How to set up email on Hostinger (hPanel, step by step)

Which Hostinger email should you use?

You need a domain first — if your plan came with a free domain, claim it before you start. Then pick where your mailboxes live. There are three options and they cover different needs.

• How Hostinger's free domain works and how to claim it →

Create a mailbox in hPanel

Once you've chosen a plan, making the address takes a minute:

• •Log in to hPanel and open Emails.
• •Pick the domain you want the address on.
• •Choose to create a new email account and enter the name — for example you@yourdomain.com.
• •Set a strong password and save. The mailbox is ready immediately.
• •Repeat for any other addresses you need (info@, support@, sales@).

Read and send: webmail

The fastest way in is webmail — no setup at all. Open the webmail link from hPanel (or go to your webmail address and sign in with the full email and its password). You can read, send and organise mail straight away from any browser.

Webmail is perfect for a quick check or a shared support address. For daily use, connect the mailbox to your phone and computer instead.

Connect your phone and Outlook (IMAP)

To use the mailbox in Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook or your phone's mail app, add it as an IMAP account. hPanel's email section shows the exact server names for your account — use those if they differ, but the pattern is:

• •Incoming (IMAP): your mail host, port 993, SSL/TLS on.
• •Outgoing (SMTP): the same host, port 465 with SSL (or 587 with STARTTLS), authentication on.
• •Username: the full email address. Password: the mailbox password you set.
• •Choose IMAP, not POP3, so the same mail shows on every device.

Make sure your mail lands (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

A brand-new domain can have its mail sent straight to spam until you prove the mail is really from you. Three DNS records do that, and Hostinger sets them up for you when your email and DNS are both at Hostinger.

• •SPF — lists the servers allowed to send for your domain.
• •DKIM — signs each message so the receiver can verify it wasn't altered.
• •DMARC — tells inboxes what to do with mail that fails the first two.

If your email and website are on different hosts

This is where most "my email stopped working" problems come from. The MX records decide where your mail is delivered, and they're easy to lose when you move a site.

If your mailboxes are on Hostinger but the domain's DNS is elsewhere (or vice versa), copy the MX, SPF and DKIM records from the email host into whichever DNS is authoritative. Do this before you switch nameservers during a migration, not after.

• Migrate a WordPress site without losing your email →

Quick fixes if email isn't working

Most issues are one of these four. If none fit, hPanel live chat can read the delivery logs for a specific message.

• •Not receiving anything: check the MX records point to your email host, and that the domain hasn't expired.
• •Can receive but not send: wrong SMTP port or authentication off in your mail app.
• •Everything goes to spam: SPF/DKIM/DMARC missing or wrong — verify them, and warm up a new domain by sending slowly at first.
• •Password rejected: reset the mailbox password in hPanel and update it on every device.