Purchasing a domain such as yourcompany.com does not include the ability for you to send and receive emails. Typical email hosting offerings throw a $x/user/month fee or something like an Office 365 subscription on top of your domain registration. Thishow-to will help you connect your Gmail account with your domain via Cloudflare to avoid yet another subscription.
Prerequisites
- Have a Gmail account ready for use
- Purchase a custom domain
- Set Cloudflare to be your domain’s DNS provider1
Tip
If you do not already have a domain, Cloudflare domains are sold at cost (cheap) and the DNS will already be configured.
After Cloudflare is handling your site’s DNS, the next step is to setup Email Routing 2. Save the custom email address for later.
Configure Gmail to Use Your Domain
The first thing you need to do is enable two-factor authentication 3 for your Gmail account because this is required to generate an app password.
Next create an app password 4 and save that password somewhere.
Finally, click the settings gear in your Gmail account’s main page > See All Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail as: > Add another email address.
A pop-up window should appear titled Add another email address you own.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Display name that recipient sees, e.g. Jack Sparrow |
| Email address | Your custom email address from Cloudflare Email Routing |
- Uncheck
treat as an alias - Click
Next Step
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SMTP | smtp.gmail.com |
| Username | Your actual Gmail address |
| Password | app password |
- Click
Add Account
You’ll receive a confirmation email from the Gmail Team. Verify by clicking on the link and now you can send emails from your custom domain!