Email via cPanel

cPanel is a classic hosting administration panel. If you bought a classic hosting package from a company like HostGator or a similar provider, you very likely get access to cPanel. From there you can create email addresses on your company domain, at no extra cost.

What you'll find in cPanel

cPanel packs many useful areas for running a website and a small company, all in one place:

Area	What it's for
Email	create email accounts, forwarders, filters, autoresponders, spam filters, email routing
Files	file manager, backup, FTP accounts, managing the site's files
Databases	MySQL, phpMyAdmin, database wizard
Security / SSL	SSL certificates, security settings, basic protections
Domains / DNS	managing domains, subdomains and redirects
Backup	backups of files and databases

For someone starting out, the main advantage is that the site, email, files, databases and admin tools all live in the same panel.

The main cPanel dashboard with its administration sections — The main cPanel dashboard, with Email, Files, Databases etc. Click to enlarge.

Creating an email in cPanel

In the Email Accounts area you can create a new address on the company domain. For example:

contact@company.com
support@company.com
office@company.com
legal@company.com
invoices@company.com

The process is simple:

choose the domain;
type the address name;
set the password;
choose the storage allocated to the account;
create the email.

The email account creation form in cPanel — Creating an email account in cPanel.

Once the account is created, you see it in the email accounts list. From there you manage it: change the password, check used storage and open the settings for connecting on phone, desktop or external apps.

The list of existing email accounts in cPanel — The list of email accounts in cPanel.

Connecting the email to a mail client

An email created in cPanel doesn't mean you'll use it straight from the browser. Often you want to connect it to:

Apple Mail;
Outlook;
Thunderbird;
Gmail (as an external account);
your phone's mail app.

For that you need settings like: incoming server, outgoing server, IMAP, SMTP, ports, authentication and SSL/TLS. cPanel usually gives you a page with these settings (incoming server, outgoing server and recommended ports).

The IMAP, POP3 and SMTP settings page in cPanel — The settings for connecting a mail client: IMAP, POP3, SMTP and ports.

Keep the distinction in mind: IMAP syncs your emails across all devices (recommended today), while POP3 downloads them locally to a single device. For a company, IMAP is almost always the right choice.

Advantages

Email via cPanel can be a good option if:

you already have classic hosting;
you want a cheap solution;
you need a few simple addresses;
you don't have a large team;
you don't need complex company infrastructure;
you want everything in one panel.

Disadvantages

Long-term, email via cPanel can become harder to manage:

configuring it on phones and apps can be confusing;
spam / deliverability issues can appear;
you have to take care of SPF, DKIM, DMARC;
storage space can be limited;
if you change hosting, you also have to migrate the emails;
you don't get the same level of administration as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365;
for a larger team, management becomes awkward.

Deliverability is the sensitive point. If the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records aren't set up correctly in DNS, emails sent from your company domain can land straight in spam for clients, publishers or platforms. Check them after creating the addresses.

Recommendation

For a small project, cPanel can be enough. For a company that wants to grow, have a team, auditing, company accounts and centralised documents, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 are usually the more solid options.

If you stay on cPanel, create the company's main address and save it in My Own Company Details.