Every KT8 Mail Feature, Included for Everyone

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMT

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.

Install KT8 Mail

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.

Your own mailbox and shared inboxes in one sidebar. Names and messages are examples.

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.

Backup & export in Settings.

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.