The Google Workspace alternative
you actually own.
Google Workspace keeps your mailboxes on Google's cloud and bills you for every seat, forever. Vectis Mail is a self-hosted email server you run onyour own VPS: full IMAP/SMTP mailboxes on your domain, a REST API, DKIM/SPF/DMARC by default, and a flat price that never scales with headcount. It's email infrastructure — Gmail and your mail server on your terms — so if you want to own your email and stop paying per user, this is the switch.
Why teams move to Vectis Mail
Where per-seat cloud billing and rented mailboxes start to hurt.
- Your Workspace bill grows every time you hire, and a flat price that ignores headcount would change the math.
- Data custody or jurisdiction matters — you want mail in your own Postgres and IMAP store under your chosen jurisdiction, not on Google's US-primary cloud under an attestation.
- You want zero lock-in: plain IMAP/SMTP on your own domain means leaving is a DNS change, not a migration project.
- You need a real transactional sending API and inbound webhooks alongside human mailboxes — one platform for both.
- You already run non-Google tools for documents and meetings (or don't need them), so the suite isn't load-bearing.
One honest scope note: Vectis Mail is email infrastructure — the Gmail-and-mail-server part of a suite — not a full productivity suite. It does not include Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, or Calendar. That's our scope by design; keep or pair those tools separately if your team needs them.
At a glance
Side-by-side on the dimensions that actually decide the call. Current as of June 2026.
| Vectis Mail | Google Workspace | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Self-hosted email server | Cloud productivity suite |
| Pricing model | Flat — $0 self-host / $39 per tenant/mo | Per user / month (~$7–$22/user) |
| Scales with headcount? | No — same price at 10 or 500 mailboxes | Yes — linear with every seat |
| Where your mail lives | Your server / your Postgres + IMAP store | Google's cloud (US-primary) |
| Mail protocols | Standard IMAP / POP3 / SMTP | IMAP/SMTP supported; ecosystem-optimised for Gmail |
| Lock-in | None — plain IMAP on your domain | Suite + admin + identity ecosystem |
| Email on your domain | Yes | Yes |
| Docs / Sheets / Slides | No (email only) | Yes |
| Meet / video | No | Yes |
| Drive / Calendar | No (CalDAV on Phase-4 roadmap) | Yes |
| REST API + inbound webhooks | Yes — domain-scoped keys, HMAC-signed | Gmail API exists; no flat-priced send API |
| Deliverability ownership | You — your IP, your reputation to warm | Google — pre-warmed, managed |
| Spam filtering | Rspamd + optional ClamAV — yours to tune | Google-managed, no tuning access |
| Ops burden | You run a VPS | Zero — fully managed |
| SSO | OIDC (Pro) · SAML 2.0 (Enterprise) | Built-in Google identity + SAML |
Google Workspace plan prices per Google Workspace's published pricing, retrieved June 2026; annual-commit per-user/month. Vectis Mail Starter ($0) covers up to 3 domains and 25 mailboxes/domain; Pro is $39 USD/tenant/month plus a ~$20/mo VPS.
Two honest trade-offs
Ownership, not third-party scanning. With Vectis Mail your mail sits in your own Postgres and IMAP store on a server you run, so no third party holds it, scans it, or can be compelled to hand it over; mail in transit is protected by TLS. The point isn't a claim about anyone's policy — ownership removes the question entirely, because the data never leaves your infrastructure.
Deliverability is yours to earn. Day one on a fresh VPS IP, you need 2–4 weeks of IP warmup before sending volume to Gmail/Outlook inboxes. You don't take a day-one hit migrating: the dual-send playbook keeps your current provider delivering while your new IP warms. After warmup, inbox placement comes down to your IP reputation and DNS hygiene — DKIM/SPF/DMARC/MTA-STS, which Vectis Mail configures correctly by default — not the platform you send from.
How they differ
Own your email instead of renting it per seat
Google Workspace prices per user per month. As of early 2026, Business Starter is about $7/user/month on an annual commitment ($8.40 if billed month-to-month), Business Standard about $14/user/month ($16.80 month-to-month), and Business Plus about $22/user/month ($26.40 month-to-month). Google raised prices roughly 17–22% in 2025 when it bundled Gemini AI into the paid plans. The bill is linear: every new hire is another line item, forever.
