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Comparison

Mektup vs Google Workspace

Mektup gives you a real inbox on your own domain - priced per domain, not per seat - plus a REST API and MCP server your AI agent can use directly. Google Workspace bundles email with Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Meet, billed per person, whether or not your team touches any of it.

The core difference

Google Workspace is a full office suite - Gmail plus Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, and Calendar - sold as one bundle, billed per user per month. If the only thing you actually need is hello@yourdomain.com working, you're paying for a lot you won't touch, and the price scales with every person you add, not with how much email you actually send.

Mektup is deliberately narrower: real inbound and outbound email, a webmail dashboard, IMAP/SMTP for whatever client you already use, and contact forms - priced per domain, not per person. A REST API and native MCP server expose the same operations for an AI agent, something Google Workspace wasn't built around (its API surface is OAuth-delegated access to an existing human account, not programmatic domain/mailbox provisioning).

Feature comparison

 MektupGoogle Workspace
Real inbox (send + receive)YesYes
IMAP/SMTP for any mail clientYesYes
Billing modelPer domainPer user, per month
Docs, Sheets, Drive, Meet includedNo (not the point)Yes
Built-in website contact formsYesNo
REST API for provisioning mailboxesYesAdmin SDK, more complex setup
MCP server for AI agentsYes, nativeNo
Free tier1 domain, 3,000 emails/moNo free tier
Starts atFree~$7/user/mo (annual)

Pricing: a 5-person team, email only

This is where the billing model matters most - Google Workspace cost scales with headcount, Mektup's doesn't.

 MektupGoogle Workspace
5 people, 1 domain$48/mo (Pro, 5 team members included)$35-42/mo (Business Starter, $7-8.40/user)
15 people, 1 domain$48/mo + $2/mo × 10 extra seats = $68/mo$105-126/mo
Storage15GB per domain (Pro)30GB pooled per user (Business Starter)

Google Workspace pricing per public pricing pages as of this page's last update - confirm current numbers at workspace.google.com/pricing. Google Workspace's per-user storage is much larger since it's pooled across Drive/Photos too, not just mail - not an apples-to-apples comparison at the storage level, just at the mail level.

The one thing Google Workspace has that Mektup doesn't

Mektup doesn't build Docs, Sheets, Drive, or Meet - it isn't trying to be an office suite. If your team needs those tools day to day, you'll want Google Workspace (or similar) for that specific job. For the email itself - the thing both products are actually selling you - Mektup gives you the same real inbox for a fraction of the per-seat cost, priced per domain instead of per person.

Setting up email-only on Mektup

  1. If you're migrating off Workspace, register your domain in Mektup and note the new MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC records.
  2. Create the mailboxes your team needs.
  3. Export existing mail from Gmail (Google Takeout, or IMAP migration) if you need history.
  4. Switch the MX records at your DNS host - this is the one moment mail delivery moves over, so do it when you're ready.
  5. Add the new mailbox to Outlook, Apple Mail, or your phone over IMAP/SMTP - same as before, different server.

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FAQ

Common questions

Is Mektup cheaper than Google Workspace?

For email alone, usually yes, and the billing model is fundamentally different. Google Workspace Business Starter is about $7-8.40 per user per month - a 5-person team pays $35-42/month minimum. Mektup's Pro tier is $48/month flat for up to 25 domains and 5 team members included, so cost doesn't scale with headcount the same way.

Do I need Google Workspace just to get email on my domain?

No. Google Workspace bundles Gmail with Docs, Sheets, Drive, Meet, and Calendar - a full office suite. If you only need a working inbox on your domain, that's the entire value of Mektup: real email, without paying per seat for tools you may already use elsewhere.

Can an AI agent use my Google Workspace inbox?

Only through Google's OAuth-based Gmail API, which is built for a human account owner to grant delegated access, not for spinning up and provisioning new mailboxes programmatically. Mektup's REST API and native MCP server let an agent register a domain and create a mailbox from scratch, in the same session, with no OAuth consent flow.

Ready when you are

Just the email, priced per domain

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