Is Migadu, Purelymail or Fastmail cheaper for five custom domains?

Purelymail is cheapest at $10 a year, followed by Migadu Micro at $19 a year and Fastmail Individual at $60 a year. Five domains cost the same as one on all three, because each prices the account or the person rather than the domain. The cheapest row is only the right answer if its limits fit: Migadu Micro allows 20 outgoing messages a day, and Purelymail has no first-party apps.

Do I have to pay more when I add a fifth domain?

Not on any of these three. Migadu meters storage and daily messages per account, Purelymail charges a flat annual fee per account, and Fastmail prices per person with custom domains included. The marginal cost of another domain is the domain registration, not another email subscription.

Which of the three gives each domain its own DKIM key?

All three sign mail with a DKIM record per domain, which is the baseline for a serious host rather than a differentiator. If a provider asked you to share one key across unrelated domains, that would be the unusual case. Compare the key length and rotation policy, and check that the signing selector resolves for every domain you add.

Can I read Migadu or Purelymail in Apple Mail or Outlook?

Yes. Both publish IMAP and SMTP settings, so a standard desktop or mobile client works. Fastmail also supports IMAP but asks you to use an app password. If keeping your existing client is non-negotiable, all three qualify; a host without documented IMAP access does not.

What is the catch with Migadu's $19 a year plan?

Micro includes 5 GB of storage and 20 outgoing messages a day, shared across every domain and mailbox on the account. The price is real, but the cap is a hard stop for anyone sending regular outbound mail. Mini raises it to 100 messages a day and 30 GB for $90 a year.

Is Purelymail suitable for a business with several brands?

It can host many domains and addresses for $10 a year, and it supports IMAP, CalDAV and per-domain DKIM. It is a lean independent service with no first-party mobile app, and its terms prohibit mailing lists. It suits a technical operator who reads mail in a client and does not need a polished product surface.

What about running five domains in one inbox instead of five mailboxes?

That is a different product shape. Fastmail, Migadu and Purelymail each give you mailboxes and addresses; consolidating several brands into one reading view with the reply From chosen automatically is what Folio is built for. It costs $35.88 a year for up to three domains and $144 a year for up to ten, and it does not offer IMAP access, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for any of the three above.

Start free

Three-way comparison · not affiliated with any of them

Migadu vs. Purelymail vs. Fastmail: none of them charge per domain.

For one person hosting email on five custom domains, Migadu Micro is $19 a year, Purelymail is $10 a year flat, and Fastmail Individual is $60 a year. None of the three charges per domain, so the fifth domain adds nothing to any of the bills. The decision turns on Migadu's 20-outgoing-messages-a-day cap, Purelymail's lack of apps, and how much of Fastmail's product you would actually use.Folio, which we make, is a fourth option for the same buyer: an operator-priced inbox for 3–10 domains with per-domain DKIM and automatic reply-From, at $2.99/mo billed annually ($35.88/yr) for up to 3 domains — and no IMAP mailbox access.

This is the question that starts the search: five custom domains, one person, three providers with three completely different bets on what email should cost. The answer surprises most buyers — at five domains, all three cost exactly what they cost at one domain. None of them has a per-domain fee. So the price column is not where the decision is made.

The decision is made in three places instead: how many messages you send a day, how much storage you need, and how much of the product you want to live inside. Migadu is the cheapest route to real IMAP with a hard daily cap. Purelymail is a flat $10 a year with soft limits and no apps. Fastmail is six times Purelymail's price for a genuinely excellent mailbox. We make Folio, a fourth shape — one inbox for an operator running several brands — and we say where it fits and where it doesn't, with our own price, at the bottom.

Updated 25 October 2026 (2026-10-25)

Where Folio fits — and what it costs More head-to-heads

The verdict

In one sentence.

Pick Migadu if you want a real IMAP mailbox for $19 a year and you send fewer than 20 messages a day. Pick Purelymail if you want the lowest flat price with no hard caps and you are comfortable living in a third-party mail client. Pick Fastmail if the mailbox is where you spend your working day and you want fast search, first-party apps, and masked addresses for $60 a year. All three host five domains at the entry price; none of them charges per domain.

