Products / Mail & messages
Hoq Email
Mailboxes on your domain, with calendars, contacts and a drive on every account.
What it does
Hoq Email hosts your company's mailboxes on your own domain. Each account gets mail, calendars, contacts and a file drive. Any mail app connects over JMAP, IMAP, POP3 or SMTP, and calendars and contacts sync over CalDAV and CardDAV.
Outgoing mail is signed with DKIM and checked against SPF, DMARC and ARC. Inbound delivery is protected with DANE and MTA-STS. The spam filter scores mail with rules, blocklists, a trained classifier and sender reputation. Drop a message into a training folder and it learns to reject, mark or allow close copies, for one person, your domain, or everyone.
You can keep an account's mail and files in your own S3 bucket. The service writes a documented archive format there, and you can read it without us. Flag changes, moves and deletions are written back, so the bucket stays the true copy, and an account can be rebuilt from it with its original message ids.
The service is built on the open-source Stalwart mail server, run by us on a cluster where any server can answer for any account. The web app for these mailboxes is Hoq Mail.
In numbers
4mail protocols served: JMAP, IMAP, POP3, SMTP
15 minlife of the token the web app holds instead of your password
30 daysdeleted mail kept on paid plans, restorable from Settings
3places a spam rule can apply: you, your domain, everyone
Specifications
| Mail protocols | JMAP, IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. Sieve filters managed over JMAP or ManageSieve. |
|---|---|
| Calendar, contacts, files | CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV, plus JMAP for all three. A drive mounts on a computer as a WebDAV share. |
| Sender authentication | DKIM signing; SPF, DMARC and ARC checks; DANE and MTA-STS on delivery. |
| Signing in | Passkeys, one-time codes, and a separate app password for each mail app. The web app holds a 15-minute token, never your password. |
| Device setup | One signed profile sets up Mail, Calendar and Contacts on iPhone and Mac. Thunderbird and Outlook set themselves up from the email address. |
| TLS certificates | Issued automatically for domains hosted on the service. |
| Your own bucket | Mail and files can live in your S3 bucket in a documented archive format with an encrypted index. A reader fits in about 100 lines of code. |
| Deleted mail | Kept 30 days on paid organization plans and 90 on Business, then purged. A person restores it to the Inbox from Settings. |
| Webhooks | Your own service is notified when new mail arrives in an account. |
| Send as an outside address | Allowed after you prove you own it by signing in to its mail server once. |
Features
38 features: 36 shipped, 2 in beta. Listed from the product's feature ledger; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| Every mail protocol | Serves mail over JMAP, IMAP, POP3 and SMTP, with Sieve filters managed over JMAP or ManageSieve. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Sender authentication | Signs and checks mail with DKIM, SPF, DMARC and ARC, and protects delivery with DANE and MTA-STS. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Send as another address | Lets you send from an outside address after proving you own it by signing in to its mail server once. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Fast inbox and search | Opens big mailboxes and All Mail, and runs searches, from a search index instead of reading every message. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Quick snippets | Shows search result previews from each message's stored preview before fetching any full message. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Webhooks | Notifies your own service when new mail arrives in an account. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Attachment text extraction | Sends new mail to an extraction service and keeps the text it returns for each part. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Spam filter | Scores incoming mail with rules, blocklists, a trained classifier, sender reputation and phishing checks. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Sentry | Learns from mail you drop into its folders and rejects, blocks, marks or allows close copies, for you, your domain or everyone. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Block a sender | Refuses all mail from one address or a whole domain, for you or for everyone. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Categories | Files incoming mail into Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums from sender rules it learns from you. | Beta | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Calendar and contacts | Syncs calendars and contacts over CalDAV, CardDAV and JMAP, with meeting invitations. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Free/busy sharing | Lets you choose whether people in your organization can see when you are busy. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Drive | Stores files over WebDAV and JMAP, so a drive mounts on a computer and opens in the web app. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| File versions | Keeps earlier versions of a file and lets you open any of them. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Share links | Makes a public link to one file, checked every time it is opened, and revocable at any time. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Shared with me | Lists everything other people have shared with you. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| File activity | Shows who opened or changed one of your files, including anonymous visits through a share link. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| File name search | Finds files in your drive by name. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Address autocomplete | Suggests addresses from people you have mailed, and lets you hide or forget any of them. