Best email service (web based) - Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail

The top three web based email service providers are Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and Gmail; and, probably, in that order - refer Gmail usage statistics for details. However, which of these is the best? Does the large user base of Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail make them better than Gmail? Or should the simplistic and quick loading interface of Gmail put it at the top spot? Obviously, such questions are not simple to answer - so how do we decide which is the best email service in the world?

Though there are hundreds (if not thousands) of web based email service providers, I've considered only the three most popular in this article. I suppose bringing others into the fray will just complicate matters. Keeping things simple will at least help arriving at a conclusion.

How to rate a web based email service?

This is the most difficult part. How does one rate a web based email service? Some things can be easily quantified. For example, account storage space or load time are measured in numbers. However, features of the email service like interface intuitiveness, accessibility or the flexibility cannot be judged in a straightforward manner because they will change depending on individual perceptions, location, time of day etc. So can we create a level platform for rating online email services?

The best email service is one that gets the fewest complains from its users. Yes! This can serve as a good yardstick for measuring these services. And the best place to find more on this is Google Trends.

The best email service is one with least problems

It appears that searches for Hotmail and Gmail troubles have been kind of equal. Yahoo! Mail, on the other hand seems to give the least problem to its users.

Does this mean Yahoo! Mail is the best email service? Hmmmm! The charts show the searches based on a couple of sets of keywords and nothing more. Having said that, Yahoo! Mail is the leader of the pack in terms of popularity and usage. In my opinion, a high subscriber base coupled with dependable service (with the least searches for problems) does put Yahoo! Mail a few inches before the other two in the race for the best email service.

My choices

I have been pretty used to Gmail from the very earliest since the Gmail was launched. I was first attaracted to the domain of Gmail at first site! And this love at first site soon became a longlasting relation! I recently used Microsoft's Hotmail & I am greatly impressed & satisfied with thier neat, secure & powerfull email services. I personally don't like Yahoo mail as it has many ads that make it slower & otherwise also overall performance is not much impressive. So apart from the large user base of legacy email provider Yahoo & Hotmail, My rating order will be:

1. Gmail
2. Hotmail
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? Yahoo!


- Akshat.