Email Hosting for Your WordPress Site: Options and Best Practices

You have a professional website at yourcompany.ie. But where does info@yourcompany.ie live? And how reliable is it?

Email is often an afterthought in website hosting discussions, but it’s critical infrastructure. When email fails, communication stops. Deals are lost, customers are frustrated, and operations grind to a halt.

Here’s what Irish businesses need to know about email hosting.

Why Email Hosting Matters

Business Email = Business Identity

A @gmail.com or @hotmail.com address doesn’t inspire confidence. Professional email addresses on your domain:

• Look professional
• Build brand recognition
• Improve trust
• Are harder to spoof (when properly configured)

Deliverability Is Everything

An email that lands in spam might as well not be sent. Where you host email and how it’s configured affects whether your messages reach inboxes.

Reliability Keeps Business Moving

If your email goes down for a day, how much business do you lose? Quotes not sent, enquiries not received, confirmations not delivered.

Email Hosting Options

Option 1: Hosting Provider Email

Most web hosting includes email. It’s convenient — same provider, same control panel, same bill.

Pros:

• Included in hosting cost
• Same login for everything
• Easy DNS configuration

Cons:

• Email performance tied to hosting quality
• Limited features compared to specialists
• Migrations are complicated
• Server issues affect both web and email

Best for: Small businesses with basic email needs who want simplicity.

Option 2: Microsoft 365

Microsoft’s cloud email and productivity suite. The business standard for larger organisations.

Pricing: From €5.60/user/month (basic email) to €12+/user/month (full suite)

Pros:

• Excellent reliability (99.9% uptime SLA)
• Full Outlook client and web interface
• Integration with Word, Excel, Teams
• Enterprise-grade security
• Extensive admin controls
• Large mailboxes (50GB+)

Cons:

• Monthly per-user cost adds up
• More complex than needed for some
• Microsoft ecosystem lock-in
• Configuration can be complex

Best for: Businesses needing full productivity suite, multiple users, or enterprise features.

Option 3: Google Workspace

Google’s cloud email and productivity suite. Popular with tech-forward businesses.

Pricing: From €5.75/user/month

Pros:

• Familiar Gmail interface
• Google Drive, Docs, Sheets included
• Excellent search and organisation
• Strong spam filtering
• Good mobile apps

Cons:

• Privacy concerns for some
• Different from traditional email workflow
• Google’s UI changes frequently

Best for: Businesses comfortable with Google ecosystem who value collaboration tools.

Option 4: Zoho Mail

An alternative to Google and Microsoft, often more affordable.

Pricing: Free tier available; paid from €1/user/month

Pros:

• More affordable than Microsoft/Google
• Clean interface
• Good feature set
• Strong privacy commitment

Cons:

• Less polish than big players
• Fewer integrations
• Smaller ecosystem

Best for: Cost-conscious businesses wanting professional email without major platform costs.

Option 5: Self-Hosted Email

Running your own mail server.

Pros:

• Complete control
• No per-user costs
• Ultimate privacy

Cons:

• Complex to configure and maintain
• Security is your responsibility
• Deliverability challenges
• Blacklist management
• Time-consuming

Best for: Almost nobody. Seriously, don’t do this unless you have specific compliance requirements and dedicated IT staff.

Recommendation Summary

Understanding Email Deliverability

Sending email isn’t enough — it needs to arrive in inboxes, not spam.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF tells receiving servers which servers are allowed to send email for your domain. It’s a DNS record listing authorised mail servers.

Without SPF, anyone can send email pretending to be from your domain. With SPF, receiving servers can verify the sending server is legitimate.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails. Receiving servers can verify the signature matches your public key published in DNS.

This proves the email wasn’t modified in transit and really came from your domain.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication)

DMARC tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail:

• None: Take no action (monitoring only)
• Quarantine: Send to spam
• Reject: Block the email

It also provides reporting so you can see who’s sending email as your domain.

