Compare Web Mail Services Side-by-Side

Even if you also use Internet mail via Outlook or corpnet mail using Microsoft Exchange, you almost certainly have a free Web mail account with Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo. With three popular and competitive choices, it's a buyer's market -- especially when the buying is free. But have you ever really compared the three main e-mail services? Maybe it's time to see what you're missing with your current Web-based e-mail service.

Ghacks has put together a table comparing the three services. Here are some of the most salient comparison points:

• Storage space: Yahoo has unlimited, followed by 7.4GB for Gmail and 5GB for Hotmail.
• Yahoo and Gmail have message size limits if 25MB; Hotmail limits you to 10MB.
• Gmail claims never to expire your account. Hotmail expires unused accounts after 270 days of no use, while Yahoo cuts you off after just 120 days.

Dave Johnson

View all articles by Dave Johnson on CBS MoneyWatch »
Dave Johnson is editor of eHow Tech and author of three dozen books, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Your Digital Camera. Dave has previously worked at Microsoft and has written about technology for a long list of magazines that include PC World and Wired.

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