Microsoft Outlook offers a free plan, but it doesn’t come with a custom domain (only an @outlook.com one), which may not be suitable for business use. It also only accommodates one user. Microsoft 365’s business plans start at $6 a month and let you use a custom email domain (e.g., [email protected]) and add multiple users to your organization. It also comes with the Microsoft Office productivity suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Use Outlook for your business email if you need a lot of email and cloud storage. Microsoft provides up to 50GB of mail storage and 1TB of cloud storage on all its Business plans. It’s also a good option for more productivity tools like a collaborative workspace or online video editor. Choose Gmail if you want an easier setup process and beginner-friendly interface or are more familiar with the Google Workspace productivity suite.

To create a professional email in Outlook, you’ll first need to subscribe to a Microsoft 365 Business plan, which lets you add a custom domain to your email account to get a branded email address and not a generic “@outlook.com” one. After subscribing to a Microsoft 365 plan, create your new email address and finish setting up your account by adding a custom domain, inviting your team members, and installing the Microsoft 365 platform on your computer.