In today’s competitive email hosting landscape, businesses seeking reliable, professional email solutions often find themselves comparing specialized providers. Two names that frequently surface in these discussions are Fastmail and Greatmail—both offering business-focused email hosting with distinct approaches to pricing, support, and service delivery.
This comprehensive comparison examines both platforms across key business considerations including cost structure, support quality, feature sets, and operational differences. Whether you’re migrating from a major provider or evaluating options for a growing team, understanding how these services stack up can help inform your decision.
Platform Overview
Fastmail
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Fastmail has built a reputation as a privacy-focused email provider serving individuals and businesses worldwide. The company emphasizes speed, clean interfaces, and modern email standards while maintaining independence from major tech platforms.
Fastmail’s approach centers on providing a comprehensive email and productivity experience with integrated calendars, contacts, and file storage. Their infrastructure operates primarily from US-based data centers, though the company itself is Australian-owned and operated.
Greatmail
Established in 2003 and based in Austin, Texas, Greatmail specializes exclusively in business-class email hosting services. The company focuses on providing reliable email infrastructure for small to medium-sized businesses, with particular strength in customer support and migration assistance.
Greatmail’s service philosophy emphasizes email hosting without bundled productivity suites, allowing businesses to pay only for email functionality while maintaining professional features and enterprise-grade reliability. The company distinguishes itself through expert administration support, empowering account administrators with comprehensive tools and guidance for self-managing their email infrastructure.
Pricing Structure Analysis
Updated Pricing & Plans (2025)
| Provider | Edition | Storage | Price (Per User/Month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fastmail | Basic | 6GB | $4 |
| Standard | 60GB | $6 | |
| Professional | 150GB | $10 | |
| Greatmail | Standard Edition | 10GB | $1.95 |
| Standard Edition | 25GB | $2.95 | |
| Groupware Edition | 10GB | $3.95 | |
| Groupware Edition | 25GB | $4.95 |
Fastmail offers a per-user model with annual billing discounts available. Greatmail starts at just 5 mailboxes, with single-increment scaling and no annual commitment required — perfect for small teams and dynamic growth.
Cost Comparison for Business Teams
For a typical 5-person team comparing similar storage plans:
- Fastmail Basic (6GB): $20/month (5 × $4/user)
- Greatmail Standard (10GB): $9.75/month (5 × $1.95/mailbox)
- Potential annual savings with Greatmail: $123
Despite offering more storage (10GB vs 6GB), Greatmail provides approximately 51% cost savings compared to Fastmail’s basic plan, making it an attractive option for cost-conscious teams.
Feature Set Comparison
Email Functionality
Both platforms provide comprehensive IMAP/SMTP/POP3 support with modern email standards including:
- Custom domain hosting
- Unlimited aliases and forwarding
- Advanced spam filtering
- Mobile and desktop client compatibility
- Webmail interfaces
Fastmail distinguishes itself with:
- Sophisticated search capabilities
- Advanced email rules and automation
- Integrated masked email for privacy
- Modern, responsive web interface
Greatmail focuses on:
- Business-grade email reliability
- Multiple domain support per account
- Professional email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Enterprise-level spam and virus protection
- Comprehensive admin tools for user management
Productivity Features
Fastmail includes:
- Integrated calendar with CalDAV support
- Contact management with CardDAV
- File storage and sharing
- Third-party app integrations
Greatmail offers:
- Calendar and contact sync (Groupware plans)
- Email archiving options
- Comprehensive admin panel for team management
- Expert administration support and guidance
- Self-service tools for user management
Storage and Limits
Fastmail provides generous storage allocations with their standard plans, while Greatmail offers tiered storage options allowing businesses to select appropriate capacity without paying for unused space. For mailboxes requiring more than 25GB, Greatmail can provide a total domain storage pool that allows flexible allocation across all users.
