Does Azure supports Inbound Email service like AWS SES, Sendgrid Inbound or Mailgun Inbound?

Question

I want to confirm whether Azure offers a service that supports inbound email processing similar to AWS SES. My requirement is to dynamically create unique email addresses for each user in my application and receive emails sent to those addresses. Users do not need mailbox access; only the system needs to read incoming emails programmatically.

Requirements:

• Dynamically generate unique email addresses and associate them with a mailbox. There is no user limit.
• Receive emails sent to those addresses.
• System-only access to incoming emails (no end-user mailbox access).
• Process emails and attachments and store attachments using Azure Functions, Azure Queues, and Blob Storage.

Questions:

1. Do Azure Communication Services or any other Azure services support inbound emails and dynamic email address creation?

If not, is there any Azure-native service that supports programmatic inbound email processing?

1. Can a single shared mailbox in Exchange Online/Microsoft 365 handle multiple custom email aliases for this purpose?
2. Can we programmatically create custom email addresses (aliases) and associate them with a shared mailbox? What are the limits?
3. Do we need to create a separate mailbox for each user to associate them with a shared mailbox, or can one shared mailbox handle all aliases?
4. What could be the per-mail size, including attachments?

Answer 1

Azure Communication Services Email currently supports only outbound email. It explicitly states that Azure Communication Service “only supports outbound emails,” and MX records are recommended only to improve reputation, not to receive and process inbound mail. There is no support in the provided information for:

• Inbound email reception
• Dynamic creation of inbound addresses/mailboxes
• Programmatic processing of inbound messages via ACS

The context also does not describe any other Azure-native service that provides SES-/SendGrid-/Mailgun-style inbound email routing and processing.

For the rest of the questions (about Exchange Online shared mailboxes, aliases, programmatic alias creation, limits, and per‑mail size), the necessary details are not present in the provided material.

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References:

• Overview of Azure Communication Services email
• Quota increase for email domains
• Email SMTP support in Azure Communication Services
• Service limits for Azure Communication Services
• Add Azure Managed Domains to Email Communication Service (platform-powershell)
• Email SDK features

Answer 2

Hi @Ferose Ali

Thanks for reaching out with your question. I understand you’re looking for a way to dynamically generate unique inbound email addresses per user and process incoming emails and attachments in Azure, without providing mailbox access to end users.

At present, Azure does not offer a native inbound email service comparable to AWS SES Inbound or Mailgun. Azure Communication Services is designed for outbound email scenarios only and does not support receiving incoming messages.

For this type of requirement, the Microsoft‑supported approach is to use Exchange Online (Microsoft 365). A single shared mailbox can be configured with multiple email aliases, allowing you to create unique inbound addresses without creating a mailbox per user. All incoming emails are delivered to the same mailbox, and your application can identify users based on the recipient address.

You can then access and process these emails using Microsoft Graph, Logic Apps, or Power Automate, and integrate Azure Functions to extract message content, store attachments in Azure Blob Storage, or push metadata to queues for further processing. This design supports system‑only access and aligns with Microsoft’s documented and supported architecture.

References:

• Azure Communication Services email (outbound only): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/email/email-overview
• Shared mailboxes in Exchange Online: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/email/about-shared-mailboxes?view=o365-worldwide
• Exchange Online message size limits: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/exchange-online-service-description/exchange-online-limits

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