Vectis Mail prices per tenant — your organisation — not per seat. Starter is free forever (up to 3 domains, 25 mailboxes per domain). Pro is $39 USD per tenant per month for unlimited domains and unlimited mailboxes, plus a ~$20/month VPS to host it. The total is flat whether you run 10 mailboxes or 500. One Pro subscription covers every Vectis Mail install your organisation operates.
The TCO math at 10 and 50 users
| Mailboxes | Google Workspace (Business Standard, annual) | Vectis Mail (Pro + ~$20/mo VPS) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 users | ~$140/mo · ~$1,680/yr | $39/mo flat · $468/yr |
| 50 users | ~$700/mo · ~$8,400/yr | $39/mo flat · $468/yr |
| 200 users | ~$2,800/mo · ~$33,600/yr | $39/mo flat · $468/yr |
Workspace figures use Business Standard at ~$14/user/month (annual commit), retrieved June 2026. The honest counter: that Workspace spend also buys Docs, Sheets, Meet, Drive, and zero operational burden. Vectis Mail is email only — so the fair comparison is "email versus email," with the suite priced separately if you still need it.
Planning the move around scope
Vectis Mail owns the email lane; documents and video live elsewhere. That makes the switch a planning decision, and it usually takes one of three shapes: (1) email-only move — your team already uses other tools for docs/calls, so you move mailboxes to Vectis Mail and go; (2) keep the suite, move the mail — you keep another tool for docs/video but reclaim email custody and flat pricing; (3) pair with open tools — Vectis Mail for mail, plus something like Nextcloud/OnlyOffice for documents and Jitsi for video. Calendar/contacts (CalDAV/CardDAV) is on the Vectis Mail Phase-4 roadmap, not shipping today.
Data custody and jurisdiction
With Workspace, your mail lives on Google's infrastructure (US-primary) under Google's terms — a policy you can read but not control. Vectis Mail replaces that with ownership: because you run the server, no third party holds your mail, scans it, or can be compelled to hand it over. The custody question simply doesn't arise.
With Vectis Mail, the data is wherever you deploy the server. Your Postgres holds the metadata and audit trail; your filesystem holds the IMAP message store. GDPR, data-residency, and sovereignty conversations become "which region did you deploy in" instead of "do you accept the vendor's attestation." For regulated industries and EU public-sector buyers, that shift is frequently the whole reason to self-host.
No lock-in: plain IMAP/SMTP on your domain
Workspace is sticky by design — the admin console, identity, Drive sharing, and the suite all reinforce staying. Vectis Mail is the opposite: mailboxes are vanilla Dovecot over standard IMAP/POP3, sending is standard SMTP, and the address is on your domain. Migrating in or out is an imapsyncrun and a DNS change, not a project. You are never holding the data hostage to keep a customer, and neither are we.
Admin, API, and full control
Workspace gives you a polished admin console for a managed service. Vectis Mail gives you the keys to the stack: a React admin UI, a 40+ endpoint REST API (sending, mailboxes, domains, webhooks, analytics) with domain-scoped keys, a single declarative config.yaml as the source of truth, and atomic updates with automatic rollback. You can tune Postfix, write custom Rspamd rules, and automate everything via the API or Terraform — control that a managed suite, by definition, doesn't hand you.
Deliverability — the real trade-off
This is the real trade-off, and we'll say it plainly. A managed provider sends from warm, pooled IPs, so there's no day-one reputation curve. Self-hosting on a fresh VPS IP means your IP has no reputation on day one; Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo will throttle or spam-fold most mail until you've established a pattern over 2–4 weeks. Vectis Mail ships DKIM, SPF, DMARC, and MTA-STS configured correctly by default, and thedual-send migration playbook means you keep Workspace delivering while your new IP warms — so there's no day-one gap, just an overlap window you control. After warmup, inbox placement comes down to your IP reputation and DNS hygiene — DKIM/SPF/DMARC/MTA-STS, correct rDNS, and a clean sending pattern — rather than the platform you send from.
Migrating from Google Workspace to Vectis Mail
The mailbox move is mechanical; the constraint is the IP warmup calendar (and, if you use the suite, deciding what replaces Docs/Meet). The typical sequence:
- Decide the suite question first. Confirm what replaces Docs, Sheets, Meet, and Drive — keep them, switch to open tools, or accept you don't need them. Vectis Mail handles only email.
