Mailboxes
SMTP vs Google vs Outlook for cold email
EmailPal-hosted mailboxes send over SMTP/IMAP we give you. You can also connect an existing Google Workspace or Gmail mailbox with an app password from the dashboard, but not Microsoft 365 or Outlook. Pre-warmed inventory is hosted SMTP, not a Google or Microsoft tenant. This is the page for which kind of account to use with EmailPal's sequencer, or with Instantly or Smartlead.
Three different products people confuse
Cold-email threads mix three kinds of "account":
- Hosted SMTP/IMAP — a mailbox on a domain you (or EmailPal) registered, that EmailPal's own sequencer sends from, or whose credentials you paste into another sequencer.
- Google Workspace / Gmail — a Google tenant seat. Sending happens at Google, under Google's quotas and policies.
- Microsoft 365 / Outlook — a Microsoft tenant seat. Same idea, Microsoft's rules.
EmailPal hosts (1). For (2), it can connect a mailbox you already own, using an app password, but it does not rent or sell Google seats. For (3), it does not connect to, warm or rent them. Pre-warmed Mailboxes by EmailPal are hosted SMTP on domains we bought and warmed for at least 14 days, not Zapmail / InboxKit / "pre-warmed Google" inventory.
If a help article at Instantly or Smartlead says "add a Google account" or "add SMTP," those are two different buttons. EmailPal fills the SMTP one.
What EmailPal hosts
Hosted and pre-warmed mailboxes are SMTP + IMAP on our infrastructure.
- We write MX, SPF
-all, dual DKIM and DMARCp=reject - You get a host, port, username and password
- EmailPal's own sequencer, Engage, sends from them. Create a campaign
- Or you paste those into Instantly, Smartlead, Plusvibe, a custom sender, or you send through our API
- Replies can land in Unibox
That is different from buying a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 seat. There is no Google admin console, no Microsoft tenant, no phone-verification loop. Export mailbox credentials and SMTP and IMAP credentials.
Caps: 15 cold emails/day per inbox is the recommended default, with a hard cap of 100/day. Pre-warmed leases start at 15/day.
Google and Outlook on EmailPal
Google Workspace and Gmail: you can connect an existing mailbox with an app password from the dashboard (Mailboxes, Add mailboxes, Bring your own). There is no Google sign-in and no OAuth. A connected mailbox can be warmed ($0.60/mo) and read in Unibox, and campaigns can send from it. This is a dashboard feature only; it is not available through the API or MCP yet. Can I warm Gmail, Outlook or my own server?
Microsoft 365, Outlook and other providers: EmailPal does not connect to them and cannot warm them.
Sending from a Google account happens at Google, under its quotas and policies. Mail from a connected mailbox leaves through smtp.gmail.com, so EmailPal's IP pools, holds and content scan do not apply to it, and Google's own limits do (about 2,000 messages a day per Workspace user). We do not become the SMTP host for a Gmail address. If Google disables the seat or revokes the app password, EmailPal cannot fix it; you update the app password from the mailbox page.
If you own Microsoft 365 and want EmailPal's warming measurement, the way to get it is to move the sending identity: create hosted mailboxes on a domain you own and warm those.
Why people still use Google / Outlook
Sequencer UIs and some buyers prefer "real" Workspace accounts. The mail looks like it came from a company that already lives in Gmail.
The costs of that preference:
- Seats get disabled. Phone verification, "suspicious login," tenant-level cold-email bans.
- Shared Microsoft tenants reject cold mail and return sender bounces.
- You do not control SPF/DKIM the way you do on a domain you registered. Google signs as Google.
- Volume limits are Google's and Microsoft's, not yours.
Hosted SMTP with correct DNS avoids that class of failure. It is also what you get when you claim pre-warmed inventory.
Which should you pick
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Send this week, no name to pick | Pre-warmed lease (hosted SMTP, 15/day) |
| A fresh sending domain, records written for you | Register or BYO + create mailboxes + warm |
| Keep sending from an existing Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox | Connect it with an app password (dashboard only). Google's limits apply, and EmailPal's IP pools and protections do not |
| Keep sending from existing Outlook or Microsoft 365 | Not supported. Create hosted mailboxes to use EmailPal warming |
| A Google tenant you admin | Not an EmailPal SKU |
Domains and mailboxes is the hub for the hosted path.
FAQs
Can I get full admin access to a Google tenant?
Not from EmailPal. If that is a requirement, you are shopping a different vendor.
Will Smartlead / Instantly accept EmailPal SMTP?
Yes. Any tool that takes a host, port, username and password will. Export from Mailboxes or the mailboxes export endpoint. You can also skip the other tool: Engage, EmailPal's own sequencer, sends from the same mailboxes.
Are pre-warmed inboxes Google accounts?
No. Hosted SMTP on domains we bought for the pool and warmed for at least 14 days. Engage sends from them directly, and other sequencers connect to them as SMTP accounts.
Can I send from EmailPal SMTP and Gmail on the same domain?
You can create a mess. SPF has a 10-lookup limit. Prefer one sending stack per domain.
Does hosted SMTP hurt inbox placement vs Google?
Placement is reputation, list and copy — plus authentication. A new Google seat is also unknown. EmailPal's hosted path is the one we can authenticate, warm through a network of real inboxes, and measure. Google is not automatically "more inboxed."