Comparison of webmail providers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)
Gnome globe current event.svg
 This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2011)
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (January 2011)

The following tables and gallery compare general and technical information for a number of webmail providers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

Contents

General information [edit]

General information on Webmail providers and products












Product Owner Release Cost Mailbox storage Attachment limit Language support Browsers supported POP3[a] IMAP SMTP SSL Account expiration
(inactivity)		 URL
Alternative Fuse Alternative Fuse Media, USA 2010 July Free and Paid Unlimited 20 MB 8 All ? ? ? Yes  ? [2]
AOL Mail AOL Inc., USA 2004 Aug Free (ads) Unlimited 25 MB English All Yes Yes Yes -- Never [3]
BlueTie BlueTie, Inc., USA 1999 $5.99/month 10 GB 25 MB English IE 6+; Mozilla 2+, Safari 3+ Yes Yes Yes -- Never [4]
ContactOffice ContactOffice Group S.A. 2000 Free to €50/month[1] 100 MB to 10 GB 25 MB 8 All Yes Paid Paid Yes 12 months [5]
FastMail.FM Opera Software Ltd., Australia 1999 Jan $4.95/year to $119.95/year[2] 10 to 50 MB[b] English All Paid Yes Paid SSL, TLS[4] 4 months [6]
Gmail Google Inc, USA 2004 Apr Free (ads) on gmail.com, $5/user/month on the user's domain[5] 10+ GB
(growing)[6]		 25 MB[7] 52 All Yes Yes Yes TLS, HTTPS, Exchange ActiveSync 9 months[c] [7]
GMX Mail
gmx.com		 United Internet AG, Germany 1997 Jan Free (ads) Unlimited[9] 50 MB 3 All Yes Yes Yes TLS, HTTPS 6 months[10] [8]
GMX.net FreeMail[11] United Internet AG, Germany 1997 Jan Free (ads) 1 GB[12] 20 MB German ? Yes Yes Yes -- 6 months [9]
GMX.net ProMail[13] United Internet AG, Germany 1997 Jan €2.99/month 5 GB 50 MB German ? Yes Paid Yes -- if payment stopped [10]
GMX.net TopMail[14] United Internet AG, Germany 1997 Jan €4.99/month 10 GB 100 MB German ? Yes Paid Yes -- if payment stopped [11]
Hushmail Hush Communications Ltd., Canada 1999 May Free (no ads)
$34.99 year (Premium)		 25 MB (free), 1 GB+ (premium) 20 MB, total 25 MB/mail[15] English All Paid Paid ? -- 3 weeks (free), None (paid) [12]
iCloud[d] Apple Inc., USA 2011 Oct Free (no ads) or $20/year, $40/Year, or $100/year[e] 5 GB (free), 10, 20, or 50 GB yearly[f] 20MB 4 iOS 5+, Safari, IE, Firefox, Chrome, iWork[18] No[19] Yes[19] Yes[19] SSL, TLS[19] Never [13]
LaPoste.net La Poste, France 2000 Free (ads) 2 GB 20 MB French All Yes Yes Yes SSL, TLS 6 months [14]
Lavabit Lavabit LLC 2004 free or paid 128MB to 8192MB 32MB to 128MB English ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? [15]
Lycos Daum, Korea 1995 Jan Free (ads)
Premium: $19.95 yearly		 3 GB (free)
5 GB		 35 MB Any ? Plus only Plus only ? -- ?, but can be as short as 30 days [16]
Mail.com[20] United Internet AG, Germany 1995 Free (ads in interface) or $3.95/month or $19.95/year Unlimited 50 MB[g] 3 All Paid Paid Yes TLS, HTTPS 12 months (free account)[22] [17]
Mail.ru Mail.ru, Russia 1998 Jan[23] Free (ads)
$5 monthly (no ads)		 Unlimited 30 MB[h] 4 Yes Yes Yes Yes 6 months [18]
Outlook.com Microsoft, USA 2012 July Free (ads) Unlimited[25] 25 MB (10 GB SkyDrive) 106 All[26] Yes[25] No[25] Yes[25] TLS, HTTPS[25], Exchange ActiveSync[25] 9 months (Outlook Plus: never) [19]
Ovi Mail Nokia, Finland 2008 Dec Free (provided by Yahoo!) 1 GB 20 MB 15 Internet Explorer, Firefox, Ovi Suite Yes Mobile only ? --  ? [20]
Pobox IC Group, Inc, USA 2004 $50 year[27] 50 GB 25 MB 70 All Yes Yes Yes Yes if payment stopped [21]
Rediffmail Rediff, India 1997 Free and paid: INR399 (US$7.30)/year for POP3; INR50 (92¢ US)/month for mobile Unlimited 25 MB 11 All INR399 (US$7.30) Yes ? -- 2 months (mails deleted), 3 months (deactivation) [22]
Runbox Runbox Solutions AS, Norway 1999 $19.95 per year or $49.95 per year with email & web hosting 10 GB[28] 100 MB 2 All Yes Yes ? SSL Never [23]
Sify Sify, India 1998 Free (Mail platform supported by Gmail) 10 GB 25 MB English All Yes Yes ? -- 3 months [24]
Yahoo! Mail Free Yahoo!, USA 1997 Oct Free (ads) Unlimited[i] 25 MB 27 IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome[30] most countries or YPOPs! Yes[j] Yes TLS, HTTPS[32] except classic version. 6 months
+2 months/yr active[33]		 [25]
Yahoo! Mail Plus[34] Yahoo!, USA 1997 Oct $19.99/yr (no ads) Unlimited 25 MB 27 IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome Yes Mobile only[k] Yes Yes[32] if payment stopped [26]
Yandex Mail Yandex LLC, Russia 2000 June Free (no ads) Unlimited[35] 30 MB, unlimited number of files up to 2 GB each using Narod[36] 6 All Yes Yes Yes SSL 6 Months[37] [27]
Zoho ZOHO Corporation, USA 2008 Oct Free (personal) for 3 users; $24/user yearly; $36/user yearly 5 GB "Lite".
"Standard": 10 & 15 GB		 20 MB 16 Firefox 2.0+, IE 6+, Chrome Yes Yes Yes -- 120 days (free account); Never (paid) [28]
Product Owner Release Cost Mailbox storage Attachment limit Language support Browsers supported POP3 IMAP SMTP SSL Account expiration
(inactivity)		 URL

