Setting up domain email with Gmail, Cloudflare, and Postmark - without Google Workspace

When you build a website, at some point you need an email address that matches your domain - something like support@yoursite.com. Your hosting provider usually offers this for free, but it's not always reliable. One way to solve this problem is to use Google Workspace. But that costs money every month, just for an email address.

So i looked for another way.

Turns out you can set it up for free using three tools. Cloudflare handles incoming mail. Postmark handles outgoing. Gmail is just the interface you use. And Postmark's free tier gives you 100 emails a month - which is enough if you're just replying to the occasional message.

But there's a catch. Cloudflare doesn't create a real mailbox. It just forwards whatever comes in to your Gmail. So when you reply, Gmail sends it from your @gmail.com address - not your domain. And Gmail used to have a way to fix this, but they removed it. So you need something that acts as an outgoing mail server. That's what Postmark does here.

Part 1 - Setting up Cloudflare Email Routing

This gets incoming emails into your Gmail.

1. Go to Cloudflare and open Email Routing
2. Enable it for your domain
3. Add your Gmail as the destination address
4. Add a rule - support@yoursite.com forwards to yourname@gmail.com

Cloudflare adds the MX records automatically. Nothing else to do here.

Send a test email to your domain address. If it shows up in Gmail, this part works.

Part 2 - Setting up Postmark

This handles outgoing mail.

1. Create a free account on Postmark
2. Create a server and copy the API token
3. Go to Domains and add your domain
4. Postmark gives you three DNS records - DKIM, Return-Path, and SPF
5. Add all of them in Cloudflare DNS as TXT records
6. Set proxy to DNS only for each one

Wait a few minutes. When Postmark shows green checks next to those records, you're good.

Now add your sender address:

1. Go to Sender Signatures in Postmark
2. Add support@yoursite.com
3. Postmark sends a verification email to that address
4. Cloudflare forwards it to your Gmail
5. Click the verification link

Part 3 - Connecting Gmail to Postmark

This is what lets you reply as support@yoursite.com from Gmail.

1. Open Gmail and go to Settings
2. Click on Accounts
3. Under Send mail as, click Add another email address
4. Enter support@yoursite.com
5. Choose Send through SMTP server
6. Fill in the details:
   • Server: smtp.postmarkapp.com
   • Port: 587
   • Username: your Postmark API token
   • Password: same API token
   • TLS: on
7. Save

Gmail sends a confirmation email to your domain address. It lands in Gmail, you click the link. Done.

After that, when you reply to any email in Gmail, you can choose to send it from support@yoursite.com.

That's it

Emails come in through Cloudflare, go out through Postmark, and Gmail is just where you read and reply. No Workspace subscription. No monthly fee for basic use.

A few things worth knowing:

• DNS changes can take a few minutes to kick in
• The TXT records with quotes in Cloudflare are fine, don't remove them
• If you need more addresses like info@yoursite.com later, just repeat the same steps