How to set up free email forwarding on your custom domain (3 services compared)

If you have a custom domain and you want emails to addresses like hello@yourdomain.com to forward to your regular Gmail or iCloud inbox, you have three good free options and a few mediocre ones. This post compares the three good ones and explains how to set each one up.

Most people who buy a domain assume that email forwarding is included automatically. It usually is not. The domain registrar gives you the domain. Email forwarding is a separate service. You can set it up for free using any of the options below, but you have to choose one and configure it.

The three free options worth using

**ImprovMX** is a dedicated email forwarding service. The free plan covers one domain with unlimited aliases. Setup is two DNS records (MX and TXT) and a 30-second account creation. ImprovMX has been around since 2016 and has a strong track record for reliability.

**Cloudflare Email Routing** is Cloudflare's free email forwarding feature, available to anyone running their domain's DNS through Cloudflare. Unlimited aliases, no domain limit, but you have to be using Cloudflare for DNS. Released in 2021 and matured significantly since.

**Namecheap Private Email forwarding** is the free email forwarding bundled with any Namecheap-registered domain. Up to 100 email aliases per domain. Works through Namecheap's own DNS or any DNS provider where you can set the right MX records. Not to be confused with Namecheap's paid Private Email mailbox product (which is also good but costs money).

Quick comparison

If you run your DNS through Cloudflare already, **use Cloudflare Email Routing**. Zero setup beyond the Cloudflare dashboard. Easy to add aliases. Works well.

If your domain is registered through Namecheap and you want the simplest possible path, **use Namecheap's free forwarding**. It is right there in your Namecheap dashboard. No third-party account needed.

If neither of those apply, or you want a dedicated forwarding service that does one thing well, **use ImprovMX**. The 30-second setup is genuinely 30 seconds and they have a free webhook for received messages if you ever want to build something on top.

All three are reliable. All three are free for normal small-business use. The choice mostly depends on what you are already using.

Option 1: ImprovMX

Step 1: Sign up

Go to improvmx.com and create a free account. You will sign in with the email address you want forwarding to go to.

Step 2: Add your domain

In the dashboard, click "Add a domain." Enter your domain. ImprovMX will show you the two DNS records you need to add.

Step 3: Add the DNS records

Go to your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, Squarespace, etc.) and add:

• **MX record**: Host @ (or your apex domain), priority 10, value mx1.improvmx.com
• **MX record**: Host @, priority 20, value mx2.improvmx.com
• **TXT record**: Host @, value v=spf1 include:spf.improvmx.com ~all (SPF for deliverability)

If you already have an SPF TXT record, merge ImprovMX's include into it instead of adding a second TXT record.

Step 4: Create aliases

Back in the ImprovMX dashboard, add aliases. For example: hello@yourdomain.com → yourname@gmail.com. You can have unlimited aliases on the free plan.

Step 5: Test

Wait a few minutes for DNS to propagate, then send a test email from another account to your new alias. It should land in your Gmail or wherever you set up forwarding to.

Option 2: Cloudflare Email Routing

This requires your domain's DNS to be managed by Cloudflare. If it is not, you would need to change your nameservers at your registrar to point at Cloudflare first (which is a 10-minute one-time task and unlocks a lot of other free features).

Step 1: Open Cloudflare Email Routing

In the Cloudflare dashboard, select your domain. In the left sidebar, click "Email" then "Email Routing."

Step 2: Enable Email Routing

Click "Get started" or "Enable Email Routing." Cloudflare will offer to add the required DNS records (MX and TXT for SPF) for you. Accept the offer.

Step 3: Verify your destination address

Cloudflare will email the address you want forwarding to go to. Click the verification link in that email.

Step 4: Add routing rules

Add a custom address rule. Example: hello → yourname@gmail.com (this catches hello@yourdomain.com and forwards it). Add as many as you need.

Optionally, set up a catch-all rule so any address at your domain (whatever@yourdomain.com) routes to your inbox. Useful for branded sign-ups (netflix@yourdomain.com, linkedin@yourdomain.com) without creating each alias individually.

Step 5: Test

Send a test email from another account. It should arrive in your destination inbox within seconds.

Option 3: Namecheap Private Email forwarding (free tier)

This is built into any Namecheap-registered domain. You do not need to buy a separate product.

Step 1: Make sure Mail Settings is set to "Email Forwarding"

In the Namecheap dashboard, go to your domain's Advanced DNS page. Find the **Mail Settings** section. Set it to "Email Forwarding" (not "Custom MX" or "Private Email").

Namecheap will automatically populate the MX records required for their email forwarding service.

Step 2: Add forwarding addresses

Scroll down to the "Redirect Email" section. Enter the alias (left side) and the destination address (right side). For example: hello → yourname@gmail.com. Save.

You can add up to 100 of these per domain on the free plan.

Step 3: Test

Send a test email. Should arrive within a minute.

What about sending FROM the custom address?

All three of these services handle the receiving side of email forwarding. None of them handle the SENDING side. If you reply to a forwarded email from Gmail, the reply will go out from your Gmail address, not from hello@yourdomain.com.

If you want replies to look like they came from your custom address, you need to also configure Gmail (or your mail client) to send AS that address. The setup involves SMTP credentials, which the three forwarding services above do not provide for free. For sending-as, you would need:

• A paid Google Workspace plan (the easiest)
• An SMTP relay service like Resend, Postmark, SendGrid, or Mailgun (free tiers available but require some setup)
• A paid email mailbox service like Namecheap Private Email or Fastmail

For a small business that just wants to receive at a professional-looking address and reply from their normal inbox, free forwarding alone is fine. Most people will not notice that your replies are coming from a different address than the one they wrote to.

Common mistakes to avoid

**Setting up two services at once.** Each of these services needs its own MX records. If you have ImprovMX MX records AND Cloudflare Email Routing MX records on the same domain at the same time, you will get duplicate emails, lost emails, or both. Pick one.

**Forgetting the SPF record.** SPF (the TXT record) is what tells receiving mail servers that the forwarding service is allowed to send on behalf of your domain. Without it, forwarded emails often land in spam. All three setups above include an SPF record. Use it.

**Trying to forward at the apex AND a subdomain.** Email forwarding configured on yourdomain.com does not automatically apply to mail.yourdomain.com or hello.yourdomain.com. Each domain or subdomain needs its own setup.

**Using forwarding for high-volume mail.** If you are running a newsletter or sending hundreds of emails per day, forwarding is not the right tool. You need a real mail service. Forwarding is for personal and small-business incoming mail.

Summary

For most small-business and personal use cases, free email forwarding is enough. Pick the service that matches your existing setup: Cloudflare if your DNS is there, Namecheap if your domain is registered there, ImprovMX if neither of those is true or if you want a dedicated tool. All three are free, all three are reliable, and all three take less than 10 minutes to configure.