What is the difference between free and paid email?

The options available when considering an email account are numerous. You have the freedom to choose from free providers, including Yahoo! and Gmail, or paid providers like Net Zero, AmericaOnline, Apple, Earthlink and Webmail.

Often the benefits offered by paid email providers are close to what you can get from free email providers, who are constantly working to improve their service. But there are some important differences. Read on to find out the difference between free email provider services and paid email provider services.

Get your personalized email

The biggest difference between paid and free email services is the degree of customization available with the service. For example, if you’re paying for your email address, you’re more likely to get a personalized email address like

</p> <p> <a href="mailto:minombre@minombre.com">myname@myname.com</a><br /> Free email providers give you a limited selection of domain names for your email address, which means you have to use a single domain they provide or choose one from a list of 4 or 5 available domains. A free email address could look like
<br /> <a href="mailto:elliotjsmith@hotmail.com">elliotjsmith@hotmail.com</a><br />
online storage space

Next comes the available online storage space. Generally speaking, paid email service providers provide a larger amount of online storage than free email providers. With the exception of Google’s Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, free email providers give you a limited amount of storage space.

email announcements

Free email providers make money from free email accounts through advertising. Companies will pay for the free email service to place banner ads and buttons that are displayed when the free user opens their account. In a sort of reverse way of making money, many free services have plans where customers can pay to remove those ads from their account.

Size of emails sent

With a free account, you probably won’t be able to send really large files in one go. However, many paid accounts allow you to do this. What you’re paying for is the ability to send files of 20mb or even larger, which is a considerable convenience when dealing with huge files of artwork, photos, and more.

Portability, Reliability and Support

There are three other things to consider when signing up for an email account: portability, reliability, and support. Most free email services tend to offer some form of support, but you may have to wait a while to get a response to a technical question. Paid services tend to spend more money on support, which means you can call anytime and get someone on the phone who will answer your question. Also, if you sign up for a paid account, make sure you can access your email account from anywhere, as long as you have internet access. Some paid services do not offer this.

And lastly, make sure your email service provider has a history of having your site up most of the time. Generally, both paid and unpaid email accounts tend to work the same way in this department. So whether you buy a paid account or sign up for a free one, just make sure your service provides the extras you need. And if you’re not sure what you’ll need in an email account, sign up for some free ones to narrow down the features you’ll definitely use.

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