HostGator WebMail: What You Need to Know

HostGator offers webmail with its hosting plans. But is it right for your website? Read on to learn how to access it via cPanel, what mail apps are available and more.

How Does HostGator's Webmail Service Work?

HostGator lets you create an unlimited number of email accounts (within reason). The service works just like free webmail services such as Gmail and Yahoo mail.

The difference is that HostGator's webmail service uses your domain name as the suffix. It looks professional and will go a long way toward boosting your site's brand.

Before you can use the webmail service, you'll have to set it up via your cPanel dashboard.

How to Set Up HostGator's Webmail Service on Cpanel

Here's how to create your own webmail service on cPanel:

1. Log into cPanel.

2. In the Email section, click Email Accounts.

3. In the Email field, type the name you want and select the domain name from the drop-down menu below. (Note: You can't use shadow for your email name address.)

4. In the Password fields, type the password twice.

5. Make a selection for the Mailbox Quota.

6. Click Create Account.

It's the same way if you want to create email accounts with your primary domain, add-on domains, and subdomains.

HostGator doesn't allow you to create email accounts with a script or via SSH.

How To Log On To Your Hostgator Webmail

Once you've created an email account, you can now log on to check and send mail. There are several ways to do this:

Access Webmail via Direct Link
If your domain is live, you can access your webmail by typing a special URL directly into your browser.

Use the address http://www.example.com/webmail, where example.com is your primary domain or add-on domain name.

Or, you can also use HostGator's default webmail port, which is 2095. Just input the following address into your browser: http://www.example.com:2095

You can also http://webmail.example.com, although this method won't work for add-on domains.

Access Webmail via cPanel (Admin only)
If you're the admin, you can access the cPanel to see all the different email accounts you have. You can do this via the billing portal Hosting tab or from your cPanel home page.

1. Click on the Email Accounts icon (NOT the Webmail icon).

2. Find the email account you'd like to log in to from the list of email accounts.

3. On the right side of the email account, click on More, and then click Access Webmail.

4. A new page asking for your password will pop up. Enter your password.

5. Select the webmail application you'd like to use. This could either be Horde or RoundCube.

The Webmail icon in your cPanel does not take you to your list of created emails. Instead it shows you the default email account for your hosting account, where you'll sometimes get server messages.

Accessing Horde or RoundCube via Direct Link
You can also go directly to the Horde or RoundCube interface by using these URLs. Simply replace example.com with your main domain name.

Horde:
https://www.example.com:2096/horde/index.php

RoundCube:
https://www.example.com:2096/3rdparty/roundcube/index.php

Frequently Asked Questions

Does HostGator really allow unlimited emails?
Kind of, but not really. Here's what we mean:

HostGator has a "fair use" policy for email. Basically, this means you can create as many emails as you want, and you shouldn't experience any problems using them.

However, you're expected to use your emails within reason. If you exceed any of the following conditions, you violate their "fair use" policy.

1. 500 maximum emails per hour
   This limit is for each domain on their Shared and Reseller servers. This means that if you own one domain with HostGator, you can send a total of 500 emails per hour—regardless of how many email accounts you create.

   Bear in mind that this applies for mailing lists too. In fact, you'll even have to throttle your mails. This means that you'll have to send 1 email every 8 seconds. If you don't, the server will try sending all 500 emails in 1 second, which will violate their fair use policy.

   If you do, the emails will bounce back with an error. You'll have to wait an hour before you can send emails again.

   HostGator allows you to send mailing lists with over 900 email addresses, but only during off-peak times. Off-peak times are Saturday and Sunday, and 1 AM–8AM EST, Monday through Friday.
   

2. You're limited to 30 POP checks per hour
   In other words, you can only check your email 30 times an hour. Any higher, and you'll get an error saying incorrect login. This applies if you set your email to automatically send and receive mails too.

Can I send all types of emails?
No—HostGator has a strict no-spam policy. In fact, they require your mailing list to be a Double Opt-In list.

This means that your users have subscribed to your newsletter or other email marketing messages by explicitly requesting and confirming their email address.

Your Email Script must be able to handle and document your subscribers. This means it needs to be able to record:

• Sign-up IP address
  
• Date/time
  
• Double opt-in verification IP address and the date/time
  
• Remove addresses on bounce backs

If your Email Script doesn't do this, HostGator might cancel/terminate your account.

Bottom Line

Setting up HostGator's Webmail service isn't difficult—they provide instructions on how to set up and log in to your mail on various apps.

However, you'll need to watch out for their fair use policy, especially if you're planning on sending out newsletters or marketing emails. It's easy to overlook their throttling requirement, which will lock you out of your email for an hour.

Also, HostGator has a strict no-spam policy, and will automatically terminate your account if you send unsolicited emails. Make sure you have the right Email Script that can handle a Double Opt-In list!