The Windows Live team announced today that they’re rebranding their new email beta to Windows Live Hotmail. We haven’t written about the application for some time, and this is as good an excuse as any to compare the current release to Gmail and the new Yahoo mail beta.
The three applications, along with AOL mail, make up the vast majority of the 500 million or so webmail users around the world (see chart included in this post). Most of these users are still using the old, tedious, Ajax-free Yahoo Mail and Hotmail user interfaces, requiring page refreshes for every click. The new applications, along with Gmail, offer a much richer experience, much like Outlook or Mac mail. When these webmail clients are performing well, their speed and ease of use is easily as good as a desktop client.
Overall we prefer Gmail over all other webmail applications because performance (speed) is consistently fast, and emails can be tagged making search much more effective. They also offer more storage and other features, and it’s free. However, Yahoo and Live Hotmail offer more mainstream Outlook-like user interfaces (although Live Hotmail does not allow you to access other email accounts from their application), whereas Gmail takes some time to get used to. If you are looking for speed and tagging is important, Gmail is for you. If you are looking for the closest thing to Outlook online, go with Yahoo Mail.
The following chart compares the services on a feature-by-feature basis. Note that the user numbers for Yahoo and Hotmail include legacy users still on the old platforms.
Gmail
Gmail groups emails in a thread into a single line in the inbox. Some users love this, others hate it. It’s not my favorite feature, but I’ve gotten used to it. The best Gmail feature in my opinion is the ability to tag emails for better organization and search. None of the other services offer this. Gmail also has integrated Gtalk into the GMail interface, and continues to add other functionality as well (such as integration with Docs & Spreadsheets). Gmail is consistently fast, offers the most storage and free POP-in and POP-out, meaning you can use Gmail to access your other email accounts, or access GMail from whatever email client you use. It’s a near-perfect piece of software, and has only occasional hiccups. The fact that Google is paired with Google Calendar, the best online Calendar application, doesn’t hurt, either.
Windows Live Hotmail
The new Windows Live Hotmail will be a welcome change to Microsoft’s 228 million webmail users, but it falls short of the Yahoo and Gmail offerings. They offer 2 GB of storage, better than Yahoo, but there are no POP-in or POP-out features at all. If you want to access your account outside of the web site, you have to do it via Outlook or Outlook Express. It remains the slowest among the three in our tests.
Yahoo Mail
Yahoo Mail is very good, allowing users to access other email accounts (POP-in), but only offering POP-out access for an additional fee. This is probably due to the legacy users who are already paying for this feature - Yahoo may not want to give up this revenue stream. Storage is on the low side - only 1 GB, which is less than half of what Gmail offers. Still, Yahoo Mail has recently been running very fast and offers an intuitive, Outlook-like interface. Instant Messaging and RSS integration is awesome.
Comments
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Webonics, why can’t you use tags as “folders”?
Michael,
I don’t see tags and folders as exclusive, I want both - as you point out tags are multi-dimensional, but folders are far better for representing hierarchy.
AOL is not in your comparison but I want to highlight its advantage over others.
AOL has the best Spam Control. I am talking about occasional slip of few mails in Spam folder but simply hundreds of unwanted mails get crashed and don’t even arrive in Spam folder. Yahoo and Gmail are horrible in this. Within a day of cleaning my spam folder, I get 100 of them back in Yahoo and GMail.
AOL has IMAP service, which I think is a good feature. It gives you a snapshot of e-mail box across clients and computers. Gmail has a very similar POP feature “with tweaked settings”. Yahoo doesn’t even bother about a free POP service. They like to waste money elsewhere. Too bad , they are loosing me and millions of others to Gmail.
Gmail has the best feature to tag and integration with calendar, Maps but not address book. Their shortcuts work well.
Yahoo’s new mail is so taxing to eyes. SO many adds (graphics) around your eyes. Less space for email reading. That is why people still use old mail. Also the new Ajax version has some issues with FIrefox + extensions.
