Free email service providers compared

Your email address is the key to almost every other account you own, since password resets go there. That makes the choice of provider worth a few minutes, even when the account costs nothing. Moving later is possible but tedious: every account registered to the old address has to be updated one by one, and some cannot be changed at all.

What to compare

• Storage, and whether it is shared with other services such as photos and files.
• Ads in the inbox, and whether the provider says it reads mail content to target them.
• Security basics: two-step verification, spam and malware filtering, and a working account recovery process.
• Access from other apps through IMAP, so you are not tied to one company’s app.
• Custom domain support, if you want an address on your own name.

The big three

Gmail

Gmail gives 15 GB of free storage, shared with Google Drive and Google Photos. Its spam filtering is strong, the inbox can sort mail into Primary, Social and Promotions tabs, and it ties directly into Calendar, Drive and the rest of Google’s services. Google stopped scanning Gmail content for ad targeting in 2017, though the free web inbox still shows ads. It is the default choice for Android users, since the phone already requires a Google account.

Outlook.com

Microsoft’s free service, which replaced Hotmail, provides 15 GB of mail storage and connects to the free web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as Skype and OneDrive. The web interface supports add-ins from other companies. Ads appear in the free version and disappear for anyone with an Office 365 subscription, which also raises the storage.

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo’s headline is 1 TB of free storage, far more than anyone else. The trade-off is heavy advertising in the free inbox. Attachments can be up to 25 MB, and the mailbox links to Yahoo’s news, finance and calendar pages. Yahoo suffered two very large breaches disclosed in 2016, so anyone using it should switch on two-step verification.

Privacy-focused providers

ProtonMail

ProtonMail is run from Switzerland and encrypts mail end to end, so the company cannot read the contents of your messages. Mail between two ProtonMail users is encrypted automatically. To someone on another service you can send a password-protected message that expires after a set time, 28 days by default. The free plan is small: 500 MB of storage and 150 messages a day. Paid plans add space, custom domains and folders.

Tutanota

Tutanota, based in Germany, also encrypts mail end to end, and it encrypts subject lines too, which ProtonMail does not. The free plan gives 1 GB for one user, with no ads. Features are sparse compared with the large providers, and search across encrypted mail is limited, but it is a solid choice if privacy comes first.

For your own domain

Zoho Mail

Zoho’s Forever Free plan lets up to five users run mail on a domain you own, with 5 GB each and no ads. It is limited to the web interface and mobile apps, and a paid plan is needed for IMAP access from desktop mail programs. For a small business or a family domain, it is the most generous free option.

Other free accounts

AOL Mail

AOL advertises unlimited mail storage and good spam filtering. It belongs to Verizon Media, the same group as Yahoo, and the inbox carries ads. It is mostly used by people who have had the address for years.

iCloud Mail

Anyone with an Apple ID can create an @icloud.com address, which uses the 5 GB of free iCloud storage shared with backups and photos. There are no ads. Setting the address up is easiest from an iPhone, iPad or Mac, and after that it works in any browser at icloud.com. Large attachments can be sent with Mail Drop, which uploads the file and emails a download link.

GMX and mail.com

Both are run by the German internet company United Internet. GMX offers a large mailbox and up to ten aliases on a single account. Mail.com’s distinctive feature is choice of domain: instead of one fixed ending you can pick from a long list of domain names covering professions, interests and countries. Both are free with ads.

Picking one

For most people the choice comes down to ecosystem. Android and Google users will be most comfortable in Gmail, Windows and Office users in Outlook.com, and Apple users in iCloud. Pick ProtonMail or Tutanota when privacy outweighs storage and features, and Zoho when you want a free address on your own domain. Whatever you choose, turn on two-step verification and add a recovery phone number.

Since then, in August 2025, Yahoo cut free storage from 1 TB to 20 GB.