Free business email in Switzerland: set up name@yourfirm.ch

Swiss SMEs send a QR-bill with nearly every invoice, keep the UID number on their letterhead, and increasingly write to customers in two or three languages. The one thing many of them still do from a free webmail address is the email that carries all of that. A .ch domain is registered in minutes at a Swiss registrar for a modest yearly fee, and mailboxes on it can be free. This guide covers the registrars, the records, the data-protection point, and how to handle German, French and Italian addresses without making a mess.

Quick answer

Register yourfirm.ch at a Swiss registrar such as Infomaniak, Hostpoint or cyon, paying by card, TWINT or invoice. Create a free OquMail workspace with no card, add the domain, paste four DNS records, click Verify and create your mailboxes. Add the mailbox to Outlook or your phone over IMAP and set it as the sender in your invoicing program.

Choosing your domain: .ch, .swiss or .com

• .ch: the registry is SWITCH; names are sold through registrars, open to anyone, priced in francs. The ending Swiss customers and public bodies expect.
• .swiss: reserved for businesses and organisations with a Swiss connection, with checks at registration and a higher price. A brand choice, not a requirement.
• .com: for firms selling mostly abroad; many hold both and use .ch for the mailboxes.
• Umlauts and accents (Müller, Genève) should be registered in their plain form for the domain you use in addresses.

Why a domain address matters in Switzerland

Precision manufacturers and suppliers to the watch, medical and machine industries are audited before they are onboarded, and the email domain matching the commercial register entry is a line on the checklist. Hospitality businesses in the Alps and the lake regions compete for foreign bookings against competitors whose contact address matches their site. Consultants, fiduciaries and small agencies invoice on 30-day terms and are paid faster when the sender address, the invoice and the QR-bill all belong to the same firm. Cross-border customers in Germany, France and Italy are especially cautious about invoice fraud and check the domain.

Step by step: from domain to working inbox

1. Register yourfirm.ch at a Swiss registrar. Pay by card, TWINT or invoice; the domain is active within minutes.
2. Go to oqumail.com and create a free workspace with your name and a password. No card, no trial countdown.
3. In the dashboard choose Add domain and type yourfirm.ch. OquMail shows the four DNS records to add.
4. Log in to the registrar, open the DNS zone, and add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records exactly as shown. Swiss registrars bundle their own mail service; delete its MX records first.
5. Return to OquMail and click Verify. The live check names any record still missing.
6. Create your mailboxes: info@, rechnung@ or facture@ for invoices, and one per person. The free plan allows up to 15 mailboxes with 5 GB each.
7. Send a test from webmail to a Gmail address, then add the account to Outlook or your phone with the settings below.

The four DNS records OquMail needs

• 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

Three languages, one domain

Use neutral mailbox names that work in all three languages (info@, contact@, first names) and set the display name and signature per language. A group address for each market, for example romandie@ delivering to the French-speaking staff, routes enquiries without exposing which colleague handles them.

What it costs in Switzerland

• The .ch domain: a yearly fee in francs at the registrar
• Mailboxes: free on OquMail, up to 15 with 5 GB each, 250 sends a day per mailbox
• No monthly fee, no hosting plan required

Mistakes common in Switzerland

• Keeping the registrar's bundled mailboxes active alongside the new ones. One MX set per domain; remove the registrar's MX records.
• Umlauts in mailbox names. Use mueller@ and put Müller in the display name.
• Treating the revised Data Protection Act (in force since September 2023) as someone else's problem: customer data in mailboxes counts. One mailbox per person, no shared passwords, access removed when someone leaves.
• Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt consumer connections block outgoing port 25. Use port 587 in every mail app.

Common questions

Can a sole proprietor (Einzelfirma) use this?

Yes. A .ch can be registered by an individual, and a single mailbox costs nothing. Put the new address on invoices next to the UID number.

Does it work with Outlook and my phone?

Yes. Add an IMAP account with the settings above in Outlook, Apple Mail or the Gmail app, using your full address as the username.

What are the limits?

15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, no expiry. Extra mailboxes are added on request without touching DNS.

Want to see how your own domain is set up? Use the free SPF checker, DMARC checker and MX lookup: they run in your browser and store nothing.