2

I'm coming from a background of paying a hosting company X amount per month for a server. This server comes with IIS, WebsitePanel and Smartermail all bundled together. When I create a new domain using WebsitePanel it automatically creates my email account. All I then need to do is configure my DNS to point to the server.

I've decided that it is more cost efficient to move to AWS / Azure.

Has anyone come from a similar background and moved onto a cloud system? I'd be interested to know what you did regarding emails. So far, these are the suggestions I've seen:

  • Use Google Apps for each domain
  • Use something like Elastic Email to sent out emails
  • Launch a new instance and host an email server on that

The first option seems like quite a lot of manual configuration, the second one works good with outgoing emails but what about receiving? Option 3 would make it less cost effective.

What is your experience?

Improve this question
2
  • I realise this an old post, but wonder how you moved forward with this issue? Any advice you could pass on would be greatly appreciated. Also, rather than launching a new instance, why not run your email server and IIS on the same box? It wouldn't cost that much more to
    – Phill Healey
    Commented Mar 14, 2015 at 19:14
  • 1
    Hi Phill, I currently use Mandrill for SMTP / automated emails from the website and have settled on using Google Apps for user based email where send and receive is required.
    – Paul
    Commented Mar 15, 2015 at 2:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I use SendGrid.com with Azure. There is an API, but the easiest way is to just use their SMTP server. Pricing is very reasonable, a couple of dollars for thousands of emails per month.

I previously used Google Apps but there are limitations, like 1000 emails per days, which could be a problem if you have to send in bulk.

Regarding receiving emails, I use Google Apps for that. Anyone that replies to a system email will be sent to my Google Apps domain. Or more often, every email sent via Sendgrid will have a reply-to set by the application user (this is a SAAS app) where the email is sent to.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.