EmailBest Reviewed
Webmail
- Best free webmail service Gmail *Est. $0
- Familiar interface, unlimited email storage Yahoo! Mail *Est. $0
- Customizable webmail Windows Live Hotmail *Est. $0
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Familiar interface, unlimited email storage
- Outlook-like interface
- Drag-and-drop folders
- Unlimited mail storage
- Excellent integration with other services
- Lots of ads in free version
- Poor spam filtering
- No IMAP support
- Extra cost for POP mail forwarding
April 2009. Yahoo! Mail earns praise in reviews for its integration of features -- for example, with maps, photos, instant messaging and text messaging for cell phones. The feature-rich interface is similar to that of many desktop email programs, making it easy to learn to use. It's also the only webmail that offers unlimited storage. However, reviews still criticize the free version for annoying ads and poor spam filtering, recommending stepping up to Yahoo! Mail Plus (*est. $20) to avoid these problems. The paid version also adds POP support, which lets you forward emails to another account. If you don't mind learning to use tags and search instead of organizing email in folders, reviews instead recommend Gmail -- which is faster and also provides offline access and excellent synchronization via IMAP.
The email guide at About.com reviews and rates Yahoo! Mail in comparison with lots of other webmail providers. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.) We also found a brief, but recent, comparison review at WebUser. The 2008 reviews at Macworld and at WindowsSecrets.com are also quite useful, as is an older comparison review at WebWorkerDaily.com.
Our Sources
1. About.com
Yahoo! Mail earns a slightly lower rating than Gmail in this full review by Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com's guide to email. The main drawbacks are the lack of IMAP support, inability to add multiple tags to emails and spam filtering that needs improvement. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)
Review: Yahoo! Mail Review, Heinz Tschabitscher
2. WebUser
This British review of Yahoo! Mail praises its unlimited storage but adds that users aren't likely to need even 5 GB. This site ranks Gmail higher, especially for performance and features.
Review: Yahoo! Mail Review, Simon Pickstock, Feb. 2009
Yahoo! Mail earns praise here for a "great new interface" with excellent integration with calendars, maps, chat and messaging. However, this reviewer rates Gmail slightly higher, noting that Yahoo! Mail lacks IMAP support and makes you pay for extra features that are free at Gmail.
Review: Review: Yahoo! Mail Online Email, Nathan Alderman, Apr. 2008
The top ranking in this comparison review goes to Yahoo! Mail Plus, the paid version, but the free Yahoo! Mail comes in second -- outranking Windows Live Hotmail and Gmail. Even though Gmail is faster, the features and interface provided by Yahoo! Mail are more like those of desktop email programs, the reviewer says.
Review: Yahoo Mail's Makeover Gives It the Webmail Edge, Scott Dunn, July 24, 2008
This three-way comparison review gives kudos to Yahoo! Mail for excellent integration of services. However, it's criticized for too many ads plus poor spam filtering -- making it necessary to pay for Yahoo! Mail Plus to avoid these problems. We'd like this review even more if it were more recent.
Review: Head to Head: Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, Judi Sohn, May 2007
