For a thorough understanding of what each option offers, a simplified comparison table isn't enough to grasp all intricacies that come with each tool, so let's dive deeper into what makes Premium Inboxes and Mailforge unique.

Premium Inboxes vs Mailforge: Cold Email Infrastructure Overview

When you evaluate email infrastructure providers, start with concrete outputs: what type of inboxes and accounts you’ll receive, whether those are pre-configured inboxes or manually set mailboxes, and how the vendor supports domain purchasing or using own domains.

• Premium Inboxes sells ready-made Google Workspace inboxes that are built under your domains and delivered with full DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX, CNAME).

Their model is straightforward: you purchase accounts, submit an onboarding form, and they build and deliver inbox credentials and sequencer connection details - a turnkey “purchase, submit, receive” flow.

• Mailforge, by contrast, advertises a distributed email infrastructure optimized specifically for cold email. Mailforge includes free automated set up for each domain, bulk DNS updates, multiple workspaces, and mailboxes provisioned across a shared IP setup engineered for cold outreach.

Mailforge emphasizes quick setup and scale in minutes, and highlights features like SSL & domain masking and tools for calculating how many domains and mailboxes you need to avoid deliverability issues.

Both vendors cover the baseline technical needs (DNS records, domain setup, upload to sending platform) but they package them differently:

• Premium Inboxes sells official Google Workspace inboxes with comparatively short delivery windows.
• Mailforge offers an affordable integrated infrastructure platform that automates setup and ongoing hosting to help teams focus on campaigns rather than manual DNS and account creation.

Pricing Structure

Mailforge provides flexible, usage-based pricing for shared IP email infrastructure (you buy domains + mailbox slots). A handy on-page calculator estimates your exact costs. Annual billing for mailboxes gives 2 months free.

• $14/year per .com domain. Use the calculator to see how many domains you’ll need for your sequences.
• $3/Mailbox Slot/month. Minimum purchase: 10 mailbox slots.
• With annual billing the effective cost for 10 slots is $25/month.

Add-ons & extras

• SSL & Domain Masking: $2/domain/month or $0.5/domain/month when billed yearly.
• Forge Expert Double Session: $500 for two 1:1 consulting sessions.

Premium Inboxes provides simple, per-inbox pricing with no minimums and fast, managed Google Workspace inbox delivery. Pricing is tiered by volume (lower per-inbox rate as you scale).

• Start Up (1 - 249 inboxes): $3.50/mailbox/month.
• Growth (250 - 1,249 inboxes): $3.00/mailbox/month.
• Enterprise (1,250+ inboxes): $2.50/mailbox/month.

Setup Speed

Speed from purchase to “ready to send” is often top of mind: teams want inboxes instantly or within hours so outreach campaigns can run at full speed.

• Premium Inboxes markets a guaranteed delivery time of less than 12 hours (with upgrade options to 6 hours), with an onboarding form immediately after checkout and fast engineer-led builds that produce inbox credentials, DNS confirmations, and sequencer connection details.

Their promise is a low-friction purchase to onboarding form to accounts delivered process.

• Mailforge pushes speed to the next level though - ready in just 5 mins, as well as a UI that guides you through adding domains and mailboxes - including automatic DNS setup for SPF DKIM and DMARC and bulk DNS updates inside the app.

Which model is better depends on your process and team:

• If you need Gmail accounts and you value a <12h delivery SLA and US IP addressing, Premium Inboxes is designed for that.
• If you want a substantially faster delivery of mailboxes with seamless integration where DNS records, domain purchasing or transfers, and DNS records are automatically handled, and you prioritize instant automated provisioning at scale, Mailforge is the perfect option.

Types of Inboxes

A critical practical distinction is whether inboxes are official Google Workspace inboxes or distributed/shared infrastructure mailboxes tuned for cold email.

Premium Inboxes explicitly builds and delivers Gmail accounts - official Google Workspace inboxes made on your domains and configured for direct sequencing with your sending platform.

That means these inboxes behave like Gmail accounts and include the specific deliverability profile of Google mailboxes.

Mailforge, however, positions itself as a cold email infrastructure platform with:

• A shared IP setup
• Free automated DNS setup
• Bulk DNS updates

And the general ability to create hundreds of domains and mailboxes using distributed infrastructure optimized for maximum deliverability for cold email outreach.

Mailforge emphasizes compatibility with any sending software, which is useful for teams that run high volume outreach across many domains and need inbox rotation and distributed sending to build sender reputation without relying solely on Google Workspace.