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Bring your own bucket | Keeps an account's mail and files in the customer's own S3 bucket, in an archive format they can read without us. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Changes reach the bucket | Writes flag changes, moves and deletions back to the bucket, so it stays the true copy. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Mirror through a queue | Copies every arriving message to the bucket through a queue that survives a failed write. | Beta | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Restore from the bucket | Rebuilds an account from its bucket with the original message ids. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Retention | Clears archive history older than a chosen number of days, keeping the live copy. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Take your training | Saves an account's spam and category training to its bucket, so it leaves with the customer. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Passkeys | Signs in with a passkey instead of a password. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Two-factor and app passwords | Protects accounts with one-time codes and separate passwords for mail apps. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Short-lived web tokens | Gives the web app a 15-minute token instead of the password, ended at once when access is revoked. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| One-tap Apple setup | Sets up Mail, Calendar and Contacts on an iPhone or Mac from one signed profile download. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Automatic setup | Configures Thunderbird, Outlook and other apps from just the email address. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Certificates for custom domains | Gets TLS certificates automatically, only for domains hosted on the service. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Any node serves any account | Routes a person to the server that holds their account, whichever server they reach first. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Account administration | Creates, renames, suspends and resets accounts, and empties mailboxes, through an admin API. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Mail health overview | Shows each account's size and each server's memory, storage and response times, scoped to the operator's tenants. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Live watch | Follows one account's activity live for troubleshooting, and records who watched. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| Security feed | Keeps a running list of sign-in failures and security events for the operator. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
| No phone-home | Runs every feature, enterprise ones included, without any license call to the original vendor. | Shipped | Checked 2026-10-02 |
Works with
- Hoq MailHoq Mail opens a hosted mailbox in one click, with no password to type.
- Hoq SupportHoq Support reads its shared inbox and sends replies through these mailboxes.
- Hoq TodoMail sent to your personal Todo address becomes a task.
Your data
| Where it is kept | On our mail cluster, with message bodies in object storage we run. With bring-your-own-bucket, in your own S3 bucket in a format you can read without us. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | Any IMAP or JMAP mail app can copy every message out. Calendars and contacts export over CalDAV and CardDAV. Before an account is removed, it can be exported to a standard mbox file. |
| If you leave | Point your domain's MX records elsewhere and copy the mail out. If you use your own bucket, the archive stays there. |
APIs and standards
- JMAP (RFC 8620/8621) for mail, calendars, contacts and files
- IMAP, POP3 and SMTP submission
- CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV
- ManageSieve
- New-mail webhooks to your own URL
- Account admin API: create, rename, suspend, reset
- Standard: JMAP
- Standard: IMAP
- Standard: POP3
- Standard: SMTP
- Standard: Sieve
- Standard: CalDAV
- Standard: CardDAV
- Standard: WebDAV
- Standard: DKIM
- Standard: SPF
- Standard: DMARC
- Standard: ARC
- Standard: DANE
- Standard: MTA-STS
- Standard: S3
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq Email | Google Workspace Business Starter | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Fastmail Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per user per month | Not published | $7.001 | $7.00, paid yearly2 | $5 paid yearly, $6 monthly3 |
| Mail storage per user | Not published | 30 GB pooled per person1 | 100 GB mailbox, 50 GB archive4 | 50 GB mail, calendar and contacts, 10 GB files3 |
| JMAP | Yes, for mail, calendars, contacts and files | not published1 | not published4 | Yes3 |
| IMAP for other mail apps | Yes, plus POP3 | Yes, always on5 | not published4 | Yes, plus POP6 |
| Calendar and contacts sync | CalDAV, CardDAV, JMAP | not published1 | not published4 | CalDAV, CardDAV6 |
| Deleted mail recoverable | 30 days on paid plans, none on Free | 30 days in Trash7 | 14 days after Deleted Items is emptied4 | not published3 |
| Largest message | Not published | 50 MB received (Enterprise Standard)8 | 150 MB4 | not published3 |
| Mail kept in your own S3 bucket | Yes, in a documented format | not published1 | not published2 | not published3 |
- https://workspace.google.com/pricing
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-plans-and-pricing
- https://www.fastmail.com/pricing/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/exchange-online-service-description/exchange-online-limits
- https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229
- https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/articles/1500000278342-Server-names-and-ports
- https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7401
- https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/gmail/gmail-receiving-limits-in-google-workspace