So, finally Microsoft closed its free email service for domains. Outlook.com for domains or in technical terms Admin Center which was a free email hosting service for website owners, allowed users to create custom email addresses with their domain names , like [email protected] . Outlook for domain was a great alternative for those who hate the Webmail panel provided by hosting providers.
Earlier Hotmail account holders were able to use this service by logging in to domains.live.com and add domains on the dashboard. After verification of ownership of that domain by adding TXT and MX records users were able to add up to 50 email account per domain . Though there were not much options on the Admin Center panel but it was very popular among bloggers and website owners as it was free and the new interface of Outlook is attractive and easy to use.
Google Apps also offered for free on the start but became premium after gaining popularity among users. Those who are currently using Outlook.com for domains don’t have to worry as Microsoft is not going to delete all the existing users, but the bad news is you cannot add or delete existing email accounts.
After the betrayal of Hotmail if you are looking for another professional email hosting service for your brand, you can try the free version of Zoho Mail. It offers 5Gb/User Email storage, 5Gb Docs storage for free. On Zoho you can add only one domain per account with a limit of 5 users/domain.