IMAP email hosting is a great option for the budget conscious, or where the bells-and-whistles of a Hosted Exchange, Microsoft 365 or Zimbra based email platform are unnecessary.
Features & Benefits
The main benefit to having your email hosted on an IMAP based server is that it does not attract the licencing costs associated with other platforms as it is based on open source technology.
IMAP mailboxes are regular email mailboxes that synchronise with laptops, desktops, and mobiles. You can connect to these mailboxes using email clients such as Outlook, Mail or Thunderbird; of course there is a webmail client so you can access email from almost any web browser.
Our IMAP service includes:
- Webmail – Check and respond to email and manage your new mailbox using a dedicated webmail page.
- Autoresponders – Are you going on holiday? Use this feature to configure your out of office.
- Email Filters – Create and manage email filters for your main email account.
- Forwarders – Automatically send a copy of any incoming email from this email address to another.
- Configure Calendar and Contacts Client – Set up your calendar and contacts.
- Password & Security – Update your webmail password.
- Contact Information – Set up a different email address to receive notifications reset confirmations.
- Account Preferences – Change your Webmail account settings.
- Spam Filters – Filter unwanted spam email before it reaches your inbox.
- Configure Mail Client – Set up your email account on any device.
- Manage Disk Usage – Delete old messages from your mailbox to recover disk space.
- Track Delivery – Review an email’s delivery route.
Price Comparison
This service attracts a one off setup fee plus a small monthly ongoing cost. As shown in the table below this depends upon the number of mailboxes you require:
| Mailboxes Required | One Off Setup Fee | Ongoing Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 | £59 | £9 |
| Up to 20 | £79 | £19 |
| Up to 50 | £109 | £45 |
| Up to 100 | £159 | £85 |
What does the setup fee include?
The setup fee includes all of the labour involved in setting up your existing domain name to work with the server, setting up the mailboxes on the server, testing the mailboxes and sending over the details you need to allow your users to connect to the new mailboxes.
What doesn’t the setup fee include?
The setup fee does not include any labour related to migrating email data from old mailboxes to new ones or setting up mailboxes on devices themselves, for example configuring mobile phones and desktops. We can help you with this but this is chargeable at usual hourly rates – see How We Work.
What does the monthly fee include?
The monthly fee pays for the hosting of the mailboxes on our providers server, ensuring the mailboxes are highly available and that the webmail service is working as expected.
What doesn’t the monthly fee include?
The monthly fee does not include any ongoing support in terms of adding or removing mailboxes over time, answering questions about spam, or configuring devices to work with the service. We can help you with this but this is chargeable at usual hourly rates – see How We Work.
Are the any disadvantages in using IMAP?
Unlike the Exchange, Microsoft 365 or Zimbra mailboxes we offer, IMAP does not synchronise Contacts or Calendars quite so easily (it can be done but takes some configuration) and so may not be suitable for customers that need this functionality to be straightforward. IMAP mailboxes also do not support email delegation and has less sophisticated spam filtering. While a backup of the whole IMAP server is taken for the purposes of disaster recovery, more granular backups of individual mailboxes are not so easy. If you need these advanced features, IMAP may not be for you.
What does the webmail platform look like?
If for some reason you are unable to use an email client like Outlook or Thunderbird, or simply prefer to manage email in a browser, you can use the webmail interface. Our platform uses RoundCube webmail and so if you need to use webmail this is the platform you will use either all the time or in an emergency.
Below, the main RoundCube interface.
Below, the RoundCube email editor.
Below, the interface for webmail settings.
If you need more information about this service please contact us.