Hotmail??? Who cares? 2 GB storage after 2 years (behind competition). These guys are all over. Death of Hotmail is imminent.
Gmail publishes an RSS feed of your emails, if you so desire.
Aol mail offers IMAP access. It’s fun that users are concerned about porting their bookmarks for one pc to another and still don’t care of a webmail that locks’em in
Gmail has a RSS-reader integrated.
Allthough I would recommend Google Reader if someone wants a seriuse RSS-reader.
I’ve been using Y! Mail for as long as I can remember, and to be honest, it’s not bad enough by any means for me to want to switch to anything else. I love folders and being able to setup Outlook style organization. I do have secondary email accounts through gmail that I love, but keep more for my personal stuff.
I definitely agree with Pankaj about Yahoo not having a free POP service, as that’s the only reason I dont have multiple yahoo accounts and started expanding to gmail. Being able to check them all through Outlook or the like is a huge time saver for me.
POP & SMTP are NOT FREE for YAHOO! MAIL.
I guess giving a “No” to Gmail on RSS Integration is a little bit unfair. It may not be as integrated as it is in Yahoo Mail, but the Google Reader far exceeds many other RSS readers, including the one with Yahoo Mail. I have been using Gmail for years now and I’m happy that I have closed my Yahoo account, and am sticking with Hotmail account only because of MSN Messenger. (Although, its extremely generous of Microsoft to let other accounts be registered as MSN Passports)
My take: Gmail… others, out of question!!!
all of these products are decent
not sure the benefit of offering more than 1gb…if you are storing more than 1gb in email than you are not using it as an email service but as a network-attached-storage mechanism (assuming most of it is large binary attachments), for which better tools exist.
mail is very sticky, i don’t expect market leaders to change much. most people just don’t really care that much.
The reason I use gmail as a primary webmail account (as opposed to Yahoo or hotmail) is SSL. I can run my entire gmail session over SSL, not just the login process. I’m a bit surprised that no one has mentioned this in the past 100+ comments. I’m mostly using webmail when I’m travelling, and having the entire session encrypted is priceless. I can’t even tell from Yahoo’s mail site if I’d get that protection even if I paid for it. I wouldn’t mind paying for a webmail account that was rock solid and gave me full session SSL, but Yahoo (and MS?) seem to ignore that market need.
All these reviews omit a major question: Does the e-mail service provide a premium NO ADS option? Yahoo is the only one that does so far as I can tell, which makes it the best in my book. Not everyone would pay for it but the simple matter of providing a choice to puts Yahoo above and beyond all the others. Webmail without any ads is fantastic. I’ve subscribed to Yahoo’s no-ad premium service for three years now and would never even consider a Hotmail or Gmail e-mail existence.
great subject for a post, however not including AOL in this review is a significant oversight.
afaik, AOL is substantially ahead of Gmail in terms of users, and is comparable to Yahoo & MSFT in terms of hosted email services (at least in #, if not features).
also, the desktop client market of Outlook & Outlook Express users are also quite substantial, and altho there’s overlap with hosted email services they at least deserve a mention (and perhaps similarly MySpace & Facebook).
Gmail does have rss built in. You need to spend more time using gmail if you didn’t see that feature I use it all the time.
Groller is right. Gmail does have RSS built in. Even if you aren’t sold on the Ajax interface Gmail’s spam services are top notch
webonics: With Gmail, you wouldn’t have to tag all 100 of those emails everyday. All you’d have to do is create a series of filters. With filters applied, most of the regular mail you receive would be tagged and sorted as soon as it hits your Inbox (or skips your Inbox — one of several options available through filtering).
Filters can be created based on a wide range of info, including but not limited to: the email address of the person who sent it; all email addresses within a particular domain; all email with a specific subject line; all email with a specific keyword in the subject line; all email with a specific keyword anywhere; etc. etc. etc.
