E-mail Hosting
What Does Email Hosting Mean?
Email hosting is a web or internet hosting service that rents and operates email servers. Email hosting services are generally premium services, unlike typical free webmail sites like Yahoo and Google. These hosting providers cater to the most demanding users, such as small and medium-sized businesses with high email (SMB) traffic, who need their own domain name to differentiate themselves. A typical business email address format is person@companyname.com.
Large companies often host their own mail servers and forego mail hosting.
Techopedia Explains Email Hosting
Most email hosting providers offer advanced email solutions and host them on dedicated email platforms compared to free webmail solutions. The provider manages the user’s domain name, including secure email authentication schemes such as filtering, replication, and rerouting. Different service providers offer different technologies and services depending on their target audience, so some focus more on security while others focus more on email management and filtering. Free webmail is usually basic POP3-based mail, while hosted services use custom open-source applications such as SquirrelMail, RoundCube, or Horde.
Free vs. Paid Email Hosting Services
Hosts can offer several types of email services. The value of each service depends on your needs. Taking the time to assess your email needs today (and how they might change as your business or team grows) will prepare you for the future. Let’s see the options available to you.
Free Web-hosting Email services
Web-hosting email services allow you to send and receive mail and manage email accounts through webmail and email clients. There’s a variety of free email hosting options that you are probably already familiar with: Google’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo, and AOL are household names.
Pros:
- Free with no commitment or contract.
- Free email services typically include enough file storage to meet the needs of small businesses and individuals.
Cons:
- Might have irritating banners or on/off page advertisements.
- Weaker security measures.
- Limited help and customer support options.
- Recipients doubt your authenticity.
- Less cloud storage space.
- Email addresses can be harder to remember than you@yoursite.com
- Free providers usually scan your email content for advertisement purposes and sell this data to third parties.