A little bit about Yahoo
Founded by David Filo and Jerry Young in 1994, Yahoo was one of the first leaders in the early internet era of the 1990s. In 2018, Yahoo! Inc. was purchased by Verizon Communications. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California in the U.S.
Today, Yahoo is a global media and technology company that provides a variety of online platforms. These platforms include Yahoo Search, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, and Yahoo Mail.
In this review, we’ll focus on Yahoo Mail, delving into its advantages and disadvantages, as well as providing some comparison with its closest competitor, Gmail. Let’s begin!
What is Yahoo Mail?
Yahoo Mail is Yahoo’s webmail, or email service, that can be used through your Internet browser or by downloading the mobile app.
Pricing
Yahoo Mail is free to use, but there is an optional monthly fee for specific, additional features.
Below are some features that the free version of Yahoo Mail offers:
- Various tools that simplify email search.
- Tools to organise your inbox.
- Store images and documents.
- Unsubscribe from junk mail, spam or any unwanted emails.
- Create custom folders to help organise your mail.
- Change contrast, colours, themes, and different text formats.
- Package delivery tracking.
- Travel and reservation confirmations.
Yahoo Mail Plus is the subscription-based email service offered by Yahoo. Yahoo Mail Plus costs $5 per month. Here are some of the additional features offered with the premium subscription:
- Greater control of your inbox, such as more specific mail filters and ‘email rules’..
- Ad-free email experience.
- Premium customisation and security tools, such as blocking domains.
- Live, 24/7 customer care.
- Mail forwarding.
- Ability to create disposable email addresses.
Should You Use Yahoo Mail?
Yes, if you care about storage.
Yahoo Mail offers a huge 1TB of email storage. For comparison, Gmail’s free version offers only 15GB of storage, and that is across all Google platforms, not just Gmail.
Yahoo Mail’s free 1TB storage is perfect for those who never want to have to worry about deleting files or constantly clearing out your email inbox to make space.
Sure, if it’s for basic email use.
For anyone who is using an email service as just another form of communication with friends and family, then Yahoo Mail’s free plan is just as good as any other service.
However, although all free email services have ads, Yahoo Mail’s ads are definitely way more obvious and in your face. Unlike other services that have more minimalistic, smaller ads on the side of the page, Yahoo Mail’s ads are commonly a full banner or sidebar ad, which you may find distracting as you are trying to read your emails.
If that isn’t of any concern for you, then Yahoo Mail is great for anyone simply looking for a basic email service.
Maybe not, if you want to utilise connected apps.
Today, most email or webmail services know that they need to offer more than just a straight forward email service in order to entice new users. They need to offer enhanced features such as interconnectivity between associated apps and business platforms.
Gmail excels in this area, with seamless connection between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Photos, Google Drive, and more.
Although Yahoo Mail does connect to Yahoo Calendar and some other business platforms, the performance and execution and the connection is just not as seamless when compared to Gmail, and is in fact more frustrating than it is helpful.
Maybe not, if you are most worried about security.
In today’s highly digitised world, internet security should be a top priority.
Of course, the security of your email depends on the strength of your password as well as where and how you access your account. However, even with the best precautions in place, it’s no secret that data breaches can still happen.
With that being said, Gmail does have a better track record of stronger and more reliable security measures and tools compared to Yahoo Mail.
Overview: Gmail or Yahoo Mail?
Below is an overview of how Gmail and Yahoo Mail perform on four essential categories: Overall Email Experience, Storage, Security and App Ecosystem.
| Gmail | Yahoo Mail | |
| Overall email experience | The best. | Decent, but ads are distracting and it doesn’t have as many new and updated features. |
| Free storage | Not so great. Only 15 GB of free storage across all Google apps and platforms. | The best. 1TB of free storage. |
| Security | Good. | Good, but not as good as Gmail. |
| App ecosystem | Highly recommended. Seamless integration with Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Photos and more. | Average. Yahoo does offer integration with a variety of apps, but the integration is not as seamless and easy to use compared to Gmail. |
