Create as many email accounts as you need for you new domain, for free

How:

1.- Creating a new email account for your new domain, and routing inbound to your personal email.

2. - Then setting up your personal email to be able to Send_as <new email address>

3. - I do this using

• Cloudflare as domain host,
• also Cloudflare email routing (improvmx.com it's also a great choice)
• and my gmail personal account (any major email provider supports this)

Why:

This is a classic blocker when starting a new project, at least for me. You bought the domain, and need an inbox to look pro, but don’t want to commit to a sub just yet, say Google Workspace or any host that charges for an email account.

Also because I’ve spent all bloody morning making this bloody thing work so it might save you some time.

I'll be lean and to the point, pretty straight forward, just one step where you need to put extra attention

Step 1: Get a new domain (if you haven't already)

After running a poll here and do some research, my new favorite provider is by far Cloudflare, most #indie friendly I’ve found.

Domain at cost price, security included, email routing, analytics… and above all, easy to use and no adds to be seen

See:
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-cloudflare-registrar/

Step 2: Set up your new email and email routing (as many as you need)

In Cloudflare too, see here. It’s self explanatory, once created your new address is basically <new email> forward to <personal email>

you can follow this guide for more detail
https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/

One thing to keep in mind, don't activate any security records just yet.

Cloudflare is only handling inbound emails. Wait to set your outbound server from your personal email to do this, since it'll ask you to set different values

Also, disable proxy status on your DNS records, otherwise it won't work

Ok, test time, send yourself an email to your new account and confirm is redirecting to your destination of choice.

Great, now every email sent to your <new email> should hit your personal inbox.

Step 3: Set your personal email so you can also Send As <new email>

This is by far the most important step of all, the one most ppl gets wrong:

Follow this very-hard-to-find guide
https://support.google.com/domains/answer/9437157?hl=en
it is meant for when setting email forwarding form Gmail, but this is exactly what we need.

The confusion comes once you go to gmail settings -> Accounts and Import -> add another email and the popup loads, in the 2nd step it'll auto fill your inbound SMTP sever (Cloudflare in this case) and ask for credentials.

You need to delete that, replace by gmail smtp, use your gmail user, and the Mail App password created following the guide.

Remember, we're setting our outbound SMTP server. Your inbound server (Cloudflare) can't see any credentials here.

Also, gmail MIGHT ask you to set a SPF record on your DNS dashboard to validate you’re not phishing or spam. If so, here's how:
https://support.google.com/googlecloud/answer/10756302

Step 4: Confirm and repeat as needed

Now, once confirmed your email, you should be able to send emails with <new-email> from your personal email.

You can repeat this process for as many new email addresses as you need.

Conclusion

That's that, easily manage your new email for your new domain for your new project (and this is the one 💪🏼) from your personal email.

No need for google workspace, nor that extra $ that some Domain providers charge for just ONE account!

Hope it helps, keep pushing!!!

More detail in this twitter thread