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site.cloudflare.com Email Routing: free custom domain email, and how to send

What Cloudflare's own documentation says about receiving, sending and mailboxes on your domain: prices, limits, setup problems, and the options for a real inbox.

Published by
MarkRelay Research
Updated
Sources
6 primary sources, linked below

Summary

Cloudflare Email Routing is free and unlimited on every plan: mail to you@yourdomain.com is accepted and forwarded to a verified address, or handed to a Worker. It does not send, and Cloudflare offers no mailbox, IMAP or webmail. Sending is Cloudflare Email Sending, in beta: free to verified addresses in your own account, and to anyone else on Workers Paid ($5/month), which includes 3,000 emails a month, then $0.35 per 1,000. The common free workaround, forwarding to Gmail and replying with Gmail's Send mail as, has an end date: Google stops Send as for third-party addresses in January 2027. The lasting way to get a real inbox on your domain is a webmail in your own Cloudflare account such as MarkRelay ($99/year), which receives through Email Routing, stores mail in your D1 and R2 and replies from the same address through Email Sending.

Key findings

  1. 1Email Routing is free and unlimited on Workers Free and Workers Paid. Each rule sends one address pattern to one verified destination or one Worker.
  2. 2Sending to any recipient needs Workers Paid ($5/month): 3,000 emails a month included, then $0.35 per 1,000. Email Sending is labelled beta.
  3. 3Sends to verified addresses in your own account are free on every plan and do not count toward the included emails.
  4. 4Limits: 200 routing rules per domain, 200 destination addresses per account, 25 MiB per inbound message, 30 domains per zone.
  5. 5Cloudflare documents no mailbox, IMAP or webmail. Mail is either forwarded or processed by a Worker you write or deploy.
  6. 6Forwarding to Gmail and replying with Gmail's Send mail as stops working in January 2027, when Gmail ends Send as for third-party addresses.

Questions this report answers

Asked by real people, quoted as they wrote them.

“Does Cloudflare offer a mailbox?”

r/CloudFlare

No. Cloudflare's documentation describes Email Routing as forwarding mail to destination addresses or processing it with Workers; it lists no mailbox, IMAP or webmail. To keep mail on Cloudflare, a Worker has to store it, which is what MarkRelay does with D1 and R2.

“Can Email Routing send emails?”

r/CloudFlare

Routing only receives. Sending is a separate product, Email Sending (beta), over a Workers binding, a REST API or authenticated SMTP. To any recipient it needs Workers Paid at $5/month.

“Is anyone using Cloudflare Email Routing? How easy or difficult is it set up?”

r/CloudFlare, 22 comments

The domain must use Cloudflare DNS. Enabling Routing adds MX records, an SPF TXT record and a DKIM record; you then verify each destination address and create rules. Cloudflare says changes usually propagate in 5 to 15 minutes.

“Best email hosting to use with Cloudflare Domains?”

r/CloudFlare, 66 comments

Any host works if you point MX records at it instead of using Routing. Staying on Cloudflare, the choice is free forwarding to an inbox you already have, or a webmail on your account such as MarkRelay: $5/month for Workers Paid plus $99/year, with no per-user fee. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user per month.

“Paying £120 a year for webhosting just to be able to use my domain (parked on cloudflare) email, is there a cheaper option?”

r/webhosting, 17 comments

Receiving can cost nothing: Email Routing forwards the domain's mail to an existing inbox for free. Replying as the domain address is the catch: Gmail's Send mail as works until January 2027, when Google ends it for third-party addresses. After that, the domain needs its own sending path: Email Sending on Workers Paid ($5/month), with MarkRelay as the inbox for $99 a year, still far below £120.

“Can you use the new email sending service to send newsletters?”

r/CloudFlare, 10 comments

Cloudflare describes Email Sending as sending outbound transactional emails, and it has no lists or campaigns of its own. MarkRelay adds broadcasts to an imported list, with an unsubscribe link, on top of it.

“cloudflare email routing not working”

Google and Bing search suggestion

Cloudflare's troubleshooting page lists the usual causes: more than one SPF record (only one v=spf1 record is allowed), an SPF record missing include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net, a missing DKIM record at cf2024-1._domainkey, and destinations that were never verified. Messages over 25 MiB are rejected.

What Cloudflare includes

Email Routing (receive and forward)

Workers Free
Unlimited, free
Workers Paid
Unlimited, free

Send to verified addresses in your account

Workers Free
Free
Workers Paid
Free, not counted

Send to any recipient

Workers Free
No
Workers Paid
3,000/month included, then $0.35 per 1,000

Ways to send

Workers Free
Not stated
Workers Paid
Workers binding, REST API, SMTP

Mailbox, IMAP or webmail

Workers Free
No
Workers Paid
No

Workers that process incoming mail

Workers Free
Free plan CPU limits
Workers Paid
Higher limits

Hard bounces count toward the included sends; emails the API rejects, including sends blocked by the suppression list, do not. Source: Email Service pricing, Email Service overview.

