Comparison of webmail providers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.
[edit] General information
| Owner | First public release date | Cost (USD) | Storage/Attachment size | Languages supported | IMAP or POP3 support | Account deactivated if not logged in | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOL Mail [1] | AOL | Aug 23, 20040 | Free | Unlimited Storage/16 MB | 26 | Both | 3 months (without fee) |
| BigString Smart Mail [2] | BigString Corp | 2004 | Free: (incl. Track/ Recall/ Erase/ Video-Mail features) Premium: $29.95/yr (POP3/ IMAP, Video+) Business Mail: $12.49/mo (10 accounts, Domain) Email Marketing: Affordable (Easy, Call-to-action, Video) |
Unlimited Storage/25 MB | English & Chinese | Both | 2 months |
| Everyone.net [3] | Everyone.net, Inc. | 1998 | Personal Mail $0.60/mo (5 accounts, domain) Business Mail: $3.00/mo (5 accounts, domain) |
100 MB (Personal Mail) 10 GB (Business Mail) |
English and Spanish | ||
| FastMail.FM [4] | Messaging Engine Pty Ltd Parkville, Victoria, Australia |
1999 | Free (ads in emails and interface) $14.95 one-time (Member) $19.95 yearly (Full) $39.95 yearly (Enhanced) |
10 MB/40 MB bw/month2 (Free) 16 MB/80 MB bw/month (Member) 600 MB/300 MB bw/month (Full) 6 GB/1 GB bw/month (Enhanced) |
English | IMAP for all accounts, POP3 for Full and Enhanced accounts | 45 days (Guest account) 4 months (Member account) None (Full and Enhanced accounts) |
| FORUM Mail [5] | FORUM.DK (tidligere Ofir) | Aug, 19990 | Free/gratis | Storage/25 MB | Danish/Dansk | No | 4 months (without fee) |
| FreeMailBox.net [6] | FreeMailBox.net | Apr 26, 20070 | Free | 500 MB | English | POP3 | 3 Months |
| FuseMail [7] | Fusemail | Oct, 2003 | $0.99 per mailbox / month $0.99 per GB / month Minimum $10 spend per month. |
50 MB attachment limit. | English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese and Arabic | Both | |
| Gmail [8] | April 1, 2004 | Free (text ads seen when viewing mail, not in messages) | 6.8 GB+/20 MB3
~1500 bytes added every second. |
40 | Both | 9 months | |
| GMX Mail [9] | GMX Internet Services, Inc. | 2007 | Free (no ads, sometimes in inbox, not in messages) | 5 GB3 | English | Both | 6 months |
| Hushmail [10] | Hush Communications Ltd Vancouver, Canada |
May 1999 | Free $2.50 monthly (Premium) |
2 MB/1.5 MB (free) 250MB (Premium) |
English | 3 weeks | |
| Inbox.com [11] | Xacti Group | free $9.96 yearly (backup) $29.88 yearly (exclusive) |
In USA, CA, UK 5 GB of storage, other locations 2 GB of storage (free) 5Gb (backup) 30Gb (exclusive) 50 MB attachment size |
English | POP3 | 3 months (free) | |
| Lavabit [12] | Lavabit LLC | 2004-06-01 | Free Ad-supported Paid $8/y Paid $16/y |
128 MB 1024 MB 1024 MB 8192 MB |
English | Both | 4 months |
| Lycos | Daum Communications | 1995 | Free & $19.95 (Premium) | In USA 3 GB of free storage 5 GB of storage for (Premium), Unlimited file attachment size | Any | 1 month (free) | |
| LuxSci [13] | Lux Scientiae, Inc. | December 1, 1999 | $9.99 monthly | 2 GB+/50 MB | Any/Unicode | Both | |
| Magnus mail [14] | Coreworx Licensing [15] | Sep 1, 2007 | Free (20MB), Eur 7.50/month (Not confirmed). Includes the Niolite On Webtop. |
500MB (standard) (GB upgrades available) |
Dutch, English | POP3 (IMAP planned for next version) | |
