Which business email plan is right for a small business in India? (2026)
Most small businesses overpay for email by giving everyone the same plan. This guide shows how to choose by role rather than company size, what each plan costs per user a year, where you need no licence at all, and when it's time to upgrade.
Updated · 7-minute read
Choose by what each person does, not by the size of the company. Staff who only send and receive email need Rediffmail, at ₹270/user/year; people who share documents need Google Workspace Business Starter, at ₹3,240/user/year; heavy Excel and Outlook users need Microsoft 365 Business Standard, at ₹10,320/user/year. Shared addresses like info@ usually need no licence at all.
| Who | What they need | Plan | A year, per user |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dispatch, accounts desk, site staff | Email on a phone or in the browser | Rediffmail · 1 GB | ₹270 |
| Sales and service staff who keep attachments | Email with room for files | Rediffmail · 10 GB | ₹510 |
| A team of up to 20 wanting Gmail and Docs on a budget | Gmail, Docs, Meet | Google Workspace Business Base | ₹1,188 |
| Office staff who share documents | Docs, Drive, Meet, Gemini in Gmail | Google Workspace Business Starter | ₹3,240 |
| Finance, and anyone in desktop Excel | Desktop Office, 100 GB mailbox | Microsoft 365 Business Standard | ₹10,320 |
| Managers with company laptops to secure | Device management and security | Microsoft 365 Business Premium | ₹21,960 |
| info@, sales@, orders@ | A shared inbox | An alias, group or shared mailbox | Usually free |
Each vendor's India list price on the annual plan, excluding 18% GST — what Chandnas charges.
Should everyone in the company be on the same plan?
No. Choose per person: the plan a finance manager needs is wasted on a dispatch clerk, and putting everyone on the top plan is the commonest way to overpay for email.
- Microsoft 365 lets you mix Business Basic, Standard and Premium in one account, up to 300 users in total.
- Google Workspace allows different editions in one account when they're arranged for you rather than bought in the admin console — upgrading in the console moves everyone. We arrange mixed editions for you.
- Across vendors, Rediffmail can share your domain with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, so everyone keeps the same @yourcompany address — Rediff supports hybrid setups.
- On Rediffmail's standard plans every mailbox has the same storage size, so choose the size your heaviest user needs.
What does a team of 5, 20 or 50 pay a year?
From ₹5,940 a year for five people on Google Workspace Business Base, to around ₹2,07,570 for a 50-person business with a sensible mix — against ₹5,16,000 if all 50 were on Microsoft 365 Business Standard.
The pattern holds at every size: most of the saving comes from not buying a document suite for people who only need email.
For the 20-person business above, the mix saves ₹44,550 a year — enough to move several more people to a bigger plan if they ever need it.
| Team | Plans | A year, ex-GST | Everyone on one suite |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 people, tight budget, all in documents | 5 × Google Workspace Business Base | ₹5,940 | ₹16,200 on Business Starter |
| 20 people: 15 on the floor, 5 in the office | 15 × Rediffmail 1 GB, 5 × Google Workspace Business Starter | ₹20,250 | ₹64,800 on Business Starter |
| 50 people: 35 staff, 12 in Excel, 3 managers | 35 × Rediffmail 10 GB, 12 × Microsoft 365 Business Standard, 3 × Business Premium | ₹2,07,570 | ₹5,16,000 on Business Standard |
Annual plans at each vendor's India list price, excluding 18% GST. Shared addresses not counted — they usually need no licence.
Annual or month-to-month: which should I choose?
Annual, if your headcount is steady; month to month, if people come and go. On an annual plan you can add people at any time but can't remove them until renewal — you pay for the year.
Microsoft allows one exception: seats can be reduced within 7 days of buying or renewing. Neither Google nor Microsoft lets you move down to a cheaper plan mid-term; both let you move up.
