Whether you need a day-to-day personal or business email, there are plenty of hosting services available. There are many benefits to using an email hosting service such as added security and fewer ads — but how much does it cost? Here we’ll give you a breakdown of the price of different email hosting services.
POP Mail
POP stands for “Post Office Protocol,” and is an old, but cheap, way to retrieve email information. It uses low bandwidth and is incredibly simple. Unfortunately, this also means that security for this email service lacking — which is why it’s the cheapest option available. POP emails can be free, but most plans start at $9.95 per month. With this, you’ll get various mailboxes and a certain amount of space to store your files.
POP3 is the most current versions of POP Mail that you’ll run across, and it’s easily one of the most popular options. While it’s a little pricier, your emails will be copied locally, and the originals deleted from the server, which is more secure than the traditional method. The emails are tied to your particular machine, so it can’t be accessed by webmail or any other separate client, which means you’ll need to use your specific computer to access your mail. The price for POP3 is around $45 for 50 email accounts.
IMAP
IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. This type of email service allows you to access your email no matter where you are — the emails are kept on a server until you decide to delete them. This method is the most common type of email service people use today because you have access to your emails through your desktop, laptop, and even your mobile phone. With that being said, IMAP does have its drawbacks. First, you’ll have a limited mailbox size, which means you can only save so many data. Second, if the server goes down, you could lose your email information.
Most services allow you to choose either POP or IMAP, and thankfully IMAP is just as cheap. You can purchase an IMAP email for yourself or your business for less than $20 per month. Some companies only charge $1.99 per month per email.
Domain
The last choice you have is to purchase a domain that will act as your email service. When you buy a domain, you can choose to set up a website, an email, or both. Purchasing a domain is a little more expensive, but it allows you to have a website and an email. You can subscribe to a shared host domain for as little as $7.99 a month. With this, you can create your own domain and your own email address. For example, if you were creating a baking business, you could make your email the name of your shop. Many small businesses choose this option due to the customizability of these type of email hosting service.
