How to Create a Business Email Address With Your Own Domain in South Africa
To create a business email address such as info@yourbusiness.co.za, you need three things: a domain name you own, an email service that hosts the mailboxes, and a few DNS records that point your domain’s mail to that service and prove your messages are genuine. The first two take minutes. The third is where most problems start, because since 2024 Gmail and Yahoo check those records before they accept your mail, and a missing one can send your quotes and invoices straight to spam.
This guide walks through the whole process in order, with the record values the big providers publish (checked 29 October 2026). If you are still deciding between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, our Workspace vs Microsoft 365 comparison covers that choice in depth. This article is about getting it set up properly.
Step 1: get your own domain
Your email address can only be as professional as the domain behind it. A free Gmail address works, but name@yourbusiness.co.za tells a customer you are an established business, and it stays yours if you ever change email provider.
If you do not have a domain yet, check your name on our domain checker. A .co.za costs R200 a year with us, registered in your own name. Before you commit to a name, it is worth making sure it is clear at CIPC and on the trade mark register too: our guide on how to check if a business name is taken covers those checks.
Step 2: choose where your email will live
There are two broad options, and both are legitimate.
Email included with your web hosting. Most hosting plans include mailboxes on your domain. Our own hosting includes 10 mailboxes and 15 forwarders, for R99 a month or R950 a year, and our .co.za annual hosting bundles the domain, website hosting and email for R1,150 a year. The trade-off is storage: on our plan the 5GB is shared between your website and your email, so it suits small teams that do not keep years of large attachments.
A dedicated email service. Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Zoho Mail host email separately from your website and add things like shared calendars, larger mailboxes and document tools. When we checked their pricing pages on 29 October 2026:
| Service | Entry plan | Price shown on the official page | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | Business Starter | Shown in euros, not rand | 30GB pooled storage per user, price excludes tax |
| Microsoft 365 | Business Basic | USD 7.00 per user a month, paid yearly | Price excludes VAT |
| Zoho Mail | Mail Lite | R14 per user a month, billed annually | Local taxes charged on top |
Prices move and vary by country, so treat these as a snapshot and check the provider’s page on the day you sign up. Zoho also advertises a free plan for up to 5 users with 5GB each, but it says the plan is “available only in select data centers” and that it does not include IMAP, POP or ActiveSync, so it may not work with the mail app on your phone. Zoho’s list of data centres does not include one in Africa.
A practical rule: if your team lives in shared documents and video calls, a dedicated service is worth it. If you mainly need a few professional addresses that send quotes and receive enquiries, hosting email is usually enough.
Step 3: point your domain’s mail with an MX record
The MX record tells the internet where to deliver mail for your domain. You add it in the DNS settings wherever your domain is managed. Each provider publishes its own value:
- Google Workspace: one MX record with the value smtp.google.com and priority 1. Google notes that older setups use values starting with “aspmx” and that “If your email is working, no changes are required.”
- Microsoft 365: a value that starts with a key unique to your domain and ends in mail.protection.outlook.com. Microsoft says to copy the exact value shown in your Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Zoho Mail: mx.zoho.com, mx2.zoho.com and mx3.zoho.com with priorities 10, 20 and 50, though Zoho notes the ending varies with the data centre your account is in.
- Hosting email: your host gives you the value, usually a mail server on your own domain.
Only point MX at one provider. Mail split across two services is the most common cause of “some emails never arrive”.
How long until it works? Use the provider’s own figure, not a rule of thumb. Google says it “can take up to 72 hours” for new MX records to be recognised. Microsoft says DNS changes “typically” take about 15 minutes but can occasionally take longer. Zoho says up to 12 to 24 hours depending on the record’s TTL.
Step 4: add SPF, DKIM and DMARC
These three records are what Gmail and Yahoo look at to decide whether your mail is genuine. In plain terms:
- SPF lists which servers are allowed to send mail for your domain. Microsoft describes it as a DNS record that identifies “valid sources of mail for the domain”.
- DKIM adds a digital signature to every message so the receiver can check it really came from you and was not changed on the way.
- DMARC tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails those checks, and sends you reports about it.