Feature by feature

Feature by feature.

CAPABILITYMigaduPurelymailFastmail

Entry price, one person, one year$19/yr (Micro)$10/yr (Simple)$60/yr (Individual, billed annually)
Billing unitPer account, metered by storage and daily messagesPer account, flatPer person
Cost of a fifth domainNothingNothingNothing
Domains includedNo enforced limit; usage is what the plan metersNo hard limit statedCustom domains included on every plan
Storage on the entry tier5 GB, shared across all domainsNo hard storage limit under fair use; heavy use moves to metered pricing60 GB
Daily outbound cap20 messages a day on Micro (100 on Mini)No published daily cap; fair-use and resource pricing applyNo daily cap published for individual use
IMAP / POP / SMTP in a desktop clientYesYesYes
WebmailYesYesYes, the strongest of the three
First-party iOS and Android appsNot advertisedNot advertisedYes
Calendar and contactsCalDAV / CardDAVCalDAV / CardDAVBuilt-in calendar with sharing and scheduling
Per-domain DKIM signingYesYesYes
Aliases and catch-allUnlimited addresses and rulesUnlimited addresses, custom routing, catch-allAliases plus Masked Email for per-site addresses
Mailing listsNot a list hostProhibited by the provider's own termsNot a list host
Support modelBest-effort on Micro, office hours from MiniIndependent operator, email supportDocumented help centre and paid tiers with faster response
The honest reason not to pick it20 outgoing messages a day is a wall, not a limit, if you send real mailNo apps, no calendar UI, and a one-person operation behind itSix times Purelymail's price for a mailbox you may only read in a client

How to choose

Pick the right one.

Choose Migadu if

You want real IMAP for the lowest annual price and your sending is light.

Your daily outbound volume fits inside 20 messages — a rough ceiling of a handful of client replies plus a few invoices.
You read mail in Apple Mail, Thunderbird or another IMAP client, so Migadu's plainer webmail costs you nothing.
You want CalDAV/CardDAV endpoints rather than a hosted calendar UI.

Choose Purelymail if

You want the bill to disappear and you don't need the provider's own apps.

$10 a year with no per-user or per-domain charge is the lowest real price in this category.
You're willing to stay inside fair-use limits rather than a published quota — heavy senders should read the resource-pricing page first.
You don't need a first-party mobile app or a calendar UI; standard IMAP and CalDAV are enough.

Choose Fastmail if

The mailbox is where you work and you want it to be good.

You want fast full-text search and first-party iOS and Android apps rather than whatever your IMAP client provides.
You want a calendar with sharing and scheduling built in, not a CalDAV endpoint you point something else at.
Masked Email and 60 GB of storage are worth $50 a year more than Purelymail to you.

A deeper look

The per-domain question has a boring answer

Every page in this category invites the same arithmetic: five domains times some monthly figure. It does not apply to any of these three. Migadu prices the account by storage and daily message volume, Purelymail prices the account flat, and Fastmail prices the person. Adding a fourth or fifth domain changes none of the bills.

That matters for two reasons. First, it removes the main reason buyers hesitate to put a side project on its own domain — the marginal cost is a domain registration, not another subscription. Second, it means the cheap-versus-expensive framing collapses into a single question: what are you buying for $19, $10, or $60 a year? Migadu sells capacity. Purelymail sells the absence of a bill. Fastmail sells the product.

The per-domain arithmetic does apply to a different shape: a host that bills per user and expects a separate mailbox per brand. That is a legitimate architecture, and it is the one Google Workspace and Zoho Mail are built around. It is just not what these three do.

A deeper look

The 20-message cap is the decision most buyers miss

Migadu Micro includes 5 GB of storage and 20 outgoing messages a day, metered across every domain and mailbox on the account. For a consultant who answers five emails and sends one invoice, that is plenty. For anyone who runs outbound campaigns, sends transactional mail through the mailbox, or has a busy support address, it is a hard stop that appears mid-month rather than at signup.

Mini raises it to 100 a day and 30 GB for $90 a year, which is still cheaper than Fastmail Individual and materially less capable than Fastmail's app. This is the honest way to read Migadu's ladder: it is not a cheap Fastmail, it is a metered mail server with a friendly price for light use. Buy it for light use.

