Every KT8 Mail Feature, Included for Everyone
Every KT8 Mail feature is now included for everyone. No paid tiers, no locked features and no premium edition, just your own email on your own Cloudflare account, plus Cloudflare's $5 a month plan when you Enable Outbound Email.
KT8 Mail is my take on Cloudflare's open-source Agentic Inbox, rebuilt for people who want their own private email but don't want to touch a terminal. Since the first release on 10 October I've shipped more than 30 updates, and the app has grown from a basic prototype into a complete webmail service.
We believe everyone should own their own email.
Here's what's changed, what it costs, and an honest look at where KT8 Mail fits on privacy.
Try it: the installer sets everything up on your own Cloudflare account in about ten minutes. Receiving is free. To Enable Outbound Email, you need Cloudflare's $5 a month plan.
At a glance: who KT8 Mail is for
| Who | Best fit? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals who want their own address | Ideal | A professional address at your own domain, no adverts, and your mail in an account you control. |
| Families | Ideal | One family domain, a mailbox for each person, and one $5 bill for the lot. |
| Small businesses and solopreneurs | Strong fit | Shared inboxes like sales@ and support@, up to 50 people, and no per-person pricing. You look after your own setup, or pay for help. |
| Clubs and volunteer groups | Strong fit | An address like secretary@ that passes from volunteer to volunteer without anyone losing the history. |
| People who need end-to-end encryption | Look elsewhere | KT8 Mail is not end-to-end encrypted. A dedicated encrypted provider is the better choice if that's a must. |
Every feature, for everyone
Every feature is included for everyone: team access, shared inboxes, extra addresses and as many people as you need. Everything you see today, and every feature, upgrade and security fix released in future, comes with no fees to KT8. The code is open source, so anyone can read it and check what it does.
KT8 is kept going by sponsors, and by setup and custom development work. If you'd rather someone else set it up for you, add your own branding or build a feature you need, that's what custom work is for. If you just want to use it yourself, you never pay KT8 a penny.
What it actually costs
Your running costs go to Cloudflare and your domain registrar, never to KT8.
| What | Cost | Paid to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| KT8 Mail software | Free | Nobody | Every feature included, open source. |
| Receiving email | Free | Cloudflare | Works on a free Cloudflare account. On the free plan you can only send to addresses you've verified in Cloudflare. |
| Enable Outbound Email | $5 a month | Cloudflare | Cloudflare's Workers Paid plan. It includes 3,000 sent emails a month, then $0.35 per 1,000. It's per account, not per person. |
| Your domain | About £10 a year | Your registrar | For a name like yourname.co.uk. Not needed if you already own one. |
What's new in KT8 Mail
The first version handled the basics: send and receive at your own domain, folders, search and a spam folder. Here's what has been added since, using the names you'll see on kt8.com.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Team Access & Shared Inboxes | Invite colleagues or family to sign in with their own email address. Each person sees only the mailboxes you give them, and shared inboxes like sales@ sit in everyone's sidebar. |
| Multiple addresses & catch-all | Add extra addresses like hello@ or support@ to one inbox. Replies go out from the address the email was sent to, and catch-all stops misspelt addresses bouncing. |
| Backup & export | A full backup of your mail every night, on your own account, as a standard .mbox file you can download. Restore it, or bring old mail across from Gmail, Apple Mail or Thunderbird. |
| Large file sharing | Attach files up to 3.5 MB directly, or share files up to 95 MB via download links, with optional password protection. |
| Organise with folders & labels | Gmail-style coloured labels alongside folders. Drag a label onto an email, and search with label:Bills. |
| Automated replies & templates | Signatures, reusable templates, and an out-of-office reply with start and end dates. |
| Smart address book | A Contacts page that fills itself from your email, suggestions as you type, and import from Gmail, iPhone or Outlook. |
| Privacy protection | Hidden tracking pixels are stripped out, so senders can't tell when or where you opened their email. |
| Progressive Web App (PWA) | Add KT8 Mail to your Mac Dock or phone home screen, with new-mail notifications and an unread count on the icon. |
| Everyday shortcuts | An Archive button, select several emails at once, five-second Undo Send, printing, keyboard shortcuts and a pop-out composer. |
Team Access & Shared Inboxes
This is the one I'm most pleased with. You invite people from the People page, and they sign in with their own email address using a one-time code from Cloudflare. No passwords to share or reset.
Shared inboxes such as sales@ appear in the sidebar of everyone who shares them, in one list with your own mailbox. Emails you send from a shared inbox go out with your own name, like "Paul at KT8 Sales", and the team can see who replied to what.
Up to 50 people can sign in, for the same $5 a month. That's for your whole organisation, not per person, because the sign-in uses Cloudflare Zero Trust, which is free for up to 50 users.
Backup & export
The biggest worry about running your own email is simple: "What if I lose it all?" So backups came early.
KT8 Mail makes a full copy of every mailbox each night, with every folder, label and attachment, and keeps it in your own Cloudflare account. Each copy is one standard .mbox file you can download in one click and open in Apple Mail or Thunderbird. You choose how many copies to keep, and you can restore one with everything back in its folder. The same tool brings your old mail across from Gmail (via Google Takeout), Apple Mail or Thunderbird.