What Gmail and Yahoo require
Since February 2024, Google requires every sender to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM, have valid forward and reverse DNS, use a TLS connection and keep spam rates in Google’s Postmaster Tools below 0.3%. Senders of 5,000 or more messages a day must have both SPF and DKIM plus a DMARC record (Google says the policy “can be set to none”), and marketing mail must support one-click unsubscribe. Google says it began “ramping up its enforcement on non-compliant traffic” in November 2025. Yahoo’s sender rules are similar: SPF or DKIM for everyone, and SPF, DKIM and a DMARC policy of at least p=none for bulk senders.
Even if you send nowhere near 5,000 emails a day, setting up all three is the sensible default. It is a one-time job and it protects your domain from people sending fake mail in your name.
The SPF mistake we see most often
Your domain may have only one SPF record. The SPF standard (RFC 7208) treats more than one as an error, and Microsoft puts it plainly: “only one SPF record is allowed per domain or subdomain”. If you use your host for website forms and Google Workspace for mailboxes, both go into a single record. SPF also allows a maximum of 10 DNS lookups, and going over that makes the check fail.
For reference, Google’s documented SPF record is v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all and Microsoft’s is v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all. Combine the include parts if you use more than one service.
Turning on DKIM and DMARC
DKIM is switched on inside your email service, which then gives you the record to add. Google allows “up to 48 hours” for SPF and DKIM to start working, and it recommends waiting 48 hours after setting them up before adding DMARC.
For DMARC, both Google and Microsoft recommend starting with a policy of p=none, which only monitors, and then moving to quarantine or reject once the reports show your genuine mail passing. Starting strict can block your own invoices if a sending service was missed.
Step 5: set up your mailboxes and devices
Create the mailboxes you need. Many small businesses do well with one personal address per person plus a shared address such as info@ or accounts@, set up as a forwarder or shared mailbox so it does not depend on one person.
Then add the account to your phone and computer. Dedicated services have their own apps, and hosting email uses IMAP and SMTP settings from your host. Our guide to setting up email on any device walks through Outlook, Gmail and phone mail apps.
Step 6: test before you announce it
Send a test message to a Gmail address and an Outlook address. In Gmail, open the message, choose “Show original” and check that SPF, DKIM and DMARC all say PASS. Reply from both accounts to make sure mail comes back in. Only then update your website, email signature, Google Business Profile and business cards.
Where people usually go wrong
- Two SPF records after adding a new service, which quietly breaks both.
- MX left pointing at an old host after moving the website, so new mail lands in a mailbox nobody checks.
- A strict DMARC policy on day one, which blocks legitimate mail from a booking system or invoicing tool that was never added to SPF or DKIM.
- The domain registered in someone else’s name, often a previous web designer, so you cannot change the records when you need to.
If you would rather not touch DNS yourself, we set up hosting email for our clients as part of our hosting, and we can add the records for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 as part of a website build. Request a quote and tell us what you use.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a business email address with my own domain?
Register a domain, choose an email service (your web hosting, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Zoho Mail), add the MX record that service gives you in your domain’s DNS, then add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records so your mail is trusted. Create your mailboxes and add them to your devices.
Can I get a free business email address in South Africa?
Zoho advertises a free plan for up to 5 users with 5GB each, but says it is only available in select data centres and does not include IMAP, POP or ActiveSync. Many web hosting plans also include mailboxes at no extra cost. Our hosting includes 10 mailboxes from R99 a month.
Do I need SPF, DKIM and DMARC for a small business?
Gmail has required SPF or DKIM from every sender since February 2024, and requires all three from senders of 5,000 or more messages a day. For a small business, setting up all three is still the sensible default, because it improves delivery and stops others sending fake mail in your name.
How long does it take for business email to start working?
It depends on the provider. Google says new MX records can take up to 72 hours to be recognised, Microsoft says DNS changes typically take about 15 minutes, and Zoho says up to 12 to 24 hours depending on the TTL.
Can I have Google Workspace and email from my web host at the same time?
Only one service should receive mail for a domain, so the MX record points to one provider. Your website can still send form emails through your host, but then both services must be listed in a single combined SPF record, because a domain may only have one.
