Email aliases vs separate mailboxes vs shared inboxes

Use an alias when one person needs another address but not another inbox. Use a separate mailbox when the address needs its own private history or identity. Use a shared mailbox when several people need to read and reply from the same address.

A sensible small-company setup might use founder@yourcompany.com as a private mailbox, hello@yourcompany.com as an alias for the founder while enquiries are rare, and support@yourcompany.com as a shared mailbox once several people answer customers.

The three choices

Question	Email alias	Separate mailbox	Shared mailbox
Is it a new address?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Has its own stored inbox?	No	Yes	Yes
Has its own login?	Usually no	Often	Usually accessed by permitted members
Keeps separate history?	No, mail joins the target inbox	Yes	Yes
Best number of readers	One	One owner	Two or more
Typical use	Extra role or spelling for one person	Private identity	Team role
Example	`hello@` routes to `founder@`	`founder@`	`support@`

Providers use these terms differently. Some call any extra address an alias. Some call a group or distribution address a shared inbox even when it only sends copies to members. Check where messages are stored, who can reply, and whether everyone sees the same sent history.

What is an email alias?

An alias is another address attached to an existing mailbox. It does not create a separate inbox.

Suppose Lena signs in as lena@yourcompany.com. The administrator adds hello@yourcompany.com as an alias. Mail sent to either address arrives in Lena's mailbox. If Lena leaves, the company must move the alias and decide how to transfer the earlier conversations stored in her account.

Google Workspace defines an alias this way: messages sent to the alias route to one user's primary inbox. The alias is not a Google Account, and several users cannot share it. Google currently allows up to 30 aliases per user without an extra charge.

Microsoft Exchange Online uses the term “proxy address” for an additional address on a mailbox. Messages sent to it arrive at the mailbox's primary address. One address remains the default reply address.

Aliases work well for:

A founder who handles hello@, billing@, and press@ alone
A temporary project name that should reach an existing owner
An old employee address that must route to a successor
Alternate spellings of one person's name

An alias is a poor fit when different people need different permissions, when the role needs its own archive, or when anyone must sign in as the alias. It can also become messy when filters are the only way to distinguish several roles inside one crowded inbox.

Sending needs a separate check. Receiving mail at an alias does not always mean a user can select it as the From address. Provider and administrator settings control that behavior.

What is a separate mailbox?

A separate mailbox stores its own messages and represents its own email identity. It can have an owner, credentials, access grants, retention rules, and a sending history distinct from other addresses.

Use one for founder@yourcompany.com when its messages should remain private from the wider team. A separate mailbox also suits finance, legal, or account-recovery mail that should not flow into a general employee inbox.

Separate mailboxes give cleaner boundaries:

Removing access from one mailbox does not remove a person's whole company account.
Automation can receive access to one address instead of every message a user owns.
The company can retain the address and its history when staff change.
Replies and sent messages stay with the business identity.

The cost and administration depend on the provider. Traditional office suites often tie a user mailbox to a licensed user. Developer mailbox services may price by mailbox, message volume, or both. Do not count addresses alone. Count the inboxes, people, storage, and access controls you actually need.

Startup Mail charges per workspace rather than per address: $12 per year includes 1,000 email events each month, shared across the workspace. Every receiving address still needs an explicit mailbox. Mailbox, domain, and seat allowances are not published as contractual limits, so do not assume they are unlimited.

Avoid a separate mailbox for every spelling or campaign code. Ten nearly empty inboxes are harder to monitor than one mailbox with well-chosen aliases, if your provider offers them.

What is a shared mailbox?

A shared mailbox is one stored inbox that several authorized people can use. Everyone works from the same address and, in a proper shared-mailbox setup, can see the same conversation history.

This is a natural home for support@yourcompany.com, accounts@yourcompany.com, or hello@yourcompany.com after the company grows beyond one reader.

Microsoft recommends shared mailboxes for support, reception, and company information addresses. Members with the right permissions can send as the shared mailbox or send on its behalf. Microsoft also notes that an unlicensed shared mailbox can store up to 50 GB, although the people accessing it still need appropriate Exchange Online licences and larger or advanced uses can require a mailbox licence.

Google offers a different route through Google Groups. A group can distribute mail to several members, and its Collaborative Inbox features let members assign conversations and mark them complete. That is not the same object as a Gmail user alias.

