Comments on: Rackspace Email Hosting vs. Google Apps

By: Talk Solar Panles

Talk Solar Panles — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:33:02 +0000

We use Rackspace for about 50 company mailboxes. Their service is brilliant, and it’s so much more reliable than when we ran email on our own server – I’d recommend them. The one thing I’d love to know is in detail what is permissible under their send rate limits and so on… for example we have several thousand newsletter subscribers and I’m a bit worried about sending out a huge email regularly in case they ditch us as a customer!

By: techpop

techpop — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:48:36 +0000

Was curious to see where you are now with your email hosting. I’m in a similar position. I have about 10 websites and trying to consolidate all the emails into one place so it is easier to manage. Don’t want to do forwarding, really want aliases. Also I want my apps to be able to send out email from the appropriate domain as necessary.

Any advice?

By: greho

greho — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:07:36 +0000

Google offers backup/archiving on their premium ($50 per year) accounts. Adding Google’s Postini services adds $25 per year per mailbox.

As for same-same comparisons.. The analogs are Google Apps Premier with Postini and Rackspace Exchange Hosting plus archiving.

Google Apps Premier Email plus Postini archiving = $50/yr $25/yr = $75 per year per mailbox.

Rackspace Exchange Hosting plus archiving = $12.50/mo $3/mo x 12 = $186 per year.

Keep in mind, if you *need* all the features of Exchange (syncing to-do lists and notes, for example) then Google Apps is not competitive, and there are Exchange hosts in the $8 to $10 range.

If your big needs are email, web-based email, calendaring, and organization-wide contacts, Google works just as well.

By: vdibart

vdibart — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:26:00 +0000

@michael – you are right about the math being off. I’ve corrected it in my comments above and been more explicit in the main post. Thanks for pointing that out.

I think the point you make is important. I’m not in the market for an Exchange server, so that’s not part of my consideration. I am using this as a server for application-generated emails as well as for some limited “contact us” type emails, so my use case may be different than yours. So no, the difference between 25GB and 10GB was not significant to me.

The last point about backups is also important, but probably not in the way you intended. You seem to assume that Google’s service automatically includes backup. Afterall, we’ve all come to trust Google with our data. For personal use that might be acceptable, but for business use I feel the equation tips the other way. Not only am I not so sure Google is foolproof I feel that they have no incentive to help me restore lost data if it should happen. Rackspace charges extra for that service, but at least it’s an option – at least they don’t pretend I’ll never need it. It’s my responsibility to ensure my data is backed up, not Google’s responsibility.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:33:16 +0000

like Adrian I wondered what other benefits you found using rackspace for email hosting? I hear that you like the support, but your pricing comparison seems a little bit off. Google premier is $4.17/month/user ($50/user/year) with 25 gigs storage per user. Rackspace costs $1/user/month for the first 10 gigs, but adding their backup service or additional cloud disk space quickly brings you over the $4/month mark. In my business we use Google Apps as a replacement for an exchange server (we love the integrated calendar) The Rackspace equivalent doesn’t compare at $12.50/month per user.

By: Cameron Nouri

Cameron Nouri — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:09:46 +0000

@vdibart – Welcome to Rackspace! Enjoyed reading about your decision process here. We are seeing more and more customers who are going through the same decision process around Google Apps. I am sure many will find this post helpful. Would you mind if we shared this with potential customers going through the same process?

Also if there is anything we can do to help you further with your transition, set up, or any questions you may just let us know. You can reach me directly on Twitter (@rackapps) or by email cameron.nouri [at] rackspace.com

PS — You are correct about the IP management. We have an entire team dedicated to IP reputation and management, so we don’t get emails blocked by spam filters at MSN (or others) for IP blacklisting.

By: vdibart

vdibart — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:14:41 +0000

@Twirrim – Actually there is one benefit to shopping this out to Rackspace, which is actually what spurred my initial investigation into alternatives. I had a bunch of emails get blocked by MSN’s spam filters because my I have a dynamic IP. I’m assuming (hoping?) this won’t happen if I route through Rackspace. And on the receiving side I can make use of Rackspace’s filtering and spam controls. Lastly, it simplifies my infrastructure some (don’t need to dedicate a machine to email or have a good portion of one machine dedicated to email) and I believe saves me some headaches with administration. As many others have said, sure I *could* run an email server. But why when it’s so easy and cheap to offload that hassle to someone else so I can focus on application development?

By: vdibart

vdibart — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:08:55 +0000

@Eric – Actually you might have misunderstood my argument. I *am* saving money by moving to Rackspace – both now and as I add more email accounts. I agree totally with you about not spending money on what you don’t need, which is why I moved off of Google Apps in the first place. Thanks for the link – it’s a great read.

By: vdibart

vdibart — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:07:13 +0000

@Adrian – I agree, it’s free and easy to use. But I don’t necessarily want to rely on “free” products for something so core to my business as email. What if they go down? What if someone hacks my account? Who do I call for support? For Analytics you could make the case that it doesn’t matter, but for your organization’s email…..that’s deadly. So I’m willing to pay for the added assurance that my business means enough to them to support the product. Given those parameters, would I rather pay $4/person or $1/person? I think the choice there is pretty clear. (Edited to correct price per person per month for Google – thx michael)

By: Adrian L

Adrian L — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:06:45 +0000

Interesting to hear about your move to Rackspace email.
As Google Apps standard is free for up to 50 users are there any other benefits of using rackspace for email hosting?
I’m in the mind of letting Google own everything I do but Email with Google Apps so so very easy and free.