The Best Email Services of 2022: Paid and Free

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Love it or hate it, your email likely plays a big role in your average workday. With all the time you spend in your inbox, having an email service you can rely on to help you get the job done day in and day out isn’t just a perk—it’s a must-have.  

Whether you’re looking for the best business email or best personal email, here’s a look at the six best email services of 2022:  

1) Gmail 

With 1.2 billion users around the world, Gmail dominates as one of the most-used email services. And for good reason.  

With ample storage space (both free and paid upgrades), tight SPAM security, and easy integration with other Google services (e.g., Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, etc.), Gmail makes email easy, efficient, and accessible. This is especially true for Android users, who will already have a registered Google account if they’ve ever downloaded an app from the Google Play store.  

Pros: 

• Accessible from any device 
• Integration with other Google services 
• Large storage space (free and paid) 

Cons: 

• Other email services offer cheaper paid plans 

Pricing: 

• Free  
• Basic is $5 per user/month 
• Business is $10 per user/month 
• Enterprise is $25 per user/month 

 2) Hey 

Launched in June 2020, Hey is the new kid on the block—and a solid option if you’ve already used Gmail and are looking for something different.  

Made by Basecamp, a project management and internal communications SaaS company, Hey puts the focus on what they call consent-based email. What does that mean?  

You get to decide exactly who gets to get through to your inbox. Every time a new person sends you an email, you get to decide whether they: 1) go to your inbox; 2) go to a special, lower-priority folder; 3) go to SPAM.  

Pros: 

• No advertisements 
• Automatically blocks some email-tracking methods 
• “Reply Later” button moves emails to a stack at the bottom of your screen 
• Attachment Library stores every attachment you’ve ever received in email in a gallery view 

Cons: 

• Newer service means less history of support  

Pricing: 

• $99 per year for individuals 
• $12 per user/month for businesses 

 3) Outlook 

Another one of the big players in the email services game, Outlook claims a massive 400 million users worldwide. Originally called Hotmail by Microsoft, Outlook is now a part of Microsoft’s web-based suite of webmail, contacts, calendars, and tasks.  

It’s biggest selling point? The Focused Inbox. Here, you can prioritize the emails you receive from your most important contacts. And just as Gmail seamlessly integrates with other Google products, Outlook is likely your best pick for an email service if you’re committed to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and the rest of Microsoft’s products. 

Pros: 

• Email scheduling feature 
• Easy integration with other Microsoft products 
• Smart compose feature 
• Message filtering 

Cons: 

• Focused Inbox means some emails are more likely to get lost in your SPAM folder 
• No encryption for free users 

Pricing: 

• Free 
• Office 365 Home is $99.99 per year 
• Office 365 Personal is $69.99 per year 

 4) Yahoo Mail 

Another big name among email services, Yahoo Mail is likely one you’ll hear less often than Gmail or Outlook—but it still packs a powerful punch. 

Yahoo Mail resembles Gmail in that you can easily browse all of your emails in a conversation-style format. But Yahoo gives users tools to organize their mail into more custom folders. Storage, too, is a stand-out feature of Yahoo: With an enormous 1TB of storage provided for free, you can basically save everything you receive in your inbox—something you can’t do for free with most email service providers.  

A big security bonus: Yahoo lets users create up to 500 disposable email addresses to protect your privacy. 

Pros: 

• Customizable inbox theme and layout 
• Enormous storage of 1TB 
• Disposable email addresses for privacy 

Cons: 

• Offers fewer filters and rules than other email services 
• Does not support the attachment of online files 
• Attachments can’t exceed 25MB 

Pricing: 

• Free plan 
• Business mail is $1.19 per month 

 5) Zoho Mail 

When it comes to small businesses or home-based businesses, Zoho Mail is often touted as a top pick among Outlook alternatives. 

Zoho Mail is a part of Zoho Workplace, a suite of applications for document management, expense tracking, and collaboration. Small business owners can get started with the free plan that supports up to five users. This basic plan even allows users with their own registered domain names to use their domain names for their emails—something that most email services only offer for a fee. 

Pros: 

• Free plan lets you use registered domain name as email 
• Email scheduling 
• Data is encrypted both at rest and in transit 

Cons: 

• Free plan does not have email forwarding 
• Free plan does not have offline access 

Pricing: 

• Free for up to five users 
• Mail lite is $1 per month for 5GB of storage per user 
• Mail list is $1.25 per month for 10GB of storage per user 
• Mail premiums is $4 per month 
• Workplace plan is $3 per month 

 6) ProtonMail 

From personal to business affairs, so much of our lives filter through our inboxes, which means security shouldn’t just be a feature but a key component of our email services.  

Founded in 2014 at the CERN research facility in Geneva, ProtonMail is the ideal email service if you’re looking for robust privacy and encryption. Most other email services will request your personal data or scan your messages in order to enable automation features. But ProtonMail is open source and always puts the focus on maintaining the anonymity of its users. With end-to-end encryption and IP address protection, ProtonMail assures that users’ emails are never read or tracked.  

Pros: 

• No personal information required to create an account 
• Open source  
• End-to-end encryption 

Cons: 

• Reputation for poor customer support 

Pricing: 

• Free plan 
• ProtonMail Plus is $3.61 per month 
• ProtonMail Professional is $5.91 per month 
• ProtonMail Visionary is $21.92 per month 

Staring at your inbox all day doesn’t have to be tedious—not when you try out one of this year’s top email service providers.