How to get a free business email account?

Requirements:

• You must have your own domain name. You can buy a .nz domain on Crazy domains. If you don’t what domain is see our article what is a domain name?
• Be able to configure DNS for your domain (instructions provided)
• A valid mobile number

Sign Up for Zoho Workplace Email

Zoho offers a very generous free email service. You can get up to 5 email addresses and each can have up to 5GB of space.

To put 5 GB in perspective, I have 1800 emails in my inbox and I have used only 3% of 5GB. Just in case if you were worried about the space.

Here is a step-by-step guide to how to get a free business email.

• Go to Zoho Workplace
• Enter your domain name
• Fill out the registration form by following the instructions on the registration page.
• Once completed, you will be redirected to the Zoho mail control panel.

You will need a valid mobile number and an email address. Zoho links each account to a mobile number in order to avoid misuse of the service.

You can only have one free domain and up to 5 inboxes.

Choose your first address carefully as this will be Super Admin. Go for something like admin@yourdomain.co.nz or similar.

Setup Zoho Mail

In order to use the service, you will have to verify the domain, configure MX records, and Authenticate SPF and DKIM. This section will provide step by step guide to do all of the above.

Verify your domain

The first step to how to get a free business email account is to have a domain name. If you don’t you can buy one from Crazy Domains.

You must verify your domain by adding a TXT or CNAME record to the domain DNS or uploading an HTML file.

All domain registrars provide basic DNS management. If your registrar limits your DNS management you can always use Cloudflare for free.

The easiest method is to add a TXT or a CNAME record to your DNS. See and follow provided information on the Zoho control panel to add one of the records.

For this article, I will be providing step by step guide to adding a TXT record using Cloudflare’s free DNS services.

• Click on Verify your domain in Zoho Mail Control Panel which will redirect to another page.
• Choose Others from DNS manager’s list
• Go to Cloudflare > Select your domain > DNS tab

Then

1. Click on Add record
2. Type: TXT
3. Name: @
4. TTL: Auto
5. Content: Copy and paste the value provided by Zoho
6. Save
7. Go back to Zoho and click Verify by TXT green button at the bottom centre.

Add MX records

MX Records (Mail eXchange) are the special entries in DNS that designate the email-receiving server of your domain.

• Go back to your DNS management
• Cloudflare > Select your domain > DNS tab
• Click on Add record
• Type: MX
• Name: @
• Mail server: mx.zoho.com.au
• Priority: 10
• TTL: Auto

Repeat the above to add all three records as provided by Zoho.

Add SPF records

Your emails are going to work without these records but it’s STRONGLY recommended that you add these records. As Zoho says

“Email spoofing is forging an email so that the email appears to be sent by someone, whereas the actual source might be someone else. To ensure that valid emails from your domain get delivered to your users, and spoofed emails from other spammers are identified by the other email services, we recommend you to add SPF records and DKIM records for your domain.”

To add Sender Policy Framework (SPF) follow these steps. Note, when added it may take up to 24 hours for SPF records to be verified. So be patient, you will still be able to send and receive emails.

• Go to Cloudflare > Select your domain > DNS tab
• Add record
• Type: TXT
• Name: @
• TTL: Auto
• Content: v=spf1 include:zoho.com.au ~all
• Click Save

Add DKIM signature

This step makes sure your emails don’t end up in other people’s Spam folders. This is a vital step to make sure the receiver’s system knows you are legit.

Click on the Proceed to Configure DKIM button on the domain setup page. This will redirect you to the Zoho control panel.

• Click on the Pencil next to your domain name

• Add a Selector
• Give a name to the Selector. You can give any name you like but for future references make sure its relevant.
• Then click Save

This will generate a new TXT record for you to add to your DNS. Open your DNS manager in a new tab

• Go to Cloudflare > Select your domain > DNS tab
• Add Record
• Type: TXT
• Name: The newly generate TXT/Hostname
• TTL: Auto
• Content: The generated TXT value
• Click Save

• Go back to Zoho setup and click Verify. Once verified the grey dot should turn green.

Verifying Zoho DKIM officially ends our guide on how to get a free business email account.

To add new email addresses click on User details (left-hand pane) then add users. If you need help adding new users, or migrating your emails to Zoho see Zoho’s comprehensive help centre.

You can find answers to all your questions > https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/

Service Limitation

As this is a free service you will have to expect limitations. The limitations are not too major for a free service.

• No IMAP, POP3, or SMTP access. In simple words, you cannot use other email clients (i.e outlook, iOS mail) to access emails. You will have to use their mobile app which works great. You can also add your other email accounts to their mobile app. When accessing via computer you will have to access via their website.
• You cannot use their service as SMTP
• Each account is linked to a valid mobile number.
• You can have one domain only with up to 5 inboxes.
• The email support for free accounts is very slow. Best to refer to their help centre.

If you don’t like the limitations then you will have to signup for a paid account which starts from $1.41 AUD per month (yearly plan only).