10 Best Email Service Providers of 2024

Margarita K. | June 09, 2022
16 mins

Nowadays, you need an email account for literally everything: signing up on a website, communicating with people, subscribing to a newsletter… The list is endless. However, choosing an email provider can become difficult, as there are so many of them on the market, and the features they offer differ a lot. Some of them boast enhanced security features, but are not suitable for large teams while others are great for businesses, but are too expensive for personal use.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at the most popular email providers in 2022 for both personal and business use. 

However, before we start, let’s define the difference between personalized and generic email addresses.

The types of email addresses

There are 2 main types of email addresses you can have: generic and personalized.

A generic email address is an email address based on the domain name that belongs to your email service provider and it can’t be changed. Examples of generic email addresses are @gmail.com and @yahoo.com.

A personalized email address is also based on the domain name, however, it is up to you to choose which one to use. For instance, you have a website example.com and if you decide to have a personalized email address, your address would be yourname@example.com.

How to choose between personalized and generic email accounts

First of all, let’s define the purpose of creating an email account. Whether or not you need a personalized email address is only part of what you need to consider. Large businesses with many staff members and a high volume of messages are likely to require a different service to much smaller businesses, or individuals. Depending on the purpose, you will be able to focus on certain features and tools.    

For example, if you have a growing business that needs to have an email address both for internal and external communications, it’s necessary to consider account security, storage, the available number of aliases allowed, and so on. Additionally, when you are creating an email account for your business, you have to consider that people trust companies more when communications come from a professional email address, so it could be a crucial point for the credibility of your business.

Moving on to cost. While some email accounts may seem like they’re free, many generic email providers actually sell your data, or scan it to show you relevant ads. What you gain in it being free, you lose in privacy — which might be even more important as a business, as you’re also handling sensitive information from your customers. 

To make it easier to decide which email address you need, here are the pros and cons of each of the type.

*An email alias is a virtual mail address that acts as a forwarder only. All the emails sent to an alias email address are forwarded and delivered to the existing mailbox this alias was created for.

Now that we have gone over the email address types, let’s move on to the next part of our article with all the information you need to choose a provider to go with.

List of the email providers

Glossary of the common terms

Encryption is a method of securing your emails while they are being delivered. It’s a must have for those who provide email services, to ensure security of their customers. The types of encryption you will see in the article are end-to-end and TLS/SSL. 

End-to-end encryption is more secure and it guarantees that once the email is sent, no one (including the email provider) has access to the email content until the email gets decrypted when it reaches the recipient's device where it can be accessed and seen by the recipient only.

TLS/SSL encryption is also a great way to secure emails, it works almost the same as end-to-end encryption, however, the email gets decrypted once it reaches the recipient’s mail server, not the device.

Mailbox is a place where your emails are stored.

Smart compose is a function that offers suggestions to your sentences as you type. It’s not a common feature and not used widely, but if it is present, it’s a big plus. 

IMAP/POP3 are email protocols that are necessary for accessing emails. They are standard protocols for most of the email services you come across. The difference between these two protocols is that the IMAP method allows checking emails from any device you are using while the POP3 method is not that flexible, it is required to download an email to your device in order to be able to check it and after the email is downloaded, it cannot be seen from another device since it is deleted from the mail server.

The information in this table is either for free or for basic plans.

All the prices in this article are actual as of May 2022

Namecheap Private Email

Namecheap Private Email is a nice option both for those who are email novices, and for experienced users. It has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, collaboration tools, convenient folders management, and many other features (like an all-in-one email account and shared calendars). Also, to make sure you have enough mailboxes, with Pro and Ultimate plans you receive even more — 3 and 5 accordingly. If you reach the storage limit, or you require additional mailboxes, you can pay for them without needing to upgrade to a more expensive plan.

Target audience: Individuals, small, and medium businesses
Spam Protection: Self-learning anti-spam tool with acceptlist/blocklist, customizable spam filters and rules
Email Scheduling: -
Attachment Size: Up to 55MB
Storage: Starter - 5GB, Pro - 30GB, Ultimate - 75GB
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, SSL/TSL encryption
Pricing: Starter - $0.91/mo, Pro - $2.16/mo, Ultimate - $3.66/mo

Advantages
Ad free
Jellyfish anti-spam tool comes for free with every plan
Free trial of any plan for 2 months with no payment details required
A custom domain can be used with any plan

Disadvantages
No free plan
No end-to-end encryption

Fastmail

If you’re looking for a basic, simple, and user-friendly service, then you may consider Fastmail. It has most of the features you need for personal usage, plus features like administrator controls in multi-user accounts for managing shared email accounts, setting payments, adding/removing users, and more.

