Free email sounds nice, but isn't that the crippled deal where you get slow-loading pages and lots of ads?
No and no. Some free email services offer POP or IMAP access, which means you can download your messages to any email program (such as Windows Mail, Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or Mac OS X Mail). And while you're on the road, you can still take advantage of the free web interface — which, I promise you, is often fast and slender.
Find the best free POP3 email service and free IMAP email services here.
Gmail is the Google approach to email and chat. Practically unlimited free online storage allows you to collect all your messages, and Gmail's simple but very smart interface lets you find them precisely and see them in context without effort. POP and powerful IMAP access bring Gmail to any email program or device.
Gmail puts contextual advertising next to the emails you read. Gmail Review | Gmail Resources | Gmail Tips
AIM Mail, AOL's free web-based email service, shines with 2 GB of online storage, very good spam protection and a rich, easy to use interface. Unfortunately, AIM Mail lacks a bit in productivity (no labels, smart folders and message threading), but makes up for some of that with very functional IMAP access. AIM Mail Review | AIM Mail Tips
GMX Mail is a reliable email service filtered well of spam and viruses whose 5 GB of online storage you can use not only through a rich web interface but also via POP or IMAP from a desktop email program.
More and smarter ways to organize mail could be nice. GMX Mail Review | GMX Mail Tips
Lavabit nets you a solid, secure and privacy-conscious email account which you can access in your email program using POP or IMAP and in your browser using a rudimentary web interface.
It's a pity Lavabit restricts statistical spam filtering to paid accounts and lacks a fully fledged web interface. Lavabit Review
HotPOP offers free, reliable email accounts you can use with any email program using POP3 and SMTP. In addition, HotPOP lets you forward incoming messages to multiple other addresses. Unfortunately, HotPOP lacks IMAP access and a web-based email interface and is a bit short on storage space. HotPOP Review
Inbox.com not only gives you 5 GB to store your mail online but also a highly polished, fast and functional way to access it via either the web (including speedy search, free-form labels and reading mail by conversation) or through POP in your email program. Inbox.com Review | Inbox.com Tips
Gawab.com is a speedy, stable and very usable free email service with 2 GB online space, POP access and many a web-based goodie.
It's a pity Gawab.com lacks IMAP access and full message search. Gawab.com Review
Zapak Mail is a bare-bones free email service with unlimited storage and POP access to boot. With the exception of some background images, Zapak Mail offers no frills and does not help much with handling mail efficiently. Zapak Mail Review
FreePOPs is a highly flexible tool for accessing all kinds of resources — most prominently free web-based email accounts — in any email program through POP. The individual supported services could support more features, though, and configuring FreePOPs and its modules could be easier.
YPOPs! provides reliable, flexible, easy to use and secure access to your Yahoo! Mail account in any email client. If it could also act as an IMAP interface, YPOPs! would be perfect.
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