| mail.com [16] | Mail.com Corp. [17] |
1997 | Free (with ads); Premium Versions (from $9.95 yearly) | 100 MB | 14 | POP3 on paid versions only | 2 months |
| Mail.ru [18] |
Mail.ru | 1998 [19] | Free (ads in interface) $5 monthly (without ads) |
Unlimited/30 MB6 | Russian, English | POP3 | |
| mail2.co.il [20] |
Mail2 Israel | 2007 | Free | 25 MB | Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic | Both | |
| Mailtrust [21] | Mailtrust, LLC | 1999 | $2.00-$3.00 per year per mailbox depending on quantity |
10 GB/50 MB |
8 | Both | |
| MSN Hotmail [22] (replaced by Windows Live Hotmail) |
Microsoft | July 4, 1996 | Free (basic) $19.95 yearly1 |
5 GB/10 MB (basic) 10 GB/20 MB1 |
17 | ||
| NetZero [23] | NetZero - a United Online Company | January 2001 | Free (basic) $9.95 yearly (Platinum) |
1 GB/2 MB (basic) 2 GB (Platinum) |
14 | 2 months (email) | |
| O2 Webmail [24] | Telefónica O2 | N/A | Free | 20MB | English | Both | |
| O2 mail [25] | O2 Poland | N/A | Free | 10GB/100MB | Polish | Both | |
| PolarisMail [26] | PolarisMail, Inc. | 2003 | 1$/ 1GB mailbox 1$/ additional GB |
1 GB / 50MB |
45 | Both | |
| Runbox [27] | Runbox AS | 2000 | 49.95$/year 19.95$/additional accounts |
10 GB / 100 MB |
English, Norwegian | Both | None (subscribers) 1 month (free trial) |
| Snooty Mail [28] | Snooty | 2004 | Free |
5 GB | English | ||
| Thinkpost [29] | ThinkPost Communications | October 2005 | $4.00 monthly |
2 GB/50 MB |
26 | Both with SMTP as well & Full BlackBerry Sync (Calendar, Notes, Tasks) | |
| Tuffmail [30] | IRBS Engineering, Inc. | 2002 | 1 Mailbox, 512 MB storage, 1024 MB transfer: $24/year 1 Mailbox, 1024 MB storage, 2048 MB transfer: $36/year 2 Mailboxes, 1024 MB storage, 2048 MB transfer: $48/year |
512MB/100MB 1024MB/100MB 1024MB/100MB 4096MB/100MB |
45 | Both | |
| Whozin Mail [31] | Whozin Company, Ltd. | 2007 | Free; pays received emails with 0.1 US cents per read email |
Unlimited |
2 | Internet based only | Never |
| Windows Live Hotmail [32] (replaces MSN Hotmail) |
Microsoft | November 1st, 2005 | Free (ads added to the signature of every outgoing email) $19.95 yearly (Plus)4 |
5 GB/10 MB 10 GB/20 MB (Plus)4 |
35 | Offers POP to Hotmail Plus users only. Also offers DeltaSync to sync e-mail and contacts (and calendar for Hotmail Plus users) with Outlook or Windows Live Mail. | 2 months (free) |
| WP Mail [33] | Wirtualna Polska | N/A | Free | 3GB/50MB | Polish | POP3 | |
| Yahoo! Mail [34] |
Yahoo! | October 8, 1997 | Free (basic) $19.99 yearly (Plus version) |
Unlimited/10 MB (basic)5 Unlimited/20 MB (Plus version)5 |
27[citation needed] | POP3 (Plus only); or with YPOPs! | 4 months (basic) |
| Owner | First public release date | Cost (USD) | Storage/Attachment size | Languages supported | IMAP or POP3 support | Account deactivated if not logged in |
Note 0: Some web sites say that the public release date of AOL Mail should be May 11, 2005.
Note 1: Hotmail Plus, Outlook Live, MSN Premium, and Windows Live Hotmail
Note 2: Text message signup (some countries only)
Note 3: Bandwidth is limited rather than attachment size
Note 4: Subscription-based upgrade is in development
Note 5: Yahoo! Mail had announced free, unlimited storage space for all its members, starting May 2007 [35].
