — and on the Standard plan and above, desktop Word and Excel. Suits businesses that live in Office files, or deal with corporate clients who do.
- Free forwarding is not a mailbox. Some registrars forward sales@ to a personal Gmail for free. Fine for receiving, but replies go out from the Gmail address, which defeats the point.
Which one suits which business
The right choice depends on how many people use email, on what devices, and what else they need with it.
- One to three people, mostly email. Hosting email is enough for a small shop or sole proprietor who sends quotations and answers enquiries. Set up properly, it works.
- A team that works on phones. Google Workspace. Shared calendars, shared Drive folders, and the Gmail app most Malaysians already know.
- Contracts, accounts and Excel. Microsoft 365, if staff already need desktop Word and Excel — accounting and law firms, manufacturers handling tenders. One licence covers email and Office.
- One domain, one service. Keep all of a domain’s mailboxes on the same service. Splitting sales@ on Google and admin@ on hosting is possible, but fragile — and it confuses whoever looks after it next.
What it really costs
Hosting email is usually included. Google and Microsoft charge per person, per month — so count users before you compare.
- Per user, not per business. Entry plans for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cost roughly RM 25 – RM 45 per user a month, less when paid yearly. Both changed their prices in 2025, so check the current Malaysian price before you budget.
- Extra addresses are free. One person can receive sales@, info@ and accounts@ without paying three times. Google uses aliases and groups; Microsoft uses aliases and free shared mailboxes.
- Storage decides the plan. Entry plans give about 30 GB per user on Google and a 50 GB mailbox on Microsoft. Hosting mailboxes are often 1 – 10 GB, and photos and drawings sent by email fill them fast.
- Buying through a reseller. Local resellers bill in ringgit and offer local support. Compare their price with buying direct, and make sure the admin account is in your company’s name, not theirs.
Setting it up so mail reaches the inbox
Whichever you choose, a few DNS records decide whether your quotations land in the inbox or in junk. Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft now filter or reject mail without them.
- MX records point to the service. They tell the world where your mail is delivered. Use exactly the records the provider gives you, and remove the old ones.
- One SPF record, not two. SPF lists the servers allowed to send as your domain. The most common mistake is adding a second SPF record for a new service. There must be one, with every sender in it — including the website’s contact form.
- DKIM signs every email. Switched on in the Google or Microsoft admin console, then published as a DNS record. Hosting email usually has a DKIM switch in the hosting panel.
- DMARC tells receivers what to do. Start with p=none and a reporting address, then move to quarantine once the reports show only your own services sending. It also stops scammers sending fake invoices in your name.
- Test it. Send an email to a Gmail address, open it and choose “Show original”. SPF, DKIM and DMARC should all say PASS. Test the website’s contact form the same way.
Switching without losing mail
Moving email is the part people fear most. Done in this order, nobody misses a message.
- List every address first. Every mailbox, alias and forward in use. A forgotten accounts@ is how invoices go missing.
- Copy old mail before the switch. Google and Microsoft both have tools that copy mail from a hosting mailbox. Start a day or two early, so most of it is moved before anything changes.
- Change MX at a quiet time. Lower the DNS TTL the day before, then switch the MX records on an evening or weekend. New mail usually arrives at the new service within an hour or so.
- Copy again, then set up every device. Run the copy once more to catch the last messages, then set up each phone and laptop again. Keep the old mailboxes for two weeks before deleting them.
When staff join and leave
The mailbox belongs to the business, not the person. Set it up that way from day one.
- Admin account in the company’s name. The owner holds the admin login, with a recovery phone and email that are not on the same domain. Your IT person or designer gets an admin account of their own.
- Two-step login for everyone. Stolen email passwords are how most fake-invoice scams start. Turn on two-step verification for every user, and make it compulsory for admins.
- When someone leaves. Change the password the same day and keep their mail — Microsoft can turn the mailbox into a free shared one; Google can transfer it to another user. Customers will keep writing to that address for months.
- Role addresses for customers. Put sales@ and accounts@ on quotations, invoices and the website, not a person’s name. Staff change; the address stays.
Questions
Is a Gmail address fine for a business?
To start, yes. But quotations from a free Gmail look less trustworthy, are easier for scammers to imitate, and the address cannot be handed over cleanly when staff or owners change.
Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 — which is better?
Neither, overall. Workspace is simpler and phone-first; Microsoft 365 wins if staff need desktop Word and Excel. Choose by how your team already works.
Can I move email and keep my website hosting?
Yes. Only the MX and email DNS records change; the website keeps running where it is.
Why do my emails go to junk?
Usually SPF, DKIM or DMARC is missing, or there are two SPF records. Check with “Show original” in Gmail and fix the DNS.
Will I lose old emails when I switch?
Not if they are copied before and after the MX change. Mail stored only on one computer in Outlook (a .pst file) has to be imported separately.
Someone sent a fake invoice from an address like ours. What now?
Set DMARC to quarantine or reject so forged mail is binned, turn on two-step login for every user, and ask customers to confirm bank details by phone before paying. If money was lost, make a police report.
What does CST charge?
Hosting with a .com domain, SSL and a mailbox is RM 390 a year. Setting up Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, the DNS records and the mail move is charged as website fixes at RM 150 an hour, quoted before work starts.