One of the main reasons small businesses stick with Gmail or Hotmail is the assumption that a professional email address is expensive or complicated to set up. In practice, it's one of the cheapest upgrades you can make to how your business presents itself.
Here's a clear breakdown of what it actually costs.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic — from £8/month per user
This is the plan we set up for most of our clients. At £8/month per user, it includes:
- A professional domain email address (you@yourbusiness.co.uk)
- 50GB mailbox storage per user
- Microsoft Teams for calls and messaging
- OneDrive with 1TB cloud storage
- Browser-based Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Spam filtering and security features
For a sole trader or a small team of two or three, that's £8–£24/month total — less than a typical takeaway.
What about the domain?
To have a branded email address, you need a domain (yourbusiness.co.uk). If you already have a website, you already have a domain and there's nothing extra to pay.
If you don't have a domain yet, we can register one for you — typically around £10–£15/year for a .co.uk address. That's a one-off annual cost on top of the monthly Microsoft 365 fee.
Is there a setup cost?
With NC Digital, our Professional Mailboxes & Email Setup service covers the full configuration — connecting your domain, setting up your mailboxes, configuring security settings, and getting everything working on your devices. Get in touch for current setup pricing.
How does it compare to free email?
| Free Gmail/Hotmail | Microsoft 365 (£8/user/month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Branded address | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mailbox storage | 15GB | 50GB |
| Office apps | ✗ | ✓ (web-based) |
| Teams/video calls | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cloud storage | 15GB | 1TB |
| Deliverability | Lower | Higher |
The cost difference is minimal. The credibility difference is immediate.
Is it worth it?
For a business that communicates with customers via email — sending quotes, proposals, invoices, or follow-ups — yes. One extra job won because you appeared more professional than a competitor using Gmail pays for years of the subscription.
Get in touch and we'll have your Microsoft 365 email set up and running quickly.