A deeper look

Purelymail's flat $10 is real, and so is the fine print

Purelymail's simple pricing states there are no hard limits on users, custom domains, or storage, bounded by fair use, with a separate pay-per-resource tier if an account exceeds it. That is a genuinely unusual offer: the same $10 for one person or a household, one domain or twelve.

Two limits are worth knowing before you move a business onto it. The provider prohibits mailing lists under its own terms, so a newsletter from the mailbox is out. And the product is a lean, independent operation: IMAP, POP, SMTP, CalDAV and SpamAssassin are all there, but there is no first-party mobile app and no polished webmail to fall back on. If either of those is a requirement, $10 is not the cheaper option — it is the wrong one.

A deeper look

What $60 a year buys at Fastmail

Fastmail Individual is $60 a year for one person and 60 GB, with custom domains included and replies that match the address a message was sent to. The extra $50 over Purelymail buys a product rather than capacity: a fast search index, first-party iOS and Android apps, a calendar with sharing and scheduling, Masked Email for per-site addresses, and a help centre behind it.

Whether that is worth six times the price depends entirely on where you read mail. If you live in Apple Mail or Thunderbird, most of what Fastmail adds is invisible and Purelymail's $10 is the obvious buy. If the provider's own interface is where you spend your day, $60 a year is a reasonable price for the best of the three.

Published prices, side by side

What five domains cost across eight hosts

One person, several domains, annual list price in US dollars before tax. The unit column is the part that matters: hosts that bill per account or per operator do not charge again when you add a domain, and hosts that bill per person charge for people, not domains.

Annual list prices in US dollars for one person hosting email on 3, 5 or 10 custom domains, checked 25 October 2026. Folio is the only row that changes tier: Solo covers up to 3 domains, Studio up to 10, and Holding Co. above that. At 10 domains the table shows Studio.

Annual list prices by provider and domain count, checked 25 October 2026
Provider and plan	Billing unit	3 domains	5 domains	10 domains	Per domain at 10 domains
Purelymail Simple pricing	per account	$10	$10	$10	$1.00
Zoho Mail Mail Lite	per person	$12	$12	$12	$1.20
Migadu Micro	per account	$19	$19	$19	$1.90
MXroute Small	per account	$59	$59	$59	$5.90
Fastmail Individual	per person	$60	$60	$60	$6.00
Google Workspace Business Starter	per person	$84	$84	$84	$8.40
Migadu Mini	per account	$90	$90	$90	$9.00
Folio usSolo · Studio · Holding Co.tier follows your domain count	per operator	$35.88	$144	$144	$14.40

Lowest annual cost in that column. A dot is not a recommendation — the limit beside each price is what decides the fit.

What the table does not say

Nothing here is per domain on a per-person host. Google Workspace already covers up to 20 alias domains on one paid seat. The $84/yr is one seat, not one seat per brand.
Storage and sending limits are the real ceiling. Migadu Micro's $19/yr includes 20 outgoing messages a day. If you send more, the cheap row is not the true price for your workload.
Folio's price rises with domain count; the others do not. Solo covers 3 domains and Studio covers 10. Above that, Holding Co. is the only tier — check the pricing page rather than extrapolating from this table.
Capability differs more than price. Folio has no IMAP mailbox access and no shared team inbox. If either is a requirement, the cheapest row here that meets it is not Folio.

Sources, checked 25 October 2026

Purelymail Simple pricingvendor pricing
Zoho Mail Mail Litevendor pricing
Migadu Microvendor pricing
MXroute Smallvendor pricing
Fastmail Individualvendor pricing
Google Workspace Business Startervendor pricing
Migadu Minivendor pricing
Folio Solo · Studio · Holding Co.folioinbox.com pricing

Prices checked 25 October 2026. Every vendor can change a price or a limit without notice, so confirm on the vendor's page before buying.

A note from the people who make Folio

We make Folio · here are its limits too

None of these three is built for one person running several unrelated brands in one inbox.

