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Cloudflare Email Routing to free Gmail account, and sending as the custom domain address
I am currently using Zoho for my email hosting but it seems I could use my custom domains (2) for free with just basic Gmail accounts using Cloudflare Email Routing. What I am not sure is, can I use the Send As feature of Gmail to send emails as the custom domain address? Is anyone using this setup now?
Comments
I don't see how it could be done, sending from Gmail with illegitimate from? It would void Google's business offerings and they don't like losing money to their cost-fee tracked services.
send as from gmail is possible, but you'd still need an smtp server. Any basic shared hosting with email support can do.
Yes, been using it since cloudflare email beta days.
I am testing it now and it seems to work!
I can both receive and send emails as the custom domain but using Cloudflare to receive (after changing DNS settings and adding a route to my free gmail account, and adding Google to the SPF record for the send-as feature). Is it enough to have Google in the SPF?
Yes. I've been using that setup for years. Initially, I used Improvmx and moved to Cloudflare when they came up with email routing. You can follow this guide.
https://improvmx.com/guides/send-emails-using-gmail/
That's basically what I did! Are there any risks of emails sent this way not reaching the destination?
Not really. In some email clients, your mail will show up as via gmail.com, but reply to works fine with custom domain.
I don't use a lot of emails on that particular domain so I can't assure. But whenever I do, they do reach the destination. Haven't faced any issues so far.
This is awesome. Zoho is cheap but one less thing to pay for then
You use Gmail for outgoing on you're domain, am pretty sure it leaks your Gmail account email in the headers, the from header will be your custom domain, am quite sure the Return-Path header will be your Gmail account email address.
Does it matter?
Nope, been using this setup for my personal email for at least a year. If you really want to hide your gmail address then use a paid service as email, like mailgun or mailchimp. In my experience using a third party service to send was more likely to get my mail marked as spam. Never had any issues with native gmail send as.
I don't really care if the headers show Google. The important thing is that I can send and receive with my custom domains
So far all looks good and I am transferring the emails to the Gmail accounts from Zoho using imapsync. It's a bit slow though.
Probably not, unless you don't want people to know your Gmail address.
I am seeing this on the receiver's side.
How does it even work, if you are sending mail from Gmail but for custom domain then it is essentially mail spoofing.
Why not you try a test mail to mail-tester.com and share results, would be interesting.
its like this
From : ***** <ryan@******.uk>
Bounce address : *****@gmail.com
The from is you domain but the return-path/bounce is you gmail address.
Yes, this is not good.
Its funny though, whats the point of then using custom domain to send mail ?
Are you not facing same funny issues ?
where do you see this? with which tool?
Nope, never had anyone complain. Sure, if you looked at the headers they would see my gmail address. But nobody cares, their replies come to my custom domain.
Has anyone with Outlook for example ever complained that you emails show up as "sent via gmail.com" or something like that?
Yes, that is true. But most non tech people don't notice it or care. As long as they reply to it normally, it works.
I was using mailgun before with SPF and DKIM, but I had issues getting my mail marked as spam. In the end I got rid of it, and been using just gmail since.
Any problems whatsoever with this setup so far? At all?
Nope, been happy with this, most of my emails are sent to non techy people.
But as others have said, it does leak your real gmail in headers, and some email clients might show "via gmail.com" or a warning. If you care about that, you can use mailgun, their free plan gives you 1k mails per month and is dirt cheap for additional mails.
I'll see now it goes. Outlook is a bit annoying for that thing.... In the case it becomes a problem I can use ZeptoMail (from Zoho). 1 credit costs just 2.50 euros for 10K emails which is a ton, and expires in 6 months, so it's super cheap, almost nothing
https://www.zoho.com/zeptomail/pricing.html?src=hd
I just signed up with ZeptoMail and am waiting for the activation. It's so cheap. No brainer
Only problem is that like SES, they also need to verify each domain, would have been nice if they just allow to send via any domain.
It doesn't take too long to configure it anyway
Does SES have any free tier like mailgun?
I have just signed up on Mailjet for this. Gives 200 email/day for free with no requirement to add payment info. Set up SPF and DKIM records and now the padlock is green.