How to Get a Free Custom Email for Your Domain (hi@yourdomain.com)

So you've got a personal domain for your portfolio, something like yourname.dev, and you want a professional email to go with it. Something like hi@yourname.dev that you can put on your resume and use for cold outreach to clients and hiring managers.

This is exactly what I set up for hi@falakgala.dev, and in this post I'll walk you through the entire process step by step. The best part? It's completely free.

What We're Building

By the end of this guide you'll have:

• A custom email like hi@yourdomain.com that receives mail
• All incoming emails forwarded directly to your personal Gmail
• The ability to send emails from your custom address inside Gmail
• Your portfolio site completely unaffected

Prerequisites

• A domain you own (purchased on GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.)
• A Gmail account you want to use as your personal inbox
• A free Cloudflare account (cloudflare.com)

Understanding How This Works

Before jumping in, it helps to understand the three things involved:

1. Domain Registrar - where you bought the domain (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap)
2. Nameservers - who manages your DNS records (we'll move this to Cloudflare)
3. Hosting - where your website lives (Vercel, stays untouched)

Right now your setup is probably:

Registrar (e.g. GoDaddy) -> Nameservers -> Hosting (Vercel)

After this guide it'll be:

Registrar (e.g. GoDaddy) -> Cloudflare nameservers -> Hosting (unchanged)

Your domain stays with your registrar. Your site stays on Vercel. Only the DNS manager changes to Cloudflare, which is what gives us free email routing.

Step 1 - Add Your Domain to Cloudflare

1. Sign up or log in at cloudflare.com
2. Click Add a Site - enter your domain - select the Free plan
3. Cloudflare will scan your existing DNS records

This is the critical part. Cloudflare may import old A records from your registrar instead of your actual hosting records. You need to fix this before proceeding.

Delete any A records pointing to your registrar's IP addresses.

Then Add these two records manually:

Type    Name    Content                 Proxy Status
CNAME   @       cname.vercel-dns.com    DNS only (grey cloud)
CNAME   www     cname.vercel-dns.com    DNS only (grey cloud)

Make sure proxy status is DNS only (grey cloud), not orange/proxied, otherwise your Vercel site may break.

Keep any existing CAA or TXT records as they are.

Once your records look correct, click Continue to activation. Cloudflare will show you 2 nameservers, copy these, you'll need them in the next step.

Step 2 - Update Nameservers on Your Registrar

1. Log into your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) - find your domain - go to DNS settings
2. Click the Nameservers tab
3. Click Change Nameservers - select I'll use my own nameservers
4. Replace the existing nameservers with the 2 Cloudflare ones (e.g. example.ns.cloudflare.com and example.ns.cloudflare.com)
5. Save

Propagation usually takes 5-30 minutes. Cloudflare will email you once it's active. Your site stays live throughout this process.

Step 3 - Set Up Cloudflare Email Routing

Once Cloudflare confirms your domain is active:

1. In your Cloudflare dashboard - select your domain - go to Email - Email Routing

2. Click Get Started

3. Cloudflare will show you the MX and TXT records it needs to add

4. Click Add records and Enable - Cloudflare adds them automatically

Now add your forwarding rule:

1. Go to Routing Rules tab - click + Create Address (Onboard Domain)
2. Custom address: hi (this becomes hi@yourdomain.com)
3. Action: Send to an email - enter your Gmail address
4. Save

Cloudflare sends a verification email to your Gmail, click confirm and you're done. Emails sent to hi@yourdomain.com now land in your Gmail.

Step 4 - Send From Your Custom Email in Gmail

Receiving is set up, now let's make Gmail send from your custom address too.

First, generate a Gmail App Password

You need this because Google does not allow plain passwords for SMTP.

1. Make sure 2-Step Verification is enabled on your Google account
2. Go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
3. App name: type anything like Custom Email - click Create
4. Copy the 16-character password shown, you only see it once

Add the custom email to Gmail

1. Open Gmail - click the gear icon - See all settings

2. Go to Accounts and Import tab

3. Under "Send mail as" - click Add another email address

4. Name: Your Name | Email: hi@yourdomain.com | uncheck "Treat as alias" - Next

5. Fill in the SMTP details:

   • SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
   • Port: 587
   • Username: yourname@gmail.com
   • Password: the 16-character App Password
   • TLS selected

6. Click Add Account

7. A verification code is sent to hi@yourdomain.com, it lands in your Gmail - enter the code

Make it your default sender

Back in Settings - Accounts and Import - Send mail as, click make default next to your custom address.

Now every email you compose will automatically send from hi@yourdomain.com.

You are Done!

Here is what you now have:

• hi@yourdomain.com receives emails, forwarded to your Gmail
• Gmail sends emails from hi@yourdomain.com when you compose new messages
• Total cost: $0

Put that custom email on your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn. It is a small thing that makes a big difference in how seriously people take your outreach, especially when cold emailing hiring managers and clients.