Here’s the thing worth understanding before comparing anything else: GoDaddy doesn’t build its own email product.
GoDaddy’s business email is Microsoft 365, resold through GoDaddy’s own checkout, at GoDaddy’s own price.
Email Essentials advertises £1.99 a mailbox for the first year, then renews around £5.99, and the actual mail you’re using the whole time is Microsoft Exchange, the same technology under Microsoft’s own direct plans.
Is Going Direct to Microsoft Actually Cheaper?
Yes, based on the numbers. GoDaddy’s real-world renewal rate for Email Essentials sits close to £5.99 a mailbox, according to aggregated contract data, while Microsoft’s own Business Basic, bought directly with no reseller in between, is £5.40 a month, official UK price, no promotional catch.
Step up a tier and the gap widens further: one independent analysis found GoDaddy charging the equivalent of $9.99 to $11.99 for a mailbox tier that costs $4 to $4.80 bought direct, a markup of around 150% for the identical product. There’s no scenario in the numbers where GoDaddy comes out financially ahead of Microsoft’s own pricing.
Source: GoDaddy and Microsoft pricing pages, Vendr aggregated contract data, ex VAT
So why does anyone buy through GoDaddy at all?
Convenience, genuinely, not value. If your domain’s already sitting in a GoDaddy account, adding email there means one login, one invoice, one support number to call, and GoDaddy will walk you through the setup rather than leaving you to configure the Microsoft 365 admin centre yourself.
That’s a real, fair reason for some businesses. It’s a convenience fee, though, not a discount, and worth naming as such rather than assuming bundling saves money it demonstrably doesn’t.
Zoho Mail: Cheaper Than Either Option
If you’re going to pay for the inconvenience of switching anyway, it’s worth pricing Zoho against both GoDaddy and Microsoft direct rather than assuming Microsoft is the only alternative to GoDaddy.
Zoho Mail Lite runs 80p a month for email alone, a seventh of GoDaddy’s real ongoing rate. Workplace Standard, at £2.40, adds a genuine office suite, Writer, Sheet, Show, calendar, shared storage, for less than half what GoDaddy’s Online Business Essentials charges for a web-only equivalent in its first year alone, before that renews upward too.
| Option | Price /mailbox/month | Who sets it up | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Mail Lite | £0.80 | You, or a specialist | Cheapest option, no renewal cliff |
| Microsoft 365 (direct) | £5.40 | You, via Microsoft admin centre | Same product as GoDaddy, no markup |
| GoDaddy Email Essentials | £1.99 yr1, ~£5.99 ongoing | GoDaddy (reseller) | Convenience if domain’s already there |
Source: Zoho, Microsoft and GoDaddy official pricing, Vendr contract data, ex VAT
The One Thing GoDaddy Does Get Right
Worth a fair mention: because GoDaddy’s email is genuine Microsoft 365 underneath, it inherits real Exchange features that some purpose-built alternatives lack, distribution groups and shared mailboxes both work properly, documented clearly in GoDaddy’s own help centre.
If your business specifically wants Microsoft’s ecosystem and is willing to pay the convenience premium for one-vendor simplicity, that feature parity is genuine, not marketing.
Making the Switch
Leaving GoDaddy for either Zoho or Microsoft direct is a standard email migration: mail, contacts and calendar move over IMAP, and an MX record change points your domain at the new host once you’re ready.
If you’re moving to Microsoft direct specifically, note that GoDaddy’s version of the admin centre and the standalone Microsoft one aren’t quite the same login, worth confirming with support before you assume anything carries over automatically.
Our Zoho Mail setup service handles migration, DNS records and distribution groups properly if Zoho is the direction you’re heading. For the full numbers, see our GoDaddy vs Zoho Mail comparison.
Common Questions
Is GoDaddy email the same as Microsoft 365?
Yes. GoDaddy’s Business Email plans run on genuine Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365, resold through GoDaddy’s own checkout at GoDaddy’s own price, not a separate product GoDaddy built itself.
Is it cheaper to buy Microsoft 365 direct instead of through GoDaddy?
Based on the numbers, yes, at every tier we could compare. Microsoft’s own direct pricing consistently undercuts what GoDaddy charges for the identical underlying product.
What’s a good alternative to GoDaddy email?
Zoho Mail if price is the priority, since it beats both GoDaddy and Microsoft’s direct pricing. Microsoft 365 bought direct if you specifically want the Microsoft ecosystem without paying GoDaddy’s markup for it.
Why does GoDaddy email get so much more expensive after year one?
Same industry pattern as most web hosts: a discounted first term to win the sign-up, then a renewal rate that reflects the actual cost of the product plus GoDaddy’s margin on top.