A designer I know switched to HEY two years ago. She talked about the Screener like it changed her life — no more random newsletters hitting her inbox, no more strangers demanding attention. The spy pixel blocking. The whole philosophy.

Last month she asked me how to migrate off.

Not because HEY failed her. She'd launched a consulting practice and needed her own domain, and suddenly HEY for Domains at $12/user/month felt absurd for what was essentially one person with three role addresses. I get it — I've made similarly expensive decisions before realizing the math didn't work.

That's the HEY paradox. Good product. Actually innovative, credit where it's due. And priced in a way that makes perfect sense for personal email on their @hey.com domain — but falls apart the moment you need custom domains or multiple mailboxes. If you're tracking marketing ROI across channels, JustAnalytics pairs well with transactional email insights.

JustEmails is the opposite bet. No inbox reinvention. No screening. No workflow philosophy. Just email hosting: unlimited domains, unlimited mailboxes, $49/year flat. Standard IMAP/SMTP. Works with any client. Boring by design.

This isn't really a features comparison. It's a philosophy comparison. And the right answer depends entirely on what you're actually buying email for.

Quick Verdict

TL;DR: HEY wins for individual users who want a reimagined inbox experience at @hey.com and are willing to learn new workflows. JustEmails wins for anyone needing custom domains, multiple mailboxes, team access, or standard IMAP connectivity — basically, business use cases where email is infrastructure, not a lifestyle choice.

If you're a single user frustrated with Gmail's chaos and want someone opinionated to fix it for you, HEY at $99/year is worth trying. If you're running client domains, need role accounts, or just want email to plug into your existing tools without learning new habits, JustEmails at $49/year is the obvious pick.

Two Different Products for Two Different Problems

Let me be clear upfront: HEY and JustEmails aren't really competitors. They're solving different problems.

HEY's pitch: Email as a product is broken. Inbox design hasn't evolved since 2004. We're going to fix the experience — screening, sorting, anti-tracking, focus tools. You'll learn our way of doing things, and your inbox will finally make sense.

JustEmails' pitch: Email hosting is overpriced. Google charges $7/user/month. We charge $49/year flat for unlimited everything. Use whatever email client you want. We just make sure it gets delivered.

If you want your email experience transformed, HEY is trying to do that. If you want cheap, reliable hosting for your domains, that's us. Comparing them head-to-head is a bit like comparing a fancy meal-prep service to buying groceries wholesale.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Feature	JustEmails	HEY
Pricing model	$49/year flat (unlimited)	$99/year personal OR $12/user/mo for domains
Custom domains	Unlimited (included)	Only on HEY for Domains ($12/user/mo)
Mailboxes	Unlimited (free to create)	1 per account (HEY for You) or per-user (Domains)
IMAP/SMTP access	Full access	Not supported
Use any email client	Yes	No — HEY apps only
Calendar included	No	Yes
Spy pixel blocking	No	Yes
Inbox screening	No	Yes (The Screener)
Workflow tools	No	Yes (Imbox, Feed, Paper Trail, Reply Later)
Storage	10 GB (+100 GB for $100/year)	100 GB
Transactional API	1K/mo free, $25/year per 10K	Not available
Team management	Yes ($2/member/month)	Yes (on HEY for Domains)
SPF/DKIM/DMARC	Auto-configured	Managed by HEY
Free trial	7 days (card required)	30 days (no card)

The table looks competitive until you realize these products aren't solving the same problem. HEY's features — Screener, Imbox/Feed/Paper Trail splitting, Reply Later — exist because they believe the inbox itself needs reinvention. JustEmails' features exist because we believe hosting should be cheap and standard.

Where HEY Wins

Look, I'm not going to pretend HEY isn't good. 37signals (the Basecamp folks) built something actually different — which is rare in email.

The Screener + Inbox Organization

First-time senders don't land in your inbox — they hit the Screener, where you decide: let them in, or block forever. This is HEY's killer feature. Nothing else replicates the mental shift of screening being the default action, not an exception.

HEY also splits email into three automatic categories: Imbox for real correspondence, Feed for newsletters you read on your schedule, Paper Trail for receipts and confirmations. Standard email makes you build this with labels and filters. HEY makes it structural. Whether that's better depends on whether you want to learn their taxonomy.

