How much storage you really need
Free mailboxes range from under a gigabyte to tens of gigabytes. Proton Mail Free starts with 500 MB and grows to 1 GB after the get-started checklist, Tuta Free has 1 GB, Yahoo Mail includes 20 GB in its standard plan, and GMX and mail.com each advertise 65 GB for email. Gmail and iCloud count differently: a personal Google account has up to 15 GB shared among Drive, Gmail and Photos, and the 5 GB of free iCloud storage also holds backups, photos and files.
What fills a mailbox is attachments, not text. A plain message is a few kilobytes; a photo, a scanned contract or a slide deck is a few megabytes each, and newsletters with images sit in between. If you mostly send and receive text, a small mailbox lasts for years. If people send you photos and PDFs every week, or you keep every attachment, look at the larger plans or at the attachment limits: GMX accepts attachments up to 50 MB, mail.com up to 30 MB, and Proton Free allows 150 sent messages a day.
| Provider | Free storage as stated | Shared with |
|---|---|---|
| GMX | 65 GB email storage | Email only |
| mail.com | 65 GB for emails, 2 GB cloud storage | Separate |
| Yahoo Mail | 20 GB in the standard plan | Email only |
| Gmail | Up to 15 GB per personal account | Drive, Gmail and Photos |
| iCloud Mail | 5 GB free iCloud storage | Backups, photos and files |
| Zoho Mail | 5 GB per user, up to 5 users | Email only |
| Tuta | 1 GB | Email, calendar, contacts |
| Proton Mail | 500 MB, up to 1 GB after the checklist | Dedicated Mail storage |
Two kinds of encryption
Every provider in the table encrypts mail in some way, but the word covers two different things.
- Encryption in transit protects a message while it travels between your device and the mail server and between servers. The provider can still read the message on its server. Google says Gmail uses encryption for all messages you receive and send, and that free accounts may show ads while mail content is never used to personalize them.
- End-to-end encryption locks the message so that only the sender and the recipient can read it, not the provider. Proton says its free accounts offer the same level of encryption as any of its paid plans. Tuta says all data in Tuta is encrypted and that all emails between Tuta users are encrypted automatically. GMX offers encrypted PGP email as an option you switch on.
End-to-end encryption has a price: mail to someone outside the same service is usually protected by a password or a key exchange, and standard mail apps often cannot read the mailbox directly. Proton's Bridge, which gives IMAP and SMTP access to desktop clients, is available only with a paid plan. The "End-to-end encrypted" filter above marks the providers whose page states it for the free plan.
What to check before you commit
An email address is hard to change later, so read these four points on the pricing page before you give the address to banks, shops and friends:
| Check | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| IMAP or POP | Lets you read mail in Thunderbird, Apple Mail or Outlook and copy it out. Gmail says IMAP access is always turned on; Outlook.com has POP and IMAP disabled by default until you enable it; mail.com lists POP, IMAP and SMTP as Premium features only; Zoho's Forever Free plan does not include IMAP, POP or ActiveSync |
| Custom domain | Your own name after the @, which you keep when you move. Zoho Mail's free plan includes email hosting for one domain, so you need a domain to use it; iCloud's custom email domain needs iCloud+; Proton lists custom domains from Mail Plus on; Tuta's free plan has none |
| Extra addresses | GMX allows up to 10 alias addresses, mail.com up to 10 email addresses from more than 100 domains, iCloud up to nine @icloud.com aliases, Yahoo's standard plan up to 3 temporary addresses; Proton Free has one address |
| Ads | Microsoft lists the free version of Outlook as including ads; Yahoo Mail Plus and mail.com Premium are sold as ad-free, so the free accounts carry ads; Tuta calls itself ad-free |
If you send mail from your own domain, set up the three sender records first; our guide SPF vs DKIM vs DMARC explains what each one does.
Leaving a provider
Plan the exit on day one, because a free plan can change its limits or add ads at any time.
- Copy your mail out with IMAP. Add the account to a desktop mail app and drag the folders into a local folder or into the new account. This only works where IMAP is part of the free plan (the "IMAP on free plan" filter); with Proton it needs Bridge and a paid plan, and with mail.com it needs Premium.
- Forward for a while. Keep the old account for a few months, forward new mail to the new address, and change the address at every service that writes to you. Automatic forwarding is not free everywhere; check the plan page.
- Use your own domain if you can. With a custom domain the address stays the same when you change providers; only the records at your domain registrar change.
- Protect the new account. Create a long, unique password with the password generator (how long is explained in how long should a password be) and switch on two-factor authentication; the two-factor authentication methods guide compares app codes, keys and SMS, and the 2FA code generator shows how the codes work.
- Finish with a signature. Make the new address look settled with the email signature generator.
Frequently asked questions
Which free email account has the most storage?
GMX and mail.com each advertise 65 GB of email storage on their free accounts. Yahoo Mail includes 20 GB in its standard plan. A personal Google account has up to 15 GB, shared among Drive, Gmail and Photos, and the 5 GB of free iCloud storage is shared with backups, photos and files.
Which free email providers are end-to-end encrypted?
Proton Mail says its free accounts offer the same level of encryption as its paid plans, and Tuta says all data in Tuta is encrypted, with mail between Tuta users encrypted automatically. GMX offers PGP encryption as an option. Gmail encrypts messages in transit; Google does not describe this as end-to-end.
Can I use my own domain with a free email account?
Zoho Mail's Forever Free plan includes email hosting for one domain for up to 5 users with 5 GB each, but it does not include IMAP, POP or ActiveSync and is available only in selected data centers. iCloud's custom email domain needs iCloud+, and Proton lists custom domains from Mail Plus on.
Which free accounts work with a desktop mail app over IMAP?
Gmail says IMAP access is always turned on for personal accounts. Outlook.com supports POP and IMAP, but access is disabled by default and must be enabled first. GMX can be used with third-party apps after activating POP3 and IMAP in the settings. mail.com lists POP, IMAP and SMTP as Premium features, and Proton's Bridge needs a paid plan.
Do free email accounts show ads?
Some do. Microsoft lists the free version of Outlook as including ads, Yahoo Mail Plus is sold as email free of advertising, and mail.com Premium removes ads, so their free accounts carry ads. Google says a free Gmail account may show ads but that mail content is never used to personalize them. Tuta describes itself as ad-free.