Support and Service Quality
Fastmail Support
Fastmail provides customer support through:
- Email-based ticket system
- Comprehensive online documentation
- Community forums
- Response times typically within 24 hours
Support is generally well-regarded for technical expertise, though phone support is not available.
Greatmail Support
Greatmail’s support approach includes:
- Phone support for account administrators during business hours
- Email and ticket-based assistance
- Expert administration guidance and training
- Online knowledge base, MX lookup tools and monitoring app
The combination of phone accessibility and expert administration guidance represents a significant operational advantage, particularly valuable for businesses requiring both immediate assistance and long-term self-sufficiency in managing their email infrastructure.
Technical Infrastructure
Fastmail Infrastructure
- Data centers primarily in the United States
- High-availability architecture with redundancy
- Modern protocols including JMAP (JSON Meta Application Protocol)
- Strong focus on speed and performance optimization
Greatmail Infrastructure
- US and Canada based email servers and data centers
- Geographically distributed infrastructure for reliability
- Traditional email protocols with proven stability
- Enterprise-grade security and monitoring
Both platforms maintain strong uptime records and technical reliability, though their approaches to infrastructure design and protocol implementation differ in focus and scope.
Privacy and Compliance
Fastmail Approach
As an Australian company, Fastmail operates under Australian privacy laws and emphasizes user data protection. The company has a clear privacy policy and commits to not mining user data for advertising purposes.
Greatmail Approach
Being US-based, Greatmail operates under US jurisdiction while maintaining GDPR compliance for European customers. The company focuses on business data protection and offers additional security features for enterprises requiring enhanced compliance.
Administration and Management
Fastmail Administration
Fastmail provides a user-friendly admin interface for business accounts with:
- Basic user management capabilities
- Domain and alias configuration
- Security settings and access controls
- Self-service options for individual users
Greatmail Administration
Greatmail emphasizes empowering account administrators with enterprise-level tools and expert guidance:
- Web-based admin panel for user and domain management
- DNS and email routing configuration assistance
- Administrator training and technical consultation
- Email deliverability optimization guidance
This approach allows businesses to maintain full control over their email environment while having access to expert knowledge when needed, creating both independence and confidence in email management.
Use Case Recommendations
Choose Fastmail If:
- You value integrated productivity features in a single platform
- Modern web interface and user experience are priorities
- You prefer individual account flexibility over team-focused pricing
- Privacy features like masked email are important to your workflow
- You’re comfortable with email-only customer support
Choose Greatmail If:
- Cost efficiency for small teams is a primary concern
- Phone support availability is important for your business
- You prefer email-focused services without productivity suite complexity
- Expert administration guidance and self-management tools are valuable
- US-based support and infrastructure are business requirements
- You need enterprise features at small business pricing
- Having full administrative control with expert backup is important
Making Your Decision
Both Fastmail and Greatmail serve the business email hosting market with distinct strengths and approaches. Fastmail excels in providing a comprehensive, modern email experience with integrated productivity tools, while Greatmail focuses on cost-effective business email hosting with superior support accessibility.
For teams prioritizing cost efficiency and administrative empowerment, Greatmail’s pricing structure, phone support availability, and expert administration guidance present compelling advantages. Organizations seeking integrated productivity features and modern interface design may find Fastmail’s comprehensive platform more aligned with their needs.
Consider your team’s specific requirements around budget, support needs, feature priorities, and long-term scalability when making your selection. Both providers offer reliable email hosting; the optimal choice depends on which approach better matches your business operations and priorities.
Ready to Explore Your Options?
If you’re considering a transition from your current email provider or evaluating options for a new business, both platforms offer trial periods and migration assistance to help with the decision-making process.
For businesses interested in learning more about Greatmail’s approach to business email hosting, migration assistance, and cost-effective team solutions, our specialists are available to discuss your specific requirements and provide personalized recommendations.
Contact our team at 1-866-592-6044 or visit our website to learn more about our email hosting and related SMTP, application and dedicated email servers.