Notes

  1. ^ In addition to the POP3 support listed here, almost all Web mail providers can be accessed with POP3 using the third-party tool FreePOPs.
  2. ^ Additionally there are monthly total transfer ("bandwidth") limits.[3] e.g., 80 MB/month for the free account (as of September 2009).
  3. ^ Gmail accounts may or may not be deleted after 9 months of inactivity. There is no guarantee they will remain after then.[8]
  4. ^ Must be an Apple (iPod, iPad, &c.) owner to obtain an account, but works on Windows, as well.
  5. ^ 15 GB cost $20/yr, 25 GB cost $40/yr, 55 GB cost $100/yr[16][17]
  6. ^ shared between file and email storage, customizable ratio
  7. ^ Help in Mail tour.[21]
  8. ^ When a user's mail box contains more than 500 MB, they will receive an email with a proposal to increase the volume by 2 GB by solving a CAPTCHA[24]
  9. ^ Yahoo! Mail had announced free, unlimited storage space for all its members, starting May 2007.[29]
  10. ^ Also can be used on non-mobile devices via third-party software.[31]
  11. ^ Can be used on non-mobile devices via third-party software.

Unique features [edit]

Unique features in webmail products
Name Features
AOL Mail N/A
BlueTie N/A
ContactOffice N/A
Excite N/A
FastMail.FM One time passwords;[38] Different From and "envelope from" addresses (no "on behalf of ..." issue);[39] spam filter; spam detection;[40] deletion of selected attachments.
Gmail Account verification via SMS or voice call in some countries;[41] Messages grouped into "conversations"; "Normal" view via Settings; Labels instead of folders; Undo send (implemented as a delayed send)
GMX Mail gmx.net N/A
GMX Mail gmx.com N/A
Hushmail N/A
Lycos N/A
Mail.com organizer
Mail.ru file storage, filters, antivirus, labels, folders, SMS verification, mobile verification. mobile alerts, pop3 mails accumulate
MobileMe N/A
Outlook.com One-time password, Mobile alerts
Ovi Mail As of May 2011, content is provided by Yahoo![42]
Rediffmail sign-in via Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Mobile Sync; Indrive.
Runbox N/A
Yahoo! Mail tabs (allowing to compose and view emails/settings/contacts etc. at the same time.
Yandex Mail No ads, email for own domains (Yandex PDD), labels, folders, scheduled email delivery, SMS verification, sign-in via Twitter, VK, Facebook, Google Profile
Zoho sign-in via Facebook, Google, Google Apps, Yahoo!

Language support [edit]

Supported languages
Name Languages supported
AOL Mail English
BlueTie English
ContactOffice English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish.
Excite English
FastMail.FM English Interface. All languages supported in message display/composition. Right to left directionality support.
Gmail 52
GMX Mail gmx.net German
GMX Mail gmx.com English, French, Spanish
Hushmail English
Lycos Any
Mail.com English, French, Spanish
Mail.ru English, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Uzbek
iCloud English, Spanish, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Czech, Hungarian (All iCloud languages)
Outlook.com 106
Ovi Mail 15 languages
Rediffmail English, Indian languages: Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Nepali.
Runbox English, Norwegian
Yandex Mail English, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Tatar, Azerbaijani
Yahoo! Mail 27[citation needed]
Zoho English (US), French, Spanish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish.

