Your requirement
Platforms — every field is editable, put your own numbers in
| Platform | Seat / mo | Inboxes / seat | Seats | Per inbox | Monthly all-in | Per 1k sends |
|---|
Cheapest option
Google takes 10 percent off the first year through this referral. If you would rather not deal with the setup at all, I sell seats at reseller price and configure them — worth comparing both against the numbers above.
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Count seats, not inboxes
Microsoft licences carry several sending identities. Google is closer to one seat per inbox.
Add the domains
At three inboxes per domain, 60 inboxes means 20 registrations to renew every year.
Price the labour
Provisioning, authenticating and warming inboxes is the largest hidden cost at volume.
Divide by meetings, not inboxes
A stack that costs half but lands 30% less mail is more expensive per booked meeting.
What the sticker price leaves out
Aliases are the real cost lever. On Microsoft 365 a single licence can carry several sending identities, so 60 inboxes might only be 15 to 20 paid seats. On Google Workspace it is much closer to one seat per inbox. That structural difference moves the total more than the headline per-seat price does, which is why the platform that looks cheaper per seat often is not cheaper per inbox.
Replacement is a running cost, not a one-off. Domains get burned. Budget a monthly replacement rate and count the setup time against it. At any real volume, the labour of provisioning, authenticating and warming inboxes costs more than the licences do — and it is the line most people leave out entirely.
Deliverability never appears as a line item but decides everything. A stack at half the price that lands 30% less mail in the inbox is more expensive per booked meeting. Compare cost per meeting using the capacity calculator, not cost per inbox.
Where the money actually goes
| Line item | Rough cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mailbox licence | $3–7 / inbox / month | The only figure most people count. |
| Domain registration | $10–12 / domain / year | Small, until you run hundreds. |
| Setup labour | often the largest line | Provisioning, DNS, authentication, warmup config. |
| Domain replacement | recurring | Burned domains are a running cost, not an accident. |
| Warmup | bundled or per-inbox | Included in most sending platforms now. |
| Sending platform | $30–100+ / month | Flat-fee tools scale far better at inbox volume. |
| Lead data & verification | varies with volume | Frequently exceeds the entire inbox bill. |
Why the cheaper seat is not always the cheaper inbox
Microsoft 365 lets one licence carry several sending identities, so 60 inboxes might be 15 to 20 paid seats. Google Workspace is much closer to one seat per inbox. That structural difference moves the total more than the per-seat price does — which is why comparing sticker prices leads people to the wrong platform.
It is not a straight win either. The two platforms differ in deliverability behaviour, admin tooling and how much manual work provisioning takes at scale, and those differences show up in the labour line rather than the licence line. The platform comparison covers the trade-off properly.
The only number that matters
Cost per booked meeting, not cost per inbox. A stack at half the price that lands 30% less mail in the inbox is more expensive on the measure you actually care about, and cheap resold inboxes are frequently that trade in disguise. Run the meeting maths in the capacity calculator and divide.
Google Workspace below Google's list price
I can sell licences at reseller price, under the public price you see above — and set the tenant up properly at the same time. Domains verified, DNS and authentication configured, users provisioned in bulk, sending limits and signatures set, OAuth connected to Instantly or Smartlead.
Sensible from a handful of seats upward, and the saving compounds with every seat you add. Tell me your seat count and I will send a price.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft 365 really cheaper than Google Workspace for cold email?
Per inbox, usually yes, because one licence can carry several sending identities while Google is closer to one seat per inbox. The trade-off is that Microsoft tenants can be more fragile at volume and need more careful warmup. Many operators run both for ESP diversity rather than picking one — the reasoning is in Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 for cold email.
Can I get Google Workspace cheaper than the public price?
Yes. I can supply licences below Google's public list price, with the tenant, domains and DNS set up correctly from the start. Email me with your seat count and I will send a price.
What is a realistic inbox replacement rate?
Around 5% a month on a well-run fleet sending conservatively. If you are replacing more than 10% a month, the problem is your sending behaviour rather than your infrastructure, and buying more inboxes will only burn budget faster.
Should I use a private SMTP relay instead?
It is the cheapest per send and gives you full control of the IP, which is also the risk — reputation is entirely yours, with none of the shared-pool cushion Google and Microsoft provide. It suits high-volume senders with the expertise to manage IP reputation. For most cold email operations, provider mailboxes are the safer default.
How much does a cold email setup cost per month?
For a typical 50-inbox operation, expect roughly $300–500 a month all-in on a flat-fee sending tool: mailbox licences at $3–7 each, domains at $10–12 a year, the platform fee, plus lead data and verification. Setup labour and domain replacement sit on top and are usually the largest lines at real scale.
Is Microsoft 365 cheaper than Google Workspace for cold email?
Often on paper, because one Microsoft licence can carry several sending identities while Google is closer to one seat per inbox — so 60 inboxes might be 20 paid seats rather than 60. Whether it is genuinely cheaper depends on provisioning labour and deliverability in your specific setup, which are real costs that never appear on an invoice.
Are cheap resold inboxes worth it?
Sometimes, but check what you are buying. The risk is shared or recycled infrastructure with history you cannot see, and inboxes you do not fully control when something needs changing. If placement is meaningfully worse, the saving disappears on cost per booked meeting, which is the only figure that matters.
What is a realistic inbox replacement rate?
Budget for it as a running cost rather than an incident. Domains get burned at any real volume, and the true expense is not the $11 domain but the provisioning, authentication and warmup time to bring its replacement online. Counting that labour is what separates a real budget from a licence total.
Should I use a private SMTP relay instead of mailboxes?
For cold outreach to business inboxes, generally no. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 mailboxes carry a trust advantage with the receiving platforms that a relay does not, and they handle replies natively — which is the entire point. Relays make more sense for transactional or bulk marketing mail.
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What to run next
The checks that most often follow this one.
More in this category
Guides that go deeper
When the tools tell you something is wrong
The diagnostics here are free and always will be. When the fix is bigger than a DNS record, this is the work I do.
Deliverability rescue
Mail landing in spam, replies gone quiet, or a domain suddenly blocked. I find the actual cause rather than guessing, and fix it.
- Authentication and alignment failures
- Blocklist delistings and reputation repair
- Gateway and filter-level blocks
- A written report on what broke and why
Email & sending infrastructure
Sending domains, inboxes, authentication and warmup, built to survive volume instead of burning down in a month.
- Domain and inbox fleets at any scale
- SPF, DKIM, DMARC and tracking domains
- Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 inboxes
- Handover documentation you actually own
Domain, DNS & migration
Changing registrar, mail provider or host without a day of downtime or a week of mail silently failing.
- Registrar and nameserver moves
- Workspace and Microsoft 365 migrations
- MX, SSL and subdomain cutover
- Staged rollout with rollback at every step
Monitoring & retainer
Infrastructure drifts. Records get edited, certificates expire, domains get listed. Ongoing eyes on the fleet.
- Scheduled checks across every domain
- Alerts before your clients notice
- Monthly reporting
- Priority response when something breaks
Start with a call
Bring a domain and the symptom. I will tell you what is actually wrong and whether you need me at all — plenty of people leave that call able to fix it themselves.
Thirty minutes, no pitch
We will run the checks together on your actual domains, and you will leave knowing what is broken, what it takes to fix, and what it should cost. If that is a job you can do in-house, I will say so.