For a business that hires seasonally, month to month avoids paying for seats through the quiet months; the higher price per user is the cost of that flexibility.
| Annual plan | Month to month | |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | Add users any time; remove them at renewal. Business Starter ₹270/user/month | Add or remove users any time. Business Starter ₹325/user/month |
| Microsoft 365 | Add any time; reduce only within 7 days of buying or renewing. Business Basic ₹170/user/month | Cancel at the end of any month. Business Basic ₹204/user/month |
| Rediffmail | Paid for one to five years; add users any time. ₹270/user/year | Not offered |
How much mailbox storage does each person need?
Less than most people think for text email, far more once attachments pile up. A mailbox that is cleared out now and then fits in 1 GB; most office staff are comfortable with 10 GB to 30 GB; people who keep years of drawings, photos and PDFs need Microsoft 365's 100 GB mailbox or Google Workspace Business Standard's 2 TB.
Google pools storage across the organisation, so a light user's unused space helps a heavy one. Microsoft gives each person a 100 GB mailbox plus 1 TB of OneDrive for files. Rediffmail gives each mailbox a fixed 1 GB or 10 GB.
What costs extra on top of the plan?
Usually nothing you need on day one. The common extras are AI add-ons — Copilot inside Microsoft 365's apps, Google's AI expanded access — bigger archives, and Rediff's Advanced features. GST at 18% applies to everything.
Your domain name is a separate yearly cost from your domain registrar; if you have a website, you already pay it. Setup and moving your old mail are included when we do it.
One useful extra runs the other way: Microsoft 365 Apps for business, at ₹9,960/user/year, gives desktop Office to someone whose email stays on Rediffmail or Google Workspace — a cheap way to add Excel for one person.
When is it time to move up a plan — or to a different provider?
When people start working around their email instead of in it. That's the sign a bigger plan would pay for itself.
Moving is less disruptive than it looks: mail, contacts and calendars move without downtime, and everyone keeps their address. How migration works
- Files are sent on WhatsApp because attachments bounce or mailboxes are full
- Documents live on personal Google Drives or laptops, not somewhere the company owns
- Meetings run on free video tools with time limits
- Someone rebuilds the same Excel report every week because nobody can share the file
- A client asks where your data is stored, or for security certifications, and you don't know
Which plan is right for you?
| If this is you | Do this |
|---|---|
| Most staff only email; a few share documents | Rediffmail for most, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for the few — business email options |
| Everyone works in documents, in the browser | Google Workspace Business Starter |
| Finance or operations live in Excel | Microsoft 365 Business Standard for those people |
| Data must stay in India | Rediffmail Pro, or Microsoft 365 if you need Office |
| Fewer than 20 people, a tight budget, and you want Docs | Google Workspace Business Base |
| Company laptops and phones to secure | Microsoft 365 Business Premium for those users |
| Still weighing them up | Compare all three side by side |
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest business email in India?
Rediffmail, at ₹270/user/year for a 1 GB mailbox, excluding GST. The cheapest option with documents and video calls as well as email is Google Workspace Business Base, at ₹1,188/user/year, for teams of up to 20.
How many email licences do I need?
One for each person who needs their own mailbox. Shared addresses — info@, sales@, accounts@ — usually don't need one: use an alias, a Google Group or a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox, which needs no licence up to 50 GB.
Can I start on a cheaper plan and upgrade later?
Yes. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both let you move up during an annual term, though neither lets you move down until renewal. With Rediffmail you can add users at any time. So start at the level your team needs now, not the level it might need one day.
Is free Gmail enough for a small business?
For one person, it can be. Once you have staff, the company should own the mailboxes: with free Gmail an address leaves when the employee does, you can't recover it, and there is no one to call when it breaks.
Do I get a GST invoice?
Yes. Whichever plan you choose, we invoice in rupees with 18% GST shown separately, at the vendor's list price, so a GST-registered business can claim input tax credit.
Who sets it all up?
We do: your domain and DNS records, users and shared addresses, phones and laptops, and moving your old mail across. Then we answer the phone when something breaks. Support and SLA · How migration works
See every plan, cheapest first.
The business email page lists every edition we set up — Rediffmail, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 — with what each includes and how we move your mail across.