How to Set Up a Custom Domain Email for Free

The Problem with Paid Mailboxes

Getting a custom domain email like hello@shrivibhavan.com is essential for building a professional presence. However, premium mailbox services like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 cost at least $6 to $12 per user per month. If you manage multiple domains, this cost quickly stacks up.

Instead of paying recurring subscription fees for basic mailboxes, you can build a robust, production-grade email forwarding and SMTP sending pipeline for $0/month (only paying for your domain name registration).

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The Architecture

To get a fully functional custom email address (both sending and receiving), we split the mail delivery into two parts:

1. Receiving Email (Inbound): We use Cloudflare Email Routing to capture incoming mail to hello@domain.com and forward it to a free personal Gmail address.
2. Sending Email (Outbound/SMTP): We use Resend to send emails from hello@domain.com via their SMTP server, using Gmail's custom "Send mail as" settings.

[Inbound Email]  ──> [Cloudflare Email Routing] ──> [Personal Gmail Inbox]
[Outbound Email] ──> [Gmail "Send Mail As"]     ──> [Resend SMTP Server] ──> [Recipient]

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Step 1: Receiving Emails with Cloudflare

If your domain's DNS is managed by Cloudflare, setting up email routing takes under 5 minutes:

1. Go to your domain dashboard on Cloudflare.
2. Navigate to Email > Email Routing and click Get started.
3. Under Destination addresses, add your personal Gmail address and verify it.
4. Under Routing rules, click Create rule:
   • Custom address: hello (or * to catch-all)
   • Action: Forward to
   • Destination: Select your verified Gmail address.
5. Click Enable and let Cloudflare automatically add the necessary MX records to your DNS settings.

Now, any email sent to hello@yourdomain.com will instantly land in your Gmail inbox!

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Step 2: Authorizing Outbound Sending with Resend

To send emails that actually look like they come from hello@yourdomain.com (and don't end up in spam folders), we need an outbound SMTP server. Resend provides a developer-friendly email API and SMTP credentials with a generous free tier of 3,000 emails/month.

1. Sign up at resend.com.
2. Go to Domains > Add Domain and enter yourdomain.com.
3. Add the provided DKIM and SPF TXT records to your Cloudflare DNS settings. This tells email servers that Resend is authorized to send emails on your behalf.
4. Wait for domain verification to succeed (usually instant on Cloudflare).
5. Go to API Keys and click Create API Key with "Sending" permissions. Copy the key (e.g., re_12345).

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Step 3: Connecting Resend SMTP to Gmail

Finally, we configure Gmail to send emails using Resend's SMTP server so you can compose and reply directly from your personal Gmail interface:

1. Open Gmail, go to Settings (gear icon) > See all settings > Accounts and Import.
2. Scroll to Send mail as and click Add another email address.
3. Enter your name and custom domain email (e.g., hello@yourdomain.com). Uncheck Treat as an alias and click Next Step.
4. Configure the SMTP server settings:
   • SMTP Server: smtp.resend.com
   • Port: 587 (or 465 with SSL)
   • Username: resend (this is literally the string resend for all accounts)
   • Password: Paste your Resend API Key (e.g., re_12345...)
   • Connection: Secured connection using TLS.
5. Click Add Account. Gmail will send a verification code to hello@yourdomain.com.
6. Go to your Gmail inbox (since Cloudflare is already forwarding to it, you'll receive the email there!), copy the confirmation code, paste it into the prompt, and verify.

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The Result

You now have a fully functional, professional email suite. When someone emails hello@yourdomain.com, it forwards to your Gmail. When you reply, you can select your custom email in the "From" dropdown, and the recipient will see it coming from hello@yourdomain.com.

All of this runs automatically, scales easily, and costs exactly $0/month.