How to set up a business email address with your own domain

1. Get a domain for your business email address (no website needed)

Your email address is everything after the @, and that part is your domain. A domain can point email to one service and a website to another, or point only to email. The records that route email are separate from the ones that point to a website, so you can have a working business email address with no website at all.

If you don't have a domain yet, our guide on how to buy a .com.au domain name covers eligibility, choosing a name and registering it properly. The one rule that matters most here: your business must be the registrant, with the registrar account in your business's name.

• Turn on auto-renew. The ACSC warns that if a domain expires, anyone can buy it, and a criminal could set up email on it to contact your customers as you.
• Consider lookalike names. The ACSC also suggests registering domains that could be confused with yours, such as a different extension or an added hyphen, so scammers can't use them.
• Use a login you'll keep. Register with an address you control long term, not a staff member's personal inbox.

2. Choose a business email provider

Most small businesses choose between two providers. Both host your mailboxes, give you webmail and phone apps, and work with your own domain.

• Google Workspace: Gmail on your domain, plus Calendar, Drive and Meet. On its Australian pricing page, checked on 1 October 2026, Business Starter is listed at $9.90 per user per month, excluding tax, with 30 GB of storage per person. Higher plans add more storage and features.
• Microsoft 365: Outlook on your domain, plus Teams and the other Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft lists its Business Basic, Standard and Premium plans on its Australian site. Check the current price there, and whether it includes GST, before you sign up.

Pick the one your team already knows. If everyone lives in Outlook and Word, Microsoft 365 is the easier move. If you already use Gmail and Google Docs, Google Workspace is. Both charge per person with a mailbox, so plan who needs their own login and who can share an address. Your domain registrar or web host may also offer email. Email hosting is usually a separate service from website hosting, as our guide to what website hosting is explains.

3. Verify that you own the domain

Before a provider will handle email for your domain, it checks that you control it. Google says this stops someone else using your domain to sign up. The usual method is a TXT record, a short line of text the provider gives you to add in your domain's DNS settings.

• Sign up with the provider and enter your domain.
• Copy the TXT record it shows you.
• Sign in to your registrar (or wherever your DNS is managed) and add the record.
• Go back and select Verify.

Google says adding the record takes about 10 minutes, and confirming it can take up to an hour, though it's usually quick. Microsoft says it can take up to 10 minutes, and up to 48 hours with some registrars. Microsoft also supports Domain Connect with some registrars, which adds the records for you after you sign in and approve them.

4. Add MX records to point email to your provider

MX records tell the rest of the internet where to deliver email for your domain. Changing them is the moment email starts arriving at your new provider, so do it once the mailboxes are ready.

• Google Workspace: one MX record, with the value smtp.google.com and priority 1. Google says to remove any other MX records, because old or incorrect ones can stop email working properly.
• Microsoft 365: the admin centre shows the exact MX value for your domain. Microsoft says to create every user and mailbox before you add the MX record, so no email is lost in the switch.

Google says new MX records can take up to 72 hours to be recognised. During that window some email may still arrive at the old service, so keep it running until the change has settled. MX records only affect email. They don't touch the records that point to your website, which is why our guide to migrating a website without losing SEO says to leave them alone when only the site is moving.

5. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC so your emails reach inboxes

Anyone can type your address into the From line of an email. These three records let receiving mail servers check that a message really came from you. The ACSC says they help stop spoofed emails reaching their destination, and suggests asking your provider about adding them to your domain.

• SPF is a TXT record that lists the services allowed to send email for your domain. Google's value is v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. Microsoft's is v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all. You can only have one SPF record per domain, so if your website form or newsletter tool also sends email as you, add it to the same record.
• DKIM adds a digital signature to every email you send, so the receiver can check it wasn't changed on the way. Google generates the key in the Admin console, and says you may need to wait 24 to 72 hours after turning on Gmail before you can get it. Microsoft uses two CNAME records per domain.
• DMARC is a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain that tells receivers what to do with email that fails those checks, and where to send reports. Google and Microsoft both recommend starting with p=none, which only monitors, then moving to quarantine and later reject once you're sure your real email passes.

Google says DKIM can take up to 48 hours to start working, and to allow 48 hours after setting up SPF and DKIM before adding DMARC. SPF also has a limit of 10 DNS lookups, and Microsoft says a record that goes over it fails, so don't keep adding services you no longer use.

Gmail now expects this. Since 1 February 2024, Google requires everyone sending to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM. Bulk senders, which Google defines as those sending 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail accounts, need SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Type: TXT   Host: @        Value: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
Type: TXT   Host: _dmarc   Value: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourbusiness.com.au

6. Create mailboxes and aliases, and keep the admin account in your name

Give each person who sends email their own mailbox and login. For general addresses, use aliases: extra addresses that deliver into an existing mailbox. Google allows up to 30 aliases per user at no extra cost, so info@, bookings@ and accounts@ can all land with the right person without paying for more licences.

• Use names that will last: hello@ or bookings@ survives a staff change better than a personal name for shared work.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication for every account. The ACSC says it makes it harder for someone to get into your email, starting with your most important accounts.
• Keep the top admin account in the business's name, on the business's own address, with the owner holding the login and recovery details.
• Update your address everywhere: your website, invoices, signatures and your Google Business Profile. Our guide on how to set up a Google Business Profile shows where.

The admin account controls every mailbox, so it matters who holds it. If an IT person or web designer sets up email for you, they can have their own admin login, but the main one should belong to the business. Our guide to getting access when a web designer won't hand it over covers what happens when that goes wrong.

7. Move your old email across

If you've been using a free webmail account or another provider, you can bring your old messages with you. Both providers have tools for it.

• Google Workspace: its data migration service can import email from another Google Workspace account, Microsoft Exchange Online, an IMAP account or a single Gmail account.
• Microsoft 365: IMAP migration brings across email from Gmail and other IMAP services. It moves mail folders only, not contacts, calendars or tasks, up to 500,000 items per mailbox, and no single email larger than 35 MB. Mailboxes must exist in Microsoft 365 before you start.

A common order is: create the new mailboxes, run the migration, switch the MX records, then run a final sync for anything that arrived in between. Keep the old account open for a few weeks and set an auto-reply on it pointing people to your new address. Export contacts and calendars separately if your tool doesn't move them.

Your email is one part of owning your online presence. The website is another. For what it costs to keep a site running each year, see our guide to website maintenance costs, or read our FAQ.

Key takeaways

1. (01)

   You need a domain and an email provider for a business email address, not a website.

2. (02)

   Keep the domain, the registrar account and the email admin account in your business's name.

3. (03)

   Verify the domain, add the provider's MX records, then set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC so your email reaches inboxes.

4. (04)

   Use aliases for shared addresses, turn on multi-factor authentication, and move old email across before you close the old account.

Frequently asked questions

More answers on price, hosting and timing in our FAQ.