Let’s talk email services; many businesses today rely on cloud-based email services like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. These platforms are popular for good reasons: they’re easy to set up, offer a range of features, and work from anywhere with an internet connection.

But over time, certain challenges start to surface.

The most common one is cost. Cloud email platforms charge a monthly fee per user. For small teams, this might seem affordable. But as your business grows, the expense grows with it. If you’re managing dozens or even hundreds of users, the yearly costs can become significant. And since these are recurring payments, the cost never really goes away.

There’s also the issue of control. With cloud services, your data lives on someone else’s servers. That means you rely entirely on their policies, uptime guarantees, and data handling practices. For some industries—like legal, real estate, finance, or healthcare—this lack of control can be a compliance risk. Even if compliance isn’t a legal concern for your business, it might still matter from a security or operational perspective.

Customization is another factor. Many cloud services come with fixed settings and limited ability to tailor the system to your needs. If your team has specific workflows, policies, or technical requirements, you may find the platform restrictive. And because the software is managed by a third party, you have little say in when features are changed or removed.

Finally, there’s the dependency on internet access. If your connection goes down or the provider has an outage, your entire team can be stuck without email and collaboration tools.

These aren’t necessarily problems for every business. But if your organization is starting to feel the weight of subscription costs, limited flexibility, or compliance pressure, it may be worth exploring other options—especially those that give you more control, better long-term value, and the ability to run email on your own terms.

The State of Business Email Today

1.The Dominance of Cloud-Based Email Platforms

Over the past decade, cloud-based email platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have become the default choice for many businesses. They offer a familiar interface, strong brand recognition, and a wide set of tools bundled into one platform — including email, storage, calendar, file sharing, and collaboration apps.

For many companies, especially startups and small teams, these services made sense. There was no need to invest in hardware or hire IT staff to manage email servers. You could get started quickly, pay monthly, and scale up as needed. That convenience helped cloud email become the industry standard.

Larger enterprises followed suit, often attracted by enterprise features, integrations, and centralized admin controls. The result is a market where cloud email is now the norm across nearly every sector — from education and nonprofits to real estate firms and global corporations.

There’s also the push from software ecosystems. Google Workspace ties closely with Android, ChromeOS, and Google Ads; Microsoft 365 integrates deeply with Windows, SharePoint, and Teams. For organizations already using these ecosystems, adopting their cloud platforms feels like a natural extension.

This widespread adoption has made cloud email the easy choice — but not necessarily the best one for every situation. As more businesses take a closer look at what they’re paying for, how much control they have, and how cloud services impact long-term operations, alternative models are starting to resurface in IT planning conversations.

2.Recurring Costs and No Real Ownership

One of the biggest concerns with cloud email platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 is the way they charge you: a fixed monthly fee for every active user.

For example, Google Workspace Business plans in 2025 start at around ₹600 to ₹1,800 per user per month, depending on the features. If you have just 25 employees on a mid-level plan (₹1,250/user/month), that’s ₹31,250 every month — or ₹3.75 lakhs per year — just for email and basic collaboration tools.

And this cost continues indefinitely.

Unlike software you buy once and own, with cloud subscriptions you’re essentially renting access. You never own the software or infrastructure, and if you stop paying, your access is cut off. That also means your business is exposed to price increases (like Google’s ~20% hike in 2025), which you have no control over.

Many Indian businesses initially sign up thinking the cost is small. But over time, especially as teams grow, the cumulative spending becomes hard to justify. Even if some users aren’t active or don’t need all features, you’re still billed per account.

There’s also the issue of limited flexibility in billing. For example, pausing or downgrading licenses isn’t always smooth — especially for businesses with seasonal or project-based teams. Unlike a one-time investment in your own email server, cloud models don’t let you “scale down” without giving up access.

So while cloud platforms offer convenience, they also create a long-term financial dependency — one that often goes unnoticed until the numbers are reviewed in detail.

3. 2025 Price Hikes and Long-Term Cost Pressure

In early 2025, both Google and Microsoft announced price increases for several of their cloud-based services, including business email plans. For Google Workspace users in India, this translated to a 15–20% hike across many tiers.

For example:

• Google Workspace Business Standard, which was previously around ₹1,050 per user/month, is now closer to ₹1,250.
  
• Business Plus plans have crossed ₹1,800 per user/month in some cases.
  

While a few hundred rupees per user may not seem like much at first glance, it adds up quickly — especially in growing teams.

Let’s say your business has:

• 20 users today = ₹25,000/month
  
• But you plan to grow to 50 users within 18 months = ₹62,500/month
  That’s ₹7.5 lakhs per year, and it keeps increasing as your team scales.
  

