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Cloudflare Email Routing: Send From Gmail in 2027

Updated 2026-10-03 · by Adam Hale

Cloudflare Email Routing keeps forwarding your domain's mail into Gmail after January 2027. The usual way to reply as you@yourdomain.com, adding it under Gmail's "Send mail as" through smtp.gmail.com, stops working. Email Routing has never sent mail itself, so to send from Gmail in 2027 you need an outbound SMTP service for your domain plus a way to use it. The same applies to ImprovMX free users.

What changes for Cloudflare Email Routing users

• Email Routing (inbound) is free on all Cloudflare plans and keeps working. Forwarding into Gmail is not affected by Google's change (Gmail Help 17101213).
• The reply recipe breaks. Most guides told you to add the address in Gmail under "Send mail as" with smtp.gmail.com and a Gmail app password. Your domain isn't hosted by Google, so it's a third-party address, and Gmail removes those in January 2027. New setups may already be restricted during Q3–Q4 2026.
• Cloudflare's own sending is a separate product. Email Sending is in public beta, requires Workers Paid ($5/month), includes 3,000 emails a month and then costs $0.35 per 1,000. It offers SMTP at smtp.mx.cloudflare.net:465. Cloudflare notes that sending to verified destination addresses in your own account is free on all plans, but that doesn't help you reply to other people.

ImprovMX send as Gmail alternative

ImprovMX users are in the same spot:

• Free plan: 1 domain, 25 aliases, 500 forwards a day, and no SMTP.
• Light, $50/yr: 5 domains, 750 SMTP sends a month.
• Premium, $9/month: 12,000 sends a month.

ImprovMX's own guide to Gmail Send-as alternatives says "every option here sends through ImprovMX SMTP, which requires a paid plan". It suggests Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Fastmail or Zoho. If you already pay for ImprovMX, its SMTP server (smtp.improvmx.com, port 587 or 465) is the natural outbound choice.

Cloudflare Email Routing send from Gmail in 2027: outbound options

(our estimate) The free senders are built for transactional and marketing mail. Nothing we read bans low-volume personal replies, but spam complaints can get an account suspended. The free SMTP guide covers the trade-offs in detail.

DNS: adding a sender next to Email Routing

Your MX records stay pointed at Cloudflare; the outbound service doesn't need MX. What you add:

1. SPF. A domain may have only one SPF record, and Cloudflare warns that multiple SPF records break Email Routing. Email Routing already created v=spf1 include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net ~all when you enabled it. Add the sender's include: to that same record instead of creating a second one, for example v=spf1 include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net include:<your-sender> ~all.
2. DKIM. Add the CNAME or TXT records the sender gives you, then click verify in its dashboard.
3. DMARC. If you don't have one, start with v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:you@yourdomain.com. Tighten it once reports show your mail passing.

Send a test to a Gmail address you don't own and check "Show original". SPF, DKIM and DMARC should all say PASS.

Where to write from

• Gmail on the web, desktop: a browser extension that sends through your new SMTP service, such as SendAs Relay.
• Thunderbird: add an identity for your domain address with the sender's SMTP server. It's free and works on every desktop OS.
• Phone: a forward-only domain has no mailbox for the Gmail app to add. If you need to send from your phone, a cheap mailbox (Purelymail, Migadu) or Workspace is the honest answer.

Don't confuse the two Cloudflare products

SendAs Relay's relay also runs on Cloudflare, but on Cloudflare Workers, a separate product from Email Routing. It doesn't replace Email Routing, and you don't need Email Routing to use it. If you already manage your domain in Cloudflare, you can deploy your own copy of the relay in that same free account (self-host guide).

A note on Google's warning

Google cautions that "third-party tools or browser extensions that offer to replicate 'Send as'" often need your credentials. For a Cloudflare-routed domain, the credential is a sending key from Brevo, SMTP2GO or similar. It's a dedicated SMTP login you can revoke on its own, which is less sensitive than a mailbox password. Still, keep it somewhere you control.

How SendAs Relay fits

• A Firefox (140+) and Edge (137+) extension that adds a From picker to Gmail on the web. It doesn't work in the Gmail mobile apps.
• Pick you@yourdomain.com and the message goes out through the SMTP service you set up (Brevo, SMTP2GO, Mailjet, Resend, Mailgun, ImprovMX paid, Forward Email paid, Purelymail, Migadu) via a stateless relay. Gmail doesn't send it.
• Credentials stay in your browser. The relay is open source (MIT), stores nothing and has logs off.
• It can save a copy to Gmail's Sent Mail, or Bcc you.

Not the right fit if you use Chrome, need to send from your phone, or would rather pay for a native setup (Workspace). Free covers one address; see pricing.

Related guides

• Gmail Send mail as removed: what to do
• Custom domain with Gmail without Workspace
• Free SMTP server for a custom domain

Sources

• Cloudflare Email Service docs (updated 2026-06-09)
• Cloudflare Email Service pricing (updated 2026-06-09)
• Cloudflare: domain configuration and DNS records and troubleshooting multiple SPF records (accessed 2026-10-03)
• Gmail Help 17101213 (accessed 2026-10-03)
• ImprovMX pricing and Gmail Send-as alternatives guide (accessed 2026-10-03)
• Forward Email pricing (accessed 2026-10-03)
• Brevo pricing, SMTP2GO pricing, Mailjet pricing, Resend pricing, Mailgun pricing (accessed 2026-10-03)
• Google Workspace pricing (accessed 2026-10-03)