A shared mailbox should answer these questions clearly:

Who can read it?
Who can send from it?
Can members see replies sent by other members?
Can one person take ownership of a conversation?
Does removing a member revoke their access at once?
Can an administrator manage the mailbox without reading private content?
Can software receive a narrower permission than a human teammate?

Some products call a distribution list a shared inbox. A distribution list sends a copy to each member but may not keep shared read state or sent history. If two people can unknowingly answer the same customer, you have distribution, not a complete collaboration workflow.

How Startup Mail handles these addresses

Startup Mail provides shared and private mailboxes. It does not currently offer aliases or catch-all delivery.

Each receiving address must be an explicit mailbox. A private mailbox has an owner and can grant other people read-only or read-and-send access. A shared mailbox is available to workspace members and suits addresses such as hello@ or support@. API keys can also be limited to a tenant or one mailbox, then narrowed by operation scope and permissions.

This gives each address its own stored history and access boundary. It also means you cannot create hi@, contact@, and info@ as free aliases that all collapse into hello@. You would need to create separate mailboxes or choose another provider if alias-heavy routing is important.

Startup Mail's shared mailbox is intentionally lighter than a help desk. It stores shared threads and lets permitted users read and send, but it does not currently provide ticket queues, service-level agreements, or advanced agent assignment. Use a help desk when support operations need those tools.

A practical setup for a small company

List who reads, replies, and needs retained history for each address.

One founder

founder@yourcompany.com: primary or private mailbox
hello@yourcompany.com: alias to the founder, if the provider supports aliases
billing@yourcompany.com: alias if the same founder handles every invoice

With Startup Mail, each of these would be a mailbox because aliases are not available. If you do not want that, create only the addresses you will publish and use.

Founder plus first employee

founder@yourcompany.com: private mailbox
employee@yourcompany.com: private mailbox
hello@yourcompany.com: shared mailbox
billing@yourcompany.com: private mailbox with explicit access for the person handling finance

This keeps personal conversations separate while giving both people a common place for general enquiries.

Small support team

Personal mailboxes for each employee
support@yourcompany.com: shared mailbox or help desk
security@yourcompany.com: separate mailbox with a small, named access group
Aliases only for alternate spellings or addresses with the same owner and retention needs

Do not use a catch-all as a substitute for planning. It accepts typos and arbitrary local parts, which can attract spam and hide configuration mistakes. A catch-all can be useful for disposable addresses or broad routing, but explicit mailboxes make ownership easier to audit.

A quick decision rule

Ask who owns the message after it arrives.

If the answer is “the same person who owns another inbox,” use an alias.
If the answer is “one person or restricted function with its own history,” use a separate mailbox.
If the answer is “a team working from one address,” use a shared mailbox.
If the answer is “a queue with assignments, response targets, and reports,” use a help desk.
If the answer is “software processing events with no lasting conversation,” consider an inbound email API instead.

One address can change type as the company grows. hello@ may begin as an alias and later become a shared mailbox. Plan the change before several years of company mail are trapped inside one person's account.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to pay for every email address?

Not always. Some providers include aliases at no extra cost, and some have special rules for shared mailboxes. A separate user mailbox is more likely to need a licence or mailbox charge. Compare the provider's current pricing and limits rather than assuming every visible address costs the same.

Can several people use the same alias?

An alias normally belongs to one mailbox. Use a group, delegation, distribution list, or shared mailbox for several readers. Google explicitly says one email alias cannot be shared by multiple users.

Is `support@` better as an alias or a shared mailbox?

Use an alias when one person handles every request and no separate record is needed. Use a private or separate mailbox when one owner or restricted function needs its own history. Use a shared mailbox when several people need the same threads and sent record. Use a help desk when the work needs assignment, response targets, or reporting.

Does a shared mailbox need its own password?

Usually not. Members sign in with their own accounts and receive permission to the shared mailbox. This preserves individual access control and makes offboarding safer than sharing one password.

Does Startup Mail support aliases or catch-all addresses?

No. Every address that receives mail must have a matching shared or private mailbox. Unknown recipients are rejected rather than routed to a catch-all.

To decide whether those mailboxes should forward elsewhere, read email forwarding vs a real mailbox. For a broader comparison of address types and providers, see custom-domain email without an office suite.