Ayup! Are you searching for a new alternative to Google Workspace for your business emails? This in-depth Spacemail review covers the pros and cons I’ve noted here at Clearcut Derby over the last ten months of daily use.
Spacemail is an email service by Spaceship. They also provide domain names (which is what I originally started using them for) and web hosting packages.
Spaceship is a new ICANN-accredited registrar and digital product platform built by the Namecheap team. It was created as an easy-to-use and intuitive platform that allows users to get everything they need to launch an online business seamlessly.
Endless frustration with a previous domain registrar and the desire to become less reliant on Google products brought me to Spaceship and Spacemail. Here’s how it all panned out.
Spacemail Review
Updated from 4.5 to 2.5 on 14th March 2025 – I’ve kept the original review below and updated the conclusion, but I no longer use Spacemail due to the increasingly unbearable amount of spam and more recently, clients not receiving my emails.
This resulted in revenue loss and was, therefore, no longer an option as a business email solution. I contacted the support team a couple of times when I figured out my emails weren’t being received.
On both occasions they confirmed that everything was working as it should, but phone calls with several clients while trying to send them emails confirmed otherwise.
I’ve since switched back to Google Workspace, and clients started receiving my emails immediately. The Spacemail team are clearly putting lots of effort into improving their service, but as it stands, it’s not quite reliable enough for my own business needs.
As you can see from the somewhat cautious rating, it’s not all been gravy, baby. However, Spaceship and Spacemail are still relatively new, having launched in April 2023.
There’s been plenty of messaging so far to indicate that they’re still working on perfecting their products and services. Fair play.
Emails play a crucial role in almost every aspect of your digital marketing. From your client and customer communication to your local SEO strategy driving your website enquiries, it’s important to work with a provider you can rely on.
Let’s start on a positive note with everything I’ve loved so far. Then, I’ll dive into the comparison with Google Workspace and lastly, the bits I’ve been less impressed with. On with the Spacemail review…
The Best of Spacemail
User Interface
Firstly, one thing you’re probably not used to with domain registrars and email providers is everything looking clean and modern. Somehow, most of these businesses are still rocking the 90’s look.
Although it seems a little trivial, this was pretty much top of the list when I was searching for an alternative to the hidious dashboard of my previous registrar. I’ll mention no names (Eco Web Hosting).
Additionally, coming from the ridiculously complicated Google Workspace for emails, something intuitive and user-friendly was a definite priority.
Welcome to the present day! Both Spaceship and Spacemail are elegantly designed, and up-to-date UX and UI are clearly one of their main objectives.
If you care about how everything looks and feels, as well as ease of use, I certainly don’t think there’s a better option than Spaceship/Spacemail at present.
Effortless SPF, DKIM & DMARC Integration
Email jargon, incoming! I’m no technical expert in emails, but towards the end of my Google Workspace use, I was introduced to the world of SPF, DKIM and DMARK.
I won’t go into each one, but basically, all of these abbreviations are related to authenticating your domain name and emails. It’s a way of ensuring your emails are delivered and reducing spam by proving your legitimacy.
With that said, nowhere in Google Workspace did it say you need any of this when setting up your email accounts. It was only when I realised nobody was receiving my emails that I looked into it and discovered that they needed to be added to my DNS records.
I was really impressed with Spacemail because it takes care of most of this on your behalf. When you add emails to any of the domains in your Spaceship portfolio, it automatically adds all of the relevant DNS records. Massive win!
If you’re sending high volumes of emails, DMARC still needs to be added manually, but this is relatively easy using a third party such as dmarcdkim.com.
This, of course, keeps you compliant and makes sure the people you are emailing actually receive your message.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work together to verify the legitimacy of the sender’s identity and prevent email spoofing and domain impersonation:
Support That Brings a Smile
One area that will usually decipher whether you continue to use a product or service is the support. I’ve had to reach out on quite a few occasions, and they surpass expectations every time.
Yes, it’s not always ended in my issue being sorted straight away, but the level of knowledge and communication is as good as it gets.
Towards the beginning of using Spaceship and Spacemail, you’ll be figuring stuff out and, if you’re anything like me, breaking things. Because of this, you’ll most likely contact the support team fairly regularly.
Sometimes, you may be transferred over to another agent, but you’ll always end up with an expert who can help you fix or find anything you need. Also, I’ve never had to wait to speak with anyone online. It’s always more or less instant.
Easy IMAP/SMTP/POP3 Configuration
Email jargon alert (part 2) ⚠️ This time, these abbreviations are simply how you link your emails to an external client such as Apple Mail or Outlook.
While you can use Spacemail directly through your web browser, it’s pretty limited and I’d imagine most folks will likely want to use it via their usual app.
If so, it’s super easy to add your account using the details provided under settings, IMAP/SMTP/POP3, See configuration.
