The ArawaMail Free plan exists so you can prove receiving, sending, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on the production domain customers will see—without a card. It includes 3,000 transactional emails, one domain, one team member, 1 GB of mailbox storage, API access, and 45-day transactional retention. It is not a forever-free Gmail replacement, a Black Friday burst pipe, or a throwaway sandbox.
The expensive two-week detour
A founder authenticates temp-brand-123.xyz, wires the app, celebrates the first receipt, then pastes [email protected] into production. The disposable domain now has reputation. The customer-facing domain has none. Two weeks of DNS work do not transfer.
Free is the window to do that work on the domain that will appear in Gmail’s From line. Reputation lives on the domain, not on the plan name. That is why your domain is the product.
What Free actually includes (live catalogue)
Figures below match the public ArawaMail pricing page as of 18 September 2026. Pricing owns the live table; this article owns the job-to-be-done.
| Limit | Free | Pro | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 / month | $20 / month | $80 / month |
| Transactional sends | 3,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Domains | 1 | 10 | 50 |
| Team members | 1 | 10 | 50 |
| Mailbox storage | 1 GB | 10 GB | 50 GB |
| Transactional retention | 45 days | 60 days | 90 days |
| Overage | Not available | $0.0004 / email | $0.0003 / email |
No card is required to start. Inbox and sent mail stay until you delete them, subject to storage. Calendar and contacts appear on the comparison table. Free does not add extra mailbox seats.
What happens at 3,000 sends
Free has no overage path. When the monthly cap is used, the next send requires an upgrade. Count every API send and every forwarded mailbox copy. Example: 2,800 receipt API calls plus 200 forwarded copies equals 3,000. The 3,001st message is not a soft retry; it is a plan change.
That cap is the product, not a bug. It is large enough to prove password resets, welcome mail, and the first receipts. It is not large enough to absorb a sale weekend.
Prove the production domain, not a throwaway
ArawaMail is built for company-managed domains. Onboarding requires a Cloudflare zone whose name matches the ArawaMail domain exactly. Receiving comes first; sending is enabled after that. The HTTP API from address must belong to a registered, sending-active domain allowed by the API key.
Correct path:
- Connect the real Cloudflare domain.
- Activate receiving, then enable sending. See the DNS records ArawaMail writes.
- Create one production mailbox (for example
billing@). - Send the first product emails from that domain via the documented API.
- Confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC align. Alignment—not a bare SPF pass—is what receivers score. See why DMARC alignment is the whole game.
Wrong path: prove mail on a disposable hostname, then wonder why example.com still has no reputation when you switch the From address.
Free is not a Gmail, Workspace, or Fastmail replacement
One teammate, one domain, and 1 GB of storage is enough to prove the stack. It is not enough to run a company inbox suite. Do not compare Free to custom-domain email vs Gmail, Workspace collaboration, or Fastmail family features. Those products sell seats and shared calendars. Free sells a clean first domain.
Forwarding on Free is one destination per mailbox, with 24-hour verification. Forwarded copies consume the 3,000-send allowance. Disabling a mailbox blocks mailbox, SMTP, mobile, and connected AI-assistant access. There is no documented Free-plan MCP quota to invent around that.
Black Friday does not fit Free
Q4 volume needs overage or a higher included cap. Free has neither. There is no documented warmup product and no dedicated IP on any public plan. If the store already knows November will exceed 3,000 transactional events—including forwarded copies—start the domain on Free, then move to Pro before the burst. Per-stamp finance versus SES belongs in what email actually costs, not here. SES packaged plans from July 2026 also mean “start free on SES” is no longer automatic for new accounts.
When Pro is the honest next step
- You need a second domain or a second teammate.
- You need overage instead of a hard stop at 3,000.
- Mailbox storage is approaching 1 GB.
- You want 60-day transactional retention instead of 45.
Pro is $20 / month for 50,000 sends, 10 domains, 10 members, 10 GB, and $0.0004 overage. That is the first paid plan that can absorb daily product mail without a hard ceiling.
How we analyzed this
Limits were read from the live pricing page on draft day (18 September 2026) and cross-checked against ArawaMail docs: Introduction (company-managed domains, Resend-compatible send API), domain onboarding (matching Cloudflare zone; receiving then sending), Enable Sending, Email Accounts (forwarding cap and send consumption), and the Send Email API. We did not treat homepage marketing copy as a bounce API, invent Free overage or dedicated IPs, or publish Connect Device placeholder hostnames.
FAQ
What does the ArawaMail Free plan include?
$0, no card, 3,000 transactional emails per month, 1 domain, 1 team member, 1 GB mailbox storage, API access, and 45-day transactional retention. Inbox and sent mail remain until deleted, subject to storage.
What happens when I hit 3,000 sends?
Free has no overage. Upgrade to Pro or Business. Forwarded mailbox copies count toward the cap.
Should I start on a throwaway domain?
No. Prove SPF, DKIM, DMARC, receiving, and sending on the production From domain customers will see.
Does Free replace Google Workspace?
No. One member and 1 GB is a proof environment, not a suite.
Can a store run Black Friday on Free?
No. There is no overage path and no warmup product. Prove the domain on Free, then upgrade before peak volume.