Business email providers compared: Aliyun, Tencent, Rovela, Google

The main business email providers fall into a few categories: domestic hosted services (Aliyun Qiye Mail, Tencent Exmail), international suites (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365), and independent hosting services such as Rovela. The right choice depends on team size, budget, data-residency requirements, and how tightly you want to integrate with other office software.

Main options compared

Aliyun Qiye Mail

• Free tier supports up to 50 accounts with limited features
• Paid tier is per-user and more capable
• Tightly integrated with DingTalk and the Aliyun ecosystem
• IMAP only exposes the last 30 days of mail by default; full history must be enabled in the admin console

Tencent Exmail

• Free to use with a reasonably mature interface
• Integrates with WeChat Work
• IMAP requires a client-specific password; login passwords are not accepted

Google Workspace

• Gmail interface, popular with international teams
• Starts at around $6/user/month
• Requires a reliable connection from mainland China

Microsoft 365

• Outlook interface, deeply integrated with Office
• Password login over IMAP has been removed; third-party clients need OAuth
• On the expensive side

Rovela

• Infrastructure hosted in China, low latency
• Free tier: 5 mailboxes, 1 GiB storage; Pro: 100 mailboxes, 50 GiB
• Full webmail plus IMAP/SMTP
• Member permission controls and bulk mailbox import

How to choose

Fewer than 10 people, budget-conscious: a free plan (Rovela free tier or Tencent Exmail).

10–50 people, want to control where data sits: Rovela Pro or Aliyun Qiye Mail paid tier.

International team or Google ecosystem: Google Workspace.

Heavy Office users: Microsoft 365.

Migration cost

The biggest migration effort is moving historical mail. Rovela supports bulk IMAP import: an admin uploads a CSV with addresses and passwords, the system verifies each login, and then imports every mailbox in parallel, preserving dates, read flags, and folder structure.