These Are the Best Free Email Accounts
It is recommended to create multiple email accounts and use them for different purposes – for example, one account for streaming services, one for work, one for personal use. There are many services that allow you to set up free email accounts, and to choose the best one, you need to study the pros and cons of each option.
Keep in mind that when using free email services, you often pay for your privacy. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but generally you’ll have to pay real money to use a privacy-focused email service. You can even set up your own private mail server if you want. If you’re not ready to sign up for a paid email service yet, here are the best free alternatives.
Gmail is the best email service for most people
Gmail is the best email service for most people, hands down. It’s reliable, filters spam well, and gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free. It’s hard to be on the Internet and avoid Google completely, and at some point you’ll need a Google account. Gmail serves a wide range of audiences quite well, from setting up most Android phones to accessing a shared Google Doc.
Your Gmail account also has an unlimited number of addresses , which is a great way to determine which service has sold your email ID to spammers. The biggest argument against Gmail is that it is owned by Google, which makes money by selling your data to advertisers. If you care about privacy, then this email service is not for you.
Pros: Ubiquitous, easy to use, rich in functionality, integrates with other Google products. Cons: Lots of advertising based on analysis of your data.
Outlook is the best Gmail alternative for most people.
For those who don’t want to use Gmail but are looking for a similar service, the best option is Microsoft Outlook . Like Gmail, Outlook is backed by the tech giant and will almost certainly be around for years to come. You get up to 15GB of email storage and 5GB of additional OneDrive storage for free. It’s a solid alternative to Gmail, but again, it’s not the email service you want to use if privacy is your top priority.
Pros: Supported by a large technology company; a feature-rich alternative to Gmail. Cons: Like Google, Microsoft doesn’t care much about your privacy.
Proton Mail – Best Email Account for Privacy
Proton Mail is the best free email service for privacy-conscious people. It offers 1GB of storage, a limit of 150 emails per day, and up to 10 aliases for free, which is enough to get you started. My Gmail account is over ten years old and it still uses less than 1GB of memory, so you can get by with that memory limit for quite a while.
The biggest benefit of Proton Mail is its end-to-end encryption, which means your messages cannot be intercepted or read by Proton Mail or third parties. This is a great privacy feature while you’re communicating with Proton Mail users or people using other end-to-end encrypted email services, but it’s not as effective if you’re communicating with people through ad-supported email accounts. Everything may be completely private on your end, but your friend’s email service can read the contents of your email quite easily.
Pros: Great for privacy; end-to-end encryption. Cons: Only 1 GB of storage and daily sending limit.
Yahoo Mail – Best Free Email for Free Data Storage
If you want the most storage possible in your free email account, believe it or not, Yahoo Mail is your best choice. The service allows you to use up to 1 TB of storage for free (yes, that’s 1000 GB). The catch is that it still limits you to a maximum attachment size of 25MB per email, so you can’t attach 4K movies to your emails. It has other useful features, such as an easy way to unsubscribe from newsletters. However, Yahoo Mail also shows you ads in your inbox and isn’t really a service you want to use if you’re concerned about privacy.
Another throwback: AOL Mail is a good alternative to Yahoo Mail with similar features and size restrictions.
Pros: Tons of free storage. Cons: Just as ad-heavy and invasive as other services, plus you must have a “@yahoo” or, worse, “@aol” email address. (Some people will judge you, at least subconsciously.)
Zoho Mail lets you use your own domains for free
The biggest problem with almost every free email service is that you have no control over the domain name associated with your email address. When using free services, you will have to use email addresses ending in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, etc.
If you want to use your own domain name for your email for free, check out Zoho Mail . Its free plan allows you to add up to five users to your account and offers 5GB of free storage per user. There are no ads, but you won’t get IMAP or POP3 synchronization features for mobile apps, meaning there may be delays in receiving mobile notifications of new emails. The service will still work fine in your desktop browser.
Pros: You can use your own @. Cons: Only 5GB of memory and no IMAP or POP3 synchronization.