And remember, this isn’t a one-time spend — it’s recurring, year after year.

Many businesses don’t factor this into their long-term budgeting. By year five, a 50-user team could have spent over ₹37.5 lakhs on email and basic collaboration tools alone — with no asset or ownership to show for it.

This cost structure might work for companies that prioritize flexibility over everything else. But for businesses that want predictability, asset value, and more control over their IT costs, this can become a serious concern — especially in industries like real estate, logistics, manufacturing, or finance where margins are tight and teams often expand rapidly.

Enter SmarterMail: A Powerful On-Prem Email Server

1. Exploring a Modern Alternative: Self-Hosted Email with SmarterMail

For businesses looking to reduce recurring costs, increase control, or meet specific compliance requirements, cloud email isn’t the only option. One alternative that’s gaining renewed interest is self-hosted business email — and among the most capable platforms in this space is SmarterMail.

SmarterMail is a professional-grade email and collaboration server developed by SmarterTools. It’s designed to give businesses many of the features they expect from cloud platforms — such as webmail access, calendar sharing, mobile sync, and even built-in video conferencing — but with the flexibility and ownership of running it on your own infrastructure.

Unlike traditional mail servers that require complex setup or enterprise-level IT teams, SmarterMail is built with usability and manageability in mind. It can run on a private server (on-prem or cloud-based) and is managed through a web-based admin panel. That means businesses can host email services internally or on a trusted cloud provider, while keeping full control over user accounts, data, and policies.

It’s also fully compatible with Outlook and other clients, supports mobile push via ActiveSync, and includes team chat and meeting features — making it suitable even for companies accustomed to using enterprise collaboration tools.

In short, SmarterMail offers a different way to approach business email: pay once, host it your way, and maintain full ownership of your communications platform.

2. Trusted Technology Built by SmarterTools

SmarterMail is developed by SmarterTools Inc., a US-based software company known for building reliable communication and analytics tools for businesses and service providers. Founded in the early 2000s, SmarterTools has spent over two decades refining its products for performance, scalability, and ease of use.

SmarterMail is their flagship mail server solution, and it’s not a new player — it’s a well-established product used by thousands of businesses worldwide, including hosting companies, IT firms, government institutions, educational organizations, and corporate enterprises. It’s designed to serve both small teams and high-volume, multi-domain environments, making it flexible enough for a wide range of use cases.

One reason for its continued adoption is its Exchange-level feature set without the licensing burden of Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft 365. Over the years, many businesses and service providers have turned to SmarterMail to replace legacy systems or to gain more control over their infrastructure without giving up the user-friendly tools people expect.

SmarterMail has built a reputation for offering strong performance, frequent updates, and responsive support, especially for organizations that value technical flexibility and want to avoid being tied to large cloud ecosystems. It also integrates well with existing tools like Outlook, mobile devices, and third-party anti-spam systems — making it a practical, scalable option for modern business communication.

Detailed Comparison: SmarterMail vs Google Workspace

1.Pricing Models: Subscription vs Ownership

One of the most important differences between cloud-based email platforms and self-hosted solutions like SmarterMail is how they are priced.

Cloud Email (e.g., Google Workspace): Pay Monthly, Per User

Cloud platforms charge a fixed monthly fee for each user account. For example:

• Google Workspace Business Standard: approx. ₹1,250 per user/month
  
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: approx. ₹1,650 per user/month
  

That means a 30-user team will spend:

• ₹1,250 x 30 users = ₹37,500/month
  
• ₹37,500 x 12 months = ₹4.5 lakhs/year
  

As long as your team is active, you keep paying — with no ownership or long-term cost cap.

SmarterMail: One-Time License with No Per-User Fees

SmarterMail works differently. You buy a perpetual license for the server, not per user. Sample pricing (approximate):

• ₹45,000 for up to 50 users (Professional Edition)
  
• ₹1.5–1.8 lakhs for unlimited users (Enterprise Edition)
  
• Optional: annual support/updates at ~20% of license (₹9,000–₹36,000/year)
  

With SmarterMail, once you’ve purchased the license, you can add users (within the license limit) at no extra cost. The server can be hosted in your office or on a private cloud instance — so infrastructure costs depend on your setup.

What This Means for You

Let’s say your team has 50 users:

• On Google Workspace: ₹1,250 x 50 x 12 = ₹7.5 lakhs/year, every year.
  
• On SmarterMail: ₹1.8 lakhs (once) + optional ₹36,000/year for updates.
  

Over 3 years:

• Google Workspace: ₹22.5 lakhs
  
• SmarterMail: ₹1.8 lakhs (license) + ₹1.08 lakhs (support) = ₹2.88 lakhs
  

That’s nearly ₹20 lakhs in potential savings — with full control over your data and system.

