Spacemail setup: mailbox, DNS records and email app settings, step by step

Spacemail is the business email service of Spaceship, the registrar Namecheap built, and a Spacemail setup comes down to three jobs: create the mailbox, publish the DNS records that route mail to it, and connect the apps you read it in. This tutorial covers all three, with the values from Spaceship’s help pages at the time of writing (October 2026).

I have my habits at Spaceship. I used to run my email on Microsoft, and it was a pain; with Namecheap and Spaceship, it has not been: the set-up is easy, or at least I know my way around it.

If you are still choosing a provider, my guide to getting a professional email address compares the options and what they cost, and domain vs hosting vs email explains how the three fit together.

Spacemail plans and prices in October 2026

Spacemail is a subscription of its own, separate from the domain. At the time of writing (October 2026), Spaceship’s Spacemail page lists three plans, priced for a two-year term:

Pro works out at about $0.79 (about 60p) a month. Prices are in US dollars and the pound figures are my approximate conversions. Spaceship runs promotions, and some of its other pages quote different starting prices, so the order page has the final word.

Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial. Two limits apply during those 30 days: you cannot add extra mailboxes, and each mailbox may send far fewer emails per hour than on a paid plan (the FAQ below gives the figures). Fine for testing, not for a launch week.

To choose, count the people who need their own inbox, not the addresses: an alias such as invoices@ delivers to an existing mailbox at no extra cost. One person working alone fits Pro. For two or three people, Business costs less than Pro plus extra mailboxes ($21.12, about £16, each per two years), and its 10 GB help if you keep years of attachments. Advanced suits a team of five. Every plan can take more storage, at $20 (about £15) per 10 GB.

Before your Spacemail setup: where is your domain’s DNS?

Mail reaches Spacemail only once your domain’s MX records, the DNS lines that tell other servers where to deliver your email, point to it. Who writes those records depends on one setting: the domain’s nameservers, which name the company that hosts its DNS.

A domain registered at Spaceship normally uses Spaceship’s nameservers, shown on the Advanced DNS page, as my Spaceship DNS settings tutorial shows. For a domain registered elsewhere, look in its settings at that registrar: the records go wherever the nameservers point, which is not always the registrar itself. If MX and TXT records are new to you, DNS records explained covers each type in plain words.

Step 1: order Spacemail and connect it to your domain

1. On spaceship.com, open the Spacemail page, pick a plan and start the trial, or pay.
2. In your Spaceship account, open Spacemail Manager.
3. Click Unbox on the new subscription to connect it to a domain, choose the domain, then click Start.

Unbox is Spaceship’s word for attaching a product to a domain. The domain does not have to be registered at Spaceship: one registered elsewhere stays where it is, and you prove that it is yours with a TXT record (step 3).

Step 2: create the mailbox and its password

1. With the subscription connected, click Configure Products, then Configure.
2. Type the name that goes before the @: contact gives contact@yourdomain.co.uk.
3. Click Create mailboxes. Spacemail generates a password: copy it, or type your own instead.
4. Click Finish.

Choose names that will outlive staff changes. A role address such as contact@ or accounts@ can pass from one person to the next, while firstname@ leaves with its owner. Store each password in a password manager straight away: every phone, computer and app you connect will ask for it, and it is not your Spaceship account password.

Step 3: add the Spacemail DNS records

On Spaceship’s nameservers: check, do not type

Spaceship adds the mail records when you connect Spacemail, and the mailbox works straight away. Open Advanced DNS for the domain anyway and check that you can see two MX records, a TXT record starting with v=spf1 and a DKIM record on spacemail._domainkey. Take a screenshot of the list: if mail ever goes missing, you will know what the zone looked like when it worked.

DNS elsewhere: copy the records to your DNS host

Spaceship still prepares the exact values for your domain. In Advanced DNS, they sit under Inactive records, in the group Spacemail DNS records: inactive because the internet does not read that zone. Your job is to copy them to the company that hosts the zone the internet does read.

If the domain is registered at another registrar, start with the verification TXT record: according to Spaceship’s help page on third-party domains, it must be in place before Spacemail is activated, or the subscription does not connect to the domain and the mailbox can neither sign in nor send. Its value is in Advanced DNS: click Manage, then View guides in the section Configure your DNS settings for products to work correctly, and open Verifying domain ownership.

Then add the mail records:

Type   Host                   Value                                   Priority
MX     @                      mx1.spacemail.com                       0
MX     @                      mx2.spacemail.com                       0
TXT    @                      v=spf1 include:spf.spacemail.com ~all
TXT    spacemail._domainkey   v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=... (your own key, copied from Spaceship)
SRV    _autodiscover._tcp     weight 0, port 443, autoconfig.spacemail.com   0

Line by line:

• MX: add both, with priority 0. Some hosts impose their own numbers (Wix sets 10 and 20), which is fine as long as both records are there. Delete the MX records of any previous provider, or part of your mail will keep going to it.
• SPF: a domain may have only one TXT record starting with v=spf1, and two make SPF fail. If one already exists, for a newsletter tool for example, add include:spf.spacemail.com inside it, before the ~all (or -all) at the end.
• DKIM: copy the value in full. It is long, and one missing character breaks the signature. Enter the host as spacemail._domainkey only: most panels add your domain after it themselves.
• SRV: mail arrives without it, but it helps some apps, Outlook in particular, find the server settings by themselves. Some panels split the host into a service (autodiscover) and a protocol (tcp), as Wix does.