Privacy and Polish

HEY blocks tracking pixels by default. Open an email, the sender doesn't know. For privacy-conscious users — or anyone annoyed by sales reps following up because they saw you opened their cold email — this matters.

The apps are beautiful too. Consistent across web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows. Plus focus tools like Reply Later, Set Aside, and Focus & Reply mode for minimizing context-switching. It's an opinionated system built by people who've thought hard about attention management.

(Full disclosure: I spent a week with HEY's free trial. The Screener was actually useful. I also missed my muscle memory for keyboard shortcuts in Thunderbird more than I expected.)

Where JustEmails Wins

Now the flip side. Here's where HEY's model breaks down.

Custom Domain Pricing

HEY for You at $99/year gives you a @hey.com address. Period. Want yourname@yourdomain.com? You need HEY for Domains at $12/user/month — that's $144/user/year at scale.

JustEmails: $49/year. Unlimited domains. Every domain you own, every mailbox you need, one flat fee.

For a solo consultant with one domain, HEY for Domains costs $120-144/year. JustEmails costs $49. For an agency managing 10 client domains? JustEmails is still $49. HEY doesn't even have a model for that use case.

Unlimited Mailboxes + Standard Protocols

HEY charges per user. JustEmails treats mailboxes as free infrastructure.

Need support@, billing@, info@, press@, careers@? On JustEmails, create them. Free. On HEY for Domains, each one either needs a paid seat or you're doing some awkward forwarding workaround.

Real businesses don't have a 1:1 mailbox-to-human ratio. Role accounts multiply. With per-user pricing, you start making weird decisions — is careers@ worth another $12/month? That question shouldn't exist. It's the wrong frame entirely.

HEY also deliberately doesn't support IMAP or SMTP. You must use their apps. For HEY, this is a feature: their workflow tools only work inside their apps. But it means you're locked in. Can't use your preferred client. Can't automate with scripts. Can't integrate with tools that assume standard protocols.

JustEmails is full IMAP/SMTP/POP3. Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook, K-9, mutt, your own scripts — anything that speaks standard email works. For secure browsing while managing multiple email accounts, JustBrowser offers isolated profiles that keep sessions separate.

Transactional Email + Portability

JustEmails bundles 1,000 transactional emails/month in the $49/year base. Password resets, order confirmations, signup notifications — use our REST API and done. HEY doesn't offer transactional email at all. If you're building something that sends automated emails, you need a separate provider: Resend, Postmark, SendGrid. Another vendor, another bill. Our SMTP vs API comparison covers the tradeoffs.

And here's the portability issue: @hey.com addresses belong to HEY. Cancel your subscription, you lose the address. Every service, every contact, every newsletter signup — using an address you no longer control. Custom domain email doesn't have this problem. You own the domain. Migrate providers without changing addresses. HEY for Domains users keep their domain, but HEY for You users? That @hey.com address is rented, not owned.

Pricing Breakdown (June 2026)

JustEmails:

All-In Plan: $49/year — unlimited domains, unlimited mailboxes, 10 GB storage, full IMAP/SMTP, 1,000 transactional API emails/month
Storage add-on: +100 GB for $100/year (stackable)
Transactional API: +$25/year per 10K-email tier
Team members: $2/member/month (owner free)
Trial: 7-day free trial, card required

HEY for You (personal @hey.com):

Standard: $99/year — 100 GB storage, calendar, all workflow features
Short addresses: $349/year (3-character) or $999/year (2-character)
Trial: 30-day free trial, no card required

HEY for Domains (custom domain):

First user: $10/month ($120/year)
Additional users: $12/user/month ($144/year each)
Monthly billing only — no annual discount

HEY for Families:

$179/year total — up to 5 people, @hey.com addresses only

The pricing tells you exactly what each product values. HEY prices per-person because they're selling an experience worth paying for individually. JustEmails prices flat because we think mailboxes should be free infrastructure. If you're running paid campaigns to drive signups, ClickzProtect ensures your ad spend isn't wasted on bot clicks.