Email Routing limits

Routing rules per domain

Value
200

Destination addresses per account

Value
200, shared by all domains

Inbound message size

Value
25 MiB; larger messages are rejected

Destinations per rule

Value
1 address or 1 Worker

Domains per zone (Routing and Sending)

Value
30, apex included

To send one address to several inboxes, Cloudflare suggests a Worker that forwards to each verified destination. Source: Email Routing limits.

Three ways to get a custom domain inbox on Cloudflare

Monthly cost

Routing to Gmail
$0
Routing + Email Sending
$5
MarkRelay
$5 + $99/year

Receive on your domain

Routing to Gmail
Yes
Routing + Email Sending
Yes
MarkRelay
Yes

Reply as you@yourdomain.com

Routing to Gmail
Gmail "Send mail as" with an SMTP plan, until January 2027
Routing + Email Sending
From your own code
MarkRelay
In webmail, from the same address

Still works after January 2027

Routing to Gmail
Receiving only
Routing + Email Sending
Yes
MarkRelay
Yes

Where mail is kept

Routing to Gmail
Gmail
Routing + Email Sending
Wherever your code puts it
MarkRelay
Your D1 and R2

Many domains and mailboxes

Routing to Gmail
One rule per address
Routing + Email Sending
You build it
MarkRelay
Many domains, no per-seat fee

Newsletters

Routing to Gmail
No
Routing + Email Sending
You build it
MarkRelay
Broadcasts with unsubscribe

API for apps and AI agents

Routing to Gmail
No
Routing + Email Sending
Workers binding
MarkRelay
HTTP API, signed webhooks, MCP

What Email Routing does with a message

Each routing rule maps one address pattern, or a catch-all, to one destination: a verified email address or a Worker. A Worker can go further: store the message, reply to it, or forward it to several verified addresses.

Workers that handle incoming mail count toward the normal Workers CPU and memory limits, so Cloudflare warns that complex handlers can fail with EXCEEDED_CPU on Workers Free.

Sending from your domain

Email Sending (beta) sends through a Workers binding, a REST API or authenticated SMTP. Onboarding the domain writes its SPF and DKIM records, and Cloudflare says it keeps DMARC alignment for you.

Free accounts can only send to their own verified addresses. Anything else needs Workers Paid: 3,000 emails a month included, then $0.35 per 1,000. Cloudflare publishes no separate sending rate limit on the pricing page.

Where MarkRelay fits

A good fit when

  • You want mailboxes on your own domains without a per-user fee, kept in your own Cloudflare account.
  • Several domains, shared addresses such as support@, and teammates who should see only some mailboxes.
  • Apps or AI agents that need to read and send mail over an HTTP API or MCP.

Look elsewhere when

  • You need IMAP for Outlook, Apple Mail or phone mail apps: MarkRelay is webmail and API only.
  • One person who only reads forwarded mail and never replies as the domain: free Routing to Gmail is enough.

Common questions

Is Cloudflare email free?

Receiving is: Email Routing is free and unlimited on every plan. Sending to any recipient needs Workers Paid at $5/month, which includes 3,000 emails, then $0.35 per 1,000.

Does Cloudflare host email?

It routes and sends email but documents no hosted mailbox. Forward to an inbox you already have, or deploy a webmail on your account that stores mail in D1 and R2.

What does a business inbox on Cloudflare cost with MarkRelay?

Workers Paid ($5/month) plus a MarkRelay license ($99/year), for any number of domains and mailboxes. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user per month on an annual plan.

Sources and method

  1. Email Service pricing (developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/platform/pricing/)
  2. Email Service overview (developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/)
  3. Email Routing docs (developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/)
  4. Email Routing limits (developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/limits/)
  5. Enable Email Routing (developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/get-started/enable-email-routing/)
  6. Troubleshooting (developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/troubleshooting/)

Facts are taken from each vendor's own pricing pages, documentation or terms as of the updated date above; prices are in US dollars per month unless stated. Cost comparisons apply each vendor's published rates to the same volume. MarkRelay is not affiliated with Cloudflare;"site.cloudflare.com" in the title names the site these facts come from. MarkRelay sells a self-hosted email app, which this page mentions where it fits. Spotted something outdated? Tell us.

Revisions

  • : First published; every fact checked on the vendor's own pages.

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