That is the gap Folio fills, and it is a different axis from price. All three hosts above handle five domains capably; what they do not do is treat one operator with several brands as the primary case.

Folio starts at$2.99/mo billed annually ($35.88/yr) · $3.50/mo month-to-month Up to 3 domains on Solo, 1,000 sends a month, per-domain DKIM included. 14-day evaluation, no card to start.

Where Folio fits

One person, 3–10 domains, one reading view, with the reply From chosen from the domain each message arrived on.
A separate DKIM key and signature per domain, generated and published in the one-screen domain setup.
A flat operator price — Solo covers 3 domains, Studio covers 10 — instead of a per-person seat.

Where Folio doesn't fit

You need IMAP mailbox access in Apple Mail, Thunderbird or Outlook. Folio is not an IMAP mailbox; use Migadu, Purelymail or Fastmail.
You need a shared team inbox, assignment or internal notes. None of these four is a helpdesk, and Folio least of all.
You want a full calendar with scheduling and sharing, or first-party mobile apps. Fastmail is the stronger product there.

Start free — no card See the three Folio plans

Not ready? Check a domain's mail records first — free, no account.

Common questions

Questions readers ask.

Is Migadu, Purelymail or Fastmail cheaper for five custom domains?: Purelymail is cheapest at $10 a year, followed by Migadu Micro at $19 a year and Fastmail Individual at $60 a year. Five domains cost the same as one on all three, because each prices the account or the person rather than the domain. The cheapest row is only the right answer if its limits fit: Migadu Micro allows 20 outgoing messages a day, and Purelymail has no first-party apps.
Do I have to pay more when I add a fifth domain?: Not on any of these three. Migadu meters storage and daily messages per account, Purelymail charges a flat annual fee per account, and Fastmail prices per person with custom domains included. The marginal cost of another domain is the domain registration, not another email subscription.
Which of the three gives each domain its own DKIM key?: All three sign mail with a DKIM record per domain, which is the baseline for a serious host rather than a differentiator. If a provider asked you to share one key across unrelated domains, that would be the unusual case. Compare the key length and rotation policy, and check that the signing selector resolves for every domain you add.
Can I read Migadu or Purelymail in Apple Mail or Outlook?: Yes. Both publish IMAP and SMTP settings, so a standard desktop or mobile client works. Fastmail also supports IMAP but asks you to use an app password. If keeping your existing client is non-negotiable, all three qualify; a host without documented IMAP access does not.
What is the catch with Migadu's $19 a year plan?: Micro includes 5 GB of storage and 20 outgoing messages a day, shared across every domain and mailbox on the account. The price is real, but the cap is a hard stop for anyone sending regular outbound mail. Mini raises it to 100 messages a day and 30 GB for $90 a year.
Is Purelymail suitable for a business with several brands?: It can host many domains and addresses for $10 a year, and it supports IMAP, CalDAV and per-domain DKIM. It is a lean independent service with no first-party mobile app, and its terms prohibit mailing lists. It suits a technical operator who reads mail in a client and does not need a polished product surface.
What about running five domains in one inbox instead of five mailboxes?: That is a different product shape. Fastmail, Migadu and Purelymail each give you mailboxes and addresses; consolidating several brands into one reading view with the reply From chosen automatically is what Folio is built for. It costs $35.88 a year for up to three domains and $144 a year for up to ten, and it does not offer IMAP access, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for any of the three above.

Sources & further reading

Where the claims come from.

Adjacent comparisons

Other head-to-heads.

Open the first letter

Five domains, one person, four shapes.

If the only question is price and you read mail in a client, Purelymail at $10 a year wins and there is no reason to overthink it. If you want a real mailbox with a published quota and you send light mail, Migadu Micro at $19 is the honest cheap option. If the mailbox itself is the product you want, Fastmail at $60 is worth the gap.

Folio is the fourth shape: same operator-priced logic as Migadu and Purelymail, but built around one person's several brands rather than one mailbox's several addresses. It costs more than $10 and less than a Workspace seat per brand, and it gives up IMAP to do it. That trade is the whole product.

Start free — no card Read the FAQ

Updated 25 October 2026 (2026-10-25)