Free Email Services

    Your chosen free email service will reward you with plenty of storage, effective spam filtering, a fast and productive interface, desktop email program as well as mobile access, and more. Find the top free email services reviewed here.

1. Gmail - Free Email Service

 

   Gmail is the Google approach to email and chat. Practically unlimited free online storage allows you to collect all your messages, and Gmail's simple but very smart interface lets you find them precisely and see them in context without effort. POP and powerful IMAP access bring Gmail to any email program or device.
Gmail puts contextual advertising next to the emails you read.

2. Zoho Mail - Free Email Service

  Zoho Mail is a solid email service with ample storage, POP and IMAP access, some integration with instant messaging and online office suites.
Aimed at professional users, Zoho Mail could be even more helpful organizing mail, identifying key messages and contacts, and sending oft-used replies.

3. iCloud Mail - Free Email Service

 

Apple iCloud Mail is a free email service from Apple with ample storage, IMAP and POP access and an elegantly functional web application.
That interface at icloud.com does not offer labels or other more advanced tools for productivity and for organizing mail, though, and does not support accessing other email accounts.

4. AIM Mail - Free Email Service

AIM Mail, AOL's free web-based email service, shines with unlimited online storage, very good spam protection and a rich, easy to use interface.
Unfortunately, AIM Mail lacks a bit in productivity (no labels, smart folders and message threading), but makes up for some of that with very functional IMAP (as well as POP) access.

5. Windows Live Hotmail - Free Email Service

Microsoft

Windows Live Hotmail is a free email service that gives you unlimited storage, fast search, solid security, POP access and an interface easy as a desktop email program.
When it comes to organizing mail, Windows Live Hotmail includes many a helpful shortcut and automation. It's a pity IMAP access to all online folders is missing.

6. Mail.com and GMX Mail - Free Email Services

Mail.com and GMX Mail are reliable email services filtered well of spam and viruses whose unlimited online storage you can use not only through a rich web interface but also via POP or IMAP from a desktop email program.
More and smarter ways to organize mail could be nice.

7. Yahoo! Mail - Free Email Service

Yahoo! Mail is your ubiquitous email program on the web and mobile devices with unlimited storage, SMS texting, social networking and instant messaging to boot.
While Yahoo! Mail is generally a joy to use, free-form labeling and smart folders would be nice, and the spam filter could catch junk even more effectively.

8. FastMail Guest Account - Free Email Service

Opera Software Australia

FastMail is a great free email service with IMAP access, useful features, and a stellar web interface.
It's a pity FastMail does not offer truly effective spam filtering for free accounts, and more storage space for all users.

9. Shortmail - Free Email Service

410 Labs

Shortmail emphasizes easy, fast and effective communication with an email service limited, essentially, to 500 characters per message.
Longer emails can be forwarded, and Shortmail offers simple but effective tools to organize and find mail. Still, hassling senders the way Shortmail does is not without peril, and you may wish for better productivity tools.

10. BigString.com - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

BigString.com is a free 2 GB email service that includes rich secure and certified mail services and lets you password-protect, expire or edit sent messages, for example.
Unfortunately, BigString.com is not equally well equipped for handling incoming mail and lacks organizing tools.

11. Gawab.com - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Gawab.com is a speedy, stable and very usable free email service with 10 GB online space, POP and IMAP access as well as many a web-based goodie.
It's a pity Gawab.com's IMAP implementation does not give you access to labels, and full message search is missing from the web interface.

12. Inbox.com - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Inbox.com not only gives you 5 GB to store your mail online but also a highly polished, fast and functional way to access it via either the web (including speedy search, free-form labels and reading mail by conversation) or through POP in your email program.
Unfortunately, IMAP access is not supported by Inbox.com, and its tools for organizing mail could be improved with smart or self-teaching folders.

13. Lavabit - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Lavabit nets you a solid, secure and privacy-conscious email account which you can access in your email program using POP or IMAP and in your browser using a rudimentary web interface.
It's a pity Lavabit restricts statistical spam filtering to paid accounts and lacks a fully fledged web interface.

14. Zapak Mail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Zapak Mail is a bare-bones free email service with unlimited storage and POP access to boot. With the exception of some background images, Zapak Mail offers no frills and does not help much with handling mail efficiently.

15. Facebook Messages - Free Email Service

Facebook

Facebook Messages combines emails with everybody, conversations with Facebook friends and SMS texts in a single, simple place organized by the people with whom you communicate.
Facebook Messages's chasteness works well for a limited amount of personal mail, texts and messages, but to handle all your mail, Facebook Messages could do well with more robust tools for managing emails and contacts.