In many cases, businesses need one or more professional email accounts, each with sufficient inbox storage. However, web hosting companies typically provide only 1-2GB of storage per email account, especially with basic hosting plans. In this guide, we’ll show you how to upgrade your professional email storage to 15GB without paying extra to your web host or purchasing a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 plan.
We will use a free Google account for this purpose.
Instructions
- First, you need to create a new Google account for each business email you want to upgrade to 15GB of storage.
- Next, set up an email forwarder in your hosting control panel (Plesk, cPanel, etc.) to ensure all incoming emails are forwarded to the Gmail account you created in step 1, and select the option ‘Do not deliver copies of forwarded emails to the Plesk mailbox‘.
- After setting up the incoming emails in Gmail, you now need to configure the outgoing emails so you can send them through Gmail and go to Gmail > Settings > See all settings, which is located in the top right corner of the screen.
- Then click on the Accounts and Import tab and select Add another email address in the Send mail as section. A popup will appear where you can enter the SMTP settings, which you’ll obtain from your hosting provider or control panel (Plesk, cPanel, etc.).
- Gmail will ask you to confirm this action by clicking on a link in an incoming email.
- Finally, after the SMTP configuration is completed successfully, you need to select this business email as the default for all outgoing emails by clicking Make default or checking Reply from the same address the message was sent to.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✅ Enjoy 15GB of free email storage
- ✅ Receive instant notifications for new emails using Chrome/Firefox/Edge Extension Checker Plus for Gmail™
- ✅ Use the Gmail interface as a professional email client for your business email.
- ✅ Benefit from Gmail’s strict email filtering, which helps keep spam and phishing emails out of your inbox.
- ✅ No need for email migration when changing servers—your emails stay in Gmail, unaffected by hosting changes.
- ✅ Access other Google services like Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Calendar with the same account.
Cons
- ❌ Outgoing email limits – Gmail has a daily sending limit (e.g., 500 emails per day for free accounts), which may be restrictive for businesses.
- ❌ Not free from your web host’s outgoing limits – Since emails are still sent via your web host’s SMTP, you remain subject to its sending restrictions. To solve this, you could use an external service for outgoing emails, such as smtp2go, but that it adds an extra layer of management and cost.
- ❌ Less professional sender identity – Emails sent through Gmail’s SMTP may show “Sent via gmail.com” in some email clients, which might not look as professional.
- ❌ Limited storage for growing needs – While 15GB is generous, it is shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos, which may fill up quickly.
- ❌ No direct support – Free Gmail users don’t get priority support, which can be an issue if email problems arise.
- ❌ Dependence on Google services – If you rely entirely on Gmail, any Google service disruption could temporarily affect email access.
- ❌ Loss of email ownership – Your emails are now stored on Google’s servers, meaning you relinquish some control over your data and its privacy.
Conclusion
By forwarding your business emails to a free Google account and configuring Gmail for outgoing messages, you can significantly increase your email storage capacity to 15GB without additional costs. This method offers the added benefits of Gmail’s user-friendly interface, reliable spam filtering, and seamless integration with other Google services. However, it’s important to consider the potential limitations, such as Gmail’s daily sending cap and your hosting provider’s SMTP restrictions. Weighing these pros and cons will help determine if this solution is the right fit for your business email needs.
