Does Bluehost Offer Free Email?

Yes, Bluehost includes free email hosting with every paid hosting plan. You get unlimited email accounts on Plus and Choice Plus, and up to 5 on the Basic plan. Each account comes with webmail access and full IMAP/SMTP support so you can use it in Gmail, Outlook, or any email client. For the full walkthrough, see our guide on adding Bluehost email to Gmail.

What Is Included With Bluehost Email?

The email service is powered by cPanel and included at no extra cost with your hosting subscription. Here is what each plan includes:

• Basic plan: up to 5 email accounts, 100MB storage per account
• Plus plan: unlimited email accounts, unlimited storage per account
• Choice Plus plan: unlimited email accounts, unlimited storage per account

All plans include access to Bluehost’s webmail interface (Horde, RoundCube, or SquirrelMail) so you can check email directly from a browser. You also get spam filtering, autoresponders, forwarders, and the ability to set up catch-all addresses.

How to Set Up Your Bluehost Email Account

Setting up your first email address takes under five minutes:

• Step 1: Log in: Go to your Bluehost account and navigate to the Email section in your control panel.
• Step 2: Email Accounts: Click “Email Accounts” under the Email & Office section.
• Step 3: Create: Click “Create” and enter your desired username (e.g. info, hello, support), choose your domain from the dropdown, and set a strong password.
• Step 4: Done: Your address is live immediately. You can access it via webmail or configure it in an email client.

Connecting Bluehost Email to Gmail or Outlook

You can pull your Bluehost email into Gmail using Gmail’s “Add Another Email Account” feature, or set it up in Outlook, Apple Mail, or any IMAP/SMTP-compatible client. The connection settings are:

• Incoming mail (IMAP): Server: mail.yourdomain.com, Port: 993, SSL: Yes
• Outgoing mail (SMTP): Server: mail.yourdomain.com, Port: 465, SSL: Yes
• Username: your full email address (e.g. [email protected])
• Password: the password you set when creating the account

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain. If you want to send from your Bluehost address directly inside Gmail, our guide on how to add Bluehost email to Gmail covers the full process.

Is Bluehost Email Good Enough?

For most small businesses and personal sites, yes. The free email is solid for day-to-day correspondence and gives you a professional @yourdomain.com address. There are a few limitations to know about:

• Basic plan is restricted: 5 accounts and 100MB each fills up quickly for growing teams
• No shared calendars or collaboration tools: if you need Google Workspace-style shared calendars, task management, or Docs, Bluehost email alone won’t cover it
• Deliverability: Bluehost’s shared mail servers are generally reliable, but transactional emails from your WordPress site (contact forms, WooCommerce orders) are better sent through a dedicated SMTP service like Brevo or Mailgun

For a solo operator or small team that just needs professional email addresses and basic webmail, Bluehost’s free email is a practical choice that costs nothing extra.

Bluehost Email Limits and Restrictions

Bluehost email is included free with hosting, but it has limits that are worth knowing before you rely on it for business communications.

• Storage per mailbox: Each email account gets 100 MB of storage by default on shared hosting plans. You can increase individual mailboxes up to your hosting plan’s total disk space allocation, but the default 100 MB fills quickly if you receive attachments regularly.
• Maximum attachment size: Individual emails are limited to 50 MB including attachments. Files larger than this cannot be sent or received through Bluehost email directly.
• Sending limits: Bluehost shared hosting accounts are limited to 500 outgoing emails per hour per domain. This limit exists to prevent spam and is typical for shared hosting. If you are sending newsletters or transactional emails, you will hit this limit quickly and should use a dedicated email service (Mailchimp, SendGrid, Amazon SES) for bulk sending.
• SMTP authentication required: Bluehost does not allow open SMTP relay. Any application sending email through Bluehost’s SMTP server must authenticate with your email account credentials. WordPress contact forms and plugins that send email need the correct SMTP settings configured.
• Spam filtering: Bluehost uses SpamAssassin for spam filtering. It is configurable in cPanel but defaults to a medium sensitivity threshold. Some legitimate emails may be marked as spam; check your spam folder regularly or adjust the threshold in cPanel under Email > Spam Filters.

For businesses sending more than a few hundred emails per day, or needing guaranteed deliverability for transactional email (order confirmations, password resets), Bluehost’s built-in email is not the right tool. In those cases, Google Workspace starts at $6 per user per month and provides significantly higher sending limits, better deliverability, and 30 GB of storage per mailbox.

Bluehost Email Hosting vs Google Workspace

The most common question about Bluehost email is whether to use it or pay for Google Workspace. Here is a direct comparison:

• Cost: Bluehost email is free with your hosting plan. Google Workspace starts at $6 per user per month (Business Starter) or $12 per user per month (Business Standard).
• Storage: Bluehost Basic gives 100MB per account; Plus and Choice Plus are listed as unlimited. Google Workspace Business Starter gives 30GB pooled per user; Standard gives 2TB pooled.
• Collaboration tools: Bluehost email is IMAP/SMTP webmail only. Google Workspace includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet video calls, shared calendars, and Drive.
• Deliverability: Both are reliable for standard business email. For transactional WordPress email (WooCommerce orders, contact forms), use a dedicated SMTP service like Brevo, Mailgun, or Postmark regardless of which email provider you use.
• Admin controls: Bluehost manages email through cPanel. Google Workspace uses Google Admin Console, which offers granular user management, security policies, and device controls.

If you just need professional email addresses, Bluehost free email covers it. If your team shares documents, uses video calls, or needs centralized file storage, Google Workspace is worth the monthly cost. Most small businesses start with Bluehost email and switch when the team grows past 5 people or needs collaboration tools.

What Happens to Your Bluehost Email If You Cancel?

If you cancel your Bluehost hosting plan, your email accounts are deleted along with the rest of your hosting data. Bluehost does not offer standalone email hosting. Before cancelling, export your email data from webmail (most clients support .mbox export) and point your domain's MX records to a standalone provider like Google Workspace or Zoho Mail before the account closes.

Why Use a Custom Email Address at All?

Since the email service costs nothing on top of your hosting, there are strong reasons to use it instead of a free Gmail or Yahoo address:

• Professionalism: a @gmail address signals a startup or hobbyist; [email protected] signals an established business
• Brand consistency: your domain name appears in every email signature, business card, and customer reply
• Control: staff email accounts stay on your domain; when someone leaves, you keep the account and the contact history
• Standardization: you can create predictable formats like [email protected] or [email protected] that customers always recognize

Final Word: Does Bluehost Offer Free Email?

Yes: free email is included with all Bluehost hosting plans. Basic gives you 5 accounts; Plus and above give you unlimited. Setup takes a few minutes inside cPanel, and you can connect to Gmail or Outlook using IMAP and SMTP. For a small business or personal site, it is a practical zero-cost solution for professional email. For the full picture of what Bluehost includes at each plan tier, see our guide on whether Bluehost is good value for your situation. For a full walkthrough of cPanel access, SSL, PHP, and WooCommerce setup, see our Bluehost configuration guide. For a complete breakdown of Bluehost plans, pricing, and features in one place, see our full Bluehost hosting guide.