These Are the Best Free Email Providers for 2025
Setting up a free email account has never been easier. You now have many great options that promise plenty of storage space and convenient features, although there are a few things to consider when choosing one. The rule of thumb is that if you get a free email service, you’re probably paying for your privacy because the company has to make money after all. Depending on the company, it may use your emails to serve ads, track you online, or even use the text of your emails to train AI. However, there are exceptions to this rule, especially when it comes to end-to-end encryption.
It’s a tough balance. In general, you’ll have to pay real money to avoid tradeoffs—privacy-focused services may suffer elsewhere. But if you ‘re not ready to pay or set up your own private email server just yet , here are the best free alternatives. You’re not even limited to just one option—it’s recommended to create multiple email accounts and use them for different purposes , so you should combine them depending on your needs.
Gmail is the best email provider 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 file storage for free. Moreover, it is almost inevitable. It’s hard to be on the Internet and avoid Google completely, and at some point you’ll probably 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 comes with an unlimited number of addresses , which is a great way to check if any service has sold your email ID to spammers. The biggest argument against Gmail is that it’s owned by Google, which makes money by tracking you online to personalize the ads you see elsewhere. 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. Plus, 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; feature-rich alternative to Gmail . Cons: Like Google, Microsoft doesn’t care much about your privacy.
Proton Mail – the best email service 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. Proton Mail also gives you a little more than mail, even if you don’t spend a penny. You’ll get a free VPN for one device, as well as a free password manager .
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 providers, 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. If you’re willing to pay, Proton Unlimited offers great value for money : more email addresses, more storage space, and advanced privacy features like darknet monitoring.
Pros: Great for privacy; end-to-end encryption. Cons: Only 1 GB of storage and daily sending limit.
Tuta is also an excellent privacy-focused email provider.
If you want an encrypted email service that offers open source desktop clients, Tuta is worth considering. It has a free tier with 1GB of storage and no ads, which is also a plus. Although Tuta uses end-to-end encryption, your privacy depends on the encryption status of the people you send emails to. As with Proton Mail, email encryption requires the participation of all parties, and if even one person uses an unencrypted service, your privacy will be compromised. Tuta comes with one calendar in the free tier, but you’ll have to pay if you want to set up multiple calendars.
The good thing is that Tuta doesn’t limit the number of emails you can send or receive per day. The only limitation is storage location. You also get apps for mobile use.
Pros : Encryption, privacy and no sending restrictions. Cons : Only 1 GB of memory.
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 provider allows you to use up to 1TB of storage (yes, that’s 1000GB) for free. 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 also 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.
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.)
iCloud Mail is the easiest to set up for Apple users.
For those who already have an Apple account, setting up an iCloud Mail account is very simple. Go to your device’s settings and tap your name. Then click or tap iCloud > Mail and follow the onscreen instructions to set it up. Since you already have an Apple account, you don’t need to create a new password and you can start using the service for free. The iCloud Mail free tier offers 5GB of storage and no ads. Note that this 5GB is shared with your photos, device backups, and everything else in iCloud, so it’s actually smaller than you might expect. However, if you are using an Apple device, you have the added benefit of not having to install any apps to use this service as your iPhone, iPad, and Mac come with the Mail app pre-installed.
iCloud Mail can also be accessed on Windows, Android, and the web. The easiest way to use iCloud Mail on third-party devices is through the iCloud website , although there is an iCloud for Windows app for PCs. Note that you will still need an Apple account to do this, which you can create for free at https://account.apple.com/ .
On Android, you can also easily add your iCloud mail to your phone’s mail app. Sign in to your Apple account here and select App Passwords . Create a new password and save it for future use. Add a new account to your favorite email app, select the IMAP option, and enter your iCloud email ID and app-specific password. This will add an email ID to your Android phone.
The Apple Mail app is updated regularly, and you can access privacy features like email tracking protection even in the free tier of iCloud Mail. But while this service is great for many people, sometimes it’s a little shaky. Sometimes I was unable to receive some emails in iCloud Mail because they were marked as spam and never reached my inbox. A plus is that you can add up to three aliases to iCloud Mail, which is good if you want to protect your actual email address from being hacked.
Pros : Easy setup, three aliases for free. Cons : Sometimes buggy, only 5 GB of free space (shared with iCloud photos and your device backups).
AOL – Best Free Email with Unlimited Storage
Another throwback, AOL Mail , offers many of the same benefits as Yahoo Mail, with a similar feature set and size restrictions (they’re owned by the same company). AOL is user-friendly, lets you organize and personalize your inbox, and offers spell check, a calendar, and a to-do list in addition to the features most email clients have. It is compatible with Android and iOS apps and you can transfer your contact list from CSV, TXT or LDIF files.
Pros: Unlimited free storage. Cons: You are limited to 25MB for email attachments.
Zoho Mail lets you use your own email address domains for free
The biggest problem with almost every free email provider is that you have no control over the domain name associated with your email address. You will have to use email addresses that end with @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, etc.
If you want to use your own domain name for free email, use 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 the mobile app, 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.
Neo – The Best Free Email for Small Business Owners
Small business owners, freelancers, or anyone who wants to know how their emails are performing and how many people are actually reading them can see basic email analytics tools like CTR (click-through rate) and open rates with Neo . It is also a great alternative to Zoho as it allows you to choose a domain for free and has up to 100GB of storage space. You can use the AI feature to write emails, but you won’t have five user accounts like Zoho. However, if you run into problems, keep in mind that Neo’s support isn’t the best.
Pros: see CTR and open rate. Cons: Support is not very responsive.