Purelymail is a low-cost email hosting provider: it gives you mailboxes for your domain, so you manage sending and receiving directly in Purelymail.
ImprovMX doesn't provide a mailbox, but advanced forwarding[1] for your custom domains to any inbox (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) with the option to send via SMTP.
Choose Purelymail for full email hosting with inboxes you can send/receive from directly with your domain.
Choose ImprovMX for forwarding your custom domain email to inboxes you already use.
ImprovMX
Purelymail
Pricing
No free plan, but affordable paid tiers.
Email Forwarding
Offers forwarding with advanced features.[1]
Offers forwarding with advanced features.
Email Sending
Supports SMTP sending.
Supports SMTP sending.
Hosted Mailbox
No mailbox, we forward to your existing inbox.
Offers a hosted inbox to store your mail.
Webhooks
Offers inbound Webhooks.
Does not offer Webhooks.
API
Offers an API to manage email forwarding and aliases.
Lacks a public API for management.
CLI/MCP
Does not offer a CLI nor MCP.
Logging/Analytics
Does not offer built-in email logging or analytics.
Setup
Must setup DNS records for forwarding and sending.
Setup can be complicated for non-technical users.[3]
Compliance
ImprovMX is GDPR compliant.
Not GDPR compliant.
1. We offer rules routing, wildcard addresses, multiple recipient destinations, regex aliases.
2. ImprovMX's CLI is built for terminal workflows, automation, and ai coding tools like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex.
3. The docs are fairly dated and poorly structured, making setup more difficult.
Questions? Reach out to us, we love chatting about email service providers.
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