An easier install
The installer at kt8.com now gives you two clear ways to start. You can try KT8 Mail and just receive email, or Enable Outbound Email with Cloudflare's $5 a month plan. After you pick your domain, the installer checks whether your account can send and sets KT8 Mail up to match, and the guide has a short video showing how to turn the plan on.
Hassle-free updates come via the KT8 Installer: when an update comes out, you run it again and press one button. Your mail and settings stay as they are.
Privacy first, honestly
I review email providers for a living, so I'm not going to over-sell this. Here's exactly who can see what.
| Who | What they can see |
|---|---|
| KT8 (me) | Nothing. The installer only has permission while it sets things up, then hands it back. Your mail, contacts and settings live in your Cloudflare account, and your inbox keeps working even if kt8.com disappears. |
| Cloudflare | It runs the servers your mail is stored on, under your own account. Like every email service, it keeps a delivery log of who sent mail to whom, for up to 30 days. |
| Advertisers | Nothing. There are no adverts, no profiling and no tracking. Tracking pixels in emails you receive are removed, and outside images load through a private proxy on your own account. |
| Your team | Only the mailboxes you give them. |
A few choices are switched off until you turn them on. The Optional AI reply assistant is off by default, and when it's on it uses Cloudflare's AI on your own account. Gravatar profile pictures are off too, because they tell a third party which addresses you're looking at.
Know the limits: KT8 Mail is not end-to-end encrypted, and your mail is stored on Cloudflare's servers. If you need end-to-end encryption, a dedicated encrypted provider is the right tool, and my Proton Mail guide is a good place to start. What KT8 Mail gives you is ownership: your own domain, your own account, no adverts, no lock-in and code anyone can check.
KT8 Mail and the alternatives
| KT8 Mail | Free ad-supported webmail | Paid privacy-focused provider | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own domain | Yes | Usually needs a paid business plan | Yes, on most paid plans |
| Price for a team | $5 a month for up to 50 people | Per person | Per person |
| Adverts or profiling | None | Common on free plans | None |
| Where your mail lives | Your own Cloudflare account | The provider's servers | The provider's servers |
| End-to-end encryption | No | No | Often, yes |
| Open source | Yes | No | Varies |
| Who looks after it | You, with one-click updates | The provider | The provider |
Strengths and weaknesses
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Free software with every feature included, and open source | Not end-to-end encrypted |
| $5 a month for the whole organisation, not per person | You need a Cloudflare account and a domain, and you're responsible for them |
| Your mail stays in your own account, with nightly backups you can download | Webmail and home-screen app only for now, with no IMAP for desktop mail apps |
| Team access and shared inboxes for up to 50 people | Still young: calendar, file storage and forwarding are on the way, not here yet |
| No terminal needed, and updates take one click | Cloudflare keeps a 30-day delivery log, as every mail service does |
Questions people ask
Is the KT8 Mail software really free?
Yes. Every feature is included for everyone, with no fees to KT8. Your only costs are Cloudflare's $5 a month plan if you Enable Outbound Email, and your domain.
Do I need to be technical to install it?
No. You sign in with Cloudflare, pick your domain and the installer does the rest, including your email records. The guides cover creating a Cloudflare account and buying a domain, step by step.
Can I bring my old email across?
Yes. In Settings you can import an .mbox file from Gmail (via Google Takeout), Apple Mail or Thunderbird. Gmail labels come with it, and anything already in KT8 Mail is skipped. Contacts import from Gmail, iPhone or Outlook.
What happens if kt8.com goes away?
Your inbox keeps working. It runs entirely on your own Cloudflare account and doesn't depend on kt8.com. The update notice only asks kt8.com for the latest version number.
Can I use it on my phone?
Yes. It works in any browser, and you can add it to your phone's home screen or your Mac's Dock so it opens like an app, with notifications for new mail.
How does KT8 make money?
Through sponsors, and through setup and custom development work for people and businesses who want help. Using KT8 Mail yourself costs KT8 nothing and earns KT8 nothing.
The bottom line
KT8 Mail does what I always wanted from email: my own address, my own account, a clean modern inbox, and no one in the middle reading, advertising or charging per head. Including every feature for everyone felt like the right call, because owning your email shouldn't be a premium feature.
It isn't end-to-end encrypted, and you do take on looking after your own Cloudflare account. If you're happy with that trade, it's the simplest way I know to get private email at your own domain for $5 a month, for the whole family or the whole team. If you get stuck, email hello@kt8.com and I'll help.
Install KT8 Mail on your own Cloudflare account in about ten minutes, with no terminal and no GitHub account needed.
About KT8 Mail: KT8 Mail is my own project, and I don't earn from people using it. It's an independent project based on Cloudflare's open-source Agentic Inbox (Apache 2.0), and it is not made, endorsed or supported by Cloudflare. For more on email and privacy, see my Agentic Inbox review and Proton Mail guide on paulobrien.com.