Features [edit]











Service name Automatic forwarding E-mail client access14 client E-mail for other server Integration with IM service Domain
Name
customization		 Interface
script
technique		 Virus scanning Filters out emails with executable attachments Custom "From:" Address Address modifiers (subaddressing) Server hosted public keyring (for encryption) Shared key encryption
AOL Mail No Yes
(POP3, IMAP, SMTP)		 Yes0 AOL Instant Messenger No1 JavaScript/ Ajax Yes
(McAfee)		 No  ? No No
Bigfoot Communications Premium account only Yes
(POP3, IMAP, SMTP)		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 XMPP Yes HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax Yes ? Yes  ? No No
FastMail.FM Paid accounts only Yes
(IMAP)7		 Paid accounts
(POP3, Hotmail)		 XMPP Enhanced and group (Business/ Family) accounts HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax (Optional user supplied custom css+JavaScript) Paid accounts
(ClamAV)		 Configurable with user filtering rules Yes
Editable while composing + saved personalities		 Yes
userid followed by "+" followed by tag available on all accounts; subdomain addressing (e.g. <tag>@<userid> .fastmail.fm) available on paid accounts		 No No
Gmail Yes Yes
(POP3, IMAP)
SSL/TLS supported
SMTP restricted18		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 Google Talkbeta (XMPP), AOL Instant Messenger Yes
(Google Apps $5.00 monthly/ $50.00 annually)		 HTML/ JavaScript/ Ajax2 Yes Yes, including .exe files in zip files Yes, limited.
Feature restricted to preconfigured addresses. Addresses not registered in advance with Gmail are blocked.		 Yes
userid followed by "+" followed by tag		 No No
GMX Mail No Yes
(POP3, IMAP17, SMTP)
SSL/TLS supported		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 XMPP Yes HTML/ JavaScript/ Ajax Yes
(McAfee and Symantec)		 Yes, including .exe files in zip files Yes No No No
Hushmail No Extra cost8 ? No $1.99/$3.99 monthly through Hushmail Business Java or HTML No but the text based email stops most viruses, PGP encryption  ? Yes, unlimited email aliases for Premium members  ? Yes Yes
Mail.com No Yes
(POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
SSL/TLS supported		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 Google Talk (XMPP) No HTML/ JavaScript/ Ajax2 Yes Yes, including .exe files in zip files Yes No No No
Mail.ru Yes Yes
(POP3, IMAP)		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 custom ? HTML/ Ajax (Beta) Yes
(Kaspersky)		  ? Yes  ? No No
Outlook.com Yes Partial
(POP3, SMTP)3		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 Windows Live Messenger Yes4 HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax Yes Yes, including .exe files in zip files Yes userid followed by "+" followed by tag[43] No No
rediff No Plus members only ? Rediff Bol Yes JavaScript/ Ajax2 Yes  ? Yes  ? No No
Runbox Yes Yes
(IMAP, POP, SMTP)
SSL/TLS supported		 Yes
(POP3, Hotmail, Gmail)
SSL/TLS supported		 XMPP, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN, ICQ, IRC[44] Yes HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax Yes
(ClamAV)		 If discarded by virus scanner Yes
Selectable while composing; saved identities		 Yes
userid followed by "+" or "-" followed by tag		 No No
Seznam.cz Yes Yes
(POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
SSL/TLS supported		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 No No HTML/ JavaScript Yes
(ESET-NOD32)		  ? Yes  ? No No
Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts only Yes
(POP3-Plus members only, but free in some countries, IMAP
SSL/TLS supported)		 Yes
(POP3 only)		 Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger $35 yearly HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax Yes
(Norton AntiVirus)		 Yes, including .exe files in zip files Yes
& only 10 addresses		 Yes
alias userid (chosen by user) followed by "-" followed by tag		 No No
Yandex Mail Yes Yes (POP3, IMAP, SMTP, SSL) Yes
(POP3 only)		 Ya Online, any XMPP IM Yes (Free, Yandex PDD supports up to 1000 mailboxes without verification of legal use) HTML/ JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax Yes
(Dr.Web)		 No Yes, only from confirmed addresses[45] No No No
Zoho Yes Yes (POP, IMAP, SMTP) Yes (POP) XMPP, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger Yes (business accounts) Ajax Yes  ? Yes  ? No No
Service name Automatic forwarding E-mail client access14 client E-mail for other server Integration with IM service Domain
Name
customization		 Interface
script
technique		 Virus scanning Filters out emails with executable attachments Custom "From:" Address Address modifiers Server hosted public keyring (for encryption) Shared key encryption

Note 0: Through AOL Easy Transfer

Note 1: Through AOL My eAddress

Note 2: HTML interface available for legacy browsers or users with JavaScript disabled

Note 3: Since March 12, 2009, POP3 technology rolled out to Windows Live Hotmail customers worldwide. Additionally, the proprietary DeltaSync-protocol is available.