This will show you all of the info you need to add to Apple Mail, Outlook or any other client that you may use.
If anything doesn’t seem to work as it should, the Support team will have you up and running in no time.
When it Works, it Works Very Well
Lastly, to round out the best bits in this Spacemail review, it just works incredibly well. The when it works bit, we’ll get to, but generally speaking, running a business with Spacemail is a breeze.
- The integration with Apple Mail is flawless.
- Genuine emails aren’t ending up in your client’s spam folder.
- Easy to add email accounts to your domain names.
- Little technical skill is required to set everything up.
Spacemail Vs Google Workspace
Service
Although Google Workspace is more than just emails, if you’re only using it for that purpose, then you probably don’t need any of the other bits you’re paying for anyway. Furthermore, they can all be easily replaced, if needed.
Google Workspace is more technical to set up. There are so many choices, options and products that it quickly becomes overwhelming. I’d go as far as calling it a little chaotic.
Conversely, once you’re all set up, the email service is as you’d expect any Google product to be; faultless. While Spacemail isn’t quite there yet, I sincerely hope it will reach this level over the coming years.
Cost
Admittedly, any business email service won’t usually break the bank. However, Spacemail is considerably cheaper than Google Workspace.
The Pro subscription at the time of publishing this article will set you back £5.30. Not per day, not per month, but per year. If I hadn’t already tested it out for six months, I’d say it seems too good to be true. You get what you pay for, and all that.
But yeah, it is true, and it is a highly viable option for your business emails. In comparison to Google Workspace, you’d pay between £5 and £15 per month on a one-year commitment or £6 to £18 per month on a monthly basis.
Keep in mind that not all business ventures work out. If you were suckered into the one-year plans, you’d have to pay a cancellation fee.
Overall
As mentioned, Google Workspace is much more than just business emails. Consider how much of it you’re using and whether you can replace any of the other products you may be using.
Of course, relying less on Google products and services in the long term doesn’t hurt. If you’re looking for a less complicated option that specifically meets your email and domain needs, Spaceship and Spacemail may well be your answer.
Oh, and then there’s the collecting of your data…
Recently there’s been a shift, with more individuals and businesses turning away from their reliance on big tech giants — like Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
There are increasing concerns about how these companies handle data.
The Not-so-Great Bits
Spam
Ok, a couple of negatives to round out this Spacemail review. The level of spam finding its way through the filter can only be described as unacceptable.
Namecheap’s own Jellyfish is responsible for keeping your Spacemail inbox free from unsolicited junk. It doesn’t work very well.
Generally speaking, I’d say four in every ten spam emails go straight into the junk folder. This leaves me with an undesirable 60% or more of them sitting in my inbox. Block, move to junk, move on.
Extra settings and filters can be applied. However, I don’t expect to have to get this involved. It’s not something that I ever had to do with Google Workspace.
If you do make the switch from Google, this is one thing to keep in mind, as it’ll be a shock to the system. With that said, the more you block and send to the junk folder, the less they’ll end up in your inbox.
Downtime
Lastly, the one major drawback that almost resulted in another star being wiped out from the overall rating. The Spacemail service is consistently going down.
This has happened several times in the last six months. Again, it’s something you won’t be used to if switching from Google Workspace.
In most cases, it seems to start working again within an hour. Sometimes, it’s only out for a few minutes or less. Spaceship support has always been super helpful in explaining what was going on. You can also keep up to date with any issues over on X.
As ridiculous as it sounds now that I’m typing it, not receiving emails for an hour can really disrupt business communications, especially when tight deadlines are involved.
The service was down again yesterday, literally as I started this article.
Update: 12th Feb 2025 – I thought I’d quickly update the post here to say this issue has been largely resolved. Since initially publishing the review, I haven’t noticed the service going down for more than a few seconds—props to the Spacemail team for their continual work and improvements.
Spacemail Review – Conclusion
To conclude this Spacemail review, it isn’t without its flaws, but I’m confident that the company cares about its product, service and users. Their attitude towards continual improvement and exceptional support is a breath of fresh air.
The Spacemail service itself didn’t quite live up to expectations. As a business email solution, the unbearable amounts of spam and then deliverability issues ultimately resulted in the decision to switch back to Google Workspace.
As soon as we did so, our inboxes were no longer full of spam, and our clients were receiving emails again. This is definitely an area that needs urgent attention with Spacemail.
Overall, using Spacemail over Google Workspace will save you some money, but unfortunately, as with most products or services, the cheapest option is rarely the best option.
Thanks for stopping by…
My name’s Mike Hindle. I’m a WordPress and local SEO specialist. I’m the founder of Clearcut Derby and a print and distribution business called Leaflet Lion. Outside of work, I love hiking, exploring and photography.