Yahoo Mail: what it is, features and advantages
One of the longest-running free email services, with its limits and latest changes
Yahoo Mail is Yahoo’s free email service.
It has been around since 1997, and you can use it in your browser, at mail.yahoo.com, or in its Android and iOS apps.
Today it offers 20 GB of free storage and a paid, ad-free plan.
What is Yahoo Mail and what is it for?
Yahoo Mail lets you send, receive and organize emails, like any other email service.
It also stores your contacts, has a calendar and automatically filters out spam.
It was launched on October 8, 1997.
That year, Yahoo bought the company Four11 and its webmail service RocketMail for about $92 million in stock, and turned it into Yahoo Mail.
It was one of the big webmail services of its time, alongside Hotmail, and years later it competed with Gmail.
And what does Yahoo mean? The company was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, while they were students at Stanford.
They themselves explained the name as a joke acronym, “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”, and as a nod to the Yahoos in Gulliver’s Travels.
Since 2021, Yahoo has been owned by the investment firm Apollo Global Management, which bought it from Verizon.
The latest official user figure dates from 2017: 225 million monthly active users.
What does a Yahoo email address look like?
A Yahoo address takes the form [email protected]. The domain depends on when and where you created the account:
| Domain | Example | Can you choose it today? |
|---|---|---|
| yahoo.com | [email protected] | Yes, it’s the usual one for new accounts |
| myyahoo.com | [email protected] | Yes, as an alternative |
| yahoo.es and other country domains | [email protected] | No, they are only kept on old accounts |
| ymail.com | [email protected] | No, old accounts only |
| rocketmail.com | [email protected] | No, old accounts only |
Does Ymail exist? Yes.
@ymail.com addresses still work and are regular Yahoo Mail accounts, although you can no longer create new ones.
You’ll find more details on the format of any email address in our glossary.
Yahoo Mail features
These are Yahoo Mail’s main features in 2026:
| Feature | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Free storage | 20 GB since August 27, 2025. It used to be 1 TB |
| Yahoo Mail Plus | $5 a month: 200 GB, no ads, automatic forwarding and 24/7 support |
| Spam filter | Sends suspicious messages to the spam folder, with automatic antispam filters |
| Disposable addresses | With Yahoo Mail Plus, up to 500 temporary addresses to sign up on websites without giving out your main one |
| Artificial intelligence | Automatic email summaries and a catch-up view, added in 2024 and 2025 and available in some countries |
| Access from other programs | IMAP, POP3 and SMTP, with an app password |
Watch out for the storage change.
If your free mailbox goes over 20 GB, Yahoo asks you to delete emails or pay for more space to keep sending and receiving.
Do you send campaigns to Yahoo addresses?
With Mailrelay, your emails go out authenticated from your own domain. The free account includes 80,000 emails a month.
Advantages and disadvantages of Yahoo Mail
It’s a good option for personal email. But it has limits worth knowing about:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| It’s free and easy to use | The free version shows ads |
| 20 GB just for email | Free storage dropped from 1 TB to 20 GB in 2025 |
| You can connect it to Outlook or your phone’s mail app via IMAP | Automatic forwarding is only available in Yahoo Mail Plus |
| It works on the web, on mobile and in other email programs | Accounts not signed into for 12 months are deactivated and their content is deleted |
| Interface available in English | It still carries the bad reputation from the 2013 and 2014 security breaches |
If you use it for your business, consider a corporate email with your own domain.
It inspires more trust and doesn’t depend on a free provider’s policies.
Yahoo Mail and email marketing
Many subscriber lists include Yahoo addresses, so it’s worth knowing what Yahoo requires from senders.
Since February 2024, Yahoo has applied these sender requirements:
- All senders must authenticate their emails with SPF or DKIM and keep their spam complaint rate below 0.3%.
- Bulk senders also need both SPF and DKIM, a DMARC policy and one-click unsubscribe, which they must honor within two days.
Unlike Gmail, Yahoo doesn’t publish a sending volume above which it considers you a bulk sender.
That’s why the safe approach is to meet every requirement from your very first send.
One more thing: don’t send campaigns with an @yahoo.com address as the sender.
Yahoo has had a strict DMARC policy since 2014, and emails sent from another platform using its domain may be rejected.
Always use your own domain.
How Mailrelay helps you
With Mailrelay, you can send your campaigns from your own domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up. That way you improve your deliverability and reach the Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail inbox more easily.
Every campaign includes an unsubscribe link, and addresses that unsubscribe or bounce are added to your suppression list.
The free account lets you send up to 80,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts, with chat, ticket and phone support.
Reach the Yahoo inbox
Try Mailrelay for free with up to 20,000 contacts and chat, ticket and phone support.
Frequently asked questions about Yahoo Mail
What is Yahoo Mail? It’s Yahoo’s free email service, available since 1997. You can use it at mail.yahoo.com or in its mobile apps.
Is Yahoo Mail free? Yes. The free account includes 20 GB of storage and shows ads. Yahoo Mail Plus costs $5 a month and increases the space to 200 GB with no ads.
Does Ymail still exist? Yes. @ymail.com addresses still work as Yahoo Mail accounts, but you can no longer create new addresses with that domain.
How much storage does Yahoo Mail have? Since August 27, 2025, free accounts have 20 GB. They used to have 1 TB.
What happens if I don’t use my Yahoo account? If you don’t sign in for 12 months, Yahoo considers the mailbox inactive. It stops receiving emails and all its content is deleted.