Why All Three Matter

Properly configured, these three work together to:

• Protect your brand from spoofing
• Improve inbox delivery rates
• Give visibility into email abuse

WordPress and Email

WordPress needs to send emails — see our WooCommerce maintenance checklist for more on order email testing:

• Contact form submissions
• Password resets
• Order confirmations (WooCommerce)
• Admin notifications

The Default Problem

WordPress uses PHP’s mail() function by default. This:

• Often fails on shared hosting
• Has poor deliverability
• Provides no sending logs
• Is easily blocked by spam filters

The Solution: SMTP

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) sends email through a proper mail server instead of PHP’s built-in function.

WP Mail SMTP is the most popular plugin for this:

1. Install WP Mail SMTP plugin
2. Configure with your email provider’s SMTP settings
3. Test to verify delivery

Transactional Email Services

For sites sending many emails (e-commerce, membership), consider transactional email services:

SendGrid: Popular, generous free tier, good deliverability Mailgun: Developer-focused, reliable Postmark: Focused purely on transactional, excellent deliverability Amazon SES: Cheapest at scale, more technical setup

These services specialise in deliverability, provide detailed logging, and handle high volumes reliably.

Email Security Best Practices

Strong Passwords

Email credentials are high-value targets. Enforce:

• Minimum 16 characters
• Unique per service
• Password manager usage

Two-Factor Authentication

Enable 2FA on all email accounts. Even if password is compromised, attacker needs second factor.

Phishing Awareness

Train staff to recognise phishing:

• Unexpected requests for credentials or payment
• Urgency and pressure tactics
• Mismatched sender addresses
• Suspicious links

Email Encryption

For sensitive communications:

• TLS encryption in transit (usually automatic)
• End-to-end encryption for highly sensitive content

Regular Access Audits

Review who has email access:

• Remove former employees promptly
• Audit shared mailbox access
• Review app/integration permissions

Common Email Issues

Not Receiving Email

Check:

• MX records point to correct mail server
• Mailbox isn’t full
• Spam folder
• Sender isn’t blocked

Not Sending Email

Check:

• Outgoing server settings correct
• Password is current
• Sending limits not exceeded
• IP not blacklisted

WordPress Emails Not Arriving

Check:

• WP Mail SMTP configured
• SMTP credentials correct
• Test email successful
• Check spam folders

Emails Landing in Spam

Check:

• SPF record configured
• DKIM configured
• DMARC policy set
• Sending domain has good reputation
• Email content not triggering filters

Email and Website Hosting: Together or Separate?

Arguments for Bundled

• Simpler management
• Fewer providers to deal with
• Often included in price
• Easy DNS configuration

Arguments for Separate

• Email reliability independent of website
• Specialist providers are better at email
• Can switch hosts without email disruption
• Better features (search, storage, security)

Our Recommendation

For most businesses, keep email separate from website hosting:

1. Use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for email
2. Use quality hosting (like SparkHost) for website
3. Configure DNS correctly for both
4. Website issues won’t affect email
5. Email provider issues won’t affect website

Migration Considerations

Moving Email Providers

1. Plan carefully — Downtime affects communication
2. Lower TTL — Before changing MX records
3. Export emails — If changing completely
4. Update clients — All devices need new settings
5. Monitor closely — First few days after switch

Keeping Email When Switching Hosts

If email is separate, website migration is simpler:

• No email settings to move
• MX records don’t change
• Zero email disruption

If email is with hosting:

• Move email settings carefully
• Consider migrating to external service first
• Allow extra time for email transition

What SparkHost Recommends

We focus on website hosting and recommend external email:

For 1-3 users: Google Workspace or Zoho For 4+ users: Microsoft 365

We help with:

• DNS configuration for external email
• SPF, DKIM, DMARC setup
• WP Mail SMTP configuration
• Transactional email service integration

Keeping email separate ensures website issues never affect your business communications.

Action Items

If starting fresh:

1. Choose email provider based on needs and budget
2. Configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC from day one
3. Enable 2FA for all accounts
4. Configure WordPress SMTP

If reviewing existing setup:

1. Test deliverability at mail-tester.com
2. Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC at mxtoolbox.com
3. Review account access and remove unused accounts
4. Verify WordPress email is working

Email is too important to get wrong. Invest a little time in proper setup, and it will work reliably for years.