Rackspace has been around for more than two decades, and it played a large part in shaping what web hosting and cloud services look like today.
It’s the classic Silicon Valley fairytale — starting off as a small garage project and growing to be a multimillion-dollar business with offices on five continents.
In 2016, Apollo Global Management acquired Rackspace for a reported fee of $4.3 billion.
The cloud provider has been expanding aggressively ever since, adding companies like TriCore Solutions, DataPipe, RelationEdge, and Onica to their portfolio.
The Rackspace Webmail service officially launched in 2001 as a solution for the growing needs of secure business communication. It operated through the Webmail.us platform at first, but the hosting provider later acquired it and ultimately rebranded as Rackspace Email and Apps.
Ease of Use
If you’ve ever had an email account, you should have no trouble operating this webmail client. It’s clean, intuitive, and packs all the essentials. No more frustrations caused by tons of needless options — Rackspace focuses on usability.
A left-side menu with your folders, a clear indicator of your mailbox quota, and 1-click account actions — you won’t need a fancy diploma to start using this one.
Key Features
One of RackSpace’s strong selling points is its resource allocation.
Every client is getting a sweet piece of the pie, with huge 25 GB mailboxes and 50 MB attachment limit. And that’s the minimum for all Rackspace Email plans, even the cheapest deal.
If you go for a Plus account, you’ll have access to ActiveSync, Office-compatible plugins, and instant messaging app. You get more communication options, while your mailboxes grow to 30 GB.
The third webmail plan adds an archiving option, but almost doubles the price, so it might not be the most cost-effective offering in this list.
Security
Two decades of experience have not gone in vain as the Rackspace team have become wizards in web and email services.
That includes ensuring maximum protection for clients and their online projects.
The Texas provider actively monitors accounts, and tackles spam through advanced filters, IP blocklists, and secure IMAP protection.
Rackspace also keeps an eye on your links, making sure no pesky malware can pass through.
You’ll always have a helping hand in your quest for the best email for business — chat, phone, contact forms, and ticketing are all possible support options.
Around the Web
Speaking of sales and technical assistance, we cannot overlook the fact that Rackspace had been praised as one of the best hosts in terms of support for years.
That’s the thing, though — had been.
Not sure if this coincided with the Appolo acquisition or other reasons were involved, but the results are apparent — a sudden influx of bad reviews and no company rep to defend the RS honor.
Price
Email — from $2.99 user/mo
Email Plus — from $3.99 user/mo
Add Archiving — from $6.99 user/mo
For all that power and capability, the Rackspace plans are super affordable — starting from $2.99 per user/mo, it’s an ideal solution for startups and SMBs. There are plenty of upgrade options if your project grows, and the team takes care of moving your account.
Verdict
Rackspace offers a solid range of products with an excellent price-quality ratio. The email service provider is very experienced in web solutions and uses that to secure and optimize its servers to perfection. Eight global datacenters ensure full worldwide coverage and, ultimately — great speeds.
Customer support seems to have gone downhill in the last couple of years, so hopefully, Rackspace can improve upon that aspect.