Zoho Mail
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 17 email services by recommenders
People recommend Zoho Mail for free email on your own domain that has worked reliably for years, with paid plans around $1 a month; the most common caveat is that IMAP access needs bridges or workarounds.
People recommend Zoho Mail for free email on your own domain that has worked reliably for years, with paid plans around $1 a month; the most common caveat is that IMAP access needs bridges or workarounds.
36 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free tier with custom domains
“It offers a free account with custom domains (which means your account won't get deactived just for non payment)”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Proton to 'Re-Interview' Staff About AI to See Who Gets to Keep Their Job” “I've been using Zoho for this for free for years, and I'm pretty sure I set up accounts for my whole family”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “All I wanted was a custom domain email” “just use zoho mail or any other free email that lets you bring your own domain”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Addressing Antigravity Bans and Reinstating Access” - Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Proton to 'Re-Interview' Staff About AI to See Who Gets to Keep Their Job”
- Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “All I wanted was a custom domain email”
Reliable with no issues for years
“I pay for Zoho mail for all the email accounts for my businesses and I am very happy about the product, the service”
Comment from 1 Apr 2026 in “My son pleasured himself on Gemini Live. Entire family's Google accounts banned” “Never had any issues. Support is actually reachable and good.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Gmail is entering the Gemini Era” “These have all been running for many years and work fine”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Gmail AI gets more intrusive” - Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Bye Bye Gmail”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Bye Bye Gmail”
- Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”
Cheap paid plans, about $1 monthly
“They have free tier available and the paid is like $1 a month - if you grow, you can move or grow with them.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “All I wanted was a custom domain email” “I use zoho with three low usage domains and pay $1 a month.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)” “it is pretty decent and extremely affordable”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” - Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “An MCP Server for Fastmail – National Email Day”
- Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Bye Bye Gmail”
Enough for needs, no reason to switch
“which does more than what I need for a custom email”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, buy domains, and deploy” “it’s ‘okay’ enough that it’s not worth switching”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Email obfuscation: What works in 2026?” “I switched from Google and I'm missing nothing.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Needs bridges for IMAP access
“Doesn’t do e2ee theatre and makes me install bridges and tunnels to flyovers just to use imap.”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Proton to 'Re-Interview' Staff About AI to See Who Gets to Keep Their Job” “that's not good if you want programmatic inbound access which is what u need for many apps”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, buy domains, and deploy” Doubts about company trust
“Maybe not perfect from a geopolitical pov, but it will do for now.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “Zoho is trying their best also in this space - not sure how successful they have been”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo” Cluttered, hard to navigate
“Compared with something like Zoho where I get lost everytime I need to navigate around”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left” “to bloated with feature I don't need”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left” Costs add up with growth
“I moved from Zoho to Gmail, b/c of their pricing.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)” “however you dice it, it will use some money”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, buy domains, and deploy”
Other email services people recommend
The four most recommended other email services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fastmail | 388 | 95 | 80% | 13 | 5 yrs90 owners | Approved |
| Gmail | 295 | 797 | 27% | 12 | 20 yrs58 owners | — |
| Proton Mail | 196 | 222 | 47% | 13 | 3 yrs29 owners | — |
| Tuta Mail | 49 | 17 | 74% | 13 | — | Approved |
| Zoho MailThis page | 29 | 7 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
36 of the 40 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“custom domains is offered in the free tier, something Gmail doesn't offer”
“Who cannot keep their own domain? I still remember that story from years ago”
“Doesn’t do e2ee theatre and makes me install bridges and tunnels to flyovers just to use imap.”
“It offers a free account with custom domains (which means your account won't get deactived just for non payment)”
“I've been using Zoho for this for free for years, and I'm pretty sure I set up accounts for my whole family”
“They have free tier available and the paid is like $1 a month - if you grow, you can move or grow with them.”
“zoho free out works fine for me”
“Multiple instances where people on Gmail had my messages go to spam.”
“Over never had any suspicion my emails haven't been received.”
“odd bug on more than one sites (at least Zoho mail and, again, Meta) where the top 20 or so pixels are hidden behind the tab bar”
“So far that's worked out well for me.”
“to bloated with feature I don't need”
“Zoho is great as it has meetings / calendar etc which I need for things”
“Compared with something like Zoho where I get lost everytime I need to navigate around”
“it's done everything I want it to do including meetings”
“No idea, but there's Zoho.com”
“that's not good if you want programmatic inbound access which is what u need for many apps”
“which does more than what I need for a custom email”
“however you dice it, it will use some money”
“their email is $1 a month or something”
“it’s ‘okay’ enough that it’s not worth switching”
“I pay for Zoho mail for all the email accounts for my businesses and I am very happy about the product, the service”
“Maybe not perfect from a geopolitical pov, but it will do for now.”
“just use zoho mail or any other free email that lets you bring your own domain”
“I've been using it for years and have no complaints.”
“Been using Zoho for years with no issues.”
“they have some low cost plans”
“Never had any issues. Support is actually reachable and good.”
“I use zoho with three low usage domains and pay $1 a month.”
“I moved from Zoho to Gmail, b/c of their pricing.”
“I switched from Google and I'm missing nothing.”
“Zoho is trying their best also in this space - not sure how successful they have been”
“it is pretty decent and extremely affordable”
“it's far easier to point my MX records and let someone else do it”
“my mail provider (zoho) is pretty decent at keeping track of the addresses anyways”
“These have all been running for many years and work fine”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.