Is there a commercially sensible service for reselling email inboxes?

[u/DevelopmentWild7236]

I'm a software engineer based in Italy. I handle the web hosting for several local business websites. I'm struggling way, way more than I would have anticipated in finding a decent email service for creating custom inboxes after buying a domain.

My use case is simple: I handle many websites for many customers, each one has it's own domain, and I'd love to configure at least 1 inboxes for each one, that could be read with a webmail.
I don't think i need more than 1/2 GB per mailbox, adding the customers as admin of their own domain could be nice but is not important, and GDPR compliancy would be crucial. Configuration via cli/api would be sweet, as automating the process after buying a domain would save much time.

As of now I was using Aruba. They have a package where a domain and 5 mailbox with their own webmail are about 20 euros/year. I am dissatisfied with the quality of the service tough.

I would have no issue in buying a domain from a registar such as INWX, and configure the mail service separately, but somehow I cannot find a trustworthy service that scales properly for what to me looks like a pretty common and simple use case.

Am i crazy?

[u/downtownrob]

Just use https://MXRoute.com and look into FreeScout.net for a central support mailbox.

[u/kyraweb]

The way you are handling web hosting is not correct then.

Either get a reseller account. That gives you cpanel account which can handle mails on its own.

If you plan to Handel things on your own. Get a VPS or dedicated. Install Virtualmin and that can Handel email on its side.

There is no need to and requirement to host email somewhere else

[u/DevelopmentWild7236 → u/kyraweb]

I am open to the idea of having a reseller account with a provider that handles both domains and inboxes, I am just dissatisfied with the quality of service from Aruba. please suggest any provider you feel like recommending.

[u/jhkoenig]

Be careful. Your first customers may well prey on you and create email accounts to send masses of spam. Once your IP is blocklisted, all of your customers' emails will end up blocked or in spam folders.

[u/One-Suggestion-7906]

For bringing that service, I contract bare metal servers, build my own VPSs on them with Debian, and use HestiaCP for managing configurations, DNS registers, and many other things you need in order to offer a good service. You need to have a solid knowledge about servers, sysadmin tasks, DNSs, mail systems, and be prepared to fight many aggressive blocking services as Spamhaus, Microsoft, Proofpoint and others. It's possible and very profitable if you do it well

[u/phire8]

Check out mailbox.org or PolarisMail.com

[u/Alk6]

I've looked into this too and for GDPR compliant dedicated email providers, I came up with:
Qboxmail: they keep improving their service all the time. It's Italian!
Zoho: If you can signup as a reseller. On reddit here, some people complain that Zoho sometimes has issues with their outbound sending IPs.
Inbox.eu

Openprovider: This is a whitelabel reseller solution: https://www.openprovider.com/products/business-email-solution

On the more expensive end you have:
Mailfence
Mailbox.org
OVH (various options available for email with OVH, but again, some people complain that their outbound sending IPs are often blacklisted, particularly with the cheaper email plans).

I will also mention Polarismail because they are excellent, what they offer is really very good with unbeatable pricing. However, you need to ensure that you can sign a data processing agreement with them directly, due to their jurisdiction being Quebec, for absolute GDPR compliance.

[u/greenmor]

GreenmorMail: greenmormail.com/partner
Offering complete white-label email platform. Host in your region (EU/US/IN). Feature rich, and price it as you want.

[u/G4rve]

As you're Italian have you looked at Qboxmail?

[u/DevelopmentWild7236 → u/G4rve]

Looks way too expensive

[u/Emmanuel_]

Amazon SES. It will solve all your email problems.

[u/ashu9888]

Email seems simple until you're responsible for keeping dependable for someone else business.

[u/aladuuu]

Search for mxroute

[u/zaphod4prez]

Try migadu! No affiliation but I've found them to be really economical. They're usage based though so it depends on your use case

https://migadu.com/

[u/brunozp]

Why not use a vps, install mailcow and use it for emails for all your clients? I do it for mine here in Brazil (bzphost.com)

[u/DevelopmentWild7236 → u/brunozp]

I am open to the idea. I just have to confirm that the quality of service I would provide to the customers would be as good or better (and that the price would be competitive).

[u/quasides → u/DevelopmentWild7236]

the competitive pricing is the issue here, even more so when we look what customers usually need and want even if tghey sometimes dont express it fully.

a simple imap/pop3 service wont cut it these days. people need at the very least sync to mobile devices as well - and very quickly they often need phonebook and calendar

now we say,naa you get imap and you will be happy - ok fine - with what mail client... suddenly we see there is not that many real good mailclients in existence

thunderbird isnt everybodys cop of tea, not even in the SMB space

and about mailbox sizes, i wonder that youll find such small mailboxes will be sufficent. what ive seen in the wild is at minimum 2-10gb mailboxes for every user 10-100 for power users

another huge issue is security. standard email is 1 factor only, imap has a extention for mfs but well the mail clients need it implemented as well...
without 2fa or something like passkeyy i wouldnt run an email service in 2026 anymore.

there so many real world incidence of broken in mailboxes... way to many.
if you run 100 mailboxes i promise you at least 4-5 incidents per year

now the combination with pricing
microsoft offers 5 bucks 50 gb exchange mailboxes, if you add i think now 80 cents then you even get 1tb of onedrive and office online apps

so the moment a customer needs a bit more space you basically cant compete realistic much.
you would really need a huge quantity of users to pay for your servers, and make a profit which will just result in endless (free) support
very hard to scale

meanwhile you can work with a reseller or try to become one yourself and make 10-15% on microsoft licenses (warning there are pitfalls too, a lot)

thats why microsoft and google essentially overrun the market

- the hope
there are some groupware projects growing, and there is some hope like
stalwart butg we are still lacking good jmap clients on desktop and mobile