HANDY EXAMPLE: I created a filter to include any email that includes the words “to unsubscribe, please click here.” I set those emails to Skip Inbox and Apply tag “Newsletters.” And voila — my Inbox is no longer clogged with corporate mumbo-jumbo; but the corporate mumbo-jumbo appears unread within the “Newsletters” tag, to be reviewed at my leisure via the tag link available next to my Inbox. If anything escapes that filter, I simply create a new one to patch the hole.
Have I mentioned that I enjoy Gmail?
Semi-pertinent to the subject of Gmail’s RSS/Atom capabilities: This Greasemonkey script will give you the option to follow your Google Reader feeds within Gmail itself. I haven’t found much use for it, frankly, but it seems to be popular.
It’s Friday, people — don’t expect me to remember to close my italics tags.
On the last two consumer sites I was last affiliated with (millions of users each), the breakout of users was like 40% Yahoo, 30% Hotmail and 3% Gmail. Large ISP addresses were around the same number as Gmail. I only have a Gmail account because it’s required to use their services.
B for Hotmail speed and B+ for Yahoo?? Are you serious??? How exactly were those speed “tests” conducted? I used the Yahoo Mail Beta for over 2 months before switching BACK to the old interface becasue the new one was soooooo ridiclously slow. Windows Live Mail is most certainly faster, no matter what type of connection you’re on.
Google used to have the best search engine. They might have the best calendar. Their email comes in second, at most.
This article was a plug for Google, and the author should be ashamed. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it was designed to make Google look good. First, if gmail has “pop in” capability, I haven’t found it– so I am pretty sure this article is just plain wrong. Second, Google lacks other features such as tabs, folders, preview, and AddressGuard. Yahoo’s email search is much further along that Google’s– it provides a list of search filters on the left, like newegg.com does. Yahoo- A, Google- B, Hotmail- Who cares?
Google is overrated. I use their calendar and maps, but that’s all it is good for. Yahoo’s search is better, try it, compare results. Even better, do a search with del.icio.us or wikipedia.org– often they lead you to the information you want the quickest.
I use Google’s Calendar because I can sync to my mobile phone with GooSync, but Kiko.com has an online calendar that makes Google calendar’s look shabby! As soon as I can sync from my mobile phone with Kiko, I will use it instead.
I tried Google Apps, too– it is bug-ridden and lacks features that are in its other products. You can still add Gadgets as in the main page, but it is a manual process.
Google is loosing its edge. Either that, or it has lost it. They make plenty of money still, so its obvious that consumers are still enamored by the Google brand, but how long can that last? Google is so busy trying to spread its product line, that it has lost focus of what gave it a good name in the first place, being the best at 1 thing– search. Now their search product isn’t obviously better, their email is lacking, their calendar is second best, and I am sure it won’t be long until someone comes up with a better map.
What I can’t understand is how everyone is saying “Google mail doesn’t have 51 million users”. How do you know? Where are you getting your info from? Can you provide a link to show how many active users each service has?
IMO, Gmail tops the list, though i’m yet to get used to the “tags” concept.
Yahoo Mail Beta - I love that “outlook” like interface, but it is so painfully slooooow that it ruins the whole experience. I switched back and forth several times, before settling down with the old version of Y! Mail.
I hope some one in Y! team is working on it.
Wow, a lot of posts hear, I’m not going to read them all….
I disagree with the table above saying that gmail doesn’t offer rss to the desktop. Utilizing Google Desktop (similar to a widget of sorts) you can check your gmail email. In fact, Google Desktop gets all the mail that you receive from thunderbird/outlook.
Miticha, since you’re comment is readily available for reading:
“First, if gmail has “pop in” capability, I haven’t found it”
So, this of course means that if you can’t find it, it doesn’t exist? Try going to settings (upper right hand corner) Click fowarding and pop, configure the settings and there you have it.
