Posted on October 15, 2026 by Markus

“How many email addresses should we have?” sounds like a simple question until you start listing them. One for each person? One for enquiries? One for invoices? What about the part-timer who only works Saturdays?

By the end of this guide you’ll have a clear mailbox plan for your business and know exactly which email hosting plan fits, so you don’t overpay or run out of room.

Mailbox vs forwarder vs alias: know the difference

Before you count, it helps to know there are a few ways to create an address.

• Mailbox: a real inbox with its own password and storage. Someone logs in to read and send from it.
• Forwarder: an address that doesn’t store mail. It passes anything it receives on to another mailbox. For example, quotes@ could forward to the owner’s inbox.
• Shared mailbox: a single mailbox (such as info@) that several people log in to.

Knowing this matters because forwarders don’t use up storage the same way and let you keep tidy, professional addresses without creating a full inbox for each.

Step 1: count your people

Start with everyone who sends or receives work email in their own name. A useful rule: if someone talks to customers, suppliers or the bank on behalf of the business, give them their own mailbox.

A small accounting practice in Midrand might look like this:

• The two partners
• Three accountants
• One receptionist
• One junior clerk

That’s seven personal mailboxes.

Step 2: add your role addresses

Role addresses stay the same when staff change. That protects your customer relationships when someone leaves. Common ones include:

• info@ for general enquiries from your website and Google Business Profile
• accounts@ for invoices and payments
• sales@ or quotes@ for new business
• support@ or bookings@ for existing customers
• careers@ for CVs, which can be switched off between hiring rounds

Our accounting practice adds info@, accounts@ and careers@. That’s ten mailboxes in total.

Step 3: plan for the next 12 months

Are you hiring? Opening a second branch? Taking on a seasonal assistant over December? Add a few spare mailboxes so you’re not scrambling later. Our practice plans for two new hires, bringing the total to twelve.

Step 4: think about storage, not just headcount

The number of mailboxes is only half the story. The other half is how much your team stores. Ask yourself:

• Do you send big attachments? Designers, architects, photographers and printers move large files. Plumbers and tutors usually don’t.
• Do you keep everything forever? Some businesses never delete. Others archive old mail to their computers each year.
• Do you scan documents to email? Scanned PDFs add up quickly.

A good habit for any business: share large files with a link from cloud storage rather than attaching them, and archive old mail regularly. That keeps your mailboxes light and your plan affordable.

Step 5: match your count to a plan

Here’s how Grow Host’s business email plans line up:

• Basic – R49/month: up to 15 mailboxes, 1 000 MB storage
• Standard – R69/month: up to 25 mailboxes, 2 000 MB storage
• Pro – R109/month: up to 30 mailboxes, 3 000 MB storage

Every plan includes free email SSL, POP3 and IMAP access, spam filters, anti-virus and webmail. You can compare the details on our email hosting page.

Which one is right for you?

Choose Basic if you have up to 15 addresses and your team mostly sends text emails, quotes and invoices. Our twelve-mailbox accounting practice fits here comfortably, as long as they archive old mail once a year. This is the honest starting point for most small businesses, and there’s no need to pay for more.

Choose Standard if you need between 16 and 25 mailboxes, or you have fewer people but handle a lot of attachments. A design studio of eight that sends artwork proofs all day will appreciate the doubled storage more than the extra mailboxes.

Choose Pro if you have up to 30 mailboxes, or a busy office with heavy attachment use, such as a property agency, a school admin office or a multi-branch retailer.

Common mistakes to avoid

Sharing one login among the whole team

It feels efficient, but you lose track of who replied to whom, and when someone leaves you have to change the password for everyone. Give people their own mailboxes and use role addresses for shared work.

Creating an inbox for every possible address

Not every address needs a full mailbox. If webshop@ and orders@ go to the same person, make one a forwarder.

Buying for headcount but forgetting storage

Fifteen people who never delete anything will fill space faster than you expect. Build in a simple archiving routine from day one.

Using staff members’ personal Gmail accounts

When an employee leaves, the customer conversations leave with them. Business mailboxes stay with the business.

“What if I choose wrong?”

Don’t let the decision stall you. Start with the plan that fits today and move up when you need to. Your addresses stay the same, so customers won’t notice a thing. The cost of waiting, meanwhile, is every quote that goes out from a free address that looks less trustworthy than yours should.

If you don’t yet have a domain name for your email, remember that every Grow Host web hosting plan includes a free domain, along with a free SSL certificate for your website.

FAQs

Do forwarders count as mailboxes?

A forwarder isn’t a full inbox, as it simply passes mail on to another address. Check your control panel to see how forwarders and mailboxes are managed on your plan.

Can I upgrade my email hosting plan later?

Yes. You can move to a bigger plan as your team grows, and your email addresses stay the same.

Is it better to have one shared info@ mailbox or forward it to staff?

If several people answer enquiries, a shared mailbox keeps the conversation history in one place. If one person handles them, a forwarder to their inbox is simpler.

How much storage does a typical mailbox use?

It varies widely. Mostly-text email uses very little, while large attachments use space quickly. Archiving old mail and sharing big files by link keeps usage low.