Free Email Services vs. Email Hosting: What’s the Difference?

In business, email has a vital role as a means of communication, both internally and externally. Mail Butler 2023 data notes that 77% of businesses use email to send news. 79% of organizations rate email as the best means of message distribution. This shows how crucial email is in maintaining an efficient and effective flow of communication in the business world. Email offers various conveniences such as easy operation and fast and massive distribution of information. Until now, there are two types of emails that can be used for free and paid.

What is Free Email and Email Hosting?

Free email is an email service provided by an email provider without requiring fees or monthly payments. Users can sign up and use their email addresses at no cost, create and send email messages, and attach files and documents. Examples of free email are Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and Hotmail. 

Email hosting is an email service that requires payment by the user before it can be used. Email hosting is becoming a more sophisticated solution. Large businesses often use it because it can be personalized to increase business consistency when sending messages, for example, “janedoe@ittech.com.” In addition, personalized emails through email hosting make businesses more professional. Email hosting providers include Glints, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365.

The Difference Between Free Email and Email Hosting

1.User Privacy

Although free email guarantees the security of user data, it does not rule out the possibility that user data will be used as payment, for example, sharing user data with third parties. Unlike email hosting, users will get better privacy, for example, ad-free and protecting email data from being used by third parties. Some providers offer additional security, such as double authentication and end-to-end encrypted messaging. In addition, email hosting users will not receive ads because the data is secured and not shared with third parties.

2.Storage Features and Capacity

With free email services, providers will usually limit each account’s features and storage capacity. As you use it, you will have less storage capacity if you send and receive messages frequently while on email hosting; users will get more access to other services outside of email, automatic full email synchronization,  and more storage. So it can store more messages and adapt to needs.

3.Personalization

With free email, users can also personalize on a limited basis but use a domain specified by the provider, such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com. Meanwhile, email hosting offers the advantage of personalization to its users, which means businesses can create custom email domains, for example, using the company name “name@companyname.com.” Thus, email hosting can provide a professional look for businesses and increase consumer confidence.

4.Cost

Many businesses take advantage of free email because there is no need to pay, so it is considered more economical, unlike email hosting, which requires a subscription fee. The costs incurred also depend on the features and facilities the service provider offers. In addition, email hosting takes longer when signing up. However, email hosting provides business scalability, security, and professionalism flexibility.

5.Control

Free email services restrict businesses from controlling other users’ accounts. Although users have complete autonomy over their accounts, administrators cannot manage them. Whereas with email hosting, enterprises have more ability to manage multiple accounts centrally. It even adds, modifies, and tracks email activities efficiently.

Conclusion

Free email provides the same convenience as email hosting, but businesses need to pay attention to some differences, such as capacity, accessibility, personalization, and cost. 

Free email can be an option for start-up businesses or personal use because it does not require extensive access and storage. As for large-scale companies, email hosting is a good choice. With more storage and customizable domains can increase professionalism. Companies also have better control and security guarantees, as well as privacy.

Improve your business professionalism with Vidia Cloud email hosting! Supported by a reliable workforce with a wide range of modern technology expertise. Contact us now here.

Source:

https://www.mailbutler.io/blog/email/email-statistics-trends/