–
I agree google is somwhat overrated, people become all ‘google this and google that’ over it, but it does offer decent services, FOR FREE. How can you beat that?
“Windows Live Mail is most certainly faster, no matter what type of connection you’re on.”-Addon
Not true. I have a windows live hotmail account and a gmail account. I’ve recently had my hotmail emails forwarded directly too my gmail account because at home on my dial up connection it takes to long for the pages to load!
“great subject for a post, however not including AOL in this review is a significant oversight.”dave mcclure
Psh, there’s a reason AOHell wasn’t included.
Frankly I think that what is ‘best’ for everyone is going to depend on one person, the person who uses the services! If someone needs certain services that one offers better than the other, then of course they’re going to find it a better product, while some will scoff at one product, another will find the same exact product exactly what they’re looking for.
Gmail *DOES* have integrated RSS. I use it to know when I have new mails.
Another feature that I like about gmail is that you can use your own domain. This is actually a different service and has not been fully integrated. (For example, I cannot use the mobile client.) But, I did get to retask our email server!
los he utilizado todos y me quedo con gmail, que fuera de ser un mail me sirve hasta para escuchar música sin descargarla al computador, visualizar como html sin necesidad de descargas, busqueda de mensajes, marcadores (estrellas), etc… es el mejor.
I wonder how many GMail users are former Yahoo or Hotmail users. I still keep my Yahoo account but use it for junk mail subscriptions. It was required when I wanted to join the baseball Fantasy league. Every Yahoo mail user I know has now switched to Gmail. Hope they will integrate google.com/reader sometime soon so I can get everything on one screen.
Gmail is good but it’s quite slow compared to when it was private beta (I was within the first 100 to be privately invited in its initial stages)
I have to say, I’m surprised by some of the negative comments about gMail. I’ve been using it for over a year and never had a problem with it.
I don’t have the fastest system in the world, and the pain out truth is running Yahoo Mail drags my system down. On a bad day it can take over a minute to load all the worthless ajax code and even then it runs really slow.
For me gMail is lightning fast and never slows down. I don’t know where some of you are where connecting to Google seems to take so long, but for most people thats just not the case.
Proof once again that Arrington has his lips firmly,permanently planted on Google’s ass.
Our start-up Yapta uses gmail as the “foundation” for all email communications between 3 locations. The “tagging” feature is an essential way to keep track of critical communications. It’s obviously great for remote access with lots of storage. For those who don’t like the logic of GMails’ email string (I’m not in love with it), you can easily re-direct gmail into Outlook. Last, gmail email can be directed into the blackberry email service as well (which, of course, costs money from cingular or whichever your wireless service is). Overall it’s a business-friendly service.
I can’t stand gmail…it’s so unintuitive, I have zero time for re-learning how to use email…try and try, it just doesn’t offer real value - the interface is just annoying. I love the 2GB, so I just use it as a spam / newsletter receptacle. I think Yahoo!s new mail is far and away superior to these other offerings…
Didnt Google’s Gmail go down the other day? I have NEVER had that problem with Hotmail nor Yahoo. Why reinvent the wheel and get something crappy like Gmail? ANd have you seen the spam you get via gmail?! Holy smokes.
I’m convinced the people who like Gmail are those that like to act snotty and feel they’re somehow smarter than the “dumb masses”… like that annoying character in those Apple ads.
Also, check out BlueTie - http://www.bluetie.com. BlueTie offers a free (for
I keep hearing how great Gmail’s spam filtering is… but for me, it is horrible.
I have a spanish-derived last name and every day I get a ton of of spam in spanish and portuguese! I mark them all as spam, but apparently, Google’s spam system only speeka engrish…
So, I continue to use my yahoo account, which does a great job of filtering spam for me. Yes, I could create a new Gmail account that doesn’t use my last name, but I shouldn’t have to.
