Two quotations reach a Kenyan customer's inbox. One comes from [email protected], the other from [email protected]. Which one gets opened first, and which looks like a proper business? The advantage may be unfair, but it is real, and a business email in Kenya costs less per mailbox each month than a samosa. This guide explains how to create one and which of the three setup routes to choose.
What a domain email does for you
- Trust. An address on your own domain says "established business" straight away, even if you are a one-person outfit working at the kitchen table.
- Better delivery. Mail sent from a free Gmail account can end up in junk, while a properly configured domain address reaches the main inbox more reliably.
- A consistent brand. The same name appears on your website, your invoice header and your business card, and that consistency helps you sell.
- Control. A Gmail address is subject to whatever Google decides; @yourbusiness.co.ke stays yours for as long as you hold the domain.
- Room for a team. As you hire, add sales@, support@ or accounts@ instead of mixing company work into staff members' personal Gmail.
Three routes to business email in Kenya
Route 1: Email that comes with your web hosting
Price: free, included with every SiteBoma hosting plan
Suits: sole traders, small businesses with up to 5 to 10 staff, and anyone whose email needs are simple.
A mail server is part of every paid hosting plan. Sign in to DirectAdmin, choose "Email Accounts", enter a username and a password, and [email protected] works within seconds. Read your mail in the browser through Roundcube webmail, or have Gmail, Outlook or your phone collect it over IMAP.
Pros: No cost beyond your hosting. Genuinely unlimited, with no charge per user. You keep full control. IMAP, SMTP and POP all supported.
Cons: Spam filtering is not up to Gmail's standard. There is no office suite such as Docs or Sheets. Mailboxes share disk space with your website.
80 percent of Kenyan SMEs use this route, and it serves them well.
Route 2: Google Workspace (Gmail on your own domain)
Price: about USD 6 per user per month (roughly KSh 780 per user per month, billed yearly through our Google Workspace service)
Suits: teams of three or more who already work in Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive; anyone who wants Drive storage and Meet in the package; businesses that rely on shared documents and calendar invitations.
With Google Workspace, each member of staff gets a full Gmail inbox on your domain, along with Drive, Meet, Docs, Sheets and Calendar. It is the Google interface everyone already knows, just with @yourbusiness.co.ke. For many businesses the spam filter alone justifies the price.
Pros: Excellent spam filtering, Drive, Calendar and Meet built in, mobile apps that simply work, 99.9% uptime.
Cons: Per-user fees mount up. Moving over from an existing mailbox takes about a day. Not the cheapest choice.
Route 3: Microsoft 365 (Outlook and Office on your domain)
Price: about USD 6 per user per month, in line with Google Workspace
Suits: teams that already work in Outlook and Microsoft Office, businesses that need the desktop Word and Excel apps, and organisations with formal compliance or security requirements.
The idea is the same as Google Workspace, but built on Microsoft's tools: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams. Plenty of Kenyan corporates, particularly in finance and in work close to government, prefer Microsoft. We handle the setup through our Microsoft 365 service.
Pros: Full desktop Office apps included. Ideal if your work revolves around Word and Excel. Microsoft Teams comes with it.
Cons: Some people find it less intuitive than Google Workspace, and setup is a little more involved.
Setting up Route 1 (free hosted email), step by step
These steps assume you already have SiteBoma hosting:
- Sign in to your client dashboard and choose "Open DirectAdmin."
- Go to Email Accounts.
- Select Create Account.
- Enter a username such as info, sales or your first name.
- Choose a strong password; the panel can create one for you.
- Set the mailbox size. Somewhere between 500 MB and 5 GB is usually ample.
- Press Create, and [email protected] is ready to use.
- Check it works by visiting https://yourbusiness.co.ke/webmail and signing in with the address and password.
Adding the mailbox to your phone or Outlook
Create a new email account in your app with these details:
- Username: the full address (for example [email protected])
- Password: the one you just set
- Incoming (IMAP) server: mail.yourbusiness.co.ke, port 993, SSL
- Outgoing (SMTP) server: mail.yourbusiness.co.ke, port 465, SSL
Happier in Gmail? Add the mailbox as an external account (Settings → Accounts → "Check mail from other accounts"). Gmail will then pull in your hosted mail every few minutes, and your replies go out as @yourbusiness.co.ke.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Leaving out SPF, DKIM and DMARC
These DNS records show receiving servers that mail from @yourbusiness.co.ke really comes from you and not a spammer. Without them, most Gmail and Outlook inboxes will file your messages as junk. SiteBoma configures SPF and DKIM for you automatically, and DMARC is a one-click switch in DirectAdmin.
Recycling personal passwords
Give every mailbox its own strong password. Because password resets for your other accounts arrive by email, your inbox is effectively the master key to all of them. Lose control of the mailbox and you lose control of the business.
Skipping two-factor authentication
Roundcube webmail has no built-in 2FA, whereas Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both offer it. If you deal with sensitive information, this matters.
Picking addresses that will not grow with you
Avoid making [email protected] the main company address. When John leaves six months later, you are stuck forwarding his mail indefinitely. Use role addresses (info@, sales@, support@, accounts@) and give each person a personal address such as john@ as well, for when it is needed.
What each route costs
| Route | 1 staff member | 5 staff | 20 staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosted email (Route 1) | Included with hosting | Included with hosting | Included with hosting |
| Google Workspace | ~KSh 9,400/year | ~KSh 47,000/year | ~KSh 187,000/year |
| Microsoft 365 | ~KSh 9,400/year | ~KSh 47,000/year | ~KSh 187,000/year |
Most Kenyan SMEs get years of good use from Route 1 before they need anything more. The usual sign that it is time to upgrade is either "real messages keep landing in spam" or "we need a shared Drive and Calendar."
Business email FAQ
Is there a limit on how many email accounts I can create?
On SiteBoma shared plans, you can create as many as your mailbox quota allows. In practice that means hundreds of small mailboxes or a smaller number of large ones. Reseller plans follow the same limits.
Can I bring my old email over to the new domain?
Yes. IMAP-to-IMAP migration tools copy your old messages into the new mailbox, and on paid plans we do this as part of our free migration.
How do aliases work?
An alias (for example sales@ forwarding to john@) is free and takes up none of your mailbox quota. You create aliases in DirectAdmin.
Can I send as @yourdomain.co.ke from Gmail?
Yes. In Gmail go to Settings → Accounts → "Send mail as" and add your domain address. Once Gmail has verified it, you can write new messages as [email protected] without leaving Gmail.
Set up your business address
Already hosting with SiteBoma? Sign in and create your mailbox; it takes about 30 seconds.
No hosting yet?
Prefer to go straight to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365? We will set either one up for you within 24 hours.