IONOS Mail Review (2026): I Couldn't Set It Up, Get Help or Cancel

I wanted to review IONOS Mail properly, so on Saturday morning I paid for it, with my own card and a domain of my own. A day and a half later I still didn’t have a single working email address. When I tried to cancel, that failed too.

IONOS is one of the biggest web hosts in Europe, its email is cheap and here in the UK its adverts are all over the TV. My plan was to spend Saturday evaluating the service properly: creating mailboxes, setting up my domain, testing webmail, the apps, spam filtering and delivery. I never got the chance, because IONOS couldn’t get past the basic steps of setting up a new customer and answering them when it went wrong.

So I’ve written this one differently from my other reviews. Rather than working through the feature list, I’m telling you what actually happened when I tried to become a customer, step by step, with the screenshots I took along the way. Prices and plans were checked on 7 November 2026.

What Happened, Hour by Hour

Who Is IONOS?

IONOS is a German hosting company, known as 1&1 until 2018 and part of the United Internet group. It sells domains, web hosting, website builders, servers and email to millions of small businesses across Europe and the US. In the UK you deal with IONOS Cloud Ltd, based in Gloucester, and IONOS has a UK data centre in Worcester. I couldn’t confirm from IONOS’s own pages which data centre holds UK customers’ email.

IONOS Mail Plans and Prices

IONOS sells its own email in a few sizes, alongside Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365. The prices look very low, but read the small print on the term.

Prices from IONOS’s UK site and my basket on 7 November 2026, per user, excluding VAT.

Mail Business gives you a 50 GB mailbox with a domain included for the first year. The £1 price is the 12 month option in a drop-down, and it’s selected for you. Choose it and you’re committed to a year, paying £6 a month after the first three. My contract email confirmed the plan renews automatically and has a 12 month minimum term. There is a 30 day money back guarantee, which is what I used.

Signing Up: Eight Offers Before One Email Address

I expect a hosting company to try to sell me other things. I didn’t expect quite so many. Here’s everything I was offered between landing on the email page and trying to create my first mailbox:

None of these were added to my basket without asking, which is good. But the free months on the extras roll into paid subscriptions, so if you take one you need to remember to cancel it.

“Just a Few More Seconds”: Five and a Half Hours

After paying, the thank you page told me my control panel setup was in progress and would be “just a few more seconds”. Forty four minutes later it said exactly the same thing. The order confirmation email was more honest: my order was “being reviewed” and, in rare cases, that can take up to 48 hours.

My password and contract emails arrived at 14:55, five hours and 26 minutes after I’d paid. I’ve signed up with a lot of email providers for these reviews, and I’ve never had to wait that long just to log in.

The Domain That Never Arrived

Once I was in, I clicked to set up email and was asked to pick a type of mailbox. First, another pop-up for the AI Receptionist, this time with three months free rather than the one month I’d been offered at checkout.

Then the real problem. I chose Mail Business and was told “A domain is required for setup”. When I signed up, I chose to bring a domain I already own, because I only wanted to point its DNS records at IONOS and keep it where it is. IONOS had instead set it up as an incoming transfer, and it was stuck “in progress”. Without the domain, there was no way to create an address.

I tried to cancel the transfer so I could start again. Both times, IONOS showed an error.

Support: An AI Chat and a Ticket Nobody Answered

IONOS’s help pages talk about award winning experts available by phone, chat or email. In the control panel, the chat is an AI assistant, not a person. To reach a human you raise a ticket or phone, and phone support needs a PIN from your account.

I raised a ticket at 15:22 on Saturday. The automatic reply promised an answer “as soon as possible” and gave the phone number. By Sunday morning, 18 hours later, nobody had replied and the ticket was still open. Twenty four hours after paying, I had no working mailbox and no answer.

I could have phoned. I chose not to, and I think that’s fair. Most people don’t have time to sit on the phone at the weekend. IONOS sells online services to people who buy online. I paid online, the problem was in my online account and I asked for help online. A company that size should answer a ticket from a new customer who can’t use what they’ve paid for within a day, weekend or not.

Trying to Cancel: Another Error

On Sunday morning I gave up and went to cancel under the 30 day money back guarantee. You do this online, under My account, then Contracts & subscriptions. The first step went well: a clear box offering to cancel free of charge within the 30 days.

Then came the usual steps. A survey asking why I was leaving. I chose customer service, and the next page asked me to “give our Customer Service a chance to make amends” with a phone number, open “24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week”. That’s the same company whose support ticket had sat unanswered since Saturday afternoon. Next, a page listing what I’d lose, warning that deleted mail can only be recovered within seven days “with additional costs”, and a big filled “Keep contract” button next to a plain “Cancel contract now” one.

I clicked Cancel contract now and got this:

So I couldn’t use the product, couldn’t fix it, couldn’t get an answer from support and couldn’t cancel it either. I’ve put my cancellation in writing on the support ticket, well inside the 30 days, and I’ll update this review with what happens to my refund.

What I Couldn’t Test

Because I never got a mailbox, I can’t tell you how IONOS webmail feels day to day, how good its spam filter is or how reliably its mail arrives. Plenty of people use IONOS email without trouble, and it may well work fine once it’s set up. But signing up, getting started and getting help are part of what you’re paying for, and those are the parts I can speak about.

How It Compares

Prices from each provider’s own pages, excluding VAT. IONOS checked 7 November 2026. See each review for details.

Pros and Cons

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does IONOS Mail cost?

On 7 November 2026, Mail Basic 5 was £1 a month for 12 months, then £2.50. Mail Business was £1 a month for three months, then £6, on a 12 month term, or £6 a month on a one month term. VAT is added on top.

Do I have to sign up for 12 months?

For the £1 Mail Business price, yes. The one month term costs £6 a month from the start. Either way the contract renews automatically.

Can I get a refund from IONOS?

Mail Business came with a 30 day money back guarantee. You’re meant to cancel online from your account, under Contracts & subscriptions, though when I tried it failed with a system error, so I put my cancellation in writing on a support ticket. After 30 days the minimum term and notice period apply.

Can I talk to a person at IONOS?

Yes, by phone, but you need a PIN from your account. The chat in the control panel is an AI assistant. You can also raise a support ticket, though mine had no reply all weekend.

How long does IONOS take to set up email?

For me, five hours and 26 minutes to get login details, and I still couldn’t create a mailbox after more than a day because the included domain never became available. Your experience may be quicker, but IONOS says order checks can take up to 48 hours.

The Bottom Line

I went in expecting to write a fairly ordinary review of cheap, basic business email. Instead I spent a weekend waiting. Slow account setup, an endless run of sales offers, a broken domain, an error when I tried to fix it, no reply from support and another error when I tried to leave. For a web based company, hiding behind an AI chat and a phone number isn’t good enough.

How could anyone trust a company with their business email when it can’t set up a new account or answer a new customer who’s stuck? IONOS spends heavily on TV advertising in the UK, yet it failed at the basics of customer service. Now imagine this was your live business email, with customers’ messages going missing, on a Saturday, and the only help on offer is an AI chat, a ticket nobody reads and a phone number.

It may work well once it’s running, and plenty of people use it. But there are cheaper and friendlier ways to get email on your own domain, with support that actually answers. I’d start with Zoho Mail or Infomaniak.

Note: I paid for IONOS Mail Business myself and IONOS had no say over what I wrote. This article contains no affiliate links to IONOS. See my disclaimer. Sources: my own order, emails and screenshots, 7 and 8 November 2026; IONOS email plans; IONOS: cancelling your contract; IONOS: notice periods; DCD: IONOS UK data centre.