How to Set Up Google Workspace for Your Business

Why not just use Gmail?

You can. Plenty of people run businesses from a Gmail address. But here's what it signals to someone receiving your email:

• A Gmail address says: "I haven't fully set up my business yet"
• A business domain email says: "I'm a real company"

It's a small thing that makes a bigger impression than you'd think — especially when you're trying to land your first few clients or apply for a business bank account. First impressions matter, and your email address is often the first thing someone sees.

What you need first

1. A domain name — like yourbusiness.com. If you don't have one yet, see our domain and hosting guide first.
2. Access to your domain's DNS settings — you'll need to add a few DNS records to verify that you own the domain. This sounds technical but it's just copy/paste from one screen to another.
3. A credit card — Google Workspace costs $6/month for the Starter plan (or $12/month for Standard with more storage). You get a 14-day free trial.

Step 1: Sign up for Google Workspace

1. Go to workspace.google.com
2. Click "Get Started"
3. Enter your business name, number of employees (just "1" if it's just you), and your country
4. Enter your current email address (your personal Gmail) — this is for account recovery, not your new business email
5. When asked "Does your business have a domain?", select Yes, I have one I can use and enter your domain name
6. Create your new email address — this is your business email. Something like [email protected] or [email protected]
7. Set a password, complete setup, enter billing

Step 2: Verify your domain

Google needs to confirm you actually own the domain. They do this by having you add a short code to your domain's DNS records.

How it works

1. After signing up, Google will show you a TXT record — it looks like a long string of random letters and numbers
2. Log into your domain registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.)
3. Go to your domain's DNS settings
4. Add a new TXT record:
   • Type: TXT
   • Host/Name: @ (or leave blank — means "root domain")
   • Value: paste the code Google gave you
   • TTL: 3600 (or "automatic")
5. Save, go back to Google Workspace, click "Verify"

If it doesn't verify immediately, wait 10–15 minutes and try again. DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate.

Step 3: Set up email (MX records)

Once your domain is verified, Google will ask you to add MX records. These tell the internet: "email for this domain should go to Google."

Google shows you exactly which MX records to add. You go back to your domain registrar's DNS settings and add them — same process as Step 2 but with MX records instead of TXT.

Google's MX records (for reference)

Add all five. When Google prompts you to activate Gmail, click through and activate it.

After a few minutes, your new business email is live. You can log in at mail.google.com using your new @yourbusiness.com address.

Step 4: Add team members (optional)

If you have employees or contractors who need a @yourbusiness.com email, you add them in the Google Workspace Admin Console (admin.google.com). Each user costs an additional $6/month.

You can also create free aliases — like [email protected] or [email protected] — that forward to your main inbox. Aliases don't cost extra.

The free alternative

If $6/month is too much right now, there is a free option — but it involves a workaround:

1. Create a free regular Gmail account (e.g. [email protected] — just for routing)
2. In your domain registrar, set up email forwarding: all mail sent to [email protected] forwards to that Gmail
3. In Gmail, go to Settings → Accounts → Send mail as → Add another email address
4. Enter your business email address and configure it to send through Gmail's SMTP servers

This lets you send and receive email from your business address using a free Gmail account. It works, but it's clunkier and doesn't include Drive, Docs, Calendar, or Meet under your business account.