Features

	Yahoo	Hotmail	Excite	Slashmail
Open Source PoweredWe use Open Source software, exclusively. By Open Source we mean some version of a publicly licensed software package (Operating System, Web Server Software, Database Technology, Encryption Package, etc)	No	No	No	Yes
Advertising FreeNo advertisements can be seen on our site after login. Note that Yahoo/Hotmail state there are no graphical ads with their premium service, meaning they can and will subject you to text-based advertising.	No	No	Yes	Yes - After Login
Anti-SpamFunctionality to keep Unsolicited Commercial Email (SPAM) out of your inbox. Support and functionality (especially control) varies between these services except for Slashmail	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Anti-VirusFunctionality to prevent you from getting a virus delivered to your PC through email. Slashmail makes use of an Open Source virus scanning package called Clam AV and is updated as quickly as the expensive corporate anti-virus packages.	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Trial Premium ServicesTest drive of premium services. Only Slashmail offers this great feature! Try us for 30 days, no credit card required!	No	No	No	Yes
Personal Domain SupportYou (Joe Cool) own josephcool.com and want to use bigdaddy@josephcool.com at Slashmail? No problem! We'll support up to 20 personal domains with your account. After all, you paid for your domain, why should we charge you to use it!	Yes, w/upcharge (five email addresses)	Yes (four email addresses)	No	Yes (20 email addresses)
Personal Domain Global Address SupportSo you want all email going to your domain (josephcool.com) to be delivered to your Slashmail account? No problem! We can do that!	No	No	No	Yes
Storage LimitWe provide a nice size of space for users to keep years of email.	2GB	2GB	2GB	3GB
Message Size LimitNeed to send grandma those huge pictures from the family reunion? No problem. Slashmail supports very large email transfers!	20 Megs	20 Megs	10 Megs	30 Megs (excludes encoding)
Remote AccessSlashmail provides secure remote access via IMAPS. Our competition provides non-secure methods for email retrieval.	Yes (POP)	Yes (POP)	Yes (POP)	Yes (IMAPS)
SMTP RelaySlashmail provides support for relaying email via SMTP when accessing your email from a remote/mobile location.	Yes (Clear Text SMTP AUTH)	Yes (Clear Text SMTP AUTH)	Yes (Clear Text SMTP AUTH)	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)

Security

	Yahoo	Hotmail	Excite	Slashmail
Secure Account Registration (SSL)Registration process uses encrypted transport so that personal information is secure. Sign-up with peace of mind knowing your information isn't being intercepted!	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Secure Webmail Login (SSL)Encrypted login process (securing your username and password). While optional with the competition, only Slashmail requires encrypted login.	Yes (optional)	Yes (optional)	Yes (optional)	Yes (mandatory)
Secure Webmail Session (SSL)Encrypted email session. Slashmail is the only email service that encrypts your entire session for security and privacy.	No	No	No	Yes
Secure Remote AccessA gaping security/privacy hole with most email providers, Slashmail encrypts the login and entire session during remote access using IMAPS.	No (POP)	No (POP)	No (POP)	Yes (IMAPS)
Secure Remote SessionA gaping security/privacy hole with most email providers, Slashmail encrypts the login and entire session during remote access using IMAPS.	No (POP)	No (POP)	No (POP)	Yes (IMAPS)
Secure SMTP TransportSlashmail will attempt to encrypt SMTP connections to other servers (if their server supports encryption). This allows your email to travel across the Internet completely encrypted.	No	No	No	Yes (STARTTLS)
Secure Encrypted SMTP RelaySlashmail utilizes encryption and requires authentication to send email via SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS when accessing your email from a remote location (non webmail access).	No	No	No	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)
Publish IETF SPF RecordsSender Policy Framework (SPF) is the act of publishing email server identification records. This technology is a great tool for verifying authentic email.	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Privacy/Safety

	Yahoo	Hotmail	Excite	Slashmail
Customer Approved/Safe RenewalWhile the competition will automatically renew your account using your credit card, Slashmail will instead issue reminders for you to renew your subscription, then give you plenty of grace time to get it done if you happen to let your account lapse. Hey, life happens; sometimes we get caught up in 'stuff' and forget these things.	No (auto)	No (auto)	No (auto)	Yes
Credit Card Information DeletedAfter subscribing to Slashmail, your credit card information is promptly and permanently deleted! Our competition keeps your credit card information for future billing (renewal). Automated billing is convenient however problems can occur when you want to cancel your account or their database gets hacked.	No	No	No	Yes

