Free business email in Canada: get name@yourbusiness.ca set up today

A contractor in Calgary, a realtor in Toronto or a Shopify store in Montréal will all be judged partly by the address on the estimate. A .ca domain says you are Canadian and reachable; a Gmail or a Rogers address does not. This guide gets name@yourbusiness.ca working with free mailboxes and correct DNS.

Quick answer

Register a .ca with any CIRA-certified registrar (you must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements), create a free OquMail workspace, add the domain, paste four DNS records, create mailboxes. Up to 15 mailboxes are free with no card, so the only cost is the domain.

Domain choice: .ca or .com

The .ca domain is managed by CIRA, and registrants must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements: a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a corporation registered in Canada, a registered trademark holder and similar categories. Any CIRA-certified registrar (Webnames, Rebel, GoDaddy, Namecheap and many others) handles the declaration. Canadian businesses also use .com heavily, especially those selling to the US, and many register both.

• .ca: requires Canadian presence; the most trusted ending for Canadian customers
• .com: no restrictions; standard for cross-border e-commerce and software
• Province-specific third-level names (.on.ca, .qc.ca, .bc.ca) still exist but are rarely used for business
• Register the .ca in the business name so it is not tied to one owner

Why Canadian customers trust a domain address

Home services, real estate, bookkeeping, immigration consulting and e-commerce are all fields where clients have been warned about fraud by their bank and by the CRA. An estimate from quotes@yourbusiness.ca is acted on; the same estimate from a Gmail prompts a call to check. A domain address also keeps client history in the business when staff leave, and it works for bilingual operations because you can create both info@ and renseignements@ on the same domain.

Step by step

1. Register yourbusiness.ca with a CIRA-certified registrar and complete the Canadian presence declaration.
2. Create a free OquMail workspace at oqumail.com. No card.
3. Add the domain and copy the four DNS records.
4. In the registrar’s DNS panel add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.
5. Click Verify. The live DNS check tells you which record still needs attention.
6. Create mailboxes: info@, quotes@, and one per person, up to 15.
7. Send a test from webmail and add the account to Outlook, Apple Mail or the phone mail app with the settings below.

The four DNS records OquMail needs

If the domain is with a Canadian web host, it may have pre-set an MX records (the settings that tell the internet where to deliver email for your domain) for bundled email. Delete that before adding OquMail's. On Cloudflare, keep the MX and TXT records unproxied.

• 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

What it costs

The domain is a yearly fee paid to the registrar in Canadian dollars. Email hosting is free: OquMail's free plan includes 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, webmail, IMAP/SMTP, delivery logs and a send API, with no card on file. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are priced per user per month, which is worth avoiding for a business that only needs a handful of addresses.

Pitfalls common in Canada

• Using a Rogers, Bell, Shaw or Telus address for the business. It vanishes when you switch provider and looks like a home account.
• registrar (the company where you bought your domain, e.g. Namecheap or GoDaddy)-bundled email with no DKIM, so estimates land in junk at Outlook and Gmail.
• Choosing SSL on port 587 in Outlook; it must be STARTTLS.
• Residential ISPs block outbound port 25. Nothing in this setup uses it.
• Skipping DMARC. Publish p=none on day one so nobody can spoof your .ca to your clients.

Common questions

Do I need a .ca if I already own the .com?

Not required, but a .ca tells Canadian customers you are local and it protects the brand. Both can sit on one OquMail workspace.

Does it work with Outlook and my phone?

Yes. Add an IMAP account in Outlook, Apple Mail or the Gmail app with the settings above.

What is the limit on the free plan?

15 mailboxes, 3 domains and 5 GB per mailbox, with no expiry date.