Getting a Free support@yourdomain.com Email With ImprovMX

I needed support@matchda.com

After connecting a domain (matchda.com) to my personal project matchda, the next thing I ran into was email. To let users send inquiries, or to put a reply address in service announcement emails, I needed a domain email like support@matchda.com. Writing something like matchda.official@gmail.com just doesn't inspire the same trust.

The problem is cost. To properly run a domain mailbox like this, you'd usually attach Google Workspace or paid mail hosting, which charges a monthly fee per account. For a personal project with no revenue yet, paying every month just to receive a couple of inquiries felt like a burden.

That's when I found ImprovMX. Short answer: mail sent to support@matchda.com gets forwarded to my personal Gmail for free, and I can even reply (send) from that address. This post is a straightforward writeup of that setup process.

What is ImprovMX

ImprovMX is a custom-domain email forwarding service. The core concept is simple.

Someone → sends mail to support@matchda.com
             ↓ (ImprovMX receives it)
        forwards to my personal Gmail

In other words, ImprovMX isn't handing you a mailbox — it's a mail carrier that passes along mail addressed to your domain to a different address. So all you need to do is point your domain's mail-receiving server (MX) at ImprovMX. Even the free plan covers 1 domain + a few aliases, which is plenty for a personal project.

Prerequisites

• A domain you own (mine is matchda.com)
• Permission to edit that domain's DNS (your domain registrar, Cloudflare, etc.)
• A personal email to receive mail (mine is Gmail)

Step 1. Register the domain with ImprovMX

Sign up at improvmx.com and add your domain.

1. Enter the domain in the dashboard (matchda.com)
2. Specify the receiving address (alias) and destination
   • Alias: support
   • Forward to: my.personal.email@gmail.com

This creates the rule "anything sent to support@matchda.com goes to my Gmail." But it doesn't work yet. There's still a DNS setting left to point the domain's mail server at ImprovMX.

Step 2. Add MX records to DNS (the key step)

Where mail should go is decided by a domain's MX (Mail eXchange) records. These need to point at ImprovMX's servers. The values ImprovMX provides usually look like this.

Type	Name (Host)	Value (Server)	Priority
MX	@	mx1.improvmx.com	10
MX	@	mx2.improvmx.com	20

Add these two lines in your DNS editor. A lower priority number means it's tried first, so with mx1 at 10 and mx2 at 20, mx1 is used first, falling back to mx2 on failure.

⚠️ If other MX records already exist (say, from a previous mail service), they need to be removed. If MX points to multiple places, mail can end up going somewhere it shouldn't.

Step 3. Add an SPF (TXT) record

MX alone gets you receiving, but if you later want to send from that address, you need an SPF record. SPF is a TXT record specifying "which servers are allowed to send mail under this domain's name." Without it, mail you send is easily flagged as spam.

Type	Name	Value
TXT	@	v=spf1 include:spf.improvmx.com ~all

If an SPF TXT already exists (because of another sending service), it needs to be merged into one — a domain can only have one SPF record. For example, to also allow sending via Gmail, combine them like this.

v=spf1 include:spf.improvmx.com include:_spf.google.com ~all

Step 4. Verify — check for the green light

DNS takes time to propagate (usually a few minutes to tens of minutes, up to a few hours). Back on the ImprovMX dashboard, it automatically checks the MX and SPF status.

• 🟢 A green light means setup is complete
• 🔴 A red light means it either hasn't propagated yet, or a value is wrong

Once the green light showed, I sent a test email to support@matchda.com from a different email account. Shortly after, it landed in my Gmail inbox. Receiving ends here.

Step 5. Sending too — "replying" from that address in Gmail

Receiving alone is only half the job. If the sending address goes out as my personal Gmail when replying to an inquiry, that's awkward. I wanted to appear to send from support@matchda.com. Solved via Gmail's "Send mail as" feature.

Gmail Settings → Accounts and Import → "Send mail as" → Add an address:

1. Enter a name and support@matchda.com
2. Enter SMTP server info — ImprovMX provides free SMTP

Item	Value
SMTP server	smtp.improvmx.com
Port	587 (TLS)
Username	support@matchda.com
Password	the SMTP password issued by ImprovMX

3. Gmail sends a confirmation email, which comes right back into my Gmail via forwarding. Verify with the link (or code), and that's it.

Now, when replying in Gmail, I can pick support@matchda.com as the sending address. From the recipient's perspective, it's a fully domain-based email exchange.

Limits of the free plan

Being free, there are limits. Worth knowing before adopting it.

Item	Free plan
Domain	1
Alias	limited count (a handful, like support, hello)
Sending volume	daily send cap (not suited for bulk sending)
Use case	good for receiving inquiries, low-volume replies

The key is that ImprovMX is forwarding, not a mailbox (storage). Since mail piles up in my Gmail, if a team wants to use it like a shared inbox, or you need bulk marketing sends, a paid plan or a different solution is the right fit. For an individual project's support@ front desk, free is more than enough.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Test email doesn't arrive	MX hasn't propagated / typo in the value	wait for DNS propagation, check for the dashboard's green light
Dashboard keeps showing red	leftover existing MX record	delete the old MX, leave only ImprovMX's MX
Sent mail lands in spam	SPF missing/duplicated	register SPF TXT merged into one
Gmail send-as verification fails	SMTP password/port error	recheck port 587, the ImprovMX SMTP password
Warning that SPF has two lines	only 1 SPF record is allowed	merge the include:s into a single line

Summary

• Goal: receive support@yourdomain on personal Gmail, and send from that address too — no paid mailbox
• Step 1 register the domain + alias with ImprovMX
• Step 2 add MX records (mx1·mx2.improvmx.com) to DNS — the core of receiving
• Step 3 add SPF (TXT) — prevents spam flagging on sends (merged into one per domain)
• Step 4 check the dashboard's green light + test receiving
• Step 5 set up Gmail's "send as" + ImprovMX SMTP for sending

Connecting one domain, I found myself wondering "do I have to pay monthly for email too?" — but thanks to ImprovMX, I got a professional front desk for $0. Among the small details that make a personal project look like a real service, this was the setup with by far the best cost-to-benefit ratio.