Who Should Pick What

Choose HEY if:

You want a reimagined inbox experience, not just hosting
The Screener, Imbox/Feed/Paper Trail split, and spy pixel blocking appeal to you
You're okay using only HEY's apps (no IMAP clients)
You're a single user and $99/year for @hey.com is reasonable
Email productivity is a genuine pain point worth solving with new workflows
You don't need custom domains OR you're okay paying $12/user/month for them

Choose JustEmails if:

You need custom domain email (unlimited domains, $49/year flat)
You have or will have multiple role accounts (support@, billing@, info@) — they're all free
You want IMAP/SMTP access and client flexibility
You're managing domains for clients or multiple brands
You don't want to learn new email workflows — standard email is fine
You need transactional email bundled rather than from a separate provider
You're coming from Google Workspace and want to cut costs — see our Google Workspace alternatives guide

Either works if:

You're a solo user with one domain, one mailbox, and just want email that works
Price difference isn't the deciding factor
You're willing to adapt to either product's constraints

The Honest Take

HEY is the most interesting email product to launch in years. 37signals has strong opinions about attention, privacy, and inbox design. If you've been frustrated with Gmail's chaos, HEY might change how you think about email.

But HEY is expensive for what most businesses need. $144/year per user for custom domain hosting is steep — especially when each role account costs the same as a human. I've watched agencies burn hundreds monthly on per-seat email before realizing the obvious: mailboxes aren't people.

Here's my unpopular opinion: most people don't need HEY's workflow reinvention. The Screener is clever, but you can approximate it with filters. The Imbox split is nice, but most people just want replies at the top. HEY's innovation is real, but the pain it solves isn't universal. And I say that as someone who actually respects what they built — just not for every use case.

JustEmails is boring. Deliberately boring. Standard protocols, standard clients, predictable pricing. For custom domain email at scale, flat-rate wins. For single users willing to pay premium for a different inbox experience, HEY delivers something unique. Different products. Different problems. Teams coordinating across tools might also benefit from DevOS for developer workflows or VeloCalls for business calling.

Questions? support@justemails.app — real humans, usually within a few hours. For more comparisons, see JustEmails vs Fastmail or JustEmails vs Zoho Mail. And if you're curious about other VDL products, ClickzProtect stops ad fraud, VeloCards is crypto-funded virtual cards, and JustAnalytics handles privacy-first web analytics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my own domain with HEY?

Yes, through HEY for Domains — but pricing changes completely. HEY for Domains costs $12/user/month (first user $10/month), billed monthly only. That's $120-144/user/year vs JustEmails' $49/year flat for unlimited mailboxes. HEY for You at $99/year only gives you a @hey.com address, not your custom domain. If you need yourname@yourdomain.com, you're looking at HEY for Domains pricing, which puts it in a very different competitive bracket.

Does HEY support IMAP or standard email clients?

No. HEY deliberately doesn't support IMAP, POP, or SMTP access. You must use HEY's apps — web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows. There's no way to connect Thunderbird, Apple Mail, or Outlook to a HEY account. This is by design: HEY's workflow features only work inside their apps. JustEmails includes full IMAP/SMTP/POP3 access, so you can use any email client you prefer.

What happens to my email if I cancel HEY?

HEY lets you export your email data before canceling. But here's the sticky part: if you're on HEY for You with a @hey.com address, that address belongs to HEY — you can't take it with you. You'd need to update every service, contact, and newsletter with a new address. With JustEmails (or any custom-domain host), you own the domain and can migrate to any provider without changing addresses. HEY for Domains users keep their domain, but still need to migrate to another host.

Is HEY worth the premium for the workflow features?

Depends on whether you'll actually use them. HEY's Screener, Imbox/Feed/Paper Trail sorting, Reply Later, and Focus modes are actually innovative — if you adopt them. Plenty of people pay $99/year, use HEY like regular email, and wonder why they bothered. If inbox management is your biggest productivity drain and you're willing to learn a new system, HEY might be worth it. If you just need email that works with your existing workflow, standard IMAP hosting at a fraction of the cost makes more sense.

Try JustEmails

Unlimited custom domain email hosting for $49/year flat — unlimited domains, unlimited mailboxes, 10 GB storage, full IMAP/SMTP. Built for agencies, freelancers, and anyone managing email across more than one domain.

Card required for the trial (cuts down on abuse). Cancel anytime.

Start your 7-day free trial → · How it compares

JustEmails vs HEY: Opinionated Personal Email or Flat-Fee Domain Hosting?