# Custom-domain email for startups

> Startup Mail gives a small company real custom-domain mailboxes with a web inbox, forwarding, team access, API, webhooks, SDK, and MCP. It costs $12 per year and includes 1,000 monthly email events.

## What you are buying

Email hosting for addresses on a domain you own. Startup Mail stores the mailbox, sends and receives mail, and lets each address stay private, become shared, forward elsewhere, or connect to software.

## Common company addresses

- Keep founder@ private with its own history and explicit access.
- Share hello@ or support@ with the people responsible for those conversations.
- Forward selected addresses to verified Gmail or Outlook destinations.
- Connect products and AI agents with scoped keys, signed webhooks, the SDK, or MCP.

## Setup

1. Add a domain you control.
2. Copy the generated MX, DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records into your DNS provider.
3. Wait for verification, then create private, shared, forwarded, or software-connected addresses.

Your website, registrar, and hosting remain where they are. DNS propagation can add waiting time.

## Important boundaries

Startup Mail is not traditional IMAP or SMTP hosting. Gmail and Outlook support uses forwarding plus a protected reply relay; folders, labels, and read state do not synchronize. Campaigns, newsletters, cold outreach, purchased lists, and scraped contacts are prohibited.

## Price and next steps

The plan costs $12 billed yearly and includes every email feature plus 1,000 monthly email events. Higher-capacity self-service plans are not available yet.

- [Start a mailbox](https://staging.startupmail.dev/app)
- [Custom-domain email buying guide](https://staging.startupmail.dev/guides/custom-domain-email-without-office-suite.md)
- [Quickstart](https://staging.startupmail.dev/docs/quickstart.md)
- [Usage and limits](https://staging.startupmail.dev/docs/usage-limits.md)