Budget for the domain and the email service separately. The domain has a registration and renewal cost; the mailbox provider may charge per person, per mailbox or by plan. DNS connects the two but does not create mailboxes by itself.
Before you begin
- Count independent inboxes, not just address names.
- Check each provider’s later subscription amount.
- Keep a contact route that survives a domain outage.
Count people before buying mailboxes
Start with who needs an independent inbox and sign-in. A sole trader may need one mailbox plus role-based aliases, while a team may need separate accounts for each person. A forwarding address and a shared mailbox are not necessarily the same product.
Ask the email provider how aliases, storage, shared access and additional users are priced. If an introductory mailbox offer ends before the domain renews, put both future amounts in your budget. A low domain price cannot tell you the cost of a five-person email setup.
Include setup and migration work
Creating a new inbox for a new business is different from moving years of existing messages. Record whether old mail, contacts and calendars need to move, who will do the migration and how long the old subscription must remain active.
For example, a two-person business might need two inboxes, a support alias and a copy of its existing mail history. Price those actual requirements rather than buying every possible role address as a separate paid mailbox. Check what the chosen provider supports before relying on an alias arrangement.
NameUK’s current registration and renewal offer
NameUK’s current .co.uk price is £9.99 for one-year registration and £9.99 for annual renewal. That keeps the ongoing cost visible from the beginning.
Build four budget rows
Use a simple worksheet with the current amount, billing interval, renewal date and person responsible for each row.
- Domain registration now and annual renewal later.
- Mailbox subscriptions for the people who need independent access.
- Any one-off setup or message migration service you choose.
- An overlap period for old and new email services, if a migration needs one.
Connect the service after the accounts exist
Get MX and sender-authentication settings from the actual email provider. Enter them at the domain’s active DNS host, then test incoming and outgoing mail. Copying someone else’s sample records is not a substitute for the values issued to your account.
NameUK sells the domain separately, so you can choose the email host that fits your team. Keep an accessible recovery contact for the domain account; relying entirely on an inbox that stops working when the domain expires makes recovery more difficult.
Prepared with AI-assisted drafting and illustration, then checked against the linked sources and NameUK’s current service. The artwork is conceptual; setup values must come from your own provider.
Further readingNameUK registration and renewal prices ↗NameUK registration terms ↗Extension rules and provider processes can change. Check the current registrar instructions before a registration, transfer or renewal.
Low-cost registration. Affordable UK renewals.
Register .co.uk for £9.99 for one year, with annual renewal currently £9.99. Or choose a new three-year .co.uk registration for £25.99. Check the selected name and term before payment. Future renewal prices can change.