Note 6: Mail.ru mailboxes start out at 10 GB; if the user needs more space, they can increase storage 2 GB at a time by solving a captcha [36]
[edit] Features
| Automatic forwarding | E-mail client access14 | client E-mail for other server | Integration with IM service | Domain Name customization | Interface script technique | Virus scanning | Custom "From:" Address | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOL Mail | No | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) |
Yes0 | AOL Instant Messenger | Yes1 | JavaScript/Ajax | Yes (McAfee) |
|
| BigString Smart Mail | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) |
Yes | Dev | Yes (Own Domain) |
JavaScript/Ajax/PHP | Yes | Yes, + Masquerading |
| Everyone.net | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP) |
? | No | Yes (Own Domain) |
HTML/JavaScript/Ajax | Yes | Yes |
| Fastmail.FM | Paid accounts | Yes (IMAP)7 |
Yes (POP3, hotmail) |
No | Enhanced accounts only | HTML/JavaScript/CSS | Paid accounts (ClamAV) |
Yes Editable while composing + saved personalities |
| Free Mail Box | Yes | Yes (POP3) |
Yes0 | No | No1 | JavaScript/Ajax | Yes | |
| Fusemail | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP, SMTP,LDAP) |
Yes | Internal Jabber-based Client | Yes | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax2 | Yes | Yes |
| Gmail | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) |
Yes (POP3 only) |
Google Talkbeta (Jabber), AOL Instant Messenger | Yes6 | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax2 | Yes (Sophos Anti-Virus) |
Yes |
| GMX Mail | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) |
Yes (POP3 only) |
No | Yes | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax | Yes (McAfee and Symantec) |
Yes |
| Hushmail | No | Extra cost8 | ? | Hush Messenger | $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 |
| Lavabit | All except Basic | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) |
? | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| LuxSci | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP, SMTP,LDAP) |
Yes (POP3 only) |
No | Yes | JavaScript/Ajax2 | Yes | Yes |
| Magnus mail | Yes | Paid accounts | Yes | No | Yes | JavaScript/Ajax | Yes | Yes, unlimited.12 |
| mail.com | Platinum members only9 | Platinum members only9 | ? | AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ | Available | HTML/Ajax (Beta - premium users only) | Yes | |
| Mail.ru | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP) |
Yes (POP3 only) |
Mail.ru Agent | ? | HTML/Ajax (Beta) | Yes (Kaspersky) |
Yes |
| MSN Hotmail (replaced by Windows Live Hotmail) |
Yes | Partial3 | No | Windows Live Messenger | Yes4 | HTML | Yes (Trend Micro) |
Yes |
| Netzero | Paid accounts11 | Paid accounts11 | ? | NetZero Voice | Available | JavaScript/Ajax | Yes (Norton AntiVirus) |
|
| PolarisMail[37] | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) SSL/TLS supported |
No | No | Yes | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax | Yes | Yes |
| rediff | No | Plus members only | ? | Rediff Bol | Yes | JavaScript/Ajax2 | Yes | Yes |
| Runbox[38] | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP,SMTP) SSL/TLS supported |
Yes | Jabber, IRC, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ | Yes | HTML/JavaScript/CSS | Yes | Yes |
| Snooty Mail[39] | Yes | No |
No | No | ? | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax | ? | ? |
| ThinkPost Communications[40] | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP, SMTP,LDAP) |
Yes (POP3/IMAP/SMTP BlackBerry Sync) |
No | Yes | JavaScript/Ajax2 | Yes | Yes |
| Tuffmail[41] | Yes | Yes (POP3,IMAP, SMTP,LDAP) SSL/TLS supported |
Yes (POP3/APOP/ IMAP/Hotmail) SSL/TLS supported |
No | Yes | HTML/JavaScript/Ajax | Yes ClamAV: Free Sophos Anti-Virus: $0.50/month |
Yes Editable while composing + saved personalities |
| Whozin Mail[42] | No | No | No | No | Yes | JavaScript/Ajax | Yes (Kaspersky) |
Yes |
| Windows Live Hotmail (replaces MSN Hotmail) |
Partial13 | Partial3 | No | Windows Live Messenger | Yes4 | HTML/JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax | Yes (Trend Micro) |
Yes |
| Yahoo! Mail | Plus members only10 | Plus members only In some countries free accounts (POP3 only)10 |
Yes (POP3 only) |
Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger | $35 yearly | HTML/JavaScript/ CSS/Ajax | Yes (Norton AntiVirus) |
Plus members only15 |
| Automatic forwarding | E-mail client access14 | client E-mail for other server | Integration with IM service | Domain Name customization | Interface script technique | Virus scanning | Custom "From:" Address |
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: Legacy, Hotmail Plus, Outlook Live, and MSN Premium members only. All account types can use the Windows Live Mail client.
Note 4: Through Windows Live Custom Domains
Note 6: Beta phase and only for existing 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) [43]; or through YPOPs!
Note 11: Through NetZero MegaMail ($9.96 or 24.96 yearly)
Note 12: Users can add their own e-mail accounts. One email address is included with every Magnus mail subscription. Users must use their own POP3 and SMTP servers for non Magnus mail e-mail addresses.
Note 13: Forwarding to other Windows Live Hotmail accounts is free for all users. Premium/paid accounts can forward to any other third party email accounts.
Note 14: Most mail services that do not support POP3 access can be accessed through the FreePOPs mail proxy software.
