Ask three providers what business email costs and you will get three different kinds of answer: "per user per month", "per user per year", or "per domain per year". The headline numbers look similar until you multiply them by the size of your team. This guide does that maths for you in Kenyan shillings, so you can budget properly and pick the option that fits how your business actually works.
Two ways business email is priced
Per user (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365)
You pay for every person who has a mailbox. Hire a new sales assistant and your bill goes up. Add a shared address like accounts@ as a full mailbox and that is another seat. In return, each user gets a large personal allowance and a full office suite: Google Docs and Drive, or Microsoft Word, Excel and Teams.
Per domain (email hosting)
You pay one price for your domain, for example yourbusiness.co.ke, and create as many mailboxes as you need. Storage is a shared pool across all of them. The price does not change when the team grows, which makes it very predictable for small and growing businesses.
What a year of business email costs in Kenya
These are Hostiko's own prices in October 2026 for each option, worked out for a whole year. Microsoft 365 is shown including 16% VAT.
| Team size | Google Workspace Business Starter | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Hostiko Business Email |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | KSh 13,200 | KSh 12,105 | KSh 500 (Starter, 5 GB) |
| 5 people | KSh 66,000 | KSh 60,523 | KSh 1,500 (Business, 15 GB) |
| 10 people | KSh 132,000 | KSh 121,046 | KSh 1,500 to 6,500 |
| 25 people | KSh 330,000 | KSh 302,615 | KSh 6,500 (Pro, 50 GB) |
Google Workspace Business Starter is KSh 1,100 per user per month (KSh 13,200 a year). Microsoft 365 Business Basic is KSh 10,435 per user per year plus VAT. Hostiko Business Email is KSh 500, 1,500 or 6,500 per domain per year, with unlimited mailboxes on every plan.
What you get for the money
The comparison is only fair if you look at what each option includes.
- Google Workspace gives each user Gmail on your domain, 30 GB of pooled storage per user, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet. Great if your team already lives in Google's apps.
- Microsoft 365 gives each user a 50 GB Outlook mailbox, 1 TB of OneDrive, Teams and the web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Business Standard adds the installed desktop apps.
- Hostiko Business Email gives you unlimited mailboxes, aliases and forwarders on your domain, premium spam and virus filtering, webmail with calendar, contacts and tasks, Outlook and phone sync, and a sending limit of 600 messages an hour to outside addresses. The Business plan adds online file storage and document editing; Pro adds a year of email archiving and priority migration help.
How much storage does a small team really need?
Most office mailboxes use between 1 and 3 GB a year, mainly from attachments. A pooled 15 GB is comfortable for five to ten people who send ordinary quotes, invoices and photos. If your team regularly emails large drawings, videos or scanned documents, choose the 50 GB Pro plan, or ask us about more space.
Which option should you choose?
- Choose per-domain email if you want professional addresses for everyone (info@, sales@, accounts@ and each staff member) without paying per seat, and your team already has the office software it needs.
- Choose Google Workspace if your team collaborates all day in Google Docs and Sheets and you want Meet built in. See our Google Workspace page.
- Choose Microsoft 365 if your business runs on Word, Excel and Teams and needs the desktop apps. See our Microsoft 365 page.
Many Kenyan businesses mix them: a few Microsoft 365 seats for the people who need desktop Office, and per-domain email for everyone else. Just keep each domain with one email provider, because a domain's mail can only be delivered to one place.
Hidden costs to watch for
- Dollar billing. Paying a foreign provider by card in dollars adds exchange-rate swings and bank fees. Paying in shillings by M-Pesa avoids both.
- Shared mailboxes counted as users. On per-user plans, a full info@ or accounts@ mailbox can cost as much as a person.
- Setup time. DNS records and moving old mail take time. Ask whether your provider helps, and whether it can add the DNS records for you if your domain is with them.
Frequently asked questions
Is business email included with web hosting?
Yes. Every Hostiko hosting plan includes basic email accounts on your domain. Hostiko Business Email is a separate, dedicated email service with stronger spam filtering, Outlook and phone sync, calendars, and more storage that does not compete with your website for space.
Can I pay for business email with M-Pesa?
Yes. You can pay for every Hostiko service with M-Pesa, and your Business Email is created automatically the moment the payment comes through.
Can I try it before I pay?
Yes. Open the live demo to use a real mailbox for a sample company in your browser, with no sign-up.
Hostiko Business Email
Email on your own domain from KSh 500 a year per domain, with unlimited mailboxes, premium spam filtering, Outlook and phone sync, and Hostiko's own webmail with an AI writing assistant in English and Kiswahili. Pay with M-Pesa.
See plans Try the live demo