Most Popular Web Email Services
Hitwise today released their October stats for the 20 most popular websites based on traffic to that domain. The list includes the top four email websites as well and is therefore a good way to measure their relatively popularity among Internet users.
Yahoo Mail leads with 4.7% share (out of the whole Internet traffic in US) followed by Windows Live Mail (1.94%) and Google Gmail at 0.8%.
Though the rankings are almost consistent with Comscore figures that were released exactly an year ago, there are some factors that I am not sure are considered in this report:
1. Google offers free POP and IMAP access so some portion of their users may not be checking emails on the web thus reducing traffic to that domain. Windows Live Mail too offers POP access via the Outlook connecter while Yahoo! provides that through Zimbra.
2. A lot of people use Gmail with Google Apps so they are visiting google.com/a/domain.com instead of the default gmail.com domain thus contributing traffic to the main Google domain (mail.google.com) instead of the Gmail domain.
Related: 20 Most Popular Websites
Update (from Akshay): Windows Live Mail does not allow POP access through Outlook connector, it directly uses DirectSync over HTTP and HTTPS. Outlook Connector works on the HTTP and uses the delta sync protocol and allows one to connect to the Windows live hotmail from Microsoft Outlook. So that is already factored in the report.
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/market-share-of-web-email-services/5322/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Many people like me must be typing only letter “g” at there address bar of Firefox (3+) and landing directly on the domain “http://mail.google.com/…”.
Some people must be checking their gMail via iGoogle (http://www.google.com/ig). So they need not to use gmail.com domain.
Written by Debiprasad on 11.11.08
I think yahoo is leading because though it features flash ads but its folder option is good but in gmail it is called label and actually doesnot work like folder.
Written by krunal on 11.11.08
No matter Gmail is No.1
Written by Mrinmay Bhattacharjee on 11.11.08
@ krumal, who needs folders when you already have labels? Come to think of it…try searching why labels are better than folders.
a lot of gmail users I know don’t have a gmail for your domain app, and a lot also don’t use desktop clients. nevertheless, it’s a factor to consider.
Written by deuts on 11.11.08
Hi Amit…I’m curious. Do you think Google minds not being the top internet email provider? Do you think they re driven to be number one in this space?
Written by Bill on 11.11.08
I read an article way back .. I guess on wsj.. but i ain’t v.sure. It said smart people use Gmail. btw I use gmail. Its so dumb not to use gmail. it rocks .. okie i agree i’m a fanboi :)
Written by Supreet on 11.11.08
May be more people uses yahoo mail as it was started much before gmail (hotmail started earlier than yahoo, i think)
But Gmail is the best webmail compared to any other webmail available today.
Written by Mathew on 11.11.08
Add to it ZOHO WEBMAIL…i’ve been using it for fourthnight…and not a single drawback i can found… just over whelming… its GMail + Yahoo! Mail - Adds(4now). It has best of the all, if it can keep it for next 6 months then perhaps the graphs next year will be different, let see…
Written by neo on 11.11.08
Hi…. A few incorrect things mentioned in you blog.
1. Windows Live Mail does not allow POP access through Outlook connector. Windows live mail connects to the Windows Live Hotmail program of Microsoft. Windows Live Mail is itself a desktop mail client and it directly uses DirectSync over HTTP and HTTPS. Outlook Connector works on the HTTP and uses the delta sync protocol and allows one to connect to the Windows live hotmail from Microsoft Outlook. So that is already factored in the report.
2. Zimbra doesn’t use POP to access yahoo. It uses IMAP.
3. The gmail domain also redirect traffic to the google domain. So I am sure Google Apps wouldn’t make any difference.
~Akshay
Written by Akshay Kumar on 11.11.08
Yahoo! Mail must be popular because a lot of Asians use it, and since there’s a lot of Asians in this world…you get the picture.
Hotmail has been here since the beginnings of e-mail, and it still remains my favorite, especially with the latest beta release!
Gmail is all right. The only thing I like is the tagging and free IMAP support.
AOL Mail is a copy of all others.
Written by Quikboy on 11.11.08
Akshay - Thanks for your information on Zimbra and Windows Live Mail. My assumption were definitely wrong.
About the Gmail stuff, I will try to figure out how Hitwise handles redirects like in the case of Google Apps. Their report uses traffic to the link domain though the actual mail site is mail.google.com.
Written by labnol on 11.11.08
I think there is a substantial overlap between the number of people using more than one mail providers. That skews the results even further.
Written by Mukundhan on 11.12.08
It has to be true that Yahoo is distinctly ahead. Gmail has not penetrated enough to the Eastern European and Asian markets.
Written by Mukundhan on 11.12.08