What is the difference between POP3 and IMAP?

Chances are that at some point in your digital existence you will have had to make a choice far more daunting than the usual

Mac-or-PC or Chrome-or-IE dilemmas: POP3 or IMAP?

POP3 Post Office ProtocolOriginally designed in 1984 before evolving into 1988’s more commonly known version POP3, Post Office Protocol was modelled around the limitations and expectations of networked computers of the era.

POP3 Post Office Protocol

POP3 ServerTypically, no copies of your mail were left behind on the server after they were collected – those emails took up precious kilobytes of space, after all – so you had to ensure that your computer had secure backups of your messages.

IMAPInternet Message Access ProtocolThink of IMAP as the more modern version of email delivery.

IMAP assumes that the mail server you connect to has plenty of space to store your emails and that you won’t necessarily be reading or sending email from the one computer.

IMAP ServerIt works by storing emails on a central server – which we today would define as part of your website hosting plan or a cloud-based system like Gmail – and sending copies of the latest messages to whatever device you connect to it.

IMAPInternet Message Access Protocol

Ultimately, the decision between POP and IMAP should be based on how you plan to

use email.