Mailbux Alternative: Unlimited Mailboxes, Metered Storage

A Mailbux alternative is the hardest comparison in this series to write, because Mailbux sells almost exactly what we sell. Flat pricing, unlimited mailboxes, unlimited domains, no per-user fee, every standard protocol on every plan — and a free tier on top.

They even do the thing most comparisons would call our unique advantage. So this one starts with what they get right, then goes to the number that actually separates the two.

What a Mailbux Alternative Is Priced Against

"Unlimited" is accurate on both sides and it isn't the meter on either. Mailbux prices storage, the way MXroute does, and the plan names hide it. From their pricing page:

Unlimited mailboxes sharing 10 GB is the detail to sit with. Forty people on Unlimited Standard have 250 MB each, which is a few months of ordinary mail with attachments. The mailbox count stops being the constraint almost immediately and storage becomes the thing you buy.

Ours is metered the same way, so the comparison is unusually clean — same axis, different rungs:

That inverts the usual assumption that a Mailbux alternative costs more. Below 10 GB they are cheaper and their free tier is unbeatable. Above roughly 15 GB the storage-per-dollar tips the other way and stays there.

The trade going the other way is real: their mailbox and domain counts are unlimited under a fair-use ceiling of 5,000 mailboxes per self-serve account, where ours are capped by tier at 1,000 domains and 1,000 mailboxes each on Agency.

Two Free Tiers, Two Different Catches

Both are genuinely free with no card. Both have a catch, and it is only fair to name both.

Theirs: 7 GB, five accounts, one domain, and it sends — 300 messages an hour. But read what the paid plans sell as upgrades: No Ads and No Sent by Mailbux. Those appear as paid features, which means the free tier carries advertising and a "sent by" line on your outgoing mail. On a business address that is the catch, and it is the one their homepage doesn't lead with.

Ours: 10 domains at 10 mailboxes each and 5 GB, so a hundred addresses against their five. No ads and no footer on anything. But it receives over IMAP and does not send through our platform SMTP — sending needs a paid plan or your own SMTP credentials.

So: if you are one person who wants a free address on your own domain that sends, take theirs and accept the footer. If you want to hold and receive across a portfolio of domains without branding on your mail, ours is the better shape. Neither is a trick; they are different compromises.

One thing to verify at signup rather than take from either of us: their plan card lists IMAP and POP3 on the free tier, while their own comparison table further down the same page marks IMAP/POP3 as paid-plans-only. They can't both be right.

Every Mailbux Alternative Claims White Label — So Do They

This is where a lazy Mailbux alternative would claim our biggest differentiator, and it'd be wrong.

Mailbux offers White-Label and Reseller as an add-on, listed on every plan including the free one, and they claim to be the only hosting platform that lets you fully rebrand the webmail interface. Their Enterprise tier goes further with EU data residency in Germany and Finland, a DPA, dedicated outbound IPs and a custom SLA.

So if rebranding the webmail is your requirement, both products do it and the decision moves elsewhere. What differs is scope. Ours covers the dashboard as well as the webmail, each on its own hostname with its own certificate, and it is a plan capability rather than a bolt-on. Theirs is priced as an add-on whose cost isn't on the pricing page.

Compare them directly rather than trusting either description, including this one.

Where a Mailbux Alternative Actually Differs

With the mailbox, the protocols and the branding close to level, what's left for a Mailbux alternative to argue is the work around provisioning.

DNS applied for you. They publish a DNS setup guide, and you paste the records yourself. Here it is a scoped Cloudflare token with every change previewed before it is written, or one click through Domain Connect at registrars where you hold no token. Unlimited domains reads very differently when each one is a click rather than a form. See DNS setup.

Onboarding without handling passwords. Domains and mailboxes created in bulk, plus setup invites so each person sets their own credentials. You're never holding a client's staff password, which is a liability as much as a time cost.

Mailboxes you don't host. A client staying on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 read over IMAP from the same interface, with replies leaving through their own provider so authentication stays aligned. See the unified inbox. This is the capability neither of the flat-rate independents offers.

Address verification in the same account, single and bulk, which is normally a separate subscription to a separate vendor.

Storage capped per mailbox. With a shared pool and no per-address ceiling, one archivist starves everyone. That's a bigger risk on their plans than ours, because the pools are smaller.

Where they lead, stated plainly: JMAP, the modern successor to IMAP, which we don't support; a published self-hosted option; and EU data residency at Enterprise.

The Verdict, Whoever You Are

This is the closest comparison in the series, so whether a Mailbux alternative suits you splits sharply.

One person, one domain, low volume. Take Mailbux. Free with sending, or Lite at $19.90 a year to drop the ads and the footer, is better value than anything we offer at that size, and no Mailbux alternative here beats it.

A team. Watch the storage line rather than the mailbox line. Unlimited accounts on 10 GB is unlimited in name only once a dozen people use it daily. Compare $79.20 for 20 GB against $42 for 15 GB, and $158.40 for 45 GB against $120 for 50 GB, then add per-address storage caps, support@ as a shared mailbox with real membership, and delivery-time filters.

Mail for several companies. Both can put your brand on the webmail, so a Mailbux alternative has to win on the work instead: DNS applied across a portfolio rather than pasted per domain, bulk provisioning with setup invites, verification in the same account, and reading client mailboxes that live elsewhere. At 200 GB the price is $279 against $298.80, so the volume argument no longer runs against you either.

Anyone who needs a supplier with a contract. Their Enterprise tier answers that with a DPA, EU residency and a custom SLA. Ask both of us for it in writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mailbux really free?

Yes — 7 GB, five accounts on one domain, with sending. The paid tiers list "No Ads" and "No Sent by Mailbux" as upgrades, so the free plan carries advertising and a sent-by line on outgoing mail.

What does Mailbux cost?

$19.90 a year for Lite, then $49.32, $79.20, $158.40, $199.08 and $298.80 for the Unlimited tiers, which differ only by storage: 10, 20, 45, 90 and 200 GB.

Are Mailbux mailboxes really unlimited?

Yes, under a fair-use ceiling of 5,000 per self-serve account. What isn't unlimited is storage, and that is the number that decides whether a plan fits.

Does a Mailbux alternative support JMAP?

It doesn't, and that's a genuine point for them. IMAP, SMTP, POP3, CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV work on both sides; JMAP client support is still thin, so today it is more a future advantage than a present one.

Can both put my brand on the webmail?

Yes. Theirs is a White-Label and Reseller add-on whose price is not published; ours covers the dashboard as well as the webmail, each on its own hostname and certificate, as a plan capability. Trial both before deciding.

Which is cheaper?

Below about 10 GB, Mailbux, clearly — no Mailbux alternative competes with free. Above roughly 15 GB the storage-per-dollar tips our way — $42 against $79.20, $120 against $158.40, $279 against $298.80.

Is migrating between them hard?

No. Both speak plain IMAP and both offer free migration, so it's a standard mailbox copy that keeps folders and read state, reconciled against the source afterwards. See bulk migration.