Many UAE businesses still send quotes and invoices from a free Gmail address, or from an old email host that keeps landing in spam. When people search for “Google email hosting”, what they usually want is simple: Gmail, but with their own company name after the @.
Google does not sell email hosting on its own. You get Gmail on your own domain through Google Workspace, Google's paid business suite. This guide explains what that includes, what it costs in the UAE and how to set it up properly.
Google email hosting means using Gmail with your own domain through Google Workspace. In the UAE it starts at about AED 26 per user per month on Business Starter (annual plan, before 5% VAT). Setup takes a domain check, a new MX record (smtp.google.com) and SPF, DKIM and DMARC records so your email reaches the inbox.
“If the email address belongs to the company, the account should belong to the company too. That is the real difference between free Gmail and Workspace.”
Need help with this for your business? Talk to our Dubai team.
What “Google email hosting” actually is
- A free Gmail account gives you an address ending in @gmail.com. It cannot use your own domain.
- Google Workspace gives every user Gmail on your domain (for example sales@yourcompany.ae), plus Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet, and an Admin console where your company controls the accounts.
- Your email is hosted on Google's servers. You keep your domain where it is registered; you only point its email records to Google.
- If you bought your domain through Google Domains in the past, note that Google Domains moved to Squarespace in 2023, so your domain settings are now managed there.
The free workaround is closing
Some businesses used a free Gmail account to collect mail from their company address with the “Check mail from other accounts” (POP) feature or Gmailify. Google is removing both. According to Google, new users can no longer set them up after the first quarter of 2026, and existing users can keep using them until January 2027.
If your team relies on that setup, now is a good time to move to proper Google email hosting on your own domain.
What Google email hosting costs in the UAE
Google prices Workspace per user, per month, in US dollars. These are the annual-plan prices from our Google Workspace pricing guide, converted at 3.6725 AED to the dollar, before VAT:
| Plan | Price (annual) | Approx. AED | Email storage per user |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Starter | USD 7 | about AED 26 | 30 GB (shared with Drive) |
| Business Standard | USD 14 | about AED 51 | 2 TB (shared with Drive) |
| Business Plus | USD 22 | about AED 81 | 5 TB (shared with Drive) |
Google can change prices at any time. The flexible (monthly) plan costs about 20% more. UAE businesses pay 5% VAT on top.
For a full plan comparison, see our guide to Google Workspace pricing in the UAE.
How to set up Google email hosting on your domain
- Choose a plan and sign up. Sign up with Google directly or through a Google Workspace reseller who can invoice you in AED and help with setup.
- Verify your domain. Google gives you a TXT record to add at your domain provider. This proves you own the domain.
- Create your users and shared addresses. Add each person, and set up groups for shared addresses such as info@ and sales@.
- Move your email to Google (MX record). Replace your old MX records with Google's: host smtp.google.com, priority 1. Google says it can take up to 72 hours for new MX records to be recognised. If your company started with Workspace before 2023 and your MX records start with “aspmx”, they still work.
- Add SPF. Add Google to your SPF record (include:_spf.google.com), so receiving servers know Google is allowed to send for your domain.
- Turn on DKIM. Generate the DKIM key in the Admin console, add it to your DNS and switch it on. This signs every email you send.
- Add DMARC. Start with a monitoring policy, then tighten it once SPF and DKIM pass. This protects your domain from being used in fake emails.
- Bring over your old email. Use Google's data migration tool, or ask your provider, to copy old mailboxes, contacts and calendars.
- Connect phones and computers. Install the Gmail app on phones and sign in on laptops. Remove the old accounts so nobody keeps sending from the old host.
“Most spam problems after a move come from steps 5 to 7. Get SPF, DKIM and DMARC right on day one.”
Google email hosting vs traditional email hosting
Traditional email hosting (for example the mailboxes that come with a web hosting plan) is usually cheaper, but you only get email. Google email hosting gives you Gmail's spam filtering, a mobile app your team already knows, shared calendars and files, and central control over every account. For a full comparison, read Google Workspace vs traditional email hosting. If your team prefers Outlook and Office desktop apps, compare it with Microsoft 365.
Mistakes to avoid
- Leaving old MX records in place, so some email still goes to the old host.
- Skipping SPF, DKIM or DMARC, so your email lands in spam.
- Creating every account on the cheapest plan when some people need more storage.
- Having only one admin. If that person leaves, nobody can manage the accounts.
- Forgetting to migrate old email before cancelling the old host.
Our take
For most UAE businesses, Google email hosting through Google Workspace is the simplest way to get professional email that people trust and your team can use on any device. The licence is the easy part. The setup (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and migration) is what decides whether your email arrives in the inbox.
If you want us to set it up or move your current email, book a call or see our Google Workspace service. Already on Workspace with another provider? See how to transfer Google Workspace to a new reseller.
The most common call we get after a business moves to Google on its own is “our emails are going to spam”. In almost every case, SPF, DKIM or DMARC was never finished. We check all three on every setup.