Note 4: Through Windows Live Custom Domains

Note 7: IMAP only for free and Member accounts, IMAP and POP for Full and Enhanced

Note 8: IMAP access available for $14.99 for the first year and $29.99 yearly thereafter

Note 9: Forwarding and POP3 access with "Platinum" ($34.95 yearly) and above

Note 10: Through Yahoo! Mail Plus ($19.99 yearly);[46] or through YPOPs!

Note 12: Free of charge, but web-mail only.

Note 14: Most mail services that do not support POP3 access can be accessed through the FreePOPs mail proxy software.

Note 15: Yahoo! Mail Plus ($19.99 yearly) features[47]

Note 16: Mobile-compatible, simplified HTML interface available for legacy browsers, users with JavaScript disabled, and users with mobile devices.

Note 17: IMAP only available for paid accounts.

Note 18: Gmail restricts the FROM field to registered addresses. E.g. Disposable addresses forbidden.

Note 19: HTML-only backwards compatible.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Virtual office - Individual version". ContactOffice. Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 6 June 2012. 
  2. ^ "FastMail service plans". accessdate=15 May 2012. 
  3. ^ Why FastMail.FM tracks bandwidth
  4. ^ "Opportunistic SSL/TLS encryption on outgoing emails". FastMail.FM. 
  5. ^ "Google Apps Pricing". Retrieved 11 December 2012. 
  6. ^ "Top 10 reasons to use Gmail - 6. Lots of space". Retrieved 15 May 2012. 
  7. ^ "Gmail: Maximum attachment size". Google.com. 
  8. ^ ""Do Gmail accounts go dormant and expire?" Google Help Forum". 2010-10-20. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  9. ^ "File Size is Never a Problem". Retrieved 15 May 2012. 
  10. ^ GMX.com: 13. Term and Termination: 13.3. You agree that in the event that GMX determines, in its sole discretion, that you have not logged in for more than six months, GMX may [...] erase such materials from GMX's Equipment
  11. ^ GMX FreeMail
  12. ^ http://www.computerbase.de/news/2012-02/gmx-lockt-kunden-mit-groesserem-e-mail-postfach/ (German)
  13. ^ GMX ProMail
  14. ^ GMX TopMail
  15. ^ Help.hushmail.com
  16. ^ Storage Upgrade Options
  17. ^ iCloud pricing per year: $20 for 10GB, $40 for 20GB, $100 for 50GB (update: UK and EU prices)
  18. ^ iCloud: System requirements
  19. ^ a b c d iCloud: Mail server information. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
  20. ^ mail.com free mail: State of the art in global communication
  21. ^ "Mail Tour". O.aolcdn.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
  22. ^ Mail.com: 2. TERM AND TERMINATION: 2.4 If your account is not a Premium Services account it may be suspended after twelve months of inactivity.
  23. ^ Mail.Ru Group: Главная (Russian)
  24. ^ Объем почтового ящика - Mailbox quota (Russian) (Help information in Russian only.)
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Compare Outlook.com". Microsoft. Retrieved 7 May 2013. 
  26. ^ "Best browser for Outlook.com - Microsoft Windows Help". Microsoft. Retrieved 7 May 2013. 
  27. ^ "Pobox service plans". accessdate=16 Nov 2012. 
  28. ^ Runbox: Feature list. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  29. ^ "Yahoo! Mail goes to infinity and beyond"
  30. ^ Which browsers does Yahoo! Mail support? Yahoo! Help
  31. ^ Yahoo IMAP Connector
  32. ^ a b "How to secure Yahoo Mail Web sessions with SSL". CNET. Retrieved 2013-01-15. 
  33. ^ Do you close accounts due to inactivity? - Yahoo! Help
  34. ^ Yahoo! Mail Plus
  35. ^ http://help.yandex.com/mail/?id=1114209
  36. ^ http://help.yandex.com/mail/?id=1114254
  37. ^ http://legal.yandex.com/rules/
  38. ^ "Alternative Logins". FastMail.FM. 
  39. ^ "Personalities". FastMail.FM. 
  40. ^ "Backscatter". FastMail.FM. 
  41. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions on Account Verification via SMS or voice call". 
  42. ^ [1] Ovi Mail migration to Yahoo
  43. ^ Hotmail: One can organize their inbox using plus addresses. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  44. ^ Runbox: IM documentation. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  45. ^ http://help.yandex.com/mail/?id=1114258
  46. ^ "How do I receive my Yahoo! Mail using a different email program? | Yahoo! Mail Classic Help". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2010-11-22. 
  47. ^ "How does Yahoo! Mail Plus compare to free Yahoo! Mail?"
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_webmail_providers&oldid=556199513"