Are Hotmail and Yahoo The Same?
Hotmail and Yahoo are two popular email service providers that have been around for a long time now. Hotmail was first launched in 1996 and Yahoo was born a year later, and these two were the go-to options for anyone who wanted an email service then.
Later, Hotmail was acquired by Microsoft and it continues to be a free email service from Microsoft, though it underwent many naming and branding changes.
Yahoo, on the other hand, is a cloud-based web email service.
Note that both email service providers also have their respective paid versions, where you can read emails ad-free and enjoy additional features such as more storage, security, etc.
Hotmail and Yahoo are similar in many ways, but they are not the same.
Key Differences Between Hotmail vs Yahoo
The below table captures the key differences between Hotmail and Yahoo.
| Feature | Hotmail | Yahoo |
| Parent Company | Microsoft | Yahoo |
| Storage | 15GB free. After that, you can use paid cloud storage to send and receive large files. | Yahoo claims that it offers unlimited storage for all users. |
| Social media platforms | Supports connections to most popular platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Skype. | Though Yahoo allows you to connect to Facebook and Twitter, the options are highly limited when compared to Hotmail. |
| Unsubscribe option | Clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in an email takes you to the respective platform. | You can unsubscribe from newsletters without leaving Yahoo. |
| Advertisements | Hotmail ads are not too intrusive and they are relatively fewer when compared to Yahoo. | Yahoo displays many banner ads and these can be distracting for users. |
| Attachment Limit | There’s a limit of 25MB. Anything larger can be sent only as a link to cloud storage. However, this is done automatically for you. | There’s a 25MB limit for attachments and no option to send larger ones in a single email |
| Mail Access | Through Exchange ActiveSync and POP. | Through IMAP and POP |
Does Hotmail Run Faster Than Yahoo?
Yes, Hotmail is faster than Yahoo. Microsoft has spent considerable effort in resurrecting its email service and this translates to faster and improved Hotmail.
Benefits of Yahoo Over Hotmail
Yahoo scores over Hotmail in many areas, such as the following.
Inbox Layout
Yahoo allows you to customize the inbox theme and layout. You can choose from a light, medium, or dark theme and even customize the size and layout of the inbox, just like how you want. Hotmail doesn’t offer this level of flexibility.
Add Other Email Services
You can integrate other email services with Yahoo. At first, this may sound confusing given that Yahoo competes directly with services like Gmail. But when you look closely, this is a masterstroke from Yahoo to gain back its lost userbase.
Note that Yahoo allows you to add only a few email services such as Gmail and AOL.
Viewing Attachments
Yahoo makes it easy to view all your photos and documents. It collects all the attachments in a single place, so you don’t have to search through emails to find the attachment you want.
Moving on, let’s look at some areas where Hotmail scores over Yahoo.
Benefits of Hotmail Over Yahoo
Here are some areas where Hotmail is better than Yahoo.
Sharing and Collaborating Office Docs
This is one of the biggest areas where Hotmail scores over Yahoo. You can create an Office doc, share it through Hotmail, and collaborate on the doc in real-time. This is possible because Microsoft has integrated its email service with Office 365. Note that you have to pay a subscription fee for Office 365 for real-time collaboration.
No such option is available on Yahoo.
Large Files as Attachment
There’s no limit on attachment sizes in a single email. If your attachment is less than 25MB, it’s sent as it is. On the other hand, if it’s more than 25MB, Hotmail adds it to OneDrive, creates a link, and shares this link in the email. All this is done automatically and requires no additional effort.
Filters
Hotmail comes with many convenient filters that make it easy to see social updates, emails from specific groups/contacts, Slack messages, and more.
You can even filter emails with “Photos” or “documents” and only those emails with the attachment types will be displayed.
Undoubtedly, these filters are convenient for quickly finding what you want.
We hope this helps you to choose the appropriate email provider based on your requirements.