- Stand up Vectis Mail on a fresh VPS via the installation guide. Add your domain(s) and publish the DKIM/SPF/DMARC records Vectis Mail generates.
- Sync mailbox data with
imapsyncfrom Gmail/Workspace IMAP into Vectis Mail's Dovecot — messages, folders, and flags transfer over standard IMAP. - Run in parallel during warmup. Keep Workspace receiving while your new IP warms; cut sending over gradually following the IP warmup schedule.
- Cut MX over to the Vectis Mail server once warm. Mail starts flowing through Vectis Mail as DNS propagates.
- Verify + decommission. Watch logs and deliverability for a week, then close down Workspace mail (and keep or cancel the suite per step 1).
Realistic timeline: a few hours of setup, then a 2–4 week warmup window that runs in the background while Workspace keeps serving. See thedeliverability guide for the calendar.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a self-hosted alternative to Google Workspace?
For the email half, yes — Vectis Mail. It's a self-hosted email server (Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd) you run on your own VPS, with full IMAP/SMTP mailboxes on your domain, a REST API, inbound webhooks, and DKIM/SPF/DMARC configured by default. Pricing is flat: $0 self-hosted Starter, or $39/month per tenant for Pro — never per user, never per email. The honest caveat: it replaces Gmail and your mail server, not the whole suite. No Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, or Calendar. If your team lives in those, keep them or pair Vectis Mail alongside.
Can Vectis Mail replace Gmail?
Yes. Vectis Mail hosts full IMAP/POP3/SMTP mailboxes on your own domain with Roundcube webmail included, so users keep [email protected]and connect from Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or any mobile client over standard protocols. It's the Gmail half of Workspace on your server. What you trade away is Google's spam-filtering scale and the deep Gmail search/label UX; what you gain is data custody, a flat price, and zero ecosystem lock-in.
Does Vectis Mail replace Google Docs, Sheets, and Meet?
No — and this is the point. Vectis Mail is email only. No Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, or Calendar, and it doesn't try to be them. Google Workspace is a full productivity suite; Vectis Mail replaces the email server inside it. If you depend on real-time collaborative documents or Google Meet, either keep Workspace for everyone, keep the suite and move only mailboxes to Vectis Mail, or pair Vectis Mail with separate document/video tools (Nextcloud, OnlyOffice, Jitsi). Choose Vectis Mail when email sovereignty and flat pricing outweigh a single bundled suite.
How much does Google Workspace cost versus self-hosting email?
Workspace bills per user per month. As of early 2026: Business Starter ~$7/user/mo on an annual plan (~$8.40 month-to-month), Business Standard ~$14/user/mo (~$16.80 month-to-month), Business Plus ~$22/user/mo (~$26.40 month-to-month) — linear with headcount. Vectis Mail is flat: $0 Starter or $39/month per tenant for Pro, plus a ~$20/month VPS. At 50 users, Business Standard is roughly $700/month ($8,400/year); the equivalent Vectis Mail Pro install is about $59/month all-in. The fair caveat: that Workspace price also buys Docs, Meet, Drive, and zero ops — a self-hosted email server doesn't.
Who can read my mail if I self-host with Vectis Mail?
You do, and no third party. The Vectis Mail model is custody: because you run the server, your messages sit in your own Postgres and IMAP store, wherever you deploy — no external provider holds your mail, scans it, or can be compelled to hand it over. Mail in transit is protected by TLS. With a hosted suite your mail lives on the vendor's infrastructure under a policy you can inspect but not control; with Vectis Mail the boundary is your own server, so the question becomes "where did you deploy it," not "do you trust the vendor's attestation."
Try Vectis Mail
Own your email, your domain, your data — for a flat price that ignores headcount.
Other Vectis Mail alternatives
Coming from a different stack? Read the comparison that matches it.
vs Microsoft 365 →
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vs Proton Mail →
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vs SendGrid →
Same API surface, no per-email pricing. Flat $0–$39/mo covers unlimited sending volume.
vs Mailcow →
Same self-hosted stack, declarative YAML config, REST API, atomic updates with rollback.