Comparisons1 min read
Microsoft 365 vs Free Email Hosting: When to Pay and When to Stay Free
Exchange, Teams, and compliance vs OquMail's free webmail — decision framework for businesses under twenty people.
Microsoft 365 makes sense when you standardize on Outlook desktop, Active Directory, and Teams calling. Free hosting makes sense when email is the only missing piece and budget is zero.
Quick summary
- Your team works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint every day and needs the desktop apps
- You rely on Exchange features such as shared calendars, room booking and delegated mailboxes
- You use Teams for calls and chat and want it tied to the same accounts
- Your industry or customers require compliance tooling that comes with Microsoft's business plans
- You need you@yourcompany.com and a reliable inbox, not an office suite
When Microsoft 365 is worth paying for
- Your team works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint every day and needs the desktop apps
- You rely on Exchange features such as shared calendars, room booking and delegated mailboxes
- You use Teams for calls and chat and want it tied to the same accounts
- Your industry or customers require compliance tooling that comes with Microsoft's business plans
When free email hosting is enough
- You need you@yourcompany.com and a reliable inbox, not an office suite
- Your team already uses other tools for documents, chat and meetings
- You want to keep using the Outlook app — OquMail mailboxes connect to Outlook over IMAP and SMTP
- You want a transactional API and delivery logs on the same domain
Do the maths at your real headcount
Microsoft 365 is priced per user per month, so the cost grows with every hire. Check Microsoft's current prices for your country and multiply by your team size. OquMail is free for up to 15 mailboxes; need more? Contact us — $1 per extra mailbox per month.