Spaceship’s help has separate step-by-step guides for Namecheap, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix and Cloudflare. Changes usually show within a few hours, and up to 48 hours if you also changed nameservers.

Step 4: add a DMARC record

DMARC is a TXT record that tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails SPF and DKIM, and where to send reports about it. Spaceship’s help on third-party domains says Spacemail does not create it, so check whether your domain already has one: look for a TXT record on the host _dmarc. A domain needs exactly one. If there is none, add:

Type   Host     Value
TXT    _dmarc   v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.co.uk

p=none only observes: nothing is blocked while the reports confirm that your real mail passes. Once they do, move to p=quarantine, then p=reject. The rua address receives the reports, so point it at a mailbox or alias you actually read. My tutorial to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC explains how to read those reports and when to tighten the policy.

Step 5: check the records and send a test

After a few hours, check the zone from a terminal, or with the free Dig tool in Google’s Admin Toolbox:

$ dig +short MX yourdomain.co.uk
0 mx1.spacemail.com.
0 mx2.spacemail.com.

$ dig +short TXT spacemail._domainkey.yourdomain.co.uk
"v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=..."

$ dig +short TXT _dmarc.yourdomain.co.uk
"v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.co.uk"

dig +short TXT yourdomain.co.uk lists the SPF record among the domain’s other TXT records.

Then the real test: send an email from the new mailbox to a Gmail address. In Gmail, open the message, click the three dots and choose Show original. The top of the page shows SPF, DKIM and DMARC, each marked PASS when the set-up is right; a FAIL tells you which record to recheck. Reply to that email as well, to check that mail comes in as well as goes out.

Step 6: sign in to the Spacemail webmail

The webmail is at www.spacemail.com. Sign in with the full email address as the username and the mailbox password. You can also open it from Spacemail Manager: choose the mailbox, then click Login.

The webmail includes a calendar, and its settings hold the switches for IMAP, POP3 and SMTP access. IMAP and SMTP are on by default: leave them on if you want to read the mailbox in other apps.

Step 7: add Spacemail to your phone, Outlook or Apple Mail

On a phone, the simplest route is Spacemail’s own app for iOS or Android: sign in with the address and the mailbox password. For any other app, choose IMAP and enter the values from Spaceship’s help page on email clients:

Where to type them:

• Outlook: add an account with your address, open the advanced options to set it up manually, then choose IMAP.
• Apple Mail on a Mac: Mail > Add Account > Other Mail Account. If Mail cannot find the servers on its own, it asks for the values above.
• iPhone: in the Mail settings, add an account, choose Other, then Add Mail Account, and pick IMAP when asked.
• Android: in the Gmail app, choose Add another account, then Other.

Spaceship’s help has separate guides for Outlook, Outlook for iOS, macOS Mail, Apple Mail on the iPhone and the Spark app, in case a screen does not match these steps.

Can you use Spacemail for cold email?

Not without Spaceship’s written agreement: its published rules say no to unsolicited bulk email.

My own preference is clear: Microsoft works very well for cold email but is tricky to set up, Google is worse, and Spacemail is the one I encourage, because its set-up is easy. Spaceship’s rules are just as clear, and they come first.

So before you connect a single Spacemail mailbox to a sending tool such as Instantly, ask Spaceship’s support in writing what they accept, and keep the answer. The hourly limits in the FAQ below are ceilings for everyday email, not a cold email volume. Whatever the provider, send from a secondary domain rather than the one your customers write to: MLK Leadhunters explains why you should never send cold emails from your main domain. My comparison of the best email provider for cold email sets Spacemail against Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 on limits, set-up and terms.

If mail does not arrive or will not send

If none of these fits, Spaceship’s support is there 24/7, and in my experience every issue I have taken to them has been resolved.

Your Spacemail checklist

1. A plan chosen and connected to the right domain with Unbox.
2. The mailboxes created, each password in a password manager.
3. MX, SPF and DKIM in place where the nameservers point (plus the verification TXT for a domain registered elsewhere), with no old MX left behind.
4. One DMARC record on _dmarc, starting at p=none.
5. A test email to Gmail showing SPF, DKIM and DMARC as PASS, and a reply received.
6. The mailbox on your phone and computer over IMAP and SMTP.
7. A reminder in your calendar a few days before the trial ends, so you pick the paid plan in time.

And if you would rather hand the whole thing over, email setup is one of the fixed-price jobs I take on, on its own or with a new website.