Target audience: Individuals, small and medium businesses
Spam Protection: There are 3 modes of spam filtration: Basic, Standard, and Aggressive, but if you don’t like the way it sorts emails, you can set your own custom rules
Email Scheduling: only with Standard and Professional plans
Attachment Size: Up to 50MB
Storage: For Basic plan - 2GB/user, Standard - 30GB/user, Professional - 100GB/user
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, SSL/TSL encryption
Pricing: Basic - $3/user/mo, Standard - $5/user/mo, Professional - $9/user/mo

Advantages
Ad free
Apps for iOS and Android
Up to 600 aliases for all plans
Import/Export of emails

Disadvantages
No end-to-end encryption
No free plan
A custom domain can be used only with Standard and Professional plans

1&1 Ionos

1&1 Ionos provides an email service that can be used both for personal and business needs. No free plan is available, but the prices are quite reasonable and for additional cost you can have more mailboxes or storage anytime without upgrading your plan. A nice feature is that you receive a free domain registration along with every plan purchase. 

Target audience: Individuals, small and medium businesses
Spam protection: Spam filters, acceplist/blocklist, anti-virus system (for Mail Business only)
Email Scheduling: -
Attachment Size: Up to 70MB
Storage: Mail Basic 1 - 2GB, Mail Basic 1+ - 12GB, Mail Business - 50GB
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, SSL/TSL encryption
Pricing: Mail Basic 1 - $1/mo, Mail Basic 1+ - $4/mo, Mail Business (depending on the number of users) - 1 user $5/mo/user, 5 users $3/mo/user, 10 users $2.50/mo/user

Advantages
Ad free
You receive a free domain along with any plan

Disadvantages
No free plan
No end-to-end encryption

Zoho

Zoho mail service is perfectly suitable if you just started your business and your team is growing. The service is secured with end-to-end encryption and has an abundance of tools for teamwork with a Workplace plan starting from $3.23/mo (€3/mo on the website). 
Note that if you're purchasing from outside the EU, the price will still be in Euros or pounds, so you'll need to manually work out what it is in your currency.

Target audience: Small, medium and large businesses
Spam Protection: Apart from built-in spam protection, you can set your own allowlist/blocklist, send bouncebacks and put emails in quarantine
Email Scheduling: Yes
Attachment Size: With free plan - up to 25MB, Mail Light - 250MB, Mail Premium - 1GB
Storage: Free plan - 5GB/user, Mail Light has 2 options: 5GB/user and 10GB/user, Mail Premium - 50GB
Security/Privacy: End-to-end encryption, unusual activity report, Two-Factor Authentication 
Pricing: Mail Light costs depending on the storage size you choose - $0.97 or $1.21/user/mo, Mail Premium - $3.88/user/mo

Advantages
Ad free
Collaboration tools
Up to 5 users for free plan
Offline access
A custom domain can be added with a free plan

Disadvantages
Active Sync, POP3 and IMAP are not included in the free plan

ProtonMail

ProtonMail prioritizes security, so no wonder that many people call it the best email for privacy. Anonymous signup and encrypted emails are only a part of their security system.
There are 2 sets of plans: for individuals and for businesses. 
If you have sensitive information to send or receive, this service is great for personal usage. However, if you need a new email address for your business with ProtonMail, you’ll have to subscribe to a paid plan to be able to use a custom domain instead of @protonmail.com.
Moreover, if more mailboxes are needed, you will have to move to Business plans that are much more expensive.

Target audience: Individuals, small businesses
Spam Protection: You can set allowlist/blocklist, and add custom spam filters
Email Scheduling: -
Attachment Size: Up to 25MB
Storage: Free plan - 500MB, Mail Plus - 15GB, Proton Unlimited- 500GB
Security/Privacy: Anonymous signup, end-to-end encryption, Two-Factor Authentication
Pricing: Mail Plus - $4.99/mo, Proton Unlimited - $11.99/mo

Advantages
Free plan
Apps for iOS and Android
Undo send
Proton VPN comes for free with every plan

Disadvantages
Free plan is very limited: only 500MB of storage, up to 150 outgoing messages per day and one custom filter
A custom domain can be used with paid plans only

Gmail

It would be difficult to write a list of email providers and not include one of the most popular free email services on the market. 
It boasts great spam protection, customizable spam filters, email forwarding and allows you to send ‘self-destruct’ emails. Gmail has all the features you might need for personal use, and many more besides, and it's free. 
If you decide that you don’t want to have a @gmail.com email address but @yourdomain.com, it’s also possible to upgrade to Google Workspace with prices starting from $6/mo/user.
Before signing up, it’s worth noting that even though Google said they stopped scanning emails for advertising purposes back in 2017, they still do it for reasons other than targeting  (e.g. spam and malware detection). 
So if you are looking for a safe email account, then it might be better to consider other providers.

Target audience: Individuals
Spam Protection: Possibility to set allowlist/blocklist, add spam filters
Email Scheduling: Yes
Attachment Size: Up to 25MB
Storage: 15GB (shared with other Google services e.g. Google Drive)
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, TLS encryption
Pricing: Free

Advantages
Smooth integration with other Google services
Offline access to emails
Possible to ‘unsend’ emails
Keyboard shortcuts
Smart compose

Disadvantages
Scanning emails
Labels/folders feature is confusing

Outlook

The free version of Outlook is always being compared to Gmail as they are two giants in the free email service market. The most notable and important difference is that Outlook doesn’t scan your emails and, acknowledging this fact, many people consider Outlook the best free business email. 
Outlook is also a good solution for those who need more than just basic features, however, if you need extra storage and additional features, like email encryption and a custom domain name (instead of @outlook.com), you can subscribe to one of the Outlook Premium plans starting from $69.99/year.

