Introduction
IONOS is a web hosting and domain company that offers email hosting both as a standalone product and bundled with its web hosting plans. Mango Mail is a smaller, dedicated email host built around unlimited domains and mailboxes under one storage based plan. Here is how the two compare, category by category.
Pricing Philosophy
Mango Mail
Mango Mail keeps pricing simple. You pay for your storage plan, and can create as many domains, mailboxes, and aliases as you need within your plan. This makes costs predictable as your organization grows.
IONOS
IONOS's standalone business email hosting is billed per email account, across three tiers. Mail Basic 1 runs around $1 per account per month, Mail Basic 1+ runs around $4 per account per month, and Mail Business runs around $5 per account per month. Email is also included for free with IONOS web hosting plans, for example 1 email account with the Start hosting plan and up to 5 with higher tiers, and IONOS separately resells Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace plans. A notable pattern across IONOS's hosting and email pricing is that introductory rates are often heavily discounted and increase substantially at renewal after the first contract term. IONOS has published official notices about periodic price adjustments affecting renewal rates. Mango Mail's published pricing does not show this same periodic price adjustment.
Multiple Domains
Mango Mail supports unlimited domains within a single account and storage plan on every tier. IONOS's email hosting is generally sold per account or mailbox alongside a domain, often bundled with hosting or a free first year domain. Whether a single IONOS email hosting account natively supports unlimited additional domains the way Mango Mail does is not clearly documented in the sources reviewed here.
Standard Email Protocols
Both providers support the core protocols. IMAP, POP3, SMTP and custom domains are supported by both, and both are compatible with common third party clients like Outlook, Apple Mail and Gmail.
Feature Breakdown
| Feature | Mango Mail | IONOS Email Hosting |
| Pricing model | Mango Mail keeps pricing simple. Unlimited mailboxes and domains within each plan | Email accounts are charged per mailbox. |
| Unlimited domains in one account | Yes, natively, on every tier | No, typically sold per account, domain or with purchase of other hosting products |
| Migration Transfer tools | Built-in migration tool (SimpleTransfer) which automatically transfer old mail data and preserves custom tags and folder structures. | Also has a built-in migration tool but handles by a third-party service. |
| Catch-all addressing | Fully supported | Supported by creating an address with the '*' symbol |
| Subaddressing | Supported for both plus addressing and subdomain addressing | Not supported |
| 2FA | Supported for dashboard access | Supported for dashboard access |
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Mango Mail if you
- Want storage based pricing that does not scale per mailbox and does not jump at renewal
- Manage many domains and want them under one unlimited plan on every tier
- Need many hosted mailboxes without paying a per account fee for each one
- Prefer a single purpose email product over one bundled into a larger hosting company's broader upsell ecosystem, such as add-ons like AI assistants, virus scanners and premium tiers
Choose IONOS if you
- Want built-in extras like email templates, signatures, etc.
- Are already using or planning to use IONOS for web hosting or domains and want email bundled into the same account (although this is typically not advised).
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mango Mail cheaper than IONOS?
It depends on your mailbox count and whether you are looking at IONOS's introductory or renewal pricing. IONOS's entry level Mail Basic 1 tier, around $1 per account per month, can be cheaper for a single mailbox, but IONOS's published pattern of renewal price increases means the long term cost may rise after the first term. Mango Mail's unlimited mailbox, storage based pricing tends to be more cost predictable as your number of mailboxes grows.
Does Mango Mail charge per mailbox?
No. Mango Mail pricing is based on data usage across your account, not the number of mailboxes or domains you have.
Does IONOS charge per mailbox?
Yes, for its standalone Mail Basic and Business tiers, IONOS bills per email account, though a small number of accounts come bundled free with its web hosting plans.
What happens if I have two businesses on Mango Mail?
You will only need one subscription. You can attach as many domains and users to your account as your plan's storage can fit, so whether you have one business or several, you only pay for one subscription.
Can I migrate from IONOS to Mango Mail?
Mango Mail's SimpleTransfer tool email data, attachments, and folder structure automatically.
