OquMail vs Elastic Email: Free Mailboxes vs Low-Cost Bulk Sending

Elastic Email is known for low-cost, high-volume sending with both marketing and transactional tools. OquMail is a free business email host with a small send API. People compare them when they want to send from their domain cheaply and realise they also need somewhere for replies to land.

Quick summary

• Mailboxes: Elastic Email none; OquMail up to 15 free
• Free plan: Elastic Email a trial with limits; OquMail a permanent free plan with 3 domains and 5 GB per mailbox
• API: Elastic Email full sending and marketing API with SMTP relay; OquMail transactional send API with Bearer keys
• DNS guidance: Elastic Email SPF, DKIM and tracking domain records; OquMail MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC with live verification
• IMAP/SMTP: Elastic Email SMTP for sending only; OquMail IMAP and SMTP for reading and sending

Who each is for

Elastic Email is for senders with large lists or high transactional volume who want a low per-message price and a campaign editor. Its customers are typically stores, publishers and agencies whose monthly volume is measured in the hundreds of thousands. OquMail is for small businesses that need professional mailboxes for staff and a simple API for order emails, at no cost, with deliverability guidance built in. Its typical customer is a company of two to fifteen people whose sending is measured in the hundreds.

Feature comparison

• Mailboxes: Elastic Email none; OquMail up to 15 free
• Free plan: Elastic Email a trial with limits; OquMail a permanent free plan with 3 domains and 5 GB per mailbox
• API: Elastic Email full sending and marketing API with SMTP relay; OquMail transactional send API with Bearer keys
• DNS guidance: Elastic Email SPF, DKIM and tracking domain records; OquMail MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC with live verification
• IMAP/SMTP: Elastic Email SMTP for sending only; OquMail IMAP and SMTP for reading and sending
• Storage: Elastic Email contacts and stats; OquMail 5 GB per mailbox with delivery logs

Where Elastic Email wins

• Among the lowest prices per message for bulk and transactional volume
• Campaign editor, contact lists, automation and landing pages
• Dedicated IPs and sub-accounts for agencies
• Scales to millions of messages a month

Where OquMail wins

• Real inboxes with webmail and IMAP for the team
• Free for 15 mailboxes and 3 domains
• DNS verification that catches SPF, DKIM and DMARC mistakes before mail goes out
• Per-message delivery logs with the receiving server's response

Total cost at 5 and 15 users

Elastic Email bills on volume and contacts; the number of staff is irrelevant and mailboxes are not included, so 5 or 15 users still need an email host. OquMail is free at both sizes and handles modest transactional traffic. If you run large campaigns, Elastic Email on a subdomain plus OquMail for mailboxes is a common, low-cost combination.

The free third option: OquMail

OquMail keeps your primary domain's reputation tied to real human mail. Put staff on OquMail, send bulk campaigns from a subdomain on Elastic Email with its own SPF and DKIM, and route replies to an OquMail mailbox. Low-volume receipts can go straight through OquMail's send API.

• Free plan: up to 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, no credit card
• Webmail included; IMAP/SMTP for Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird and phones
• IMAP mail.oqumail.com port 993 (SSL/TLS); SMTP mail.oqumail.com port 587 (STARTTLS)
• Guided SPF, DKIM and DMARC with live DNS verification; MX is mail.oqumail.com priority 10
• Transactional send API at https://api.oqumail.com/api/v1/emails with Bearer API keys (from, to, subject, html)
• Per-message delivery logs so you can see the exact response a receiving server gave

Verdict by scenario

• E-commerce store sending thousands of promotional emails a week: Elastic Email
• Small business that needs staff inboxes and order confirmations: OquMail
• Agency sending for many clients at volume: Elastic Email sub-accounts
• Startup with no list yet: OquMail, add a bulk sender later

Common questions

Can Elastic Email host my business inbox?

No. It sends and tracks mail but does not provide a mailbox to log into. Use OquMail for name@yourdomain.com.

Should I send campaigns from the same domain as staff email?

Use a subdomain for campaigns. If a campaign draws complaints, your staff mailboxes on the root domain keep their reputation.

Can OquMail replace Elastic Email for bulk sending?

No. OquMail's API is for transactional messages at modest volume. Bulk marketing belongs on a platform built for it.

How do I stop bulk sending from hurting my staff mailboxes?

Separate the two by domain. Staff mail lives on the root domain with OquMail; campaigns go from a subdomain with Elastic Email's SPF and DKIM. Publish DMARC on both. If the campaign subdomain earns a poor reputation, receivers still judge the root domain, and the people on it, on its own record.