Target audience: Individuals, small and large businesses
Spam Protection: There are several levels of email protection. You can choose the one that is more suitable for you and/or create additional filters and rules, create safe senders or blocklists
Email Scheduling: Yes
Attachment Size: Up to 20MB
Storage: For free plan - 15GB, for paid - 50GB
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, TLS encryption, more encryption goes with paid plan
Pricing: Free, Microsoft 365 Personal - $69.99/yr, Microsoft 365 Family - $99.99/yr

Advantages
Conveniently integrated with many external apps like Skype or PowerPoint
Emails accidentally deleted can be recovered
Smart Compose

Disadvantages
Ads in your inbox
Most of the security features are paid, so if you have a free plan, the system, for example, doesn’t check attachments and links for malware
Small attachment size

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo Mail has been on the market for quite a long time, however, as years passed, the service hasn’t changed as much as others. A striking example is that Yahoo had several massive data breaches over the past 10 years. 
Apart from the security cases, the service is simple and user-friendly. It has all the features you might need for your everyday communications. 
A unique feature of Yahoo Mail is hundreds of aliases allowing you to sign up to different websites and delete the address if it is not needed anymore or if a lot of spam is received.

Target audience: Individuals
Spam Protection: You can create some filter rules, block email addresses, and set your spam folder to delete emails once in a specific period of time
Email Scheduling: Absent, however, you can set third-party plugin and it will be possible
Attachment Size: Up to 25MB
Storage: 1TB
Security/Privacy: Two-Factor Authentication, Account Key feature (sends key to your phone), TLS encryption
Pricing: Free

Advantages
A lot of storage space
500 disposable aliases

Disadvantages
Ads in the inbox
Several huge security breaches in the past

Tutanota

When it comes to a free secure email service, Tutanota is always compared to ProtonMail. They both position themselves as highly secure email providers that put safety and protection first. Tutanota secures your account with Two-Factor Authentication and anonymous signup with no IP tracking. Emails are end-to-end encrypted and scanned for spam.
They provide both free and paid solutions. The free plan is for personal usage (even during the account creation you need to confirm this by checking the corresponding box), and paid plans can be used as you want. There are 2 categories of plans: Private and Business, with the option of different billing cycles. Plans in both categories have the same name, but the differences are clear when it comes to the features;  like the number of aliases or domains. The prices are set in euros with no possibility of changing the currency, which makes checking the price inconvenient if you are located outside the EU.

Target audience: Individuals, small businesses
Spam Protection: Emails are put through multi-level spam protection by the system. You can also set your own spam rules that will block or disregard some email domains or addresses. Setting filters is available for paid plans only
Email Scheduling: -
Attachment Size: Up to 25MB
Storage: 1GB for Free and Premium plans, 10GB for Teams and Pro plans
Security/Privacy: Anonymous signup, Two-Factor Authentication, end-to-end encryption, calendar is also encrypted
Pricing: For Private category, there are 3 plans: free, Premium - $1.29/mo and Teams - $5.17/mo
For Business category: Premium - $2.58/mo, Teams - $6.47/mo, Pro - $9.06/mo

Advantages
Ad free
Calendar and contacts can be imported
Keyboards shortcuts

Disadvantages
Free plan is limited: 1 alias and 1GB of storage
Only 5 aliases for all the paid plans except Pro
Filter rules are available for paid plans only
Emails import is not supported
A custom domain can be used with paid plans only

GMX Mail

GMX is a free email service. It is great for those who want to have a highly secure email service provider for no cost. It provides email encryption, and boasts some convenient tools - like a calendar and MailCheck extension. 

Target audience: Individuals
Spam Protection: Customizable spam filters, acceptlist/blocklist
Email Scheduling: Yes
Attachment Size: Up to 50MB
Storage: 65GB
Security/Privacy: Antivirus, end-to-end encryption, Two-Factor Authentication
Pricing: Free

Advantages
MailCollector tool
10 aliases/account available
Good security for free

Disadvantages
Ads in your inbox

Conclusion

To sum up, we can highlight the following points so that you can pick a provider depending on your purposes:

  • The best email service providers for business would be Namecheap Private EmailOutlookFastmail and Zoho.
  • For not only business, but also for personal use if your focus is on privacy and reliability, the best ones are Namecheap Private Email and Zoho.
  • If your priority is security, and you have a small team (or if it’s for personal use), the best options for you are ProtonMail and Tutanota.
  • In case you are looking for a free email address for personal use, and privacy is not a top priority, then GmailYahoo! Mail, and GMX could be suitable.

If your choice is Namecheap Private Email, you can check available plans and pricing on our product page. Or, in case you have any questions about our email service, feel free to contact our wonderful live chat support team.

We hope that with all this information, you can get an email address that meets your requirements, and one where you enjoy the service because it helps you grow your business!


Biography

Picture of Margarita K.

Margarita K.

Private Email Product Operations Specialist

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