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Free Webmail Services

You Need A Webmail Account!

You should have an e-mail address which is NOT provided by your Internet Service Provider. Here's why...

PERMANENCE

This is an example of a very common scenario:

Pat e-mailed her resume to XYZ Inc to apply for a job. She used an e-mail address provided by her Internet Service Provider. Two weeks later she finds a great new ISP and changes services. Pat no longer has access to her old ISP e-mail account. XYZ eventually sends a reply but gets an error message stating Pat's e-mail address does not exist!

If Pat had used an independent webmail address, not her ISP e-mail address, she would have received the important reply from XYZ Inc.

ANONYMITY

Use a webmail address to subscribe to newsletters, respond to special offers, register for online services, sign up for clubs or groups, etc. The best feature of webmail is you can simply delete the account and create a new webmail identity if you no longer want e-mail sent to that address.

ACCESSIBILITY

You can access your webmail account from any computer that has access to the Internet. At work, school, on vacation - anywhere.

Webmail Features You Should Seek

LARGE MAILBOX

Storage capacity should be at least 100 MB. Especially important if the webmail service you use does not offer POP3 access.

LARGE ATTACHMENTS

Maximum attachment size for incoming and outgoing e-mail should be at least 5 MB.

POP3 ACCESS

Download e-mail from your webmail account to your computer's e-mail client (MS Outlook, for example). The webmail service may also include the option to automatically forward e-mail (via POP3) from your webmail service to any other e-mail account.

SMTP ACCESS

The ability to use your computer's e-mail client to send e-mail addressed from your webmail account, rather than visiting the webmail site to compose and send e-mail.

RETRIEVE OTHER POP3 E-MAIL

Allows you to configure your webmail account to upload e-mail from other POP3 accounts.

SPAM FILTER

Spam filtering is a must! Flexible controls is a major plus.

VIRUS SCANNER

Server-side virus protection is a necessary feature, if you want to download POP3 e-mail to your computer.

RICH TEXT FORMAT

HTML allows creativity when composing messages. Change font type, size and color. Add background color or themes and graphics. Plain text e-mails can be rather boring...

Popular Free Webmail Services

Top 10 List
Ranked by mailbox size and maximum email size

Free
Webmail
Provider
Mailbox
Storage
Maximum
E-mail
Size
POP3
Access
SMTP
Access
Retrieve
Other
E-mail
"unlimited"
50 MB
No
No
No
AOL
"unlimited"
16 MB
No
No
No
Yahoo
"unlimited"
10 MB
No
No
Yes
Mail
"unlimited"
10 MB
No
No
Yes
Gawab
10 GB
50 MB
No
No
No
Gmail
8 GB
20 GB
Yes
Yes
Yes
GMX
5 GB
50 MB
Yes
No
Yes
Inbox
5 GB
20 MB
Yes
Yes
Yes
Hotmail
5 GB
10 MB
No
No
No
Hushmail
2 MB
25 MB
No
No
Yes

Free webmail services are supported by advertising revenue. You may see ads when you log-in to your webmail account. You may also find solicitations in your mailbox. Your outgoing e-mail might include a tagline, a short text advertisement at the bottom of your outgoing messages.

Exposure to advertising is the price you pay for free webmail. If you can tolerate the advertising, a free webmail account is a frugal way to communicate online.

Popular Annual Subscription Webmail

Tired of webmail supported by advertising? Maybe you should consider one of these paid subscription webmail services...

RUNBOX

Absolutely the most powerful webmail service reviewed by us!
10 GB mailbox. Access your e-mail on any device via Web, POP3, IMAP, SMTP, WAP, SMS, and more. Send and receive large messages up to 100 MB. 2.5 GB bandwidth allowed per week. Use any "From" and "Reply-to" address. Anti-spam and virus filtering. 30 day limited free trial. $49.95/year.

YAHOO! MAIL PLUS

Unlimited mailbox, POP3 access and mail forwarding. Send and receive text and attachments up to 20 MB per message. Spam and virus filters. $19.99/year.

WINDOWS LIVE HOTMAIL PLUS

10 GB mailbox. Up to 20 MB attachments. No account expiration. No graphical ads. $19.95/year.