This cost advantage becomes even more significant for companies with:

• Large teams (50+ users)
  
• Multiple departments or domains
  
• Long-term IT cost planning goals
  

2. Deployment and Management: Flexibility vs Convenience

Google Workspace: Fully Cloud-Hosted, But Limited Control

Google Workspace is designed for ease of use. It’s 100% cloud-based, so there’s no software to install or server to manage. You simply create user accounts through an admin panel and start using Gmail, Drive, Meet, and other services from any device with internet access.

While this model is convenient, it also comes with limitations:

• You’re dependent on Google’s infrastructure, policies, and service availability.
  
• Your business data is stored on third-party servers, often in global data centers.
  
• You have limited ability to control how updates are rolled out or how the system is configured.
  
• Custom compliance workflows or on-premises data residency requirements can be hard to implement.
  

For some businesses, especially those in regulated industries or handling sensitive customer data, this model doesn’t offer the control or transparency they need.

SmarterMail: Host It On Your Terms

SmarterMail gives you the flexibility to run your email server wherever it suits your business:

• On-premises (in your own office/server room)
  
• On a VPS or dedicated server in your preferred data center
  
• On a private cloud (e.g., AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode, or an Indian provider like Hostinger, Netmagic, etc.)
  

This means you decide where your data lives, how it’s backed up, how it’s secured, and how policies are applied.

For organizations with compliance requirements (e.g., legal, finance, real estate, education), or those who want to align with local data regulations, hosting email in-country or in-house is a major advantage.

Even beyond compliance, self-hosting allows for:

• Custom user policies
  
• Integration with existing IT infrastructure (Active Directory, firewalls, SIEM, etc.)
  
• Advanced spam filtering and delivery tuning
  
• Multi-domain and multi-tenant setups (ideal for agencies or group companies)
  

Yes, it does require some IT involvement — either internal or through a trusted partner — but many businesses find the added control and transparency worth it, especially when paired with long-term savings.

Core Services: Covering the Essentials Without the Extras You May Not Need

Modern businesses need more than just email—they need calendars, contacts, collaboration tools, and mobile access. While platforms like Google Workspace bundle all these into a cloud suite, SmarterMail offers many of the same core features, but in a self-hosted environment where you choose the level of complexity and integration.

Here’s how SmarterMail stacks up in terms of core business needs:

1. Business Email

SmarterMail is a full-featured SMTP/IMAP/POP3 email server with a clean, modern webmail interface. Users can send and receive emails from their own domain (e.g., user@yourcompany.com) using the web interface, desktop email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird, and mobile apps.

It also supports:

• Custom spam filtering rules
  
• Antivirus scanning
  
• Outbound IP rotation and deliverability management
  You maintain full control over how mail is sent, stored, and secured.
  

2. Contacts and Calendars

SmarterMail includes shared calendars and contacts, with support for:

• CalDAV/CardDAV for syncing with mobile devices and third-party apps
  
• Public folders for shared access across teams
  
• Group scheduling tools within the webmail interface
  

This allows users to manage meetings, tasks, and shared contacts just like they would in Outlook or Google Calendar.

3. Video Conferencing

In the Enterprise Edition, SmarterMail includes built-in video and audio conferencing tools, complete with screen sharing. This is an alternative to Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, and works within the web interface — no third-party software required.

This is especially useful for internal meetings or small team discussions without needing to purchase separate licenses for Zoom or Meet.

4. Team Chat

SmarterMail comes with a built-in Team Chat module, allowing users to:

• Create private or public chat channels
  
• Send messages, links, or documents internally
  
• Maintain conversation history for team collaboration
  

This eliminates the need for a separate Slack or Google Chat subscription for many businesses.

5. Mobile & Desktop Sync

SmarterMail supports:

• ActiveSync (optional add-on) for push email, contacts, and calendar sync on iOS/Android devices
  
• MAPI & EWS protocols for full Outlook integration (Windows/Mac)
  
• IMAP/SMTP for basic setups
  

These features allow users to use the apps and devices they already know — while maintaining a centralized, self-hosted backend.

6. Storage and File Attachments

Emails and attachments are stored on your server. SmarterMail also offers:

• Basic user file storage
  
• Integration with Dropbox, OneDrive, and other cloud storage tools for sharing links instead of large attachments
  

While it doesn’t include Google Drive-style cloud storage, it supports practical file handling for business communication.

In short, SmarterMail covers the essential tools most teams need: professional email, shared calendars, contacts, meetings, chat, and sync. It leaves out heavier features like document editing or large-scale cloud storage — which many businesses already manage with other tools or don’t need bundled with email.