Today an email address is the basis of your digital identity: you use it to register with online shops and government and banking services, it receives your password reset emails, and it is how you keep in touch with clients and friends. So it is worth creating it thoughtfully and protecting it well.

In this guide, we show you when a free email address is enough and when it pays to create one with your own domain, how to choose a good address, how to create both kinds step by step, and how to set them up securely.

Free address or one on your own domain?

A free email address (for example kovacs.anna@gmail.com) is ready in a few minutes, costs nothing and is perfectly fine for most people’s personal use. Its drawbacks: the address is on the provider’s domain, so if you switch providers, your address changes too; the provider can restrict or suspend the account under its own rules; and it looks less credible in business correspondence.

An email address on your own domain (for example anna@kovacsdesign.hu): you own and pay for the domain and the email service. The address stays the same even if you switch providers, you can create as many further addresses as you like (info@, szamla@, for colleagues), and it is far more credible for business.

Criteria	Free address	Address on your own domain
Price	Free	Cost of the domain and email hosting
Credibility in business	Lower	High
Is the address portable?	No, it is tied to the provider	Yes, the domain is yours
Multiple addresses	One per account	As many as your plan allows
Who controls the account?	The provider’s rules	You
Who is it for?	Personal use	Businesses, freelancers, organisations

If you run a business or use email for professional purposes, an address on your own domain is the right choice; we cover this in detail in our guide to creating a business email address.

What makes a good email address?

• Short and unambiguous: easy to say and write down, and easy to dictate over the phone.
• Avoid characters that are hard to write down: accents, hyphens and underscores, and unnecessary numbers (your year of birth is not a good idea either, as it is personal data).
• Serious: an address like cukifiu1998@... does not belong on a CV or a quote.
• Proven patterns: vezeteknev.keresztnev@, keresztnev@ (on your own domain), k.anna@.
• On your own domain, role-based addresses (info@, ugyfelszolgalat@, szamla@) are useful too, as they remain even after an employee leaves.

Creating a free email address

The best-known providers are Gmail (Google), Outlook.com (Microsoft) and Proton Mail (a Swiss provider focused on encryption); in Hungary, Freemail is also well known. Signing up is similar with all of them:

1. Open the provider’s sign-up page (for Gmail, create a Google Account; for Outlook.com, create a Microsoft account).
2. Enter your name and date of birth, and choose a username; if the name you want is taken, the system will offer suggestions.
3. Set a strong, unique password.
4. Add your phone number and a recovery email address: these let you regain access to the account if you forget your password.
5. Accept the terms, and you’re done.

You can also create a new email address on your phone: on Android under Accounts in Settings, on an iPhone in the Gmail or Outlook app. A separate article walks through the steps of creating a Gmail account on a computer and on a phone.

Creating an email address on your own domain

1. Domain

You need a domain name, for example kovacsdesign.hu. If you don’t have one yet, you can check whether it is available in the domain search. A .hu domain costs €5.44 + VAT a year at aWh. Our guide to choosing a domain covers picking a name.

2. Email service

Email on your own domain needs a mail server. The options:

• Email hosting: email only, with webmail, spam filtering and backups. aWh’s email hosting gives you 50 mailboxes with 5 GB of storage from €10.88 a year (excluding VAT).
• Web hosting with email accounts: if you will also have a website, most hosting plans include email accounts.
• Office suites (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace): email with office applications, for a monthly fee per user.

3. Creating the mailbox

On cPanel hosting or email hosting:

1. Log in to the control panel and open Email Accounts.
2. Click the Create button.
3. Enter the first part of the address (for example anna), a strong password and the mailbox size.
4. Save it.

The account can then be used straight away in webmail. The detailed steps are in our article on creating an email account in cPanel.

4. DNS settings

If the domain and the email service are with the same provider, the necessary DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM) are usually set up automatically. If the domain is elsewhere, you need to point the MX record to the mail server and add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records too, otherwise your emails may end up in the spam folder. Our DMARC guide and knowledge base articles cover this.

Setting it up on your phone and computer

You can read your emails in webmail (in a browser) or in an email client. In a client, always choose IMAP, so that your emails look the same on all your devices; POP3 downloads them and usually deletes them from the server. Our knowledge base article explains the difference between POP and IMAP.

For an address on your own domain you need the following details (your provider gives you the server name):

Settings	Value
Incoming server (IMAP)	the provider’s server name, port 993, SSL/TLS
Outgoing server (SMTP)	the same, port 465 (SSL/TLS) or 587 (STARTTLS)
Username	the full email address
Password	the email account password

Step by step: iPhone and Android, Outlook, Thunderbird, and if you would like to read the emails of your own domain in the Gmail interface, Gmail as a secondary account. Our knowledge base article comparing email clients helps you choose one.

Security

• A strong, unique password for every account, stored in a password manager.
• Two-step verification: be sure to turn it on with free providers (Gmail, Outlook.com), with a passkey where possible.
• Recovery details: an up-to-date phone number and recovery email address.
• Be suspicious of emails asking for a password, a code or a payment; a separate guide covers protecting yourself against phishing.
• A professional signature: name, job title, phone number, website; our knowledge base article explains how to set up an automatic signature.

Summary

For personal use, a free email address is fine, as long as you protect it with a strong password and two-step verification. For a business and professional contacts, an address on your own domain is the right choice: it is credible, portable and under your control. All it takes is a domain and an email service, and setting it up takes a few minutes.

Check out our email hosting plans

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my own email address?

If you have forgotten which address you signed up with, look where you are already logged in:

• On an Android phone: in Settings › Google (or Accounts), your Gmail address is shown under your account name.
• On an iPhone: in Settings › Mail › Accounts you can see the accounts added to the phone and their addresses.
• In your email app: in the Gmail or Outlook app, tap your profile picture; the address is shown under your name.
• In an old email: look up an email that you sent; your own address is in the sender field.

If you are not logged in on any device, you can also look it up on the Gmail and Outlook.com account recovery pages using your phone number or recovery address. For an address on your own domain, you can see the addresses in the hosting control panel, in the list of email accounts.

How much does an email address on your own domain cost?

The cost of a domain (€5.44 a year for a .hu) and an email service. aWh’s email hosting starts from €10.88 a year (excluding VAT), and even the smallest plan includes 50 mailboxes.

Can I create several email addresses on one domain?

Yes, as many as you like within the limits of your plan, and you can set up aliases and forwarders as well. Our knowledge base article explains how to set up email forwarding.

Can I have an email address on my own domain without a website?

Yes. For email you only need a domain and an email service, not a website.

Can I keep my old free address?

Yes. You can forward the old address to the new one, or manage both accounts in the same email client.

Is free email secure?

The big providers are secure if you use a strong password and two-step verification. Most accounts are hacked because of weak or leaked passwords and phishing, not through any fault of the provider.

Does it matter whether I write the address in upper or lower case?

In practice, no: email systems treat addresses without distinguishing between upper and lower case. Our knowledge base article explains whether email addresses are case-sensitive.

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