Email Deliverability

Deliverability is where the rubber meets the road. Both providers explicitly handle technical deliverables that influence inbox placement:

• Premium Inboxes states it configures “best-in-class DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX, custom tracking)” and delivers accounts with the recommended settings tested across tens of thousands of cold email accounts to maximize delivery into inboxes rather than spam.
• Mailforge likewise advertises automatic DNS set up for DKIM, DMARC and SPF, as well as bulk DNS updates, and an onboarding experience intended to get domains configured to industry best practices.

Mailforge also provides tools and guidance to calculate how many domains and mailboxes you’ll need to process contacts without harming deliverability.

Mailforge’s differentiator is automation and scale: automated DNS setup, bulk DNS changes, domain transferring, and a distributed shared IP approach intended to allow high volume outreach without manual DNS tinkering.

Scaling Strategy

When planning high volume outreach, you need an explicit scaling strategy: how many inboxes to create, how to distribute volume (inbox rotation), and how to build sender reputation across domains.

• Premium Inboxes lists tiered pricing for 1–249, 250–1,249, and 1,250+ inboxes - clearly they serve large-volume clients who want many mailboxes accounts built quickly.
• Mailforge promotes a calculator inside the app to help you determine how many domains and mailboxes you need to process contacts without creating deliverability issues. Mailforge also offers the ability to create hundreds of domains and mailboxes using distributed infrastructure while significantly cutting costs compared to Premium Inboxes.

Operationally, Premium Inboxes is appealing if you want to buy many Gmail accounts on known pricing bands with US IP addresses and a self-serve client portal to manage subscriptions.

Mailforge’s operational advantage is automation: bulk DNS updates, automated setup, centralized workspace management, guidance on domain counts - features that reduce manual friction when you scale and need to coordinate warm up schedules and inbox rotation, all for a fraction of the price.

For true high-volume campaigns where the goal is to scale quickly while protecting deliverability, the Mailforge model is designed to minimize the manual overhead of spinning up and rotating large numbers of inboxes.

Alternative Options: Shared IP & Private IP Email Infrastructures

Salesforge uniquely bundles alternative infrastructure choices into a single stack:

• Primeforge (Google Workspace & MS365 mailboxes) for ESP-matched deliverability
• Mailforge for shared IP infrastructure needs
• Infraforge for private, dedicated-IP infrastructure and more customizable control

That product architecture means a single vendor can support multiple outbound campaigns and use-cases - from teams that want to manage multiple domains and multiple accounts cheaply, to heavy hitters who need dedicated IP provisioning or fine-grained control.

• By contrast, Premium Inboxes' positioning does not advertise a connected family of infrastructure alternatives you can switch between on the same platform.

For buyers weighing long-term lead generation and cold email outreach, this matters.

Having integrated alternatives (ESP-matched mailboxes + shared infra + private infra) inside one suite preserves CRM integration, feedback loops, and the ability to run deliverability tests and reputation monitoring under the same platform umbrella.

This saves time, reduces manual DNS setup and plan friction when adding new domains or new users, and helps maintain stable sender reputation as your sending volume scales.

Customer Support

Customer support models differ a lot between providers and that difference matters for adoption, troubleshooting deliverability, and long-term campaign health.

Premium Inboxes offers human-led customer support built around a simple purchase → onboarding form flow and direct email contact.

They promise quick delivery windows and emphasize real-time troubleshooting by experts for DNS, warm-up, and inbox health.

A Premium Resources Library, blog playbooks and templates back onboarding and deliverability guidance.

Mailforge advertises consultative services and add-ons - such as expert sessions to diagnose outreach challenges - along with deliverability resources and onboarding that reduces setup time

Besides that, Mailforge also offers:

• 24/7 email and live chat support
• Extensive documentation
• Youtube tutorials
• An active Slack community
• And even weekly AMA sessions.

In practice that means fewer technical steps for your team, less manual work mapping records across registrars, and fewer hours spent troubleshooting or waiting for a response.

Final Verdict - Which Email Infrastructure Provider Should You Pick For Your Cold Outreach Stack?

Premium Inboxes and Mailforge both solve the same fundamental problem - making cold email outreach reliable.

But they do it from different angles:

• Premium Inboxes sells Google Workspace inboxes with fairly quick human-assisted delivery and an easy onboarding form
• Mailforge sells an automated, infrastructure-first platform that streamlines domain purchasing, DNS records (SPF DKIM DMARC), bulk DNS updates, and rapid mailbox provisioning so teams can run high volume outreach with less manual work and a fraction of the cost.

If you want an operations-light, cold-email-centric infrastructure that helps you build sender reputation and scale quickly, Mailforge is the better match.

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