Free business email in Bangladesh: name@yourbusiness.com.bd, no card

Bangladesh runs a huge amount of business through Facebook pages (F-commerce), bKash and a Gmail address, alongside garment exporters and one of the largest freelance workforces anywhere. The blocker to a proper name@yourbusiness.com.bd address has usually been payment: international subscriptions need a dual-currency card most owners do not have. This guide avoids that.

Quick answer

Register a .com.bd through BTCL (or a .com through a local reseller that takes bKash, Nagad or bank transfer), create a free OquMail workspace, add the domain, paste four DNS records, create mailboxes. OquMail's free plan has no card step, so nothing in the email setup requires an international payment.

Domain choice: .com.bd or .com

Bangladesh's .bd domain is administered by BTCL, with businesses under .com.bd. Registration is done through BTCL's online system and asks for trade licence or identity documents, and payment is local. Direct .bd names are not generally available. A .com is extremely common for Bangladeshi businesses, especially freelancers and exporters, and local hosting companies sell .com for taka.

• .com.bd: clearly Bangladeshi; registered through BTCL with documents; good for corporate and government clients
• .com: the default for freelancers, agencies and exporters; buy through a local reseller if you have no dual-currency card
• .org.bd and .edu.bd: organisations and institutions
• Whichever you choose, make sure you can edit DNS yourself or that the reseller adds records promptly

Why a domain address matters in Bangladesh

Garment and leather exporters deal with buying houses and foreign brands that verify suppliers before placing orders; a quotation from merchandising@yourfactory.com.bd is treated as a factory, a Gmail quotation is not. Freelancers pitching on Upwork and Fiverr are competing with tens of thousands of others. And F-commerce sellers moving to corporate orders or Daraz wholesale hit procurement teams who will not raise a purchase order to a personal address. Banks opening business accounts increasingly ask for one too.

Step by step

1. Register the domain: .com.bd through BTCL with your trade licence, or .com through a Bangladeshi hosting company paying by bKash, Nagad or bank.
2. Create a free OquMail workspace at oqumail.com. No card is requested.
3. Add the domain in the dashboard and copy the four DNS records.
4. Add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records in the DNS panel (BTCL provides its own; resellers usually use cPanel Zone Editor).
5. Click Verify in OquMail. The live check shows which record is still missing.
6. Create mailboxes: info@, sales@, merchandising@ and one per person, up to 15.
7. Send a test from webmail, then add the account to Outlook or the phone mail app with the settings below.

The four DNS records OquMail needs

If the reseller manages DNS for you, send all four values in one message and ask them to delete any existing MX. Keep only one TXT starting with v=spf1 on the root.

• MX — host @, value mail.oqumail.com, priority 10
• SPF (TXT at @) — v=spf1 MX (Mail Exchanger — where incoming email is delivered) a:mail.oqumail.com ~all
• DKIM (TXT at your selector ._domainkey) — v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=… (the exact key is shown in your OquMail dashboard)
• DMARC (TXT at _dmarc) — v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com

OquMail connection settings

• Incoming (IMAP): mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL/TLS
• Outgoing (SMTP): mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS
• Username: your full email address (you@yourdomain.com)
• Password: the same password you use for OquMail webmail

The payment reality

Getting a dual-currency card endorsed for online payments in Bangladesh takes paperwork and comes with limits, which is why so many businesses never get past the Google Workspace checkout. OquMail's free plan has no card and no monthly charge: 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, webmail, IMAP/SMTP, delivery logs and a send API. The domain is the only recurring cost, paid locally.

Pitfalls specific to Bangladesh

• Bundled hosting email with no DKIM and a shared IP: quotations to foreign buyers land in spam. Check OquMail’s delivery log after the first sends.
• Grameenphone, Robi and most broadband providers block outbound port 25. Use port 587 with STARTTLS.
• Choosing SSL on port 587 in Outlook. Pick STARTTLS.
• Keeping the Gmail as the contact on your Facebook page and Daraz store after the domain is live.
• Skipping DMARC. Publish p=none so nobody can spoof your domain to a buying house.

Common questions

Should a freelancer use .com.bd or .com?

For overseas clients, .com is the safer default and easier to buy. Exporters and companies dealing with local corporates benefit from .com.bd; both can sit on one OquMail workspace.

Can I use it in the Gmail app?

Yes. Add an IMAP account with the settings above. Webmail also works from any browser.

Is there a trial period?

No. The free plan is limited by 15 mailboxes, 3 domains and 5 GB per mailbox, not by time, and it never asks for a card.