I use both gmail and yahoo mail (old version). I like both of them. I was ready to switch to gmail but there was one very glaring obstacle blocking the switch.
Yahoo Mail has the mail alert system. They alert me at my pager if the important email pop up and needs my attention right away. Gmail system doesn’t have that kind of alert.
I rely on that Yahoo alerts for important work need to be done. If Gmail system added that alert then I may switch to gmail.
I’ve used all three listed e-mail providers for a while each. I have the Live Mail beta and Yahoo Mail beta versions. I did try to stick with Windows Live Mail and even got the Live Mail Desktop beta program to be able to access my hotmail address somewhere other than a browser (this is the only free way to do so since they canceled Outlook integration). The Desktop program ran too slow for me so I uninstalled it and stuck with the web version. I finally left Live Mail (still keep it but don’t use it) because of the ads on the page and ads for windows products they insert in all my e-mails (so annoying). I went back to Gmail but reluctantly since I love using folders and my Gmail account had been getting spam and even error messages (not five-ten minute ones, either). When I saw a preview for Yahoo! Mail beta I got a new yahoo account then and there. I mean, RSS feed built in! And folders! It still had ads though, so I tried the premium version of Yahoo and saw that my mail loaded much faster. Dragging things to folders also sped up. In the end, I put my gmail address to forward to my new yahoo address (which I now have as a paid account, which I don’t mind, since 20$ a year for something like e-mail which is very important to me seems worth it) and just check the yahoo. I also love the fact that you can have 2 yahoo email addresses and have them both delivered to one inbox (for my personal and more formal accounts) and then you can have up to 500 addresses using their Address Guard service for all those contests or giveaways I sign up to and then after the fact realize has become spam. When I start getting spam from one of those addresses, I can just delete it and not worry about it.
Oh, and no, I am not paid by any company to say all that.
Consistency of service is everything.
Often at peak after school hours hotmail is very difficult to log onto.
I have to agree with some of these posts: I think the chart/comparison is a bit off. I have been using Yahoo! Mail Beta for about a year, (I got an early beta invite), and the first revision was great, but it seems like every time they make a new change, it gets buggier and buggier. As for Gmail, Ive been using that for quite awhile, and Ive never had a problem with it crashing or anything of that sort. Ive never used (and prolly wont ever use) Windows Live Mail, so I cant comment on that. And just out of curiosity, where is the integrated IM feature in Yahoo!? Ive never seen it! Where do I look?
Gmail is a overhyped p.o.s.
I’ve had a Yahoo account for eight years and recently upgraded to a premium version of the beta.
Most of the time though I use gmail. I have a personal gmail account and I have two domain emails hosted there. It’s just sensational. It’s so fast and easy to use. Searching is a breeze.
I like the new Yahoo but it’s slow to load. I also have a Windows Live account and it doesn’t rate against either of the others.
Good alternatives are inbox.com and gigya.com. In summary, I agree with Michael’s review but would like him to look at the new contenders.
The new Yahoo mail has a mail (flagging) feature, which is basically tagging. You can sort your emails by flagged status.
Gmail has RSS!
any chance of a similar comparison between blogging tools? i am using blogger, yahoo and typepad for various purposes as part of an evaluation for my business/personal needs, and each has pros/cons/frustrations …
okay, how about the Google-hosted email accounts?
GMAIL IS THE BEST(PERIOD)
No comparison needed!
Gmail yahoo!
Gmail pluses:
Storage capacity 2.6 G bytes and growing.
Signal to ad ratio: Ads are unobtrusive, topically relevant and informative.
Search features are unequaled.
Spam filters are amazingly effective.
Serviceability is unfortunately declining.
Great content, have to agree that Gmail is the best of the big three. Don’t mind the Adsense on the side, much better than flashy banners.
The only nit I have to pick is that unthreading an email is difficult to impossible.
I have a lot of domains, and have the emails all forwarded into my gmail account. Saves a vast amount of time.
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