Features

	Gmail	Slashmail
Open Source PoweredWe use Open Source software, exclusively. By Open Source we mean some version of a publicly licensed software package (Operating System, Web Server Software, Database Technology, Encryption Package, etc)	No	Yes
Advertising FreeNo advertisements can be seen on our site after login. Note that Yahoo/Hotmail state there are no graphical ads with their premium service, meaning they can and will subject you to text-based advertising.	No	Yes - After Login
Anti-SpamFunctionality to keep Unsolicited Commercial Email (SPAM) out of your inbox. Support and functionality (especially control) varies between these services except for Slashmail	Yes	Yes
Anti-VirusFunctionality to prevent you from getting a virus delivered to your PC through email. Slashmail makes use of an Open Source virus scanning package called Clam AV and is updated as quickly as the expensive corporate anti-virus packages.	Yes	Yes
Trial Premium ServicesTest drive of premium services. Only Slashmail offers this great feature! Try us for 30 days, no credit card required!	N/A	Yes
Personal Domain SupportYou (Joe Cool) own josephcool.com and want to use bigdaddy@josephcool.com at Slashmail? No problem! We'll support up to 20 personal domains with your account. After all, you paid for your domain, why should we charge you to use it!	Yes (Beta)	Yes (20 email addresses)
Personal Domain Global Address SupportSo you want all email going to your domain (josephcool.com) to be delivered to your Slashmail account? No problem! We can do that!	No	Yes
Storage LimitWe provide a nice size of space for users to keep years of email.	2.5GB	3GB
Message Size LimitNeed to send grandma those huge pictures from the family reunion? No problem. Slashmail supports very large email transfers!	10 Megs (includes encoding)	30 Megs (excludes encoding)
Remote AccessSlashmail provides secure remote access via IMAPS. Our competition provides non-secure methods for email retrieval.	Yes (POPS)	Yes (IMAPS)
SMTP RelaySlashmail provides support for relaying email via SMTP when accessing your email from a remote/mobile location.	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)

Security

	Gmail	Slashmail
Secure Account Registration (SSL)Registration process uses encrypted transport so that personal information is secure. Sign-up with peace of mind knowing your information isn't being intercepted!	Yes	Yes
Secure Webmail Login (SSL)Encrypted login process (securing your username and password). While optional with the competition, only Slashmail requires encrypted login.	Yes (mandatory)	Yes (mandatory)
Secure Webmail Session (SSL)Encrypted email session. Slashmail is the only email service that encrypts your entire session for security and privacy.	No	Yes
Secure Remote AccessA gaping security/privacy hole with most email providers, Slashmail encrypts the login and entire session during remote access using IMAPS.	Yes (POPS)	Yes (IMAPS)
Secure Remote SessionA gaping security/privacy hole with most email providers, Slashmail encrypts the login and entire session during remote access using IMAPS.	No (POPS)	Yes (IMAPS)
Secure SMTP TransportSlashmail will attempt to encrypt SMTP connections to other servers (if their server supports encryption). This allows your email to travel across the Internet completely encrypted.	Yes (STARTTLS)	Yes (STARTTLS)
Secure Encrypted SMTP RelaySlashmail utilizes encryption and requires authentication to send email via SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS when accessing your email from a remote location (non webmail access).	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)	Yes (SMTP AUTH W/STARTTLS)
Publish IETF SPF RecordsSender Policy Framework (SPF) is the act of publishing email server identification records. This technology is a great tool for verifying authentic email.	Yes	Yes

Privacy/Safety

	Gmail	Slashmail
Customer Approved/Safe RenewalWhile the competition will automatically renew your account using your credit card, Slashmail will instead issue reminders for you to renew your subscription, then give you plenty of grace time to get it done if you happen to let your account lapse. Hey, life happens; sometimes we get caught up in 'stuff' and forget these things.	N/A	Yes
Credit Card Information DeletedAfter subscribing to Slashmail, your credit card information is promptly and permanently deleted! Our competition keeps your credit card information for future billing (renewal). Automated billing is convenient however problems can occur when you